Dana Goldberg and the U.S. Midterms | This Way Out Radio Episode #2013

Comedian-activist Dana Goldberg is our guide to the U.S. Midterm Elections, as transgender-related headlines dominate the news: The top courts in the New Zealand and the U.S. hand down positive rulings regarding gender affirming care for adults and children, the Hijra of Bangladesh are seeking legal protections to match the rights they have on paper, and political shenanigans in Texas use a trans group’s name in phony election ads. In other news, France succeeds in getting the UN Human Rights Council to declare its support for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality. All that and more now that you’ve found This Way Out.

Featured speakers: Suzanne Goldberg, President of PATHA Jennifer Shields, comedian Dana Goldberg

Credits: Associate Producer / host Lucia Chappelle, Producer Brian DeShazor, News writer Jeb Backe, the feature was produced by Brian DeShazor and Lucia Chappelle, NewsWrap reporters Ret and Michael LeBeau. music: Janelle Monae our theme music was written and performed by Kim Wilson.  

All this on the October 26, 2026 Edition of This Way Out!

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This Way Out

NewsWrap

Program 2013        Distributed 10/26/26

The United States Supreme Court has rejected the Trump Administration’s attempt to withhold health care from incarcerated transgender people. Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting gender-affirming care for federal trans inmates in January of 2025. This ended a decades-old Federal Bureau of Prisons policy of using federal funds for hormone therapy, social accommodations, and commissary items to treat gender dysphoria.

A class action lawsuit won a Washington D.C. District Court enjoinment in 2025, but this year the Bureau of Prisons issued a program statement that continued the prohibition of gender-affirming care anyway. The D.C. District Court struck down that policy and ordered the re-establishment of care for trans inmates. The administration’s request to pause that order was brought up to the Supreme Court in the case Kingdom v. Trump— and just last week their request was denied. The 1,000 plaintiffs were represented by the ACLU, the ACLU of DC, and the Transgender Law Center. 

A Justice Department statement vows to file an appeal to instate a policy that affirms what it calls “biological reality.” Suzanne Goldberg is a professor at Columbia Law School. She told Bloomberg Law what she thinks about the Justice Department’s assertion.

[AUDIO - Suzanne Goldberg]

“Let me just say on that “affirms biological reality” claim, the biological reality for these transgender women is that they are receiving estrogen and other transgender health care supportive regimens.

So I think that the government is mischaracterizing the biology of the situation as it were. But now, right, the Supreme Court has said we're not getting involved. And so the federal district court will continue to have jurisdiction in the case.” 

Transgender Law Center Managing Attorney Shawn Thomas Meerkamper was quoted in an ACLU press release saying, “Today’s ruling affirms that everyone, trans or not, deserves access to medically necessary health care and to be treated with dignity in federal custody. [...] We will continue fighting to ensure that all people confined to federal prisons can access the care they need.”

The third-gender Hijra community continues to struggle for basic rights more than a decade after receiving formal recognition as a distinct gender identity by the Bangladesh government— that’s according to a new report from the human rights organization JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France. JMBF is advocating to close the gap between state recognition and the implementation of rights. 

Hijras were respected members of the social fabric for thousands of years, until colonial authorities began to suppress the group in the eighteen-fifties. Those considered neither male nor female were criminalized for the next century until Hijra activists were able to win recognition from the government in 2013.

The decades of criminalization seem hard to shake. Many Hijras continue to experience “violence, harassment, humiliation, exclusion from education and employment, barriers to healthcare, housing insecurity, difficulties obtaining accurate identity documents, and discrimination in exercising their inheritance and political rights.” JMBF is calling for urgent government action such as anti-discrimination legislation, investigations into discriminatory acts, equal access to education, employment, healthcare and more. For the more than 12,000 people affected, the organization says,  “future policies should treat members of the Hijra community not as objects of charity or pity, but as equal rights holders—citizens, students, workers, taxpayers, voters and full members of society.”

A Texas transgender advocacy organization is blowing the whistle on an imposture operation. In the growing barrage of midterm election materials, voters are receiving mailers, brochures, and texts allegedly from the Transgender Education Network of Texas— only, TENT never sent them.

In consideration of the political climate of Texas, the real Transgender Education Network has a nuanced approach to distributing their information. The fake materials maliciously targeted Republican households, ostensibly promoting support for "students" whose parents don't approve of their trans children. The pamphlets mixed actual TENT resources with guidance and information they do not support. A TENT spokesperson wrote, “These messages were deliberately distributed in a manner calculated to cause maximum harm to TENT and to create confusion and strife among the Texas electorate.”

Soon after the fraudulent campaign began, the Transgender Education Network of Texas released a public statement saying, “TENT has been met with an onslaught of hate and threats of violence via our social media and email channels [...] Our address was doxxed, and photos of our staff were included in the malicious mailing materials. Online, a graphic is being circulated with images of two of our senior staff along with our board chair.”

The group is pursuing legal action and has affirmed they will continue advocating for LGBTQ+ Texans. The original source is still being tracked down. However, Republican district attorney Sarah Stogner has opened a criminal investigation into the potential forgery, a felony under Texas law.

France scored a major diplomatic victory in the cause of universal decriminalization of homosexuality. After gaining further support at the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, they have amassed fifty-two states who have cosigned their declaration that read, “It is urgent to clearly recognize that the criminalization of consensual same-sex relations is incompatible with the fundamental principles of international human rights law.” They call on all states with laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relations to review and repeal them.

The first time France spearheaded a similar initiative was in 2008. At that time they faced a counter-declaration from 59 states which linked queer people with pedophilia. This time there has been no such virulent push-back.

At the same time, French citizens are facing a battle for their rights in their own country as waves of protests sweep through the streets. Largely organized by student collectives and trade unions, the actions have been gaining momentum for the shared goals of improving underfunded schools and combatting social and economic injustice.

Jean-Marc Berthon is France’s ambassador for LGBT+ rights. He spearheaded the latest push for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality. In the most recent Human Rights Council session, the declaration received a slim majority of the member states— just 24 out of 47 present. The 24 states are joined by other UN member states, bringing the total number of countries supporting the initiative to 52. The jointly validated and endorsed declaration is not legally binding. However, Berthon describes it as, "a text that civil societies in countries that criminalize homosexuality can use to support their demands and demonstrate that their country is isolated in the world."

Finally…

New Zealand’s High Court has struck down a ban on new puberty blocker prescriptions for minors. The Health Ministry first adopted the regulations in late 2025 under the guidance of Health Minister Simeon Brown. The government had argued the restrictions were a precautionary response to uncertainty over the long-term benefits and risks of puberty blockers. Gender-affirming care restrictions in other countries including the UK were cited, based on the now-maligned Cass Review.

Health Minister Brown’s ban of puberty blocking drugs for young transgender people was brought under judicial review after being challenged by the Professional Association for ‌Transgender ⁠Health Aotearoa, or PATHA. Justice Dale La Hood’s High Court ruling read in part “that the minister had unlawfully discriminated against young people with gender incongruence or gender dysphoria on the ground of disability contrary to [...] the New Zealand Bill of Rights.” 

The court held that young people with gender dysphoria were treated differently compared to young people who could access puberty blockers for other health conditions. The court also found that the Ministry did not properly consult with gender diverse young people nor related organisations engaged in their care.

President of PATHA Jennifer Shields shared her first reaction to the court ruling with This Way Out:

[AUDIO- Jennifer Shields (she/they)]

“Really hopeful that this will help the turning of the tide internationally as well. We know how often that, you know, our court systems in the Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth kind of look to each other for jurisprudence and definitely this win should help other legal efforts in other parts of the world.”

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