U.S. MIDTERMS AND A WIN FOR TRANS HEALTHCARE IN NEW ZEALAND! | This Way Out Radio Episode #2014
This week on THIS WAY OUT, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and @drag.pac look at what's at stake in the U.S. midterm elections along with commentary from journalist Levi Kalish, and Jeb Backe talks to Jennifer Shields of the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa celebrates a victory for transgender healthcare in New Zealand.
IN NEWSWRAP: Brazil's far-right presidential candidate loses, India's trans voters face disenfranchisement, the UN questions China's treatment of queer children, and Berliners protest a police raid on a transfeminine gathering.
Hosted by Lucia Chappelle, with NewsWrap reporters Tanya Kane-Parry and David Hunt.
Independent LGBTQ+ voices. Global news. Our stories.
All this on the November 2, 2026 Edition of This Way Out!
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NewsWrap
Program 2014 Distributed 11/02/26
Progressive Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva has been re-elected as Brazil’s president. The former trade union leader defeated opponent Flávio Bolsonaro , son of infamously homophobic right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula’s win in this runoff was a major comeback after trailing behind Bolsonaro by over 2 million votes in the first round of ballots. He claimed his fourth term as President by a margin of more than 4 million. Meanwhile, more than 20 LGBTQ+ candidates secured seats in state assemblies.
During his third term, Lula restored the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship with a dedicated LGBTQIA+ rights secretariat. He also re-established the National Council for the Rights of LGBTQIA+ People. Both of those government bodies had been dismantled by the senior Bolsonaro. Lula also put teeth into the protections for same-sex marriage and guarded the criminalization of homophobia and transphobia.
Lula will likely face obstacles at 80-years-old when he is sworn in on January 5th. The opposing right-wing Liberal Party won the largest number of seats in both chambers of Congress. However, when Brazil seats its Congress in February, it will have 14 openly LGBTQ+ members, the most of all countries in the Americas.
Republicans have burned up an estimated $183 million on anti-trans attack ads in the final stretch of this year’s U.S. midterm elections— that’s according to new data provided to The Associated Press by data firm AdImpact. The culture warriors have broken their previous record set during 2024’s presidential election, creating more than 200,000 TV spots nationwide.
All that spending does not seem to be paying off, however. Only about 1 in 10 registered voters believe transgender issues are “one of the most important issues” in the upcoming election— that’s according to an October poll from the Associated Press-National Opinion Research Center. Instead, a recent Gallup Poll suggests that voters are prioritizing the economy, healthcare, and the war in Iran.
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York addressed anti-trans political bigotry at a town hall assembled by the media advocacy group More Perfect Union at Ithaca’s Downtown Convention Center.
[AUDIO-AOC]
“Trans people in America are [...] 3% of the population.There are people who have taken surveys after they see all these ads and people think it's like 40% from the way that they talk about trans people, but the focus is strategic. Especially when they talk about trans people's access in higher education, when they want to focus on trans girls in sports.
It's not just about trans girls in sports. It's about girls, all girls [...] And that's why I think it's very important for all of us to understand and to feel and to know that our fight is united. It really is united.
I don't support the rights of trans people just to protect my own rights. But I support the rights of trans women because I'm a girl's girl. And I think that all of our bodily autonomy is tied together. [...] What we're not going to do is shred our constitution, kill Title IX, and defund all of our health care just to attack 3 percent of the U.S. population.”
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is questioning China for the first time about concerns related to sexual orientation. Discrimination and school bullying against LGBT children, conversion therapy practices, and the rights of children raised by same-sex couples are matters that the Committee placed on the List of Issues it provided to the Chinese government in early October. The advocacy network China Rainbow Observation is bringing attention to the action.
This is the Committee’s first review since 2013, and this year much of its attention is focused on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. The formal UN review process requires the Chinese government to provide written responses to their questions by mid February of 2027.
The Committee is asking the government what measures it has taken to address conversion therapy practices, discrimination against LGBT children, and inequities for children born to same-sex parents. It is also asking China to remove “gender diversity disorder” from the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders.
Over the past decade Chinese advocacy organizations have pushed the UN to take a more active role in investigating LGBTQ rights in the country. As a result, the UN has increased their recommendations related to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
More than 130 million names have been struck from India’s voter rolls, and LGBTQ people are disproportionately targeted. Following the Special Intensive Revision, the election commission is being accused of putting its thumb on the scale for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP was quick to defend the Revision. It argues that the deletions were all the result of duplications, relocations, deaths, or other standard voter verification check-points. However, activists say many were deleted because of new requirements and discriminatory new restrictions.
LGBTQ activist Ankit Bhuptani explained the situation to the Washington Blade. In her words, “Picture a trans woman who was kicked out of her biological family home in a small town at 16 because of her trans identity and has lived and worked in Mumbai for 20 years. She has a voter card, pays her bills and voted in 2024. Now she is asked to link herself to her father’s entry in an old roll, the same father who has not spoken to her since. A process meant to clean the rolls should not punish people for the family they lost.”
Bhuptani also points out that the Special Intensive Revision does not explicitly accept the certificate of identity given to transgender citizens of India. Meanwhile, obtaining legal recognition for a gender identity different from birth has gotten much harder since this year’s amendment to the Transgender Persons Act. Bhuptani and other advocates are calling for an explanation of the apparent targeting and demanding the records be corrected.
Finally…
A transfeminine gathering at Berlin’s queer community health center, Casa Kuà, was raided on October 18th. The weekly meetup called “The Dolls” was violently interrupted by 38 officers who alleged suspicions of illegal prescription drug trafficking and hormone treatments without medical supervision.
“The Dolls” meetup is known among their community to offer workshops, discussions, clothing swaps, and other social activities for transfeminine people. According to “The Dolls’” host, Casa Kuà, the officers broke into lockers, searched every room and attendees’ belongings, confiscated boxes of items, and held attendees for up to four hours. The police say they seized medications, narcotics, data storage devices, and a large sum of cash.
Amanita Calderón-Cifuéntes is the HIV Research and Advocacy officer for the advocacy organization Trans Europe and Central Asia. She spoke to a crowd of more than 2500 protestors in Berlin who gathered to condemn the police raid on “The Dolls.” Speakers called upon the local government to provide equitable healthcare for their community members who are trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Calderón-Cifuéntes said:
[AUDIO - Amanita Calderón-Cifuéntes]
“Last Sunday's police raid on the Dolls is completely unacceptable. We are tired of systems that erase us, criminalize us, and punish us for caring for each other. We demand to be listened to and we demand protection and respect for our safer spaces. So my message to everyone who authorized this, enabled it, or carried out, it's simple. Never, ever again, for any reason, mess with our safer spaces. We just want to say, let us f—ing exist!”
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