The late ballplayer Billy Bean talked about his intentions when he was first named Major League Baseball’s gay Ambassador for Inclusion in 2014 (interviewed by Chrisanne Eastwood and Wenzel Jones), and his success is proven by the response to last week’s homophobic incident involving Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran.
Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas are known for being literary mavens, and for Toklas’ mastery of French cooking. In this rare Pacifica Radio Archives selection from a Verve record, Ms. Toklas herself reads the most popular recipe from The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, and tells the story behind its publication.
And in NewsWrap: the U.S. Supreme Court denies an emergency request from the Department of Justice to enforce its queer-inclusive interpretation of “Title IX” bias protections, Pope Francis joins with LGBTQ activists from Uganda and Ghana in condemning anti-queer legislation in both nations, Team LGBTQ would have finished in 7th among nations for the most medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, gay British Olympic diver Tom Daley is retires after winning another Silver medal, Kim Coco Iwamoto will be the first out transgender candidate to win election to state office in Hawai’i, gay Chilean flamingoes Curtis and Arthur give birth to their new chick at South West England’s Paignton Zoo in Devon, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Marcos Najera and Sarah Montague (produced by Brian DeShazor with technical assistance by Daniel Huecias).
All this on the August 19, 2024 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of August 19, 2024
Legacies: Billy Bean & Alice B. Toklas
NewsWrap (full transcript below): The U.S. Supreme Court narrowly rejects the Biden administration’s bid to enforce its interpretation of Title IX federal education anti-discrimination laws based on “sex” to include sexual orientation and gender identity even as several Republican-controlled states challenge the queer-inclusiveness in court … LGBTQ activists from Uganda and Ghana meet with Pope Francis in the first-ever such get-together between the head of the Roman Catholic Church and queer African activists … if out LGBTQ athletes at the Paris Olympics were a team, they would have come in 7th in the number of medals, ahead of every country that still criminalizes being queer … Algerian Gold medalist Imane Khelif, one of two female Olympic boxers embroiled in a gender controversy, sues J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk for claiming on social media that she is a man … out multi-medal-winning British Olympics diver Tom Daley announces his retirement from the sport after winning Silver in Paris, and gets emotional talking about it with reporters [with brief audio] … Kim Coco Iwamoto upsets the sitting Speaker of the House in the Democratic primary to all but guarantee her election as Hawai’i’s first out transgender state lawmaker … kudos to gay Chilean flamingo couple Curtis and Arthur at the Paignton Zoo in South West England for adopting an abandoned egg and birthing that shaky species’ first new chick at the zoo since 2018 (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR with technical assistance from DANIEL HUECIAS, reported this week by MARCOS NAJERA and SARAH MONTAGUE).
Feature: Major League Baseball acted quickly when one of its stars hurled a homophobic slur at a heckling fan. The August 11th game had started on a much different note, when the MLB Players Alumni Association named Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran the team’s 2024 Heart & Hustles Award winner. At the bottom of the sixth, a talkative man in the stands yelled at Duran that he needed a tennis racket to hit a ball. Duran yelled back with the slur. Duran was suspended for two games. His contrition and the fact that he has the support to “do better” are due in large part to the legacy of the late Billy Bean, whose standout career was recounted by Ann Northrup and Andy Humm of GayUSA TV on the occasion of his death earlier this month. Shortly after he was appointed Major League Baseball’s gay Ambassador for Inclusion in 2014, Billy Bean fielded a few questions from This Way Out’s CHRISANNE EASTWOOD &WENZEL JONES (with intro music by Nancy Bea and internal music from the “Field of Dreams” soundtrack)
Feature: Literary mavens Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas helped shape the avant-garde arts environment of the 20th Century. Toklas was also known for her mastery of French cooking. 1954’s The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook is one of the couple’s best known and most notorious books. In this rare Pacifica Radio selection from a Verve record first broadcast in 1963, Ms. Toklas herself reads the infamous recipe and tells the story behind its publication (with intro music from the I Love You Alice B. Toklas soundtrack, and outro music by Heather Woodhead).
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
global LGBTQ communities
for the week ending August 10th, 2024
Written this week by Greg Gordon, edited by Lucia Chappelle,
reported this week by Marcos Najera and Sarah Montague,
produced by Brian DeShazor with technical assistance by Daniel Huecias
Federal protections for LGBTQ students are getting no help from the U.S. Supreme Court. In a narrow 5-to-4 decision the high court denied an emergency request from the Department of Justice to enforce its interpretation of Title IX, the ban on discrimination based on “sex” in federally funded education. The dissent from the court’s three liberals and conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch argued that sexual orientation could be covered, but did not address the more contentious gender identity provisions.
The Department of Education announced in April that it would interpret “sex” in federal law to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Several Republican-led U.S. states reject that interpretation. Their requests to temporarily enjoin enforcement of the new policy have been granted by lower courts.
On August 16th the Justices rejected the Biden administration’s bid to enforce the sexual orientation aspects of its queer-inclusive policy during the ongoing legal challenges. The majority found that the administration had “not provided this Court a sufficient basis to disturb the [actions of] lower courts.’” Dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor asserted that there was no reason to block enforcement of the entire policy. She points out that only the gender identity provisions have been questioned in the lower courts. Sotomayor wrote: "By blocking the Government from enforcing scores of regulations that respondents never challenged and that bear no apparent relationship to respondents' alleged injuries, the lower courts went beyond their authority to remedy the discrete harms alleged here."
Pope Francis met with LGBTQ activists from Uganda and Ghana this week. It was the first time the head of the Roman Catholic Church and queer African activists had been face-to-face. The pontiff joined them in condemning anti-queer legislation in both nations, specifically Uganda’s notorious Anti-Homosexuality Act.
Clare Byarugaba is with the queer advocacy group Chapter Four Uganada. She tweeted a video on the X platform of her shaking hands and kissing the Pope on both cheeks. Byarugaba said that Francis repeated his belief that “discrimination is a sin, and violence against LGBTIQ communities is unacceptable.”
Byarugaba was introduced to the Pope by Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay Chilean member of the pontiff’s advisory panel on protecting children from pedophile priests. Cruz is himself a survivor of clergy sex abuse.
The August 13th meeting with Pope Francis also included Rightify Ghana Director Ebenezer Peegah. Right now Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo is waiting for the Supreme Court’s constitutional green light before he signs the horrific “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill.” Under its harsh provisions, even being an LGBTQ+ ally would be a crime.
Activist Peegah said he was grateful “for [the Pope’s] progressive stance, especially his opposition to violence and discrimination. Pope Francis encouraged us to ‘keep fighting for your rights,’ and that’s exactly what we will do.”
Team LGBTQ won a total of 42 medals at the Olympic Games in Paris. If all the out LGBTQ competitors were a team, it would have finished in 7th place for the most medals, according to the digital outlet Outsports. That, by the way, is a higher ranking than any country that still makes being queer a crime. Team LGBTQ surpassed the 10th place of medal winners set at the Tokyo Games in 2020. They include 15 Gold medals, 13 Silver, and 14 Bronze. Outsports counted a record number of at least 193 openly queer competitors in Paris.
By most accounts, the U.S.A Women’s Basketball team may have been the most openly queer team at this year’s Olympics. More than half of the players and coaches are publicly out. The team grabbed the Gold with a pulse-pounding 67-to-66 victory over their Olympic hosts, France. Britney Griner led the team with her debilitating incarceration in Russia behind her. She could be seen tearing up during the playing of the U.S. National Anthem.
Two female Olympic boxers had their eligibility to compete as women questioned by transphobic critics. Algeria’s Gold Medal-winning cisgender female boxer Imane Khelif is punching back. Khelif is suing anti-trans writer J.K. Rowling and rightwing billionaire Elon Musk. Her criminal complaint with the Paris Prosecutor’s Office charges that their social media posts accusing her of pretending to be a woman exacerbated “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.”
Record-setting British diver Tom Daley is retiring after he and Noah Williams won the Silver in the men’s 10-meter synchronized diving event in Paris. Daley held his customary rainbow towel on the Award platform for the last time.
This means that Robbie and Phoenix Black-Daley will be seeing more of one father. Their power couple co-dad is the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Milk, Dustin Lance Black.
Daley was 14 years old in 2008 when he competed for the first time in Beijing. He won three Bronze medals at the Games in London and Rio De Janeiro, and Gold in Tokyo.
Daley bid an emotional farewell in a brief impromptu encounter with reporters:
[SOUND: Daley]
It’s really hard to talk about. But it’s, ya’know, you have to hang it up sometime, so [unintelligible]. Right now like obviously, it’s a lot, but I’m really happy with how everything’s gone. I just think it’s always hard when you say goodbye to your sport. So … I just … yeah. Lots of things to process, but, ya’know, I think it’s the right time – like this year felt like such a bonus. And I got to compete in front of my family, my kids. So … and I got to be flag bearer … so … yeah … like … bucket list ticked off on every occasion.
I wasn’t expecting all this, it’s quite overwhelming!
[unintelligible question from reporter]
Oh, I think it’s so special! I just … yeah … it’s hard to talk because I … I mean … yeah … it’s my last time … so … I’m sorry.
Retiring British Olympics diver Tom Daley.
In her third try, Kim Coco Iwamoto will be the first out transgender candidate to win election to state office in Hawai’i. The civil rights attorney, school board member and queer activist defeated fellow Democrat Scott Saiki in the party’s August 11th primary election. She has no Republican opposition, so her victory in November is a lock. She’ll represent Honolulu and Kaka’ako.
Iwamoto upset the Democratic establishment with her victory over Saiki, the entrenched incumbent who’s been Speaker of the House since 2017. It was her second political coup. In 2006 she became the highest-ranking out trans person elected to a government position in the United States as the island of O’ahu’s representative on the Hawai’i State Board of Education She says she ran this time in part because she felt a lack of transparency in state politics. Saiki had opposed a raise in the state minimum wage, and Iwamoto believed the Party was ignoring everyday Hawai’ians.
Finally, congratulations are due to Chilean flamingoes Curtis and Arthur on the birth of their new chick this week. The male couple at South West England’s Paignton Zoo in Devon apparently adopted an abandoned egg. According to the zoo’s Birds Curator Pete Smallbones, Chilean flamingo eggs usually take about a month to hatch. Both parents incubate and care for it on mud pile nests. Smallbones says this is the Paignton Zoo’s first successful hatching of the species since 2018.
Chilean flamingos live in shallow lakes across South America. The species is in decline due to habitat degradation from industrial mining operations, tourist disturbances and egg harvesting.
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