Drag may be under fire today by the enforcers of “family values,” but not so back in the early 1900s according to scholar and historian Andrew L. Erdman, author of “Beautiful: The story of Julian Eltinge, America’s Greatest Female Impersonator” (interviewed by David Hunt).
And in NewsWrap: openly gay Malcolm Bishop’s appointment as Lord Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tonga draws immediate calls for his removal, Iran’s government summons Australian Ambassador Ian McConville for a post celebrating Australia’s “Wear It Purple Day” for queer youth. six major U.S. publishers sue Florida for its book ban policy, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will now “annotate” trans Mormons’ membership records like child pornographers and church embezzlers, Virginia’s Sweet Briar College changes its admissions policy to exclude trans and non-binary applicants, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Elena Botkin-Levy and John Dyer V (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the September 9, 2024 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of September 9, 2024
Beautiful Drag Great Julian Eltinge
NewsWrap (full transcript below): The Polynesian island nation of Tonga is embroiled in controversy over the appointment of openly gay Malcolm Bishop as the Supreme Court’s new Lord Chief Justice … Iran’s offended Foreign Ministry summons Australia’s Ambassador Ian McConville over an Instagram post with photos of a “Wear It Purple Day” celebration of LGBTQ youth at the Embassy in Tehran … six major U.S. publishers, including HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster, along with several authors, parents and students sue Florida over what it claims is the state’s unconstitutional legislation allowing individuals to have “objectionable” books removed from public school library shelves … the Mormon Church issues new restrictions on the participation of transgender members, including denying them the opportunity to serve in the clergy, as teachers, or to work with children … Sweet Briar College, a small women’s college in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, is under scrutiny over its new anti-trans policy that requires every applicant to confirm “that her sex assigned at birth is female and that she consistently lives and identifies as a woman” (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, reported this week by ELENA BOTKIN-LEVY and JOHN DYER V) + “Rock”’n with Trump and Vance (with music by SIMON & GARFUNKLE).
Feature: You’d think that drag shows were a recent invention, to hear some folks talk. Nothing could be further from the truth! For a history — and fashion — lesson, This Way Out’s DAVID HUNT travels back to the early days of the last century with Andrew Erdman, author of Beautiful: The story of Julian Eltinge, America’s Greatest Female Impersonator (with audio from The Voice of Hollywood with Kyle Cox, and music by THE MANHATTAN RAGTIME ORCHESTRA and THE SOUND ACES).
Feature: Tease/promo for next week’s chat with Laural Meade about famed “Last of the Red Hot Mamas” entertainer Sophie Tucker, with a brief musical excerpt by Miss Tucker.
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
global LGBTQ communities
for the week ending September 7th, 2024
Written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle,
reported this week by Elena Botkin-Levy and John Dyer V,
produced by Brian DeShazor
The appointment of a gay man to be Lord Chief Justice of its Supreme Court has the Polynesian island nation of Tonga embroiled in controversy. Opposition kicked in just three days after Malcolm Bishop took office on September 2nd, when the Tonga Law Society petitioned King Tupou VI and his Privy Council calling for Bishop’s ouster. Tongan law punishes gay male and heterosexual sodomy with up to 10 years in prison. The petition charges that as a gay man, King’s Counsel of Wales Bishop would not be able to rule impartially on any challenge to those laws.
Bishop’s 51-year relationship with his late partner Anthony Vander Woerd was widely reported when Vander Woerd was killed in a 2019 robbery.
The 79-year-old Bishop’s biography includes theology studies at Oxford University, according to the local news outlet Kaniva Tonga. He recently published The Gospels – A Lawyer’s Translation from the Original Greek, and his translation of the entire New Testament is scheduled for publication by the end of this year.
That has not stopped Christian church groups from strongly opposing his appointment. They might organize marches in protest and could also file separate petitions demanding Bishop’s removal.
Former president of Tonga’s queer advocacy Leitis Association Henry Aho challenged unfounded questions about Bishop’s impartiality. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s ‘Pacific Beat,’ "I think these objections are themselves objectionable. I think they're inflammatory, insensitive to the Tongan Leiti community, and insulting, not only to the Chief Justice but also to all members of Tonga's Law Society who have diverse sexual orientations.”
Every Tongan citizen has the right to petition the King and Privy Council over any issue, but the government is not obligated to act on them.
Iran’s government has summoned Australian Ambassador Ian McConville for supporting queer youth. The Embassy in Tehran posted photos on Instagram from its celebration of Australia’s “Wear It Purple Day” on September 1st.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry claimed the posts “promoted homosexuality,” and called them “insulting and contrary to Iranian and Islamic traditions, customs, and culture,” according to the state-run IRNA News.
Same-gender sex is a criminal offense in Iran. Men can be punished by death, and women face up to 100 lashes in the public square.
McConville replied that the post depicted an internal event with no references to Iran. The three photos were captioned, “Today, and every day, we’re dedicated to creating a supportive environment, where everyone, especially LGBTQIA+ youth, can feel proud to be themselves.”
Australia’s Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt defended the Ambassador. Watt did not say if Australia would take any official action in response to McConville being called on the carpet.
Six major U.S. publishers are suing Florida. They’re saying that the state’s 2023 law that lets anyone have a book removed from a school library if it describes “sexual content” is unconstitutional. The plaintiffs are HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster and Sourcebooks. Several authors, two students and two parents have joined them.
Hundreds of books have been removed from public school libraries across the state since Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1069 into law last year.
HarperCollins’ press release this week says that books by Maya Angelou, Aldous Huxley, Judy Blume and Charles Dickens have been yanked from library shelves. Well-known works by Ernest Hemingway, Alice Walker, Leo Tolstoy, Stephen King, Gabriel García Márquez and Kurt Vonnegut have also vanished.
Florida Department of Education spokesperson Nathalia Medina insists “There are no books banned in Florida.” She says, “Sexually explicit material and instruction are not suitable for schools.”
Just what constitutes “pornographic” or “sexual content?” The lawsuit claims that many of the removed books “are not remotely obscene,” and challenges the legislation’s vague definitions. It argues that students have the First Amendment free speech right to “read constitutionally protected books, free from unconstitutional content-based restrictions mandated by the state of Florida.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is slapping an asterisk on its transgender members. An updated handbook for the church popularly known as the Mormons specifies that trans people cannot become clergy, teachers, or work with children. Trans people who have transitioned socially or medically cannot be baptized.
According to the update released in late August, “Church leaders counsel against pursuing surgical, medical, or social transition away from one’s biological sex at birth. … Leaders advise that taking these actions will result in some Church membership restrictions.”
A trans Mormon’s membership record will now be “annotated” as it would be for other so-called “situations” such as incest, child pornography or abuse, plural marriage or embezzlement of church funds. Nevertheless, the handbook says transgender people “should be treated with sensitivity, kindness, compassion, and Christlike love.” It’s not entirely clear why the Church decided to issue such harsh new restrictions on them now.
The over 45-year-old queer Mormon group Affirmation decried the policy changes, but refuses to give up hope. Relying on the Mormon Article of Faith that “[God] will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God,” they wrote, “We hope that God will yet reveal better for our transgender siblings.”
Finally, Sweet Briar College in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia has a thorny problem with its admissions policy. The college’s website now says, “An applicant is qualified for admission if she confirms that her sex assigned at birth is female and that she consistently lives and identifies as a woman.” However, that’s a new interpretation of Sweet Briar’s founding document.
The school was created by the will of Indiana Fletcher Williams, who died in 1900. Williams wanted the college on her former plantation estate to be “for the education of white girls and young women.” Only the Civil Rights Act of 1964 persuaded the school to admit Black female students, according to the Associated Press.
Today Sweet Briar President Mary Pope Hutson says that the phrase “girls and women” must still be interpreted “as it was understood at the time the Will was written,” to avoid “… a slippery slope toward coeducation.” That decision will make it one of the few women’s colleges in the United States to specifically ban transgender applicants.
The Faculty Senate voted 48-to-4 this week, with one abstention, to ask the college’s Board of Directors to rescind the new policy. Senate chair and English professor John Gregory Brown called it “absurd” and “morally repugnant.” One Board member has resigned over it.
A statement from the Student Government Association says the policy is “alienating, unnecessary, and … reflects the rise of transphobia in our country.”
Nonbinary senior Isabella Paul is the Student Government president. They told the Associated Press that more than 10 percent of the school’s 460 students currently use different pronouns, and would not conform to Sweet Briar’s new definition of “woman.” What of them? Hutson replied only that the school tries “to ensure that all of our students feel welcome on campus.”
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