The Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles had a brief, shining romance with progressive candidates that began in the 70s, but in the 90s AIDS brought about the demise of the first LGBTQ political action committee in the United States (Part 2 of 2 produced by David Hunt).
And in NewsWrap: Indonesian authorities arrest 56 men during a raid at a private gathering they label a “gay sex party” in a Jakarta hotel, Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei signs a decree banning gender-affirming healthcare for trans and nonbinary patients under 18, U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban transgender treatments for young patients by decree is blocked by two court rulings, transgender and nonbinary people sue the U.S. State Department to demand it continue offering the “X” gender marker for passports and other federal government documents, hundreds protest the National Park Service’s removal of the “T,” “Q” and plus sign from LGBTQ+ on the official website of the Stonewall National Monument, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Elena Botkin-Levy and Michael Taylor Gray (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the February 17, 2025 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of February 17, 2025
The Rise and Fall of MECLA (Pt. 2)
NewsWrap (full transcript below): Indonesian police net 56 men in a raid on a private gathering at a Jakarta hotel that they call a “gay sex party” … Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei announces a ban on all gender-affirming healthcare for trans and nonbinary patients under the age of 18 … two federal U.S. judges temporarily block enforcement of Donald Trump’s presidential executive order banning gender-affirming healthcare for patients under the age of 19 … seven trans and nonbinary plaintiffs sue the U.S. State Department demanding restoration of the Trump-ordered removal of the “X” gender marker option on passports and other federal government documents … reaffirming its cruelty and pettiness, the Trump administration orders the National Park Service to remove all references to transgender people from the website of Greenwich Village’s Stonewall National Monument [with on-scene audio from public protests, and comments by New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, trans-Latina activist Angelica Christina, New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher and National LGBT Task Force Communications Director Cathy Renna] (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, reported this week by ELENA BOTKIN-LEVY and MICHAEL TAYLOR GRAY).
Feature: It invented “checkbook activism” in the 1980s at the beginning of what seemed like a budding romance with a Who’s Who of U.S. liberal politicians. In last week’s first of a two-part series, we recounted the rise of MECLA, the Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles. However, in a system driven by money, even LGBTQ-supportive candidates become gold diggers, and MECLA discovered that money could ultimately not buy love. In the confusion of his 2-part series, This Way Out’s DAVID HUNT reveals how the country’s first gay and lesbian political action committee died.(with comments by California Governor Jerry Brown, activist and U.S. Representative Bella Abzug, U.S. Representative and vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, MECLA communications chair Craig Hume and Silverlake Merchants Association leader Steve Downard; brief intro music by ALICE COOPER and additional music by ITAY KASHTI)
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
global LGBTQ communities
for the week ending February 15th, 2025
Written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle,
reported this week by Elena Botkin-Levy and Michael Taylor Gray,
produced by Brian DeShazor
Indonesian authorities are calling it a “gay sex party.” They arrested 56 men during a raid at a private gathering in a Jakarta hotel on February 1st. Police spokesman Ade Ary Syam Indradi told a press conference, “The event was … merely based on pleasure that they wanted to seek.” Condoms and HIV medications were also seized.
The suspects are being charged under the nation’s pornography laws and face a minimum of two years in prison. Two men who allegedly rented the hotel room and another who allegedly invited the partygoers could be in jail for up to 15 years if convicted.
Sex between men is technically not illegal under Indonesian secular law. However, LGBTQ people face routine discrimination and harassment in the primarily Muslim nation, and when arrested they’re charged with other crimes.
John Sifton is the Asia Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch. He told Metro Weekly, “The prosecution of people [under the anti-pornography law] is one problem. … those who are arrested … are sometimes beaten, extorted for money, [and] have their property confiscated from them. … [T]here are also provisions in the penal code against ‘obscene acts by others with third parties’ that they’ve used to prosecute people as well.”
Indradi underscored the police’s interest in both legal and social expectations. He concluded the press briefing about the raid with the troubling admonishment, “Let this serve as a reminder for everyone to uphold the law and moral decency.”
Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei signed a decree this week banning gender-affirming healthcare for trans and nonbinary patients under the age of 18. The decree also forces transgender inmates to be housed in jail facilities based on their birth gender.
Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni explained that Milei’s action had been informed by legislation restricting pediatric gender-affirming healthcare in the U.K., Sweden, Finland and the United States. It repeals a twenty-twelve gender identity law that allowed the treatments with the consent of the young patient’s parents or guardians. An official government statement argues, “Gender ideology taken to the extreme and applied to children by force or psychological coercion simply constitutes child abuse. … Children do not have the cognitive maturity to make decisions about irreversible processes.” The government failed to provide any evidence that children were being coerced to change gender, or that puberty blockers and hormone therapies are irreversible.
Milei created a stir at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he condemned “wokeism,” feminism and climate activism, referred to LGBTQ people as “pedophiles,” and called Pope Francis “a filthy leftist.” That drew thousands of protesters into the streets of Buenos Aires.
The global queer rights group ILGA World bemoaned developments in Argentina in a statement saying, “Argentina was a beacon in the region, by recognising the right to gender identity without pathologisation or judicialisation. This regression, imposed by decree without parliamentary debate or the participation of the sectors affected, constitutes an abuse of executive power and a blow to democratic institutions.”
Another president’s attempt to ban gender-affirming healthcare for trans patients under the age of 19 by decree is being blocked by the courts.
Judge Brendan Hurson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland was the first to issue a temporary restraining order to halt a January 29th executive order by President Donald Trump. Hurson’s February 13th ruling granted the request from seven families with trans or nonbinary children who are challenging the constitutionality of Trump’s order. They’re joined by P-FLAG National and represented by queer and human rights legal organizations including Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The temporary restraining order lasts for 14 days, but it can be extended, which seems likely. Observing the steep challenges already facing trans people Hurson wrote that Trump’s executive order exacerbates and “seems to deny that this population even exists or deserves to exist.”
The next day, U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King of the Western District of Washington granted a second temporary restraining order – this one in response to a lawsuit filed by three doctors and the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota. Their lawsuit argues that Trump’s order discriminates against patients on the basis of sex and additionally intrudes on states’ powers to regulate medical care.
Hospitals across the country have “obeyed in advance” and stopped dispensing puberty blockers and hormone therapy for their young trans patients, fearing the loss of federal funding. The temporary restraining orders should ensure that practitioners will continue or resume those services – at least for now.
Transgender and nonbinary people are also suing the Trump administration over a presidential directive. Seven plaintiffs are challenging his demand that the U.S. State Department stop offering the “X” gender marker on passports and other federal government documents. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing them and says it has already heard from more than 1500 trans people or their family members about difficulties they’re having getting a passport.
In the words of ACLU Legal Director Jessie Rossman, it’s “yet another example of the Trump administration attempting to deny the dignity of transgender people and trying to push them out of public life. … We’re challenging this unconstitutional Passport Policy because all people deserve the freedom to live their lives safely and with dignity.”
Finally …
[SOUND: Hell no, we won’t go! Hell no, we won’t go! Fades under…]
Hundreds gathered at the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ movement to protest another absurdly transphobic action by the Trump administration. Since by executive order the United States now recognizes only two genders, the National Park Service has erased the “T,” “Q” and plus sign from LGBTQ+ on the official website of the Stonewall National Monument. All references to transgender people are gone, and the word “queer” has disappeared. It’s particularly ironic, as New York State Senator Brad Holyman-Sigal told CBS News:
[SOUND: Holyman-Sigal]
The transgender community threw the first bricks that launched the contemporary LGBTQ human rights movement.
[SOUND: Angelica Christina]
Trans folks, especially trans women of color, black and brown trans women were at the forefront of the LGBT movement back in 1969 when the Stonewall Inn was being raided.
Trans-Latina activist Angelica Christina spoke to WPIX.
And I always make sure to speak their names: Marsha P Johnson, Sylvia, Rivera, Miss Major Griffin Gracie, and queer people like Stormé DeLarverie.
Another protester told Fox News 5:
[SOUND: Latino vox pop]
It’s not only about removing letters from a website, it’s a coordinated attack to remove or try to erase trans, queer, non-binary people.
Gay New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher also attended the rally:
[SOUND: Bottcher]
Trump and his people are trying to cleave our community apart, they're trying to pit us against each other. They're not gonna succeed.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the erasure “cruel and petty.” Cathy Renna of the National LGBT Task Force put it into perspective for ABC News:
[SOUND: Renna]
It’s just another part of the chaos and cascade of attacks that the queer community is facing under the Trump administration. … The pendulum swings both ways and progress is not linear. No, we're not going anywhere.
The demonstrators at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village have a warning:
[SOUND: protestor]
For those who think that they're gonna stop at the “T,” they're gonna remove all the other letters.
[SOUND: crowd]
[One]When they’re done with us, they’re coming for you!
[All] When they’re done with us, they’re coming for you!
[One]When they’re done with us, they’re coming for you!