This Way Out: Un-censoring Whitman+a Well Strung quartet+global LGBT news

This Way Out #1,348 Program Rundown:

Opening teases/theme music/intro continuity . . . . . . . . . . 1:05

SEGMENT #1 – "NewsWrap": Thousands of demonstrators stone a courtroom in northern Nigeria demanding quick convictions and executions of several men accused of belonging to gay advocacy groups as attacks on sexual minorities in Nigeria escalate following the mid-January enactment of draconian anti-gay legislation; well-known award-winning Kenyan writer Binjavanga Wainaina comes out to protest the anti-gay law in Nigeria and a similar law apparently still pending in Uganda; marriage equality actions in U.S. states continue to mushroom, with Virginia's new Attorney General announcing that he would not defend his state's ban on civil marriage for same-gender couples, while Idaho and Nevada Attorneys General each defend their state's ban in federal lawsuits; Utah gets more time to prepare its defense of the state's marriage ban, while four legally wed same-gender couples who married during the 17 days that they could file suit for state recognition of their marriages; a federal judge in Oregon consolidates two marriage equality lawsuits while rights activists push a petition to get the issue on the November state ballot, while six same-gender couples file suit for the right to marry in Florida; thanks to what Democrats call a "power play" by Republican Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma, a bill to constitutionally outlaw marriage for same-gender couples passes in committee and heads to the full chamber; Russian anti-gay thug Maxim Martsinkevich is arrested in Cuba and heads home to stand trial for "extremism" – though his online video postings of gangs trapping and abusing young gay men are apparently not part of the charges against him; Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev tells "CNN" that he hasn't heard of any virtually-silenced LGBT person complaining about his country's law banning "gay propaganda", and falsely claims that it's not even being enforced; marriage equality-supportive female ice hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser is named by the Canadian Olympic Committee to be her nation's Opening Ceremonies flag bearer at the Winter Games in Sochi, while out Australian Olympic snow board cross rider Belle Brockhoff looks forward to the competition, and then to talking to anyone who will listen to her angry condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin for his defense of the so-called "no promo homo law" (produced by STEVE PRIDE, written by GREG GORDON, and reported this week by NATALIE PEOPLES & MICHAEL ALLAN) [10:51] + "TWO" Web promo (voiced by JENN MAHONEY) [:16]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:07

SEGMENT #2 – Billboard for the Well Strung feature [:06] + It's not too much to say that WALT WHITMAN changed western culture. The complex blending of spirituality, sexuality and the American experience in his poetry are indelible, despite the 19th Century mores that forced him to write cryptically about his relationships with men, and despite the literary straight-washing of later eras. That's what performance artist PATRICK SCULLY is trying to portray in his multi-disciplinary work-in-progress about Whitman's life and work. Correspondents DIXIE TREICHEL and JOHN TOWNSEND ["Fresh Fruit"/KFAI-FM/Minneapolis-St. Paul) talked with Scully about the project (with brief intro music performed by THE MONOTONES) [7:15]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:21
[patrickscully.org]

SEGMENT #3 – "TWO" I.D. by acclaimed British actor and raconteur STEPHEN FRY [:22] + What do you get when you cross a string quartet with a boy band? "This Way Out" Entertainment Correspondent STEVE PRIDE finds out when he meets first violinist EDMUND BAGNELL, second violinist CHRISTOPHER MARCHANT, cellist DANIEL SHEVLIN and violist TREVOR WADLEIGH of WELL STRUNG (with excerpts from their instrumental and vocal music) [7:35] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:57
[well-strung.com]

Closing Credits/continuity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:22

TOTAL PROGRAM TIME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28:52