Home

Details

Tune into Out-FM on Tues., August 4, 2026 from 8:00-9:00 pm ET, on​ WBAI/NY​, 99.5 FM​, or livestreaming at wbai.org/listen-live

 

The file containing the show will be posted by Wednesday evening allowing you to stream the show or use the green down arrow to download mp3 file.

On January 20th 2025, President Trump signed an executive order pausing funding for the Presidential Emergency Program for AIDS Relief or PEPFAR for short. PEPFAR is the bilateral program which delivers drugs, funding for medical personel, testing and education to address the worldwide pandemic of AIDS. The 2025 pause in global AIDS funding caused panic among the agencies, clinics and health departments in the countries hardest hit by AIDS as they only had drugs for a few months in stock. While the pause was temporary, full funding was never restored leading to closure of 1700 prevention programs, healthcare centers and caused stock outs of AIDS drugs that interrupted the treatment of People With AIDS in many countries, especially in Africa.

 

The pause in global AIDS funding was partially reversed by protests by the organization Health GAP, which was founded in 1998 by Dr. Allan Berkman, Housing Works, ACT UP/NY & ACT UP/Philadelphia. Just how much has been restored has been obscured by the Trump administration.

Protest Demanding Funding For PEPFAR In Congress

Protest Demanding Funding For PEPFAR In Congress at the Cannon House Office Building in 2025

However In June of this year the State Department had obligated, or pledged, $2.5 billion less than congressionally mandated by the same time in the funding cycle as the program expended in 2024. The PEPFAR Budget is about $4.6 billion, so this is a massive cut to funding.

Jeffrey Graham US AIDS Coordinator for the State Department

Jeffrey Graham US AIDS Coordinator for the State Department

This year, during a preconference session at the International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janiero Brazil, Healthgap and other AIDS organizations disrupted the speech of Jeffrey Graham, Trump’s US Global AIDS Coordinator demanding release of the funds.

Joining us to discuss this protest and others held at the International AIDS Conference in Brazil is Asia Russell, executive director of Health Gap who has been organizing and protesting at the Conference.

Many People with HIV/AIDS Protest US Cuts to PEPFAR

Many People with HIV/AIDS Protest US Cuts to PEPFAR

 

Russell will discuss the campaigns to push countries like France which used Trump's slashing of global AIDS contributions to cut theirs by 60%.

Protest of French President Macron's 60% Cut to Global AIDS

Protest of French President Macron's 60% Cut to Global AIDS

She will also discuss the campaign by the Brazilian people to get access to a highly effective HIV/Prevention drug requiring 2 injections/year that was tested on Brazilians but is now unaffordable because of the super high price tag. The drug costs $28,000/year in the US, but only costs $40 for a years supply.

Brazil Break the Patent on Lenacapavir

Brazil Break the Patent on Lenacapavir

-------------------------

About Out-FM

Out-FM is a weekly progressive, intersectional queer show by and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex, queer, and questioning communities. Our program originates from listener-sponsored, noncommercial WBAI/Pacifica Radio in New York, 99.5 FM and wbai.org. Our programs are archived at outfm.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

Sign up for Out-FM's Weekly Newsletter with show announcements.

Support us by following, liking and sharing our content on social media. Find us at:

 

Details

  • Out-FM show aired on July 28, 2026 

Press play to stream show or green down arrow to download mp3 file.

-----------------------------

Sign up for Out-FM's Weekly Newsletter with show announcements.

Please note: Listener-sponsored WBAI is in its annual Summer fundraising drive, continuing until Sept. 20. We urge you to be generous in helping keep our grassroots, kick-ass station -- and Out-FM in particular -- on the air. Please donate either a one-time amount, or better yet, become a sustainer, a "BAI Buddy" -- either option at wbai.org. More details on other ways to make your donation at the bottom. If you donate, we hope you will mention Out-FM as your favorite show.

-----------------------------

Attack on Berlin Pride Could Boost the Fascist AfD

Berlin in rainbow colors (Senatskanzlei Berlin @RegBerlin, 7.27.26)

Berlin in rainbow colors (Senatskanzlei Berlin @RegBerlin, 7.27.26)

Berlin Police shot and killed a man who killed one woman and injured 29 others as he plowed a rented van into people at the Christopher Street Day (CSD) — Germany's largest annual LGBTQ pride event — in the Tiergarten (Berlin's Central Park) on Saturday night. The act of terrorism by a German citizen of Lebanese descent could boost the fascist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party that is leading in all the polls by fanning the flames of Islamophobia, already raging across the country. Germany's chancellor Friedrich Merz of the conservative ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party responded to the incident by calling for draconian new 'security' measures that may be used to suppress freedom of speech — including criticism of Apartheid Israel — even as the German government continues to support the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Yet the presence of 2,200 police (up from 1,300 in the previous year) at the CSD event did not prevent this attack and very aggressive policing in the German capital has not prevented homophobic and transphobic attacks such as this one on members of the LGBTQ community in Berlin and elsewhere across the country. Out-FM's Pauline Park has lived in Germany and follows German politics closely; she will discuss this disturbing situation with Out-FM's John Riley.

----------------------------

Queer AIDS Activism in a California Prison

One of Emily Hobson's slides

Credits: The Vacaville Reporter and AIDS Memorial Quilt 

The full slide show, Lessons from Vacaville: Queer AIDS Activism in a California Prison, is here.

At the height of the AIDS crisis in the early 1990s, incarcerated activists inside California Medical Facility-Vacaville, supported by ACT UP, organized powerfully against carceral policies of HIV/AIDS segregation, discrimination, and medical neglect. They used the weapons of hunger strikes, medication strikes, powerful advocacy to the media, and stimulating legislative investigations to successfully fight for more humane HIV care. This segment is the audio of a presentation made in April 2026 by Emily K. Hobson, Associate Professor of History and of Gender, Race, and Identity, University of Nevada, Reno. She delivered it at the Queer-Class Relations Conference sponsored by CLAGS, the CUNY Center for LGBTQ Studies.

Emily Hobson, University of Nevada, Reno.

Credit: Yashila Sanchez 

---------------------------

-------------------------

About Out-FM

Out-FM is a weekly progressive, intersectional queer show by and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex, queer, and questioning communities. Our program originates from listener-sponsored, noncommercial WBAI/Pacifica Radio in New York, 99.5 FM and wbai.org. Our programs are archived at outfm.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

Sign up for Out-FM's Weekly Newsletter with show announcements.

Support us by following, liking and sharing our content on social media. Find us at: