Main content

The Nun Campaigning for Gay Rights

When Sister Jeannine Gramick joined a Catholic convent in the 1960s, she had never even heard the word 'homosexual'. A chance encounter with a young gay man then changed her life.

This is the tale of a rather unlikely gay rights campaigner. Growing up in a traditional 1940s American family, Sister Jeannine Gramick felt a calling to join the Catholic Church when she was just six-years-old. She had never even heard the word 'homosexual' before when she started at a Baltimore convent. It was a chance encounter with a young gay man that changed the direction of her life.

There is a new superhero protecting the streets in Mexico. But forget Superman, Batman or Spiderman, this caped crusader is Peat贸nito - Pedestrian Man! He's fighting to protect the rights of pedestrians in a city where one person dies on the roads every day.

If you were to write a song what would you base it on? Love? Regret? What about hand washing? This is the topic chosen by Mozambican musician Feliciano Dos Santos. As a child he contracted polio from contaminated water, an incident that made him determined the same wouldn't happen to others.

In Assam in north-east India, superstitious beliefs about witches are still commonly held. People accused of being witches are often thrown out of their villages and can be tortured or killed. Despite having little education and coming from a poor background, Birubala Rabha, has taken it upon herself to rid her state of these harmful practices - so far she says she has saved over 40 people whose lives were at threat after they were accused of being witches.

American singer, songwriter, film actress and comedian Bette Midler has been nominated for two Oscars and sold over 35 million records worldwide. But early in her career she was singing to small audiences in the Continental Baths, a gay sauna in New York. She speaks to the 大象传媒's John Wilson.

(Picture: Sister Jeannine Gramick. Credit: Giampiero Sposito/Reuters)

Available now

50 minutes

Last on

Thu 7 Jan 2016 06:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Wed 6 Jan 2016 12:06GMT
  • Wed 6 Jan 2016 17:06GMT
  • Wed 6 Jan 2016 21:06GMT
  • Thu 7 Jan 2016 02:06GMT
  • Thu 7 Jan 2016 04:06GMT
  • Thu 7 Jan 2016 05:06GMT
  • Thu 7 Jan 2016 06:06GMT

Contact Outlook

Contact Outlook

Info on how we might use your contribution on air

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else鈥檚 life and expect the unexpected