PHI LADELPHIA GAY NEWS
est. 1976
November 8-14, 2019
O U R H I S T O R Y, O U R F U T U R E
Election brings historic Mayor Kenney signs LGBTQ
change to City Council, ‘inclusivity package’ into law
area races
F R A N K P OTO PA , M I N O R I T Y I N S P E C TO R , A N D E L I Z A B E T H C O F F E Y
W I L L I A M S , T H E F I R S T T R A N S G E N D E R J U D G E O F E L E C T I O N S , AT J O H N C .
A N D E R S O N A PA R T M E N T S . P h o t o b y K e l l y B u r k h a r d t
VICTORIA A. BROWNWORTH
PGN Contributor
Change was on the ballot in
Pennsylvania on Tuesday and
women, LGBTQ folks and people
of color were the winners as an-
other blue wave swept through the
state, displacing Republicans in fa-
vor of progressives.
Philadelphia made history Tues-
day, electing the first independent
member of City Council, Kendra
Brooks of the Working Families
Party, a progressive independent
party.
Democrats Allan Domb, Derek
Green, Helen Gym, Kathy Rich-
ardson and Isaiah Thomas won at-
large seats.
Republican incumbent David
Oh, who made a series of contro-
versial statements about gender
WILLIAM WAY OPENS NEW TRANS
RESOURCE CENTER
A new resource hub providing services including health care
and therapy referrals opened Thursday at the William Way
LGBT Community Center.
P h i l l y ’s f i r s t a t t e m p t a t n o n d i s c r i m i n a t i o n
reassignment surgery on Facebook
last month, citing an anti-LGBTQ
religious group, held onto his seat
in a close race against Brooks’
WFP running mate Nicolas O’Ro-
urke. O’Rourke received 43,012
votes to Oh’s 49,700. Republi-
can Al Taubenberger lost his seat
to Brooks but would have beaten
O’Rourke with 44,084 votes. Out
lesbian candidate Sherrie Cohen,
who also ran as an independent,
lost her bid for an at-large seat but
secured 8,354 votes. Republican
candidate and out gay man David
Orsino lost to Mark Squilla in City
Council’s 1st District race.
The city also elected queer judge
attorney Tiffany Palmer to the
Court of Common Pleas. Palmer
received more votes than any of the
other judicial candi-
dates with 205,607. page 16
PA G E 2
2ND TRANSWORK JOB FAIR
PARTNERS WITH BLUE CROSS
TransWork, an employment initiative for trans, nonbinary
and gender-nonconforming people, held its second job fair
Monday evening in Center City.
LAURA SMYTHE
laura@epgn.com
Mayor Jim Kenney signed an
“inclusivity package” expanding
protections for trans, nonbinary and
gender-nonconforming Philadel-
phians into law Thursday morning
at City Hall.
The three bills, introduced by
Councilmember Helen Gym,
amend the city’s Fair Practices
Ordinance with modern, inclusive
definitions of “sexual orientation”
and “gender non-conforming”;
require youth organizations to im-
plement policies ensuring nondis-
criminatory treatment of trans and
gender-nonconforming youth; and
ensure City and public buildings
provide accessible, gender-neutral
bathrooms, including on each of
floor of City Hall.
Penn claims trans people are not
protected under federal antibias law
TIMOTHY CWIEK
timothy@epgn.com
The University of Pennsyl-
vania, widely regarded as a
progressive institution, is ar-
guing in court documents that
transgender individuals in the
region aren’t protected from
discrimination under Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act, a federal
workplace-antibias law.
Penn and the Hospital of
the University of Pennsylva-
nia were sued in July by “Jane
Doe,” a trans woman and for-
PA G E 6
HONESTY . INTEGRITY . PROFESSIONALISM
V ol. 43 N o. 45 pgn
PAG E 4
M AYO R K E N N E Y, S U R R O U N D E D B Y L E G I S L ATO R S A N D L G B T Q A C T I V I S T S ,
S I G N S T H R E E B I L L S E X PA N D I N G P R OT E C T I O N S F O R T R A N S , N O N B I N A RY
A N D G E N D E R - N O N C O N F O R M I N G P E O P L E O C T. 3 1 AT C I T Y H A L L .
Photo by Laura Smythe
“It’s our responsibility as a city recognized, affirmed and have in-
government to continue to fight alienable rights under the law,”
for every member of marginalized Kenney said, adding,
page 19
communities to feel safe, be seen, “These bills are a
mer employee at HUP who alleges she was illegally fired from her job
at HUP after experiencing se-
vere harassment while a patient
there.
One of her claims is employ-
ment discrimination covered by
Title VII, which bans workplace
bias based on sex, race, color,
religion or national origin. But
Penn defendants recently filed
a legal document claiming that
discrimination based on trans-
F R O N T E N T R A N C E A N D S I LV E R S T E I N
P A V I L I O N O F T H E H O S P I TA L O F T H E gender status is not actionable
U N I V E R S I T Y O F P E N N S Y LV A N I A ( H U P ) . under Title VII in the Third Cir-
FA C I N G N O R T H . cuit.
Photo by Sage Ross The Third Cir- page 19
PA G E 8
VISIT PHILLY WINS AWARDS FOR
LGBTQ, LATINX CAMPAIGNS
A busy year of marketing left Visit Philly walking away
with many prestigious awards surrounding diversity and in-
clusion, from the Inquirer and GayCities, among others.
2 LOCAL
RESOURCE LISTINGS
LEGAL RESOURCES
PHILADELPHIA COMMISSION ON
HUMAN RELATIONS —
Rue Landau
215-686-4670
PHILADELPHIA POLICE
LIAISON COMMITTEE
215-760-3686
ppd.lgbt@gmail.com
SPARC — STATEWIDE
PENNSYLVANIA RIGHTS COALITION
717-920-9537
ACLU OF PENNSYLVANIA
215-592-1513; aclupa.org
AIDS LAW PROJECT OF PA
215-587-9377; aidslawpa.org
AIDS LAW PROJECT OF
SOUTH JERSEY
856-784-8532; aidslawsnj.org
EQUALITY PA
equalitypa.org; 215-731-1447
OFFICE OF LGBT AFFAIRS —
EVAN THORNBURG
215-686-0330
evan.thornburg@phila.gov
COMMUNITY CENTERS
THE ATTIC YOUTH CENTER
255 S. 16th St.; 215-545-4331
atticyouthcenter.org
For LGBT and questioning youth
and their friends and allies.
LGBT CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY
OF PENNSYLVANIA
3907 Spruce St.; 215-898-5044
center@dolphin.upenn.edu
RAINBOW ROOM: BUCKS
COUNTY’S LGBTQ AND ALLIES
YOUTH CENTER
Salem UCC Education Building
181 E. Cour t St., Doylestown
215-957-7981 ext. 9065
rainbowroom@ppbucks.org
WILLIAM WAY
LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER
1315 Spruce St.; 215-732-2220
www.waygay.org
H E A LT H A N D H I V T E S T I N G
ACTION WELLNESS
1216 Arch St.; 215-981-0088 ac-
tionwellness.org
AIDS TREATMENT FACT LINE
800-662-6080
AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION
1211 Chestnut St. #405
215-971-2804; HIVcare.org
AIDS LIBRARY
1233 Locust St, aidslibrar y.org
COLOURS
coloursorganization.org
215-832-0100
BEBASHI-TRANSITION TO HOPE
1235 Spring Garden St
215-769-3561; bebashi.org
CONGRESO DE LATINOS UNIDOS
216 W. Somerset St
215-763-8870
GALAEI
149 W. Susquehanna Ave
267-457-3912, galaei.org
Spanish/English
HEALTH CENTER NO. 2
1720 S. Broad St
215-685-1821
MAZZONI CENTER
1348 Bainbridge St
215-563-0652
mazzonicenter.org
PHILADELPHIA FIGHT
1233 Locust St.; 215-985-4448
fight.org
WASHINGTON WEST PROJECT OF
MAZZONI CENTER
1201 Locust St.; 215-985-9206
TRANSGENDER HEALTH ACTION
COALITION
215-732-1207
OTHER
INDEPENDENCE BRANCH LIBRARY
BARBARA GITTINGS GAY AND
LESBIAN COLLECTION
215-685-1633
INDEPENDENCE BUSINESS
ALLIANCE
215-557-0190, independence-
businessalliance.com
LGBT PEER COUNSELING
SERVICES
215-732-TALK
PFLAG: PARENTS, FAMILIES AND
FRIENDS OF LESBIANS AND GAYS
(PHILADELPHIA)
215-572-1833
PHILLY PRIDE PRESENTS
215-875-9288
William Way opens new trans
resource center
LAURA SMYTHE
laura@epgn.com
The Arcila-Adams Trans Resource Center, a
new resource hub providing services including
health care and therapy referrals, job services
and help enrolling in insurance and food assis-
tance programs, opened Thursday at the Wil-
liam Way LGBT Community Center.
The project, which has been in the works
for a year, centralizes information and services
available across the city for trans people. Lo-
cated in a newly-renovated space on the fourth
floor of the building at 1315 Market St., the
site will offer computers and access to Wil-
liam Way staff who can link trans folks to rel-
evant programs both at the community center
and with external organizations. The initiative
stemmed from an “urgent need” for focused
services for the city’s trans population, said
Chris Bartlett, executive director of William
Way LGBT Community Center.
“[It’s] so that trans folks can plug into our
services and to those at other agencies and
have a safe place that’s their own,” he added.
“We felt that at a time with increasing hostili-
ty from both the federal government and from
other political figures, it was really important
for us as the community center to say that we
wanted to stand behind our trans communities
and provide the best resources to them.”
The new programming venue is the name-
sake of two late, crucial leaders in the trans
movement in Philadelphia: Charlene Arcila,
who founded the Mazzoni Center’s Phila-
delphia Trans Health Conference and filed a
groundbreaking discrimination suit against
SEPTA regarding the gender markers the
transportation company once issued on trans-
portation passes, and Jaci Adams, a pioneer-
ing LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist who men-
tored dozens of young trans women.
Philly AIDS Thrift at Giovanni’s Room, one
of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the country,
provided the bulk of funding for the resource
hub, Bartlett said.
We want to be a visible supporter of the
trans communities of the Delaware Valley,
who have contributed so much to our commu-
nities’ strength,” Michael Byrne, president of
nonprofit Philly AIDS Thrift’s board of direc-
tors, told PGN. “We’re glad that the trans re-
source center will be a safe, central sanctuary
for trans people at a time when they face hos-
tility and violence on so many levels.”
Part of the trans resource center’s mission
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
is to strengthen a sense of community among
trans folks by offering a safe space for them
to connect to services, as well as each other,
said Celena Morrison, director of programs at
Wiliam Way LGBT Community Center.
“One of the most important things that hap-
pens within our community is the forming of
chosen families and things of that nature,”
she said. “That’s more important now than
ever before because we see so much violence
directed toward the folks in our community,
particularly trans women of color. So having
a safe space to look for jobs, to apply for ben-
efits and get connected to all the different re-
sources [is important].”
Morrison told PGN the trans resource cen-
ter will also collaborate with TransWork, an
employment program for trans, nonbinary and
gender-nonconforming people that launched
this fall out of the Independence Business
Alliance, Philadelphia’s LGBT Chamber of
Commerce. The initiative held its second job
fair Monday in partnership with health insur-
ance organization Independence Blue Cross,
coming on the heels of its inaugural Septem-
ber career event produced with Philadelphia
International Airport.
The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found
the trans unemployment rate was three times
higher than that of the general population at
the time of the study. It also states that 27 per-
cent of trans folks who held or applied for a
job reported being fired, denied a promotion
or not hired due to their gender identity or ex-
pression.
The project is part of a dedicated effort at
William Way to step away from a reputation
of historically “catering to cis gay white men,”
Morrison said, adding she hopes the new re-
source center can spur similar trans-specific
programming across the city and state.
“I hope that leading by example, that Wil-
liam Way can show other organizations ...
what needs to be done or what we could do
differently and just start implementing [ser-
vices],” Morrison said.
Bartlett envisions a similar ripple effect in
resources for the trans community across the
country.
“It’s a city, state and national example for
how at this key time when trans people need
safe spaces to come together and work togeth-
er to build communities, that the center’s pro-
viding a model that can be used by many other
spaces and organizations to provide that safe,
empowering space,” he said. n
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
PGN
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4 NEWS COLUMN
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com

OUR HISTORY, OUR FUTURE BY JASON VILLAMEZ

pgn Philly’s first attempt at nondiscrimination

In the Jan.
Publisher 3, 1976 issue
of PGN, Har-
Mark Segal (ext. 204) ry Langhorne
mark@epgn.com
wrote an article
about Bill 1275,
Office Manager/ which was in-
Distribution troduced in City
Don Pignolet (ext. 200) Council in the
don@epgn.com spring of 1974.
The bill sought
Editor to amend the
Jess Bryant (ext. 206) city’s Fair Prac-
editor@epgn.com tices Act to
prohibit sexual
Staff Writers orientation dis-
Laura Smythe (ext. 215) crimination in
laura@epgn.com housing, public
Larry Nichols (ext. 213) accommoda-
larry@epgn.com tions and em-
Timothy Cwiek (ext. 208)
ployment.
timothy@epgn.com The years fol-
lowing Stone-
Photographer wall had seen
both advances
Kelly Burkhardt
burkhardtkelly@gmail.com and setbacks in
LGBT rights.
Art Director By the mid-
’70s, several cit-
Sean Dorn (ext. 211)
sean@epgn.com ies had passed
nondiscrimina-
tion bills, and
Graphic Artist 13 states had
repealed sod-
Ash Cheshire (ext. 210) John Krol, who appeared in full religious have to wait seven more years, until 1982,
ash@epgn.com omy laws, but much of that legislation was
attire. for a nondiscrimination bill to get passed.
repealed after community backlash. Police
Langhorne described the hearings in his During that time, the community was
Advertising Sales were still raiding bars, people were still
original article: “The fundamentalists were forced to debate which tactics worked best
being fired from their jobs, and states had
Joe Bean (ext. 219) joined this time by the Police and Firemen, to help enact pro-LGBT legislation. Some
begun to ban same-sex marriage official-
joe@epgn.com who claimed that their morale was too frag- said that the activists’ groups at the time
ly. Even the various LGBT groups were
Prab Sandhu (ext. 212) ile to hold up if they had to work side by were too small and too male-centric and
torn over whether to fight alongside Afri-
prab@epgn.com side with open Gays. And while the funda- that most laypeople knew nothing about
can-American and women’s’ equality ef-
mentalists had become a little crazier this Bill 1275 — thus had no investment in
forts or to focus exclusively on the LGBT
National Advertising time, Bellis and Schwartz allowed them its outcome. The debate on whether to
community. It was in this back-and-forth
to rant for ten minutes about Gays being use nonviolent or militant protest had ad-
Rivendell Media: climate that Philadelphia activists lobbied
212-242-6863 “possessed by devils” without a murmur of vocates on both sides. And the concept
City Council to pass Bill 1275.
objection. Yet when a gay woman attempt- that ally organizations needed not just to
The Council President at the time
ed to testify about some of the patterns of pledge support for LGBT rights, but also
George X. Schwartz was not friendly to the
social discrimination that we face, which put pressure on politicians to vote for it,
LGBT community, same with Councilman
Phone: 215-625-8501 PGN would not be affected by the bill, she was was expanded.
Fax: 215-925-6437 505 S. Fourth St. Isadore Bellis, whose law and government
E-mail: pgn@epgn.com Philadelphia, PA cut off at once.” It was this debate, and the efforts that
committee was assigned the bill. Gay Ac-
Web: www.epgn.com 19147-1506 After the hearings, some Council mem- came out of it, that led to Philadelphia
tivists Alliance, whose members included
bers persuaded activists to wait on further becoming one of the first cities in the
Langhorne and PGN publisher Mark Segal,
Philadelphia Gay News action for the bill until after the primary country to pass — and keep — a nondis-
is a member of: had secured support from numerous com-
The Associated Press election, which led to a subsequent delay crimination bill. Activists brought on even
munity groups, including the Episcopal
Pennsylvania Newspaper until after the general election. By that more organizational allies, including The
Association Diocese, the United Automobile Workers’
Suburban Newspapers point, it became clear that Council was National Organization for Women, and
Union, the NAACP and the Pennsylvania
of America not going to bring the bill out of commit- focused specifically on recruiting more
Democratic Platform. However, Bellis still
tee and hold a vote. Groups such as GAA diverse lobbyists and drawing new people
The views of PGN are expressed only in the unsigned refused to hold hearings on the bill, with-
“Editorial” col­umn. Opinions expressed in bylined col- and Dyketactics mobilized protests in City to the movement. The work those activists
out which the bill could not be voted on.
umns, stories and letters to the editor are those of the Hall, including a hunger strike and a full did is a road map for activists today, both
writer, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Instead, the bill was passed to the Human
PGN. The appearance of names or pictorial represen- takeover of Council chambers where peo- locally and nationally, on how to navigate
Relations Commission, which enforces the
tations in PGN does not necessarily indicate the sexual ple shouted “Free 1275!” The Civil Dis- the political system and make meaningful
orientation of that named or pictured person or persons. Fair Practices Act. After testimony from
obedience Squad, a group of police officers change. As Mark Segal said in his very
gay rights groups and opposition from
Copyright © 1976 - 2019 Copyright(s) in all materials assigned to break up protests and haul peo- first “Mark My Words” column, ‘Philadel-
in these pages are either owned or licensed by Masco fundamentalist religious organizations,
Communications Inc. or its subsidiaries or affiliate compa- ple away, attacked members of Dyketactics phia’s gay community will be back in full
among others, the Commission endorsed
nies (Philadelphia Gay News, PGN, and its WWW sites.) on several occasions, throwing them to the support of the new bill — this is a dream
All other reproduction, distribution, retransmission, mod- the bill and sent it back to City Council.
ification, public display, and public performance of our floor and beating them. coming true.’ n
materials is prohibited without the prior written consent The conservative leadership could no lon-
But the in-your-face, militant tactics
of Masco Communications. To obtain such consent, email ger postpone hearings. On the day, Council
pgn@epgn.com. Published by Masco Communications Inc. were unsuccessful, and Bill 1275 was To read the original article in full, visit
© 1976-2019 Masco Communications Inc. ISSN-0742-515 President Schwartz brought in Archbishop
never brought to vote. Philadelphia would www.epgn.com
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
PGN
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6 LOCAL
2nd TransWork job fair partners
with Independence Blue Cross
V A L E N T I N A R O S A R I O , A N A F R O - L AT I N X T R A N S W O M A N , S P E A K S W I T H A N I N D E P E N -
D E N C E B L U E C R O S S R E P R E S E N TAT I V E AT T H E S E C O N D T R A N S W O R K J O B FA I R O N N O V. 4 .
LAURA SMYTHE
laura@epgn.com
TransWork, an employment initiative
for trans, nonbinary and gender-noncon-
forming people, held its second job fair
Monday evening in Center City.
The event, which took place at Inde-
pendence Live on Market Street near
19th, was hosted in collaboration with
health insurance organization Indepen-
dence Blue Cross, which is among the
largest employers in the region. About 25
people attended the event to give resumes
to recruiters and learn about recruitment
and hiring at the company, along with di-
versity and inclusion efforts.
TransWork is a program that launched
this fall out of the Independence Business
Alliance, Philadelphia’s LGBT Cham-
ber of Commerce. The endeavor has two
arms: one focused on employment and the
other on entrepreneurship, said Marcus
Iannozzi, a trans man and Transwork’s
founder and co-chair. The program is first
focusing on developing the employment
branch, and then will turn more attention
to the entrepreneurship side.
“There are many trans folks out there
with job experience, with skill, with ed-
ucation, and they are unable to find em-
ployment simply because they’re trans-
gender or there are issues with their
documentation [or] they may be visi-
bly trans and just being discriminated
against,” Iannozzi added. “There are so
many reasons why they are unable to ob-
tain employment and these job fairs and
the TransWork program, in general, is just
designed to remove that barrier and say,
‘This is an employer who wants to hire
trans people and whoever is right for the
job.’”
The inaugural TransWork job fair took
place in September in partnership with
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
Photo by Laura Smythe
the Philadelphia International Airport,
which follows the city’s LGBTQ nondis-
crimination ordinance as an official de-
partment of the City of Philadelphia. Col-
laborating with major corporations for the
events encourages other employers to get
on board with squashing the barriers that
trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconform-
ing folks face during a job hunt, Iannozzi
added.
Before partnering with an organiza-
tion, TransWork assesses the inclusivity
of the company’s policies and practices.
TransWork then educates employers on
how to improve their work environments
to ensure safety for trans, nonbinary and
gender-nonconforming job candidates.
“Now they don’t have this worry or
this burden, this cloud hanging over their
head because they know that they’ve been
cleared to go to this place,” said Jone Ma-
gagna, TransWork co-chair.
Two years of focus groups revealed
many trans folks are “skittish” about ap-
plying to jobs in person, she added, which
prompted TransWork to establish resume
and interview workshops. To further re-
move anxiety from the application pro-
cess, TransWork launched an online job
bank in mid-October that lists open posi-
tions with pre-screened companies.
The program now aims to launch a re-
sume bank so employers can search for
ideal job candidates.
Valentina Rosario, an Afro-Latinx trans
woman, attended the TransWork fair
to look for a position with more career
growth opportunities. Trans people are
often overlooked for employment oppor-
tunities, she said.
“There’s already a lot of misconcep-
tions about trans individuals, so we’re
kind of pushed to the back burner,” add-
ed Rosario, who works at a
nonprofit. “There’s still a lot page 20
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
Police investigating cause of
death of trans woman
A L I C I A S I M M O N S P h o t o : O f f i c e o f L G B T A f f a i r s Fa c e b o o k
BY LAURA SMYTHE
laura@epgn.com
The Philadelphia Police Department has
confirmed to Philadelphia Gay News the
death of trans woman of color Alicia Sim-
mons in West Philadelphia.
The cause of death has not yet been de-
termined. It is not immediately clear if there
was any foul play. Police found Simmons
on the 4900 block of Walnut Street on Nov.
3 at approximately 8:54 p.m., according to
police.
“At this point, it is too early to determine
exactly what caused her death, and we want
to be careful to avoid speculation,” Phila-
delphia Police Department public affairs
staff said.
The Southwest Detective Division is in-
vestigating Simmons’ death.
Deja Alvarez, trans activist and co-chair
of Philadelphia’s LGBT Police Liaison
Committee, posted on Facebook on Mon-
day morning that the “devastating loss of
another one of our sisters Alicia Simmons
is difficult for us to understand” and that the
community mourns the loss of another trans
woman of color.
“I know in these moments we want, need,
and deserve answers as to how and why,”
Alvarez wrote. “We will be working close-
ly with the PPD to thoroughly, respectfully,
responsibly and compassionately get those
answers for Alicia and her family both born
and chosen as well as our community. As
soon as we have all the facts and after the
investigation is complete we will share the
information with the community so we can
start the long hard process of healing from
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Later in the day, Alvarez and the LGBT
Police Liaison Committee shared an update
on Facebook that the investigation is ongo-
ing, but “preliminary investigations have
found no signs of foul play.”
“The PPD has met with the family mem-
bers who found Alicia in her apartment,”
the update reads. “Checked the apartment
and surroundings. Looked for any signs that
would indicate foul play and none have been
found at this time. The exact cause of death
is still unknown until the medical examiner
is able to complete their examination.”
Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs re-
leased a statement Monday saying the loss
of yet another trans woman of color “hits
our community hard — no matter the cir-
cumstances.”
At least 22 trans or gender-noncon-
forming people have been violently killed
in 2019, according to the Human Rights
Campaign. The majority of the victims,
which include Philadelphia’s own Tameka
“Michelle” Washington are trans women of
color.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to
Alicia’s loved ones and all members of our
LGBTQ+ community who have been im-
pacted by this devastating loss,” the Office
of LGBT Affairs stated. “The City’s Office
of LGBT Affairs is always available for
community to connect anyone who may
be in need to resources and support. Let us
hold one another in light and love today,
and all days.”
A community grief session will be held at
William Way LGBT Community Center on
Nov. 7 from 7-8:30 p.m. n
8 PGN
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com

Visit Philadelphia wins awards for LGBTQ, Latinx campaigns

JESS BRYANT said Jeff Guaracino, president and CEO of
jess@epgn.com Visit Philly, Philadelphia’s official tourism
marketing agency, adding, “Our history has
This year marks the 50th anniversary of never been told before that way.”
the Stonewall riots in New York City. While An out gay man, Guaracino has an emo-
celebrations, honorariums and memorials tional investment in remembering the riots
have been rooted in the Big Apple, the world that spurred LGBTQ equal rights and orga-
also took notice — from news organizations, nizing. But as an innovative businessman, he
corporations and the film industry to tourism also sees the economic importance of cele-
agencies. brating diversity during a historic year.
“The impact of Stonewall was for the first “Diversity and inclusion is a core value
time ever LGBTQ history was authoritative- of not only Visit Philadelphia, but for me
ly told to the world through mass media,” personally,” Guracino said. With a budget of
$1.25 million put
behind a mar-
keting campaign
rooted in diver-
sity, Guaracino
added he feels P E N N S TAT I O N M O R E C O L O R M O R E P R I D E S TA I R S . P h o t o C o u r t e s y V i s i t P h i l a d e l p h i a
“proud to have
this platform on year of marketing left Visit Philly walking Along with the Outstanding Association
which to educate away with many prestigious awards. The Award, Visit Philly won the Innovator of
people about not Philadelphia Inquirer’s 2019 Diversity & In- the Year Award, the highest honor given by
only the impor- clusion Awards Gala will recognize the local GayCities, a gay travel website, for putting
tance, but the tourism agency with the Outstanding Asso- Philadelphia on the LGBTQ travel map.
economic good ciation Award, alongside PHL Diversity and That process began 15 years ago with the
business deci- Prospanica Philadelphia. queer marketing campaign “Get your his-
sions to market The award is given to organizations that tory straight and your nightlife gay,” and
and warmly in- create awareness about the importance of continued this year with the Road to Stone-
vite travelers of diversity. Visit Philadelphia staff said its wall campaign — which also won gold in
all backgrounds entry highlighted the LGBTQ-focused cam- the 2019 HSMAI Adrian Awards competi-
to Philadelphia.” paign “Philadelphia Pioneers on the Road tion. Finally, Visit Philly was
P H I L A D E L P H I A P I O N E E R S O N T H E ROA D TO S TO N E WA L L .
Photo by Laura Smythe
And educate to Stonewall” and its Latinx-oriented cam- awarded two of the top indus- page 9
he did. A busy paign “Filadelfia, You Gotta Feel It.” try awards this year from the
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
PGN
9
VISIT PHILLY AWARD
from page 8

U.S. Travel Association.

The Road to Stonewall campaign, specifi-
cally the float that appeared in both Philadel-
phia’s Pride Parade and World Pride 2019 in
New York, was funded in partnership with
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and
dmhFund. Dan Anders, board member of
dmhFund, said of the award-winning float’s
conception, “It was important to recognize
that although Stonewall is a very important
moment in the LGBTQ movement, there
were many other moments that were import-
ant that preceded it, including the annual Re-
minder Days in front of Independence Hall
in Philadelphia, as well as some other events
in Washington, D.C., where Frank Kameny,
among others, were protesting treatment of
LGBT individuals, and so our concept …
was to show that there were things on the
way to Stonewall.”
The most important aspect of the float
were those pioneers riding it, he said, “in-
cluding [LGBTQ pioneer] John James and
others who had participated in the earliest
of protests.”
Guaracino said the float centered on Phil-
adelphia’s contributions to the movements
before and after Stonewall. “It was incredi-
bly moving and touching for us as a compa-
ny” to present the Pioneers float, Guaracino
added, “because we knew that was our part
to make sure, in the midst of all the parties
and celebrations, that we can contribute to
reminding people about the pioneers them-
selves.”
Philadelphia had 45 million visitors in
2018, a record for the five-county region,
Guaracino said. He said he believes the way
to continue growing that number is by con-
tinuing to attract diverse populations.
Along with the Road to Stonewall float,
Visit Philadelphia took over Penn Station
during World Pride 2019 by displaying im-
ages of LGBTQ couples and painting stairs
in the colors of Philadelphia’s More Color
More Pride flag. Additionally, the “You Got-
ta Feel It” campaign kicked off its three-year
$1.5 million campaign at Penn Station with
a takeover of its own.
“We know that LGBTQ is a complete
rainbow, including Black and Brown and
every color and background. By very defi-
nition, LGBTQ is multicultural,” Guaracino
said. “Also we know that especially Phila-
delphia is a very attractive destination for
LGBTQ travelers. We are well known on the
map for being a popular and welcoming city,
and we do it all year long. It’s not just during
Pride month or Hispanic heritage months.”
Guaracino spoke tenderly about a short
film Visit Philadelphia produced called “I
Am Stonewall: Ribbons of Hope.” It showed
local and regional people decorating the Pi-
oneers float.
One family arrived with a transgender
child, and the experience was emotional for
all members of the group, Guaracino said.
“That’s what we do here at Visit Philadel-
phia,” he added. “We have people making
memories through travel, and our job is to
tell the world how great Philadelphia and
the region is.” n
10 EDITORIAL
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com

EDITORIAL BY JESS BRYANT

ELECTION VICTORIES FOR LGBTQ CANDIDATES
Tuesday’s elections proved suc-
cessful for LGBTQ candidates. Of
the 200 known LGBTQ candidates
running in elections, 99 were de-
clared winners by Wednesday eve-
ning. Those endorsed by the Vic-
tory Fund included four mayors,
five state legislators, one judge —
Philadelphia’s own Tiffany Palmer
— and 73 local candidates, seven
of which hail from Pennsylvania.
“We are building a pipeline of
out LGBTQ leaders at every level
of government so we can advance
equality today, and so we are po-
sitioned to run for higher-level
offices in greater numbers tomor-
row,” said Mayor Annise Parker,
President and CEO of LGBTQ Vic-
tory Fund.
Locally, out judicial candidate
Palmer secured 205,607 votes —
more than the other six candidates
on the ballot. The outpour of sup-
port weighed in at 15.01 percent of
the vote. Sitting gay judge Dan An-
ders also won retention.
The most surprising victory of the
night was that of Kendra Brooks,
the Independent Working Families
Party. Earning one of the two at-
large seats reserved for members
of a minority party and typ-
ically held by Republicans,
Brooks secured 55,599
votes — more than any other at-
large candidate. Brooks told PGN
in October that her 20-year-old,
gender-nonconforming child who
came out as a young teen inspires
her to champion LGBTQ rights.
“Everyone deserves equality,
equal rights and to love who you
love and be who you are,” Brooks
said at the time.
Incumbent David Oh won the
other at-large seat. In October, the
Republican shared a link to a reli-
gious news outlet’s article about
Elizabeth Warren’s support of
health care coverage for gender-af-
firming surgeries and asked his
Facebook followers whether they
were aware that the City of Phil-
adelphia provides its employees
with insurance that covers the pro-
cedures. Oh’s post referenced how
he opposed the law that guaranteed
this coverage to trans individuals,
which City Council passed in 2013
after it was introduced by Mayor
Jim Kenney, who was a coun-
cilmember at the time.
Councilmember At-Large Helen
Gym, who introduced the three
bills giving protections to trans and
nonbinary folks that Major Kenney
signed into law last week, won re-
election along with Derek Green
and Allan Domb. Notably, Domb
released a 31-page vision of the
future for Philadelphia and never
mentioned the LGBTQ commu-
nity. Democratic newcomers Isa-
iah Thomas and Katherine Gilmore
Richardson also prevailed in the at-
large race.
The only out candidate in the
City Council at-large race, Inde-
pendent Sherrie Cohen, was de-
feated. Cohen ran a grassroots cam-
paign and received 8,354 votes.
Overall, last night was a victory
for LGBTQ folks across the nation
and locally, but Philadelphia has
yet to have an out LGBTQ City
Councilmember. Let’s celebrate —
but also remember we have work to
do. n

CREEP OF THE WEEK BY D’ANNE WITKOWSKI

CIVILITY
Once upon a time, there was a president so
unpopular with and loathed by the American
people that on the same day he announced the
killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,
he was booed when he showed up at the World
Series.
That was, of course, Donald Trump.
Keep in mind that Trump doesn’t make im-
promptu appearances. He prefers rallies filled
with supporters and carefully scripted interac-
tions. He surrounds himself with yes men and
yes women.
So when his name was announced at the
World Series game, he was all smiles at first,
waving at the crowd. But it quickly dawned on
him that people weren’t cheering, they were
booing. And the look on his face changed to
a pout, his shoulders slumped. Some videos
of the occasion, you can hear crowd members
yelling, “Lock him up!”
It’s a beautiful thing. Watch the video. It’ll
give you joy. Or it’ll make you clutch your
pearls and launch into a lecture about civility.
Take “Morning Joe’s” Joe Scarborough, for
example.
“We are Americans, and we do not do that,”
Scarborough said. “We do not want the world
hearing us chant ‘lock him up’ to this presi-
dent or to any president.”
And then there was Nate Silver, who
whined on Twitter that liberals were mean and
couldn’t let Trump have one good thing. How
dare they boo him on a day when the military
killed a bad guy?
Some Democrats were upset, too.
“I have a hard time with the idea of a crowd
on a globally televised sporting event chanting
‘lock him up’ about our President,” Delaware
Sen. Chris Coons said on CNN. “I frankly
think the office of the President deserves re-
spect, even when the actions of our President
at times don’t.”
There are plenty more examples of people
aghast that the American people would be so
uncivil.
And you know what I have to say about
that? F--k civility. What we have is a law-
less leader who has been accused of so many trations countless attacks on LGBTQ people,
crimes it’s hard to keep track, but it’s never immigrants, asylum seekers, women, students
far from my mind that he is an accused rapist and the poor — and expect people to forget all
and sexual assaulter. Booing him is the least of that (and more!) when you do something
people can do. that might be praiseworthy.
Booing him at a baseball game isn’t disre- There are those who bemoan the crassness
specting the office of the President. It’s ex- of political discourse and note that the bar for
pressing loudly, and in the only way Trump what is appropriate has been lowered a great
can understand, that we do not approve of deal in the last few years. And Trump has been
what Trump is doing and that this man doesn’t rightly blamed for lowering that bar. Some
represent us. It’s expressing that the office of say we shouldn’t boo Trump because that is P R E S I D E N T D O N A L D T R U M P AT
the President should be occupied by a person stooping to his level. But I’d like to remind G A M E 5 O F T H E WO R L D S E R I E S
BETWEEN THE HOUSTON ASTROS AND
who deserves and is qualified to be there. those people that this small-minded and cruel W A S H I N G T O N N AT I O N A L S
It’s not sending the wrong signal to the rest man, this man who sees himself as a king and Photo by Associated Press
of the world. Someone on Twitter complained has no respect for American institutions and
that as a result of the booing, “our enemies are laws, is the president. We created and cannot
laughing at us,” as if our enemies didn’t know control this monster. The only power we have D’Anne Witkowski is a poet, writer and co-
that millions of Americans voted for this unfit is our vote and our dissent, whether that’s boo- median living in Michigan with her wife and
reality TV star garbage monster and our Elec- ing, or putting a “Tuck Frump” sticker on our son. She has been writing about LGBT politics
toral College rules made him the president. If car, or wearing an “Impeach the Motherf--ker” for over a decade. Follow her on Twitter @
anything, booing him at a public appearance is T-shirt, and we’re going to use it. n MamaDWitkowski.
sending exactly the right message to the rest
of the world: “We hate this guy and wish he
wasn’t president!”
As for chanting “lock him up,” it’s not a
bloodthirsty chant for revenge, it’s turning
the language of his supporters against him
as a way to say, “Hey, nobody in the U.S. is
supposed to be above the law!” Also, it’s im-
portant to note that the people at the baseball
game were chanting this about a sitting pres-
ident who is accused of actual crimes and is
facing impeachment. When Trump encour-
aged his supporters to chant the same thing, it
was directed at his political opponent. There’s
a goddamn difference.
As for not letting Trump bask in a glow of
adoration for the ISIS operation, baseball fans
didn’t take that from him. Trump took that
away from himself. You can’t take kids away
and lock them in cages, lie more often than
you tell the truth, praise murderous dictators,
fuel and refuse to condemn white supremacist
violence, continually threaten to take away
access to health care from millions of Amer-
icans, declare mainstream media the “enemy
of the people” — not to mention his adminis-
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
OP-ED
11

MARK MY WORDS WITH MARK SEGAL

we
wanna
Why Sen. Mitch McConnell wants impeachment? know

You most likely think
the headline is a mis-
take, but I assure you
it’s not. Let’s face some
interesting facts. McCo-
nnell is a politician, and
every politician likes
power, some for good
and some for their own
interest. McConnell,
or as he’s known in his
home state of Kentucky
“Moscow Mitch,” likes power, and he’s about
to be one of the most powerful men in Amer-
ica in just a few short weeks — all thanks to
impeachment.
There is little doubt that President Trump
will be impeached in the House of Repre-
sentatives, and the Senate will then put him
on trial for removal from office. Now here’s
where it gets interesting. McConnell literally
controls the majority of Republican senators,
and Trump only gets removed from office if
he gets the votes that McConnell has in his
pocket. What I’m saying is that McConnell has
a royal flush.
So imagine, Trump has been dealing with
Mueller and Nancy Pelosi; now he has to de-
pend on McConnell to save him from removal.
Do we not think that McConnell will want
something in return. For that kind of favor,
Trump would give his firstborn — wait, he’d
do that for far less. Point is Moscow Mitch is
in the driver’s seat once impeachment moves
to the Senate, and I bet you’ll see a very big
smile on ol’ Mitch’s face. The only real ques-
tion is, what does he want.
Whatever it was, this Tuesday’s election
changed that. McConnell is now fighting for
his political life since in his home state Tues-
day, the governor’s race was nationalized. Im- What is your favorite
peachment was used to re-elect the Republican
governor. Republicans even brought Donald LGBTQ+ movie?
Trump in the night before — Trump who won
the state by 30 points. But the Republicans
lost, therefore Trump lost, and the state elected
a Democrat governor. That is seismic, and it The Boys in the
gets worse for Moscow Mitch. His approval Band (1970)
in Kentucky as he runs for re-election in 2020
is now at 18 percent. And now he knows not
only that Trump cannot help him, but contin-
ued support for Trump might be his downfall.
Everything changed with regards to im-
peachment on Tuesday, and Republicans are Kissing Jessica
now running scared. Moscow Mitch is now Stein (2001)
trying to save his own hide and so must all Re-
publican senators up for re-election. And the
others are in bluer states than Kentucky. A new
day for McConnell and Trump has arrived. Ex-
pect a polite separation. n The Birdcage
(1996)

TRANSMISSIONS BY GWENDOLYN ANN SMITH

Revealing, but not what you think It’s My Party

In 2008, a woman named Jenna
Karvunidis sliced open a cake, re-
vealing pink frosting within the
layers. With her, the “gender reveal
party” entered the popular lexicon.
A decade or so later, the gender
reveal has gone a long way from
those humble beginnings.
The gender reveal has become
the polar opposite of the classic
baby shower. It’s an event that has
the trappings of toxic masculinity.
While cakes and balloons still ex-
ist, hypermasculine ways that re-
veal a pink or blue cloud of smoke
are prevalent.
Of these, an exploding rifle tar-
get marketed as the “Tannerite
Gender Reveal Boom Box” seems
a common choice. Last year, a Tan-
nerite device led to the Sawmill
Fire, burning roughly 47,000 acres
in Arizona. That gender reveal
blaze ended up costing $8 million
in damage, far above $99 list price
of a “Boom Box.”
In Australia, a 2018 reveal using
a car ended up destroying the vehi-
cle after the blue smoke that her-
alded a baby boy burst into flames.
The driver and passengers were
able to escape the burning car with
their lives.
Last month, however, a 56-year-
old Iowa woman was killed when
shrapnel from a presumably home-
made gender reveal device struck
and killed her. Police described the
device as functioning much like a
pipe bomb.
Days after this, in the same state,
a “Boom Box” caused an explo-
sion that was felt more than two
miles away.
When one examines videos
taken at these parties, a pattern
emerges. Blue smoke is treated as
a success all around, while pink
smoke can lead men to sorrow or
anger. It is as if a boy is the only
winning solution, and being re-
vealed as the father of a little girl
is viewed as some personal failure.
This view is hardly new. The no-
tion of one’s son “carrying on the
family name” is embedded deeply
into popular culture. A daughter
is seen as a sign of weakness, not
only for her but also for her father.
Among some men, a girl is a sign
that a father’s sperm is inferior
somehow.
Only one outcome is worse —
having a child who is gay or bisex-
ual or, one step further, transgen-
der.
This is how it was in my own
family. While my father was, per-
haps, not outwardly upset when an
ultrasound revealed that the second
child he would have with his wife
was a daughter, he likely felt fortu-
nate that he had already preserved
his legacy with his firstborn. He
had the boy who he named after his
deceased friend from high school,
and who he always pushed toward
masculine pursuits.
In Texas, there is a 7-year-old
named Luna Younger. At age three,
she had her own gender reveal
party, declaring even then that she
was a girl.
Her mother, Anne Georgulas,
has accepted her new daughter —
but not so for Luna’s father, Jeffrey
Younger.
Younger — who lived a life
formed around a series of lies
about military service with the
Marines in Iraq, having never been
previous married, and earning a
Ph.D. from the University of Dal-
las — is unwilling to accept Luna’s
reality.
After his divorce from Georgu-
las, according to the Dallas Morn-
ing News, Georgulas received, “the
right to make decisions about the
children’s medical and psycholog-
ical treatment, among other issues,
provided she notified Younger.”
Younger fought back, creating
a website — since removed —
that showed his daughter wearing
boys’ clothing and sporting a buzz
cut that Younger gave his daughter.
It’s worth noting he didn’t give Lu-
na’s twin brother the same cut.
He claimed that the treatment
that Luna would undergo would be
irreversible, even though — at her
age — she would only be allowed
to socially transition, and any med-
ical intervention would start with
reversible puberty blockers. Of
course, he also had a GoFundMe,
raising more than $42,000 for his
court battle.
Initially, Younger’s push to gain
custody over Luna failed before a
jury in Dallas, but that was before
the Governor of Texas, as well as
Senator Ted Cruz and other law-
makers, chimed in. Cowed, Judge
Kim Cooks, overturned the jury,
(1996)
offering joint custody and likely
causing untold harm to Luna. Lu-
na’s father will, therefore, still be
allowed to terrorize his daughter,
Rocky Horror
forcing her to live a life in a gen-
Picture Show
der she does not want, and in a way
that may unduly harm her. (1975)
No amount of gunpowder or col-
ored smoke will reveal a gender.
All it can do is reveal what genitals
your baby has, based on a fairly Call Me by Your
grainy picture and the best guess Name (2017)
of the technician looking at the im-
age.
Gender isn’t that easy to pin
down and doesn’t care what you
see in an ultrasound. For Luna,
she did reveal her gender, telling Princess Cyd
her truth — but her father, like so (2017)
many glum-faced fathers lumber-
ing awkwardly away from gender
reveal results not to their liking —
is unwilling to accept it.
Now, the courts will allow him Big Eden (2000)
to continue to cause harm to his
child for years to prevent her from
living her truth. This is a tragedy,
and one that reveals far more than
any gender. It shows how much our
society is willing to fail kids like The Cakemaker
Luna to preserve a harmful patriar- (2017)
chal system gone mad.
Oh, and one more thing: Jenna
Karvunidis, who’s pink icing
started all this, repudiated the
concept and celebrates her child’s
self-expression — “a girl who
follow us on instagram
wears suits.” n to participate in our
social polls and questions:
@phillygaynews
Gwen Smith revealed her gender
in 1993. You can find her at www.
gwensmith.com
12 REGIONAL
Community pays Bradbury-
Sullivan Center mortgage
Mazzoni Center
is celebrating
Mazzoni
clinic
Washington
West
Project
years of LGBTQ
health and Well-Being
LGBT Health & Well-Being Since 1979
LGBT HEALTH & WELL-BEING
L A U R I E H A C K E T T, M A N A G E R O F C O M M U N I T Y R E L AT I O N S AT A I R P R O D U C T S , S P E A K S AT
B R A D B U R Y - S U L L I V A N C E N T E R ’ S FA L L G A L A . P h o t o : M e g a n K e l l e r
LAURA SMYTHE
Wellness laura@epgn.com
Allentown’s Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT
Community Center became one of a small
number of Pennsylvania LGBTQ community
centers to own its building after community
members crowdsourced $50,000 to pay off
the nonprofit’s mortgage last week.
1348 Bainbridge Street The funds were raised by 93 people who
215-563-0652 mazzonicenter.org attended the group’s annual fall gala Oct. 30.
LGBTQ HEALTH AND WELL BEING
Air Products, an Allentown-headquartered
international chemical industry company and
corporate sponsor of Bradbury-Sullivan Cen-
ter, fronted $25,000 and challenged attendees
to contribute the other half of the organiza-
LET'S TALK
tion’s remaining mortgage. The funds were
raised during a 15-minute donating blitz, fa-
cilitated by text-to-give service GiveLively,
which provided a live display of donor gifts
on a screen.
On average, each donor contributed $311.
ABOUT
Having the building’s mortgage paid off will
allow the Bradbury-Sullivan Center to funnel
more resources into the services it offers the
region’s LGBTQ community, such as by sup-
porting youth programming, hiring staff and
doing additional social media and marketing
outreach, said Adrian Shanker, executive di-
PrEP, BABY.
rector of Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Commu-
nity Center.
“Being a mortgage-free organization means
that we can put even more of our resources
into programs and services that strengthen
and make a more vibrant LGBT communi-
ty here in Lehigh Valley,” he added. “Being
One pill. Once a day. Prevents HIV.
mortgage-free means that we don’t have to
worry about ever being priced out of down-
town Allentown.”
The Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community
Center launched in 2014 and opened its doors
to the public two years later. The nonprofit
PrEPdelco.com borrowed a $240,000 mortgage from Peo-
ple First Federal Credit Union to facilitate
Chester: 610.872.9101 its $340,000 building purchase in Septem-
ber 2015. The center’s minimum monthly
payment of about $1,600 deterred program
Sharon Hill: 610.583.1177 fundraising, Shanker said, prompting the or-
ganization in 2017 to launch the Campaign
for Equity, a fundraising effort to pay off the
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
remaining $214,000 of the mortgage.
Following the gala, Bradbury-Sullivan
LGBT Community Center is working with
People First Federal Credit Union to carry out
a formal payoff of the mortgage.
The 2019 Fall Gala and LGBT Community
Leadership Awards, attended by 290 people,
honored labor union IBEW Local 375, King
Spry law firm, Lizabeth Kay Kleintop, Judy
Ochs and Bill McGlinn and Mark Mascolini.
The event featured Mistress of Ceremonies
Elektra Fearce St. James, Live Auctioneer
Patrik Gallineaux and keynote speaker Jack
Harrison-Quintana, director of Grindr for
Equality.
According to an LGBT Community Center
Survey Report by data nonprofit Movement
Advancement Project, 27 percent of LGBTQ
community centers in the United States own
their buildings. Fewer operate without a mort-
gage payment, Shanker told PGN, noting that
William Way LGBT Community Center is
the only other such group in Pennsylvania
that owns its building mortgage-free.
Chris Bartlett, executive director of the
William Way LGBT Community Center, told
PGN the Philadelphia nonprofit paid off its
mortgage in 2005 with a donation from gay
rights activist Mel Heifetz. The organization
bought its 1315 Spruce St. home in 1996.
Laurie Hackett, manager of community re-
lations at Air Products, said the corporation’s
$25,000 challenge contribution was among
the “most meaningful” the company has done
because of how it supports the goals of the
“small but mighty” Bradbury-Sullivan Cen-
ter.
“This is what matters,” she said. “This is
our commitment to this community and to
our employees and to diversity and inclu-
sion.”
Shanker told PGN the crowdsourcing ef-
fort at the gala was “exhilarating.”
“I was looking out at our community and
feeling such gratitude that our community
was willing to step up,” he said, “and that
it wasn’t one or two people that could make
very large gifts, but that it’s 93 people who
could make gifts of all sizes. That’s so pow-
erful.” n
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
Democratic blue wave puts more
LGBTQ folks in office nationally
VICTORIA A. BROWNWORTH
PGN Contributor
The wave of Democratic upsets that be-
gan with the 2018 midterm elections a year
ago and put more openly LGBTQ people
in Congress than ever before continued in
Tuesday’s off-year election. In addition to
flipping the governorship of Kentucky and
the entire Virginia state legislature Demo-
cratic, the historic election put nearly 100
new LGBTQ candidates into office nation-
wide in state and local seats.
More openly LGBTQ candidates won
elected office in 2019 than in any other
odd-numbered election year in U.S. history
with a total of 144 wins as of Nov. 6 and 99
of those in Tuesday’s elections.
Among the LGBTQ wins are six openly
trans candidates, including four incumbents.
In January 2020, there will be 23 out trans
elected officials nationwide. Virginia Del-
egate Danica Roem, the first out trans per-
son to win and serve in a state legislature,
defeated her anti-LGBTQ opponent whose
allies launched an anti-trans attack ad in the
final weeks of the campaign. These victories
for trans candidates are crucial as the Trump
administration and their Republican cohort
have been pushing an anti-trans agenda,
which has included Trump’s trans military
ban, religious freedom policies that discrim-
inate against trans and gay people and puni-
tive restrictions on the rights of trans and gay
students as promoted by Secretary of Educa-
tion Betsy DeVos.
“While bigoted political operatives are
planning to use trans people as a wedge is-
sue for 2020, voters across the country are
rejecting the scare tactics and electing trans
people to represent them in office,” said
Mayor Annise Parker, President and CEO of
LGBTQ Victory Fund.
The Victory Fund works to achieve equal-
ity for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the
number of openly LGBTQ officials at all
levels of government through endorsements
and fundraising.
Parker said, “Nothing disrupts [the Trump
administration’s] hateful narrative more than
out trans elected officials working hard on
N AT I O N A L
13
Photo by Kelly Burkhardt
behalf of their constituents. The success of
trans candidates this Election Night — in
states red and blue — is a warning to those
using cynical campaign tactics to divide
communities for their own political gain.”
Vice President Mike Pence has a history of
anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation in both
Congress and as governor of Indiana. Pence’s
efforts made LGBTQ wins in the vice pres-
ident’s home state particularly exciting for
Indiana queers. Indianapolis voters tripled
LGBTQ representation on its City-Coun-
ty Council, reelecting Zach Adamson and
electing first-time council candidates Alison
Brown and Keith Potts. Brown, who is now
the first openly LGBTQ woman elected to
the council, was victimized by an anti-gay
attack ad by her Republican challenger.
These wins are notable as Indiana cur-
rently has only nine openly LGBTQ elected
officials. The Victory Fund’s Parker spoke
directly to Pence in her comments on the
Indianapolis wins, saying, “A rainbow wave
came crashing into Mike Pence’s backyard
Tuesday night, with voters sending three
openly LGBTQ candidates to the Indianap-
olis City-County Council. While LGBTQ
people continue to be severely underrepre-
sented in the state, these victories will inspire
more LGBTQ Hoosiers to consider a run for
office and make change in a state that lags
much of the country in LGBTQ protections.”
Parker also addressed the attacks on
Brown, adding, “For too long, openly
LGBTQ candidates were defeated by oppo-
nents who appealed to bigotry in a desperate
attempt to win tight races. But Indianapolis
voters have rejected the personal attacks in
favor of a bisexual leader who put forward a
positive vision for her community, ensuring
future candidates think twice before target-
ing an opponent’s sexual orientation or gen-
der identity.”
LGBTQ people are vastly underrepresent-
ed nationally in every area of political office.
Among the LGBTQ wins, significant is
the large percentage of people of color who
were elected as well as women candidates.
While men represented the majority of
LGBTQ candidates who ran
for office, women won more
page 19
14 LOCAL
Local universities expand
LGBT networks
MICHELE ZIPKIN
PGN Contributor
Resources for LGBTQ+ college students
are continuously expanding. Some U.S. col-
leges and universities, such as Emory and
the University of Maryland, have made lists
of out LGBT faculty members visible on-
line. Locally, the University of Pennsylvania
LGBT Center announced the publication of
its Faculty Out List on Oct. 31, closing out
LGBT History Month.
“We’d been talking about making sure that
our students and other folks have a lot of peo-
ple to look up to and see that there are people
in their community who are faculty here,”
said Erin Cross, director of Penn’s LGBT
Center. “It was great to see folks we didn’t
know who’d heard about it and wanted to be
added to the list.”
Joao Campos, an undergraduate studying
international relations at Penn, identifies as
gay and works in the LGBT Center.
“I think it’s really great just to see how
many professors identify as queer and are
really just being out about it,” Campos said.
“Working [in the LGBT Center], I meet a lot
of professors who come around, and it’s al-
ways nice to talk to them, and to know that
there’s the possibility of having a connec-
tion.”
The Perelman School of Medicine had its
faculty out list for quite a while, Cross point-
ed out, but this is the first university-wide list
of roughly 80 people, with at least one name
from every school.
Dr. Dennis Flores is an assistant profes-
sor in the family and community health de-
partment in the School of Nursing. Being an
out queer man plays a significant role in his
current research in HIV prevention. When he
worked as an HIV/AIDS nurse about 10 years
ago, LGBT identities were not discussed
among his colleagues or teachers.
“Coming of age as a gay man and starting
to develop a professional identity at the same
time, I’ve had to, in different places, almost
censor myself where I wasn’t highlighting a
particular aspect of my personality,” Flores
said. “There were no such messages out there
that it was OK to be out as a gay nurse, even
if my field was highly specialized and high-
ly equated with the population. It was never
covered in our curriculum. I didn’t have out
faculty then.”
As a professor at Penn, Flores has served
as a resource for students who may need help
navigating the field of nursing as LGBT-iden-
tified individuals. After giving a guest lecture
at Penn a couple of weeks ago, he met with
a student from the class who identifies as a
member of the LGBTQ community.
“Even before I could get back to my of-
fice, I had an email from her wanting to set
up an appointment,” Flores said. “Essentially,
it was about just how much she appreciated
my being out as an Asian American because
she comes from similar backgrounds. She
was able to say, ‘I didn’t know just how out
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
I should be at an Ivy League, as a freshman.’
Being out there for myself, I was able to reas-
sure her that she’s going to find her way, and
it’s going to be OK.”
Dr. Oswaldo Nieves is an instructor in
Penn’s School of Dental Medicine, as well as
the faculty advisor for the LGBT club in the
dental school. Nieves pointed out that dentist-
ry is still a fairly conservative field in many
ways, and that alternative forms of presenting
oneself may not be as readily accepted as in
other health professions, like nursing, for ex-
ample.
“I don’t really think that even though we
are health professionals, we are all the way
out there the same way that nursing and medi-
cine are,” he said. “Not so long ago we actual-
ly had to shave, if you were a man, in order to
see patients. I don’t think that there’s so many
dentists that would have a sleeve [of] tattoos.
In nursing, that’s totally OK and normalized,
but in dentistry, it’s not. You’re not a typical
dentist if you have tattoos, you’re not a typi-
cal dentist if you’re transitioning.”
For him, like other faculty members and
students, the list facilitates conversations
about LGBT ways of being.
“We can actually educate people; we can
talk about the unknown, so people don’t feel
that resistance or that fear,” Nieves said. “In
dentistry, we need a lot of work.”
The list serves as a powerful resource not
only for students but for faculty as well.
“I’m just personally happy to see that there
are colleagues that I perhaps don’t have much
interaction [with] on a day to day basis,” said
Dr. Hsiao-wen Cheng, assistant professor of
East Asian studies. “It’s a large campus. A
lot of the schools at Penn are quite separated
from each other. But at one point, if I run into
one of them, I can say ‘I also saw you on the
list,’ and that’s a way for us to make another
connection.”
Although the university-wide Out List is
new to local schools, and Penn is one of the
first in the area to utilize the concept, Drexel
University has developed new initiatives to
foster resources and awareness for its LGBT
students, faculty and staff.
In addition to several student and faculty
resources, including the Student Center for
Diversity and Inclusion, and the LGBTQA+
Faculty and Professional Staff Network,
Drexel now has an LGBTQA+ alumni group,
the Committee for a Gender Inclusive Drex-
el, as well as the Preferred First Name initia-
tive, which allows students, faculty and staff
to have their preferred first name listed on
public-facing information if they so desire.
Another project in the works is developing
alumni scholarships for LGBT students.
“We’re trying to think about positioning
ourselves with Campus Pride in the future
to think about having us established as an
LGBTQA-friendly campus,” said Giuseppe
Salomone, Ph.D. student and president of
Drexel’s LGBTQA+ Faculty and Profession-
al Staff Network. “We really
want to make sure we have the page 19
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
COLUMN
15
OUTLAW BY ANGELA D. GIAMPOLO
Legal & Professional Directory

The Gender X license designation When It PARTNERS IN LAW

in Pennsylvania Comes To
Your Money…
PARTNERS IN LIFE

By 2020, Pennsylvania will

join a growing number of pio-
neering states, including Wash-
ington, Arkansas, Nevada and
Maine, allowing driver’s license
holders to choose from three
gender options, male, female
and the gender-inclusive op-
tion “X.” For those people who
identify as gender nonbinary or
transgender, this has been a long
time coming and a massive win
for gender equality.
Several states define Gender
X as a term used to encompass
“[a] gender that is not exclu-
sively male or female, includ-
ing, but not limited to, intersex,
agender, amalgagender, androg-
ynous, bigender, demigender,
female-to-male, genderfluid,
genderqueer, male-to-female,
neutrois, nonbinary, pangender,
third sex, transgender, transsex-
ual, Two-Spirit, and unspeci-
fied.”
Today, more than 7,000 peo-
ple in the U.S. currently have
gender X markers on official
identification, though not all
states allow the marker on all
legal forms.
And, while we’ve seen light-
ning-speed progress in the last
few years, the U.S. has been
lagging other countries for over
a decade. Nepal was the first
country to recognize a third
gender option in 2007. Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Australia, New
Zealand, Germany and Canada
also legally recognize nonbina-
cate. Residents under 18 will
still require consent from a par-
ent or guardian to change their
birth identification.
Nevada has always been
progressive regarding LGBTQ
rights. Since adding gender
identity to a list of protect-
ed categories in employment
back in 2011, the state’s DMV
has been working diligently
to recognize transgender and
nonbinary identities fully. In
2010 Nevada became the 10th
state to permit gender-inclusive
IDs for transgender, nonbina-
ry and intersex residents, and
they didn’t stop there. In 2016,
the Nevada Department of
Public and Behavioral Health
announced it would begin al-
lowing transgender people to
update their birth certificates
from male to female or vice
versa by submitting a sworn af-
fidavit testifying to their gender
identity — waiving the surgical
requirement common in other
states. The affidavit can also
be written on their behalf by
someone who knows them.
It may seem common-sense
to some, but all states should let
people self-identify. As it stands
now, the process is daunting,
to say the least, inaccessible
to those who need it most and
expensive as you typically need
an attorney to help navigate the
legal terrain. With that said,
studies show that transgender
individuals are twice as likely
what their customers wanted
but listened. They officially
announced the change in July
of 2019 and will implement it
throughout the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania by January
2020.
With that said, there has
been pushback by conserva-
tive groups who believe that
the change is impractical. The
socially conservative Pennsyl-
vania Family Institute believes
that identification documents
should reflect objective facts,
like biological sex. The group
also objects to the fact that no
documentation is needed in
order to prove gender identity.
The group’s (unfounded) fear
is that if Pennsylvania starts
discarding biological sex from
identity documents, it will
make it more difficult for police
to relay identifying informa-
tion, potential health insurance
fraud, cause medical care com-
plications and create problems
in complying with the federal
REAL ID requirements.
PennDOT has made assur-
ances that all IDs, regardless
of gender marker, will comply
with federal REAL ID require-
ments, and ultimately Penn-
DOT does not need any agency
or legislative approval as they
have the authority to adopt this
change under the state vehicle
code.
If you’re on the fence about
the upcoming changes in Penn-
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ry or “third gender” people.
The District of Columbia
and Oregon in mid-2017 were
among the first to add a third
option for gender on driver’s
licenses. Since then, the trend
has grown considerably despite
the political climate and all the
anti-transgender policies the
Trump Administration has put
forth. In just over two years,
Pennsylvania will bring the
number up to 14 states allowing
as the average American to live
in poverty and that only 11 per-
cent of transgender individuals
have their preferred name and
gender on all IDs.
Having to present an ID that
doesn’t conform with a person’s
gender presentation often re-
sults in mistreatment, and even
if it doesn’t, the person giving
the ID is constantly alert and
cautious. In a 2015 survey with
28,000 transgender respon-
pgn
sylvania, try to think about
what it’s like to live in a society
where you must present a basic
form of ID —which doesn’t
reflect who you are — to do
anything, from checking into a
hotel, to enjoying a martini at
happy hour, flying, picking up
a package at USPS to walking
SEE PAGE 4 FOR ADVERTISING INQUIRIES
into the skyscraper where you
work. Now, imagine if doing
any of those things potential-
ly placed you in physical dan-

either third-gender identifica-
tion and/or self-identification of
gender.
In 2018, Washington state
began allowing a third gender
option on birth certificates,
and adults seeking to change a
birth certificate no longer need
a doctor’s letter to do so. Since
that rule took effect, 59 people
have requested a gender X des-
ignation on their birth certifi-
dents, over 32 percent reported
that they experienced denial of
benefits or services, verbal and
physical harassment and were
asked (or forced) to leave an es-
tablishment when they present-
ed an ID with a name or gender
that didn’t match their outward
appearance.
PennDOT has been monitor-
ing the progressive moves by
other states and not only heard
pgn
ger? Maybe, just maybe, you
wouldn’t be as active in society
— and that is the reality of so
many of our transgender and
nonbinary community mem-
bers. No one should have to
navigate daily life afraid and
fearing for their safety in Penn-
sylvania. Life is about to get a
just little easier for transgender
and gender nonbinary individ-
uals. n
16 PGN
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com

LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS
from page 1
Palmer’s law practice Jerner and Palmer, P.C.
released a statement announcing Palmer will
step down in December and a name change
to Jerner Law Group, P.C. The practice said,
“While the Jerner & Palmer, P.C. family will
miss Attorney Palmer, we are confident that
she will prove to be an excellent jurist and
bring her experience, integrity and empathy
to the bench.”
Palmer has been a longtime LGBTQ-rights
and family law attorney. She and Benjamin
Jerner began Jerner & Palmer, P.C. in 2003,
where Palmer has been counsel on many
groundbreaking trial and appellate cases.
Palmer was counsel in the Sherri Shep-
herd surrogacy case (In Re Baby S) in 2015,
which held for the first time that surrogacy
contracts are legally enforceable in Pennsyl-
vania. In 2018, she argued before the Penn-
sylvania Supreme Court (C.G. v. J.H.) on
issues related to expanding the definition of
legal parent to protect the rights of same-sex
co-parents.
Dan Anders, an out gay judge up for re-
tention in the Court of Common Pleas, over-
whelmingly secured his position for another
10 years.
Anders said, “I am gratified for the strong
support from across Philadelphia and espe-
cially from the LGBTQ community. I look
forward to another 10 years of public ser-
vice.”
Mayor Jim Kenney was re-elected in a
landslide with 82 percent of the vote. In
his acceptance speech Kenney, a longtime
LGBTQ ally, reinforced his dedication to
fighting the Trump agenda, maintaining Phil-
adelphia as an inclusive city dedicated to its
diverse citizenry and protecting immigrants
as a sanctuary city.
The City Council shake-up was Phila-
delphia’s most significant election news. In
a statement, Brooks, from Nicetown, said
voters and the WFP made history. “For the
first time in seven decades, Philadelphia
said enough is enough. We broke the GOP,
we beat the Democratic establishment, and
we’re bringing real working-class power into
City Council.”
Brooks said, “They said a black, single
mom from North Philly wasn’t the right
person. But we have proven that this is our
movement and our moment. This is just the
start. We’re bringing our movement to City
Hall, and we’re not going to stop until we
build the city we deserve.”
Brooks told PGN in October that her child
is gender non-conforming and has inspired
her to champion LGBTQ rights.
In her statement on the election, Gym,
who put forward three critical LGBTQ bills
in June, congratulated Brooks on her win.
She also spoke to the diversification of both
Council and citywide offices.
Gym said, “I firmly believe that our City’s
Democratic Party is stronger when we diver-
sify and strengthen our political systems. I’m
proud to have the support of both the Work-
ing Families Party (WFP) and the Democrat-
ic Party. I hope Philadelphia’s Democratic
party can now work with WFP to build an
agenda that supports Philadelphians from ev-
ery neighborhood and community.”
Gym said the addition of more women
citywide was significant, adding that “four
years ago, only one female incumbent was
in the race for 19 citywide offices” and that
Tuesday’s election meant “seven women
now hold citywide office in Philadelphia.”
Outside Philadelphia, Newtown elected
its first out gay member of Borough Coun-
cil since 1684, Robert Szwajkos. He and his
running mate Susan Turner join four other
Democrats to form the all Blue Wave Coun-
cil.
Szwajkos has been a longtime counsel for
LGBTQ rights organizations and serves on
the Human Relations Committee in New-
town. He said he is “an attorney by profes-
sion and a community activist by avocation”
and said of his approach going forward, “I
tell people I don’t fight for equality, because
we are all already equal. What I do is I fight
against intolerance. I’m going to keep doing
that.”
Szwajkos will serve a four-year term start-
ing January 6, 2020.
Delaware County made history as well
as Democrats won every seat on Delaware
County Council, marking the first time since
the Civil War that Democrats will be in con-
trol. Democrats also won a majority of the
legislative body in Chester County and Bucks
County and captured the Board of Commis-
sioners for the first time since 1983. n

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NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
MEDIA TRAIL
Kentucky Supreme Court
dismisses gay pride T-shirt
case
The Courier-Journal reported the Ken-
tucky Supreme Court has sided with a
print shop owner who refused to make a
gay pride T-shirt because he says it was
against his religious beliefs.
The state’s high court dismissed the
claim after two lower courts also ruled in
favor of Lexington print shop Hands-On
Originals. The company declined a T-shirt
order from Lexington’s Gay and Lesbian
Services Organization for the city’s 2012
Gay Pride Festival. The design said “Lex-
ington Pride Festival” on the front.
The high court ruled Oct. 31 that the
gay advocacy group lacked standing to
make a claim against shop owner Blaine
Adamson because the city’s gay rights
law was written to protect individuals.
Justices wrote that the “wrong party” filed
the complaint, making a determination of
discrimination “almost impossible to con-
duct.”
Virginia women’s college
updates transgender
student policy
The Roanoke Times reported a private
women’s university in Virginia has an-
nounced a new policy allowing students
who transition from women to men during
NEWS
BRIEF
State Rep. secures grant to
help community kitchen
State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta announced
on Oct. 31 that Philabundance Community
Kitchen in North Philadelphia will receive
a $76,101 grant to fight hunger.
The North Philadelphia location of Phila-
bundance broke ground in May of this year.
PCK has distributed over 4 million meals
and has helped more than 850 graduates
enter the workforce. The new facility, set
to open in 2020, will allow for twice as
many students and quadruple the amount
of meals made, among other expansions.
According to Feeding America, one out
of five Philadelphians suffer from food in-
security.
“Philabundance plays an integral role
in eliminating food insecurities and lifting
communities out of poverty,” Kenyatta,
PGN
17
their time at the school to graduate.
Under the new guidelines at Hollins
University in Roanoke, enrolled students
who transition to men will no longer be
required to transfer to another institution.
And applicants transitioning from men to
women will no longer have to complete a
full surgical transition to be admitted.
Chairwoman Alexandra Trower said the
changes were adopted Oct. 26.
The university says it’ll consider admis-
sion for any “applicants who consistently
live and identify as women, regardless of
the gender assigned to them at birth.”
Libertee Belle, Alabama
LGBTQ activist, dies
The Tri-City Herald reported a drag
queen who was an early advocate of
LGBTQ rights in Alabama has died.
The performer known as Libertee Belle
was among the organizers of Central Al-
abama Pride in the 1980s and served as
grand marshal of Birmingham’s gay pride
parade at least once.
She often performed at shows to benefit
gay rights organizations and was among
the highest-profile members of the state’s
LGBTQ community.
Simoneau was found dead in his apart-
ment on Oct. 24. A cause of death hasn’t
been released.
His sister said a memorial service is be-
ing planned for November. n
Reporting via Associated Press
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18 I N T E R N AT I O N A L
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Colombia’s capital city of
Bogota elects first female
mayor
Colombia’s capital city elected its first ‘personal’ look at Andy
female mayor Oct. 27 in what is being Warhol
hailed as an important advancement for
both women and LGBT rights.
Claudia Lopez won the race for may-
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work to improve daily life issues like
public transportation.
Many in the LGBT community praised
Lopez’s victory as an important step for-
ward in a country where gay and lesbians
still confront harassment.
Conservative former President Alvaro
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
Uribe acknowledged his party’s setback,
stating on Twitter that “I recognize the
defeat with humility.’’
Popular LGBT club in
Slovenia capital attacked,
no injuries
Police in Slovenia said unknown assail-
ants have attacked a popular LGBT club
in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana.
Police said they are treating the inci-
dent as a hate crime. Slovenia’s Prime
Minister Marjan Sarec and LGBT rights
groups have condemned the attack.
The Tiffany Club said the attack took
place around 4 p.m. Nov. 1, after clos-
ing time. They said attackers stormed the
building where the club is located, smash-
ing the entrance door and the windows
and prompting those still there to barri-
cade themselves in the club interior.
The attackers threatened the staff and
visitors and fled the scene once police ar-
rived. No one was injured.
The club is located in a former army
barracks that has been turned into an al-
ternative culture venue.
Tate Modern aims to take
Andy Warhol’s portraits of New York
drag queens and trans women are going
on display at London’s Tate Modern in
a show that aims to find new angles on
the iconic American artist.
Tate Modern director Frances Morris
said Oct. 27 the exhibition will take “a
more human and personal look” at War-
hol, who died in 1987. The gallery said
the exhibition highlights his private be-
liefs and background as a “shy, gay man
from a religious, migrant, low-income
household.”
The exhibition includes many of War-
hol’s best-known images, including
Coke bottles, soup cans and celebrities
including Marylin Monroe, Dolly Par-
ton and Debbie Harry.
It also features 25 paintings from the
less well-known 1970s series “Ladies
and Gentlemen,” featuring drag and
transgender performers.
The exhibition runs from March 12 to
Sept. 6, 2020. n
Reporting via Associated Press
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
MAYOR SIGNS INCLUSIVITY BILLS
from page 1
testament to the city’s continued commitment
to celebrating the experience and safety of
transgender and gender-nonconforming peo-
ple.”
Itzela, a 10-year-old nonbinary youth advo-
cate who testified in support of the bills last
month at a City Council Law and Government
Committee hearing, said Thursday they sup-
port the “inclusivity package” because of how
LGBTQ-positive environments can impact
kids’ experiences at school and extracurricu-
lar spaces like camps.
They said they have attended camps “where
the staff had training and support and created
an inclusive and affirming environment, and it
made a really big difference in my and other
kids’ experiences. But it is important to my
family and other families in Philadelphia to
have affordable options for kids to go [to], and
they need to be inclusive and affirming, too.”
The new laws “will make other children
[feel] safe and welcome even if they are not
out to their family or school,” Itzela added.
HUP TRANS LAWSUIT
from page 1
cuit covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Dela-
ware and the Virgin Islands.
“While the United States Supreme Court
is currently considering the issue of wheth-
er Title VII protection should extend to gay
and transgender employees, the Third Circuit
does not currently recognize such protec-
tions,” Penn defendants state, in a legal filing.
To justify their position, Penn defendants
rely on a four-year-old case known as John-
ston v. University of Pittsburgh. The case in-
volved a trans student at Pitt who was denied
access to a gender-appropriate locker room
and restroom facilities. The judge in the case
stated that “nearly every federal court that
UNIVERSITY LGBTQ NETWORKS
from page 14
services to support LGBTQ students in gen-
eral in terms of when they’re looking to shop
around for colleges.”
Staffers in the Office of Institutional Di-
versity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership at
Temple University have been having conver-
sations about the possibility of developing
a list of out faculty at the school. However,
some viewpoints are conflicting.
“Folks may feel that they could be target-
NATIONAL ELECTION RESULTS
from page 13
of their races. Nearly 30 percent of LGBTQ
candidates who ran were people of color,
and of those, 35 percent won — a critical
expansion of diversity.
Parker contextualized the import of
the wins, saying in a statement on Nov. 6,
“Americans are understandably focused
on the 2020 presidential and congressional
PGN
The policy package has been in the works
since June. The bills take the city’s anti-dis-
crimination law even further in protecting
queer residents, Gym said.
“Trans rights are human rights, and in Phil-
adelphia, everyone should feel welcome and
supported in the place that we call the Sanctu-
ary City,” she added.
No statewide legislation explicitly barring
discrimination against the LGTBQ communi-
ty exists in Pennsylvania. The 1955 Pennsyl-
vania Human Relations Act states that it pro-
hibits discrimination in employment, housing
and public accommodations based on “race,
color, religious creed, ancestry, age, sex, na-
tional origin, handicap or disability.” But the
definition of “sex” is often left up to interpre-
tation in the courts, said Naiymah Sanchez, a
trans woman and the trans justice coordinator
of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
Legislation currently in the state Senate
and state House, known as the Pennsylvania
Fairness Act, would amend the state’s nondis-
crimination law to include sexual orientation
and gender identity or expression, to ensure
LGBTQ protections.
has considered the question in the Title VII
context has found that transgendered [sic] in-
dividuals are not a protected class under Title
VII,” and noted that the Third Circuit had not
addressed the issue, according to Penn’s fil-
ing.
Therefore, according to Penn, Doe’s Title
VII claim should be dismissed under the cur-
rent state of the law in the Third Circuit.
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently con-
sidering three LGBT discrimination cases
and whether Title VII covers them.
Julie Chovanes, an attorney for Doe, dis-
tanced Doe’s case from the cases currently
under review by the Supreme Court. Cho-
vanes argues in a rebuttal filing that her cli-
ent experienced gender stereotyping by Penn
defendants. Chovanes notes that judges in the
ed,” said Nu’Rodney Prad, Director of Stu-
dent Engagement at Temple’s Institution-
al Diversity office. “But there’s this other
school of thought too that obviously it’s great
for the representation, that having an out list
will serve the purpose of allowing students to
identify or connect with faculty and staff.”
Temple has had a Safe Zone program for
the last “10 years or so,” that allows faculty
and students to take a five-hour certification
course and receive a placard indicating that
they are either members or allies of the LGBT
community. The number of students and fac-
elections, but the LGBTQ candidates who
won will arguably have a greater impact on
the everyday lives of their constituents.”
Parker noted that local elections propel
candidates into higher office later. She said,
“The LGBTQ candidates who were elected
to school boards are our future state legis-
lators. And those who won state legislative
races are our future U.S. Congressmembers
and our future governors. We are building a
pipeline of out LGBTQ leaders at every lev-
Fifty-four Pennsylvania municipalities, in-
cluding Philadelphia, Scranton, Lancaster and
Harrisburg, have local ordinances prohibiting
discrimination based on sexual orientation
and gender identity in private employment,
housing and public accommodations, accord-
ing to data nonprofit Movement Advancement
Project.
Sanchez, 36, told PGN that Gym’s bills
being signed into law is important because
it provides youth “with some kind of policy
legislation to protect them so that they can
live their truth” — protections she would have
liked to have during her childhood.
“Now, the next step is ... to educate people
and try to get people to understand the inter-
sectionality of our identities so we’re not just
trans or nonbinary, but we also are Catholic,
we’re Latinx, we’re Black,” Sanchez added.
“We have all these other intersecting identi-
ties that make us the same.”
Sanchez also stressed the importance of
folks reporting discrimination they experi-
ence to help ensure accountability and over-
sight of LGBTQ protections.
For Evan Thornburg, deputy director of the
Third Circuit have recognized that gender
stereotyping is a form of sex discrimination.
“Defendants’ argument with regard to Ti-
tle VII ignores the difference between the
claims in the cases before the Supreme Court,
and Doe’s claims,” Chovanes’ filing states.
“Gender stereotyping claims under Title VII
-- which transphobic behavior is -- are well
in line with Third Circuit precedent, as this
court recently acknowledged in a very recent
opinion by Judge [Joel] Slomsky, Doe v. Parx
Casino.”
Jane Doe’s case is assigned to U.S. District
Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg. He recently told
Penn defendants they have until Nov. 7 to file
a formal “motion to dismiss” if they want
to pursue their objections to Doe’s Title VII
claim and other claims made by Doe.
ulty with Safe Zone certifications has grown
over the years, and currently, over 1,000 cer-
tificate-holders are on a listserv that enables
them to collaborate with the diversity office.
“Once you’re certified, it doesn’t mean that
it’s the end of the road, it also means that you
are continuously engaged in LGBT support
or resources,” Prad said.
Prad and the team in the Institutional Di-
versity Office want to be strategic about of-
fering an out list. The office is planning to
hold focus groups with LGBT faculty mem-
bers to assess their needs and hear differing
el of government so we can advance equality
today, and so we are positioned to run for
higher-level offices in greater numbers to-
morrow.”
Another key issue in the election was the
ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment,
an effort that has been revived in recent years
and which has received increased efforts
since the 2016 election. The Democratic win
in Virginia is seen as key to facilitating the
ratification — Virginia can become the final
19
Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs, Thursday’s
bill signing symbolized “immense pride and
joy” in a time when much hostility exists on a
national and global level, she said.
“Philadelphia has a longstanding history
of pulling people in the direction of progress
by decidedly saying, ‘We are going to be an
inclusive space, we are going to be a space
to understand, we’re going to be a space that
learns about each other,’” Thornburg added.
“And we’re going to be a space that encourag-
es growth and encourages that progression no
matter what anybody else is doing or saying
on a larger scale.”
Kenney echoed the importance of ensuring
a city environment in which people are treated
“with respect and dignity all the time.”
“To have to go to school or work or wher-
ever and feel that you’re being marginalized
or being isolated because of who you are
is a terrible, terrible feeling,” Kenney said.
“We should make that feeling less and less.
We have a responsibility to make sure we in-
clude everybody, that we embrace everybody
and respect everybody. That’s what the city’s
about, what the city will always be about.” n
Neither side had a comment for this story.
Justin F. Robinette, a local civil-rights at-
torney who’s following the Doe case, said he
was disappointed with Penn’s legal stance.
“It’s disappointing that an Ivy League school
like Penn chooses to take such a regressive,
anti-trans position in a legal filing,” Robi-
nette said. “Legal precedent is pretty clear
that trans people are protected under Title
VII in our circuit. Penn [defendants] cited a
four-year-old ‘bathroom’ case to justify their
position. There have been many court rulings
since 2015 that affirm protections for trans
individuals under Title VII. Rather than argu-
ing the merits of the case, Penn is taking an
anti-trans position — which is at odds with
its reputation as a liberal, progressive insti-
tution.” n
viewpoints.
“We are always about promoting the vis-
ibility and awareness for the community,”
Prad said. “[An out list] would help align the
visibility factor for us. We’re trying to see a
full circle of how this will impact the cam-
pus.”
Even in the absence of a definitive list of
out faculty and staff, local colleges and uni-
versities are working to show prospective and
current students, faculty and staff that their
campuses are welcoming and accepting plac-
es for people of all LGBT backgrounds. n
state to ratify the ERA in January.
The battle to pass the ERA has been on-
going for nearly a century but ramped up in
the 1970s, when it was attacked by the right
with anti-gay narratives.
The wording of the ERA is simple:
“Equality of rights under the law shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States
or by any State on account of sex.” The ERA
would be a legal preventative to all sex dis-
crimination for all genders. n
ESS DIRECTORY
20
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Retirement is a Journey,
Not a Destination.
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Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
TRANSWORK JOB FAIR
from page 6
of stigma around trans individ-
uals and work ethics.”
Rosario once attended a
group interview alongside two
cisgender people for a job at a
chain restaurant. After meet-
ing Rosario, the hiring manag-
er told her the company wasn’t
hiring, though the employer
continued speaking with the
other candidates as she left,
Rosario said.
After that, Rosario began
looking for work through temp
agencies because it makes it
easier to obtain a job, she said,
in a process that makes trans
folks feel uncomfortable, less
motivated and stigmatized.
“At points like that, you
feel like sometimes, ‘I’m bet-
ter off sex working than go-
ing through this constantly
and constantly getting reject-
ed from jobs,’” Rosario ex-
plained.
Extreme poverty and un-
employment lead one in eight
trans folks to engage in “un-
derground economies” like
survival sex or drug work, ac-
cording to the National Cen-
ter for Transgender Equality.
More than 25 percent of trans
people have lost a job because
of bias, and more than 75 per-
cent have experienced work-
place discrimination.
Joey M., a freelance coder
and trans woman who attended
the job fair, told PGN she’s ex-
perienced job discrimination
because of her gender identity
while searching for a full-time
coding position. She said she’s
encountered rude interview-
• 3 Meals Per Day ers and fewer inquiries from
• Maintenance-free Living employers involved with her
• Beautiful Gardens and school’s career services pro-
gram than cisgender students
Courtyards
she studied with.
• Private Parking “I feel like I have to fight
twice as hard,” said Joey M.,
8301 Roosevelt Blvd, 39. “So any opportunity I see
Philadelphia, PA 19152 like this, I’m there.”
For Julie Dillon, a 27-year-
old West Philadelphia trans-
plant from Louisiana, Tran-
sWork partnering with large
companies like Independence
rev. dr. Nadine Rosechild Sullivan, ph.d. Blue Cross and Philadelphia
International Airport seems
Spiritual Counseling likely to encourage smaller or-
ganizations to do the same.
drsullivan@rosechild.org “One voice isn’t going to
215.704.4264 change anything, so having
www.rosechild.org people in power make the
decision that we need to start
Spirituality • Sexuality • Relationships • Self-Esteem changing things shows that
we’re not alone,” said Dillon,
a trans woman of color. “Peo-
ple are listening. People care
about our livelihood.” n
Arts & Culture
Q PUZZLE : PA G E 2 6 ARTS : P A G E
F A M I LY P O R T R A I T K a i Yo h m a n : Ta k i n g c a r e o f b u s i n e s s
Sasha Velour
brings
autobiographical
drag to
Philly stage
GARY M. KRAMER
PGN Contributor
Sasha Velour, who won the crown on
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” in Season 9, will
present her new show, “Smoke & Mirrors,”
on Nov. 12 at the Merriam Theater. The pro-
duction combines drag, video and magic as
the performer lip-syncs to songs, including
Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional,” Judy
Garland’s “Come Rain or Come Shine” —
with real rain no less — and Celine Dion’s
“I’m Alive.” She was touched to have her act
described as, “being like bringing paintings
to life.”
In a recent phone interview, the Brooklyn-
based performer described her show as “its
own specific genre. It’s lip-synch perfor-
mance, and through these performances, I’m
trying to tell the audience something real. So,
it’s fantasy and over the top, but it has a lot
of provocative imagery to stick in people’s
minds for them to latch onto emotionally.”
Velour also explained that “Smoke &
Mirrors” is “autobiographical.” She may do
23 FILM : PA G E 2 7
some theatrically driven numbers, with visual
aids and multimedia interaction, but some
segments of the show feature what the per-
former called, “stripped-down confessional
numbers, which stand in opposition to the
dramatic performances.” She likened these
more intimate moments to her performances
in gay bars, where she would talk honestly
and openly about her life and then perform
a number. She called it, “putting myself into
the drag.”
“My show is similar to what I did when
I was doing drag in bare club spaces. I was
playing with the tools provided — a bare
stage, a projection screen, and simple light-
ing. It’s that idea translated into a huge vaude-
ville.”
Velour’s origins as a drag queen began
when she was very young. She would dress
up in drag as a kid and put on shows as dif-
ferent characters. Velour came to learn about
and appreciate the history and culture of
drag when she was in college and saw doc-
umentaries such as “Pageant,” and “Paris Is
Burning.”
EVENTS : PA G E 2 2 SCENE IN PHLLY :
She observed, “It’s something that’s been
around for so long, and I was drawn to it, but
I didn’t understand it as a place of self-ex-
pression. I realized I misunderstood this
amazing art form. That’s why I’m trying to
look backward at the drag of the past. I want
to stay true to that tradition.”
Working on a larger scale takes time and
planning, but Velour acknowledged that this
has always been her approach to doing drag.
“I would plan elaborate numbers on the sub-
way during my commute to my day job. Once
I had an idea fully formed, I’d bring it to life.
I was economical.”
With “Smoke & Mirrors,” Velour goes
big and gives her ideas deserved attention to
detail. Creating the show required careful cos-
tume planning for video segments, prop selec-
tion, and even managing electric fans to keep
things cool under the hot, bright lights.
In the show, Velour models, as expected,
some dazzling outfits in her performance.
She works with costumer Diego Montoya,
who considers what a design might look like
from a distance. Velour, therefore, favors
PA G E 2 5 pgn
PAG E 2 4
SASHA VELOUR IN “SMOKE & MIRRORS”
P h o t o by L a u r e n Wo o d a r d ( K C M a r ke t i n g )
bold colors and strong graphic designs. Her
costumes begin as a simple sketch; she then
adds detail that indicates fabric, how the outfit
should move and what embellishments to add.
Moreover, Velour uses color to communicate
different emotions, so the costumes comple-
ment her song choices.
The performer claimed when choosing
songs, she looks for amazing singers —
“someone who can give it their all with their
voice and has enormous range. I feel I’m pro-
viding the emotion and breath for the song.
As long as there is emotion in the voice, it’s
easy to give a drag interpretation. I make the
songs about something other than what they
are about. Romance is the least interesting
narrative. I make the words metaphors and
more about self-discovery, which is what drag
is always scratching at.”
That said, when asked about singing her-
self, Velour confessed she does not even do
karaoke, “From lip-synching, I should be bet-
ter at doing vocal imitations. But no one pub-
licly gets to hear my Celine
Dion.” page 30
22
T H E AT E R & A R T S
BLACK VIOLIN: IMPOSSIBLE TOUR
The musical duo combining classical and
hip-hop music performs 8 p.m. Nov. 8
at Kimmel’s Academy of Music, 250 S.
Broad St.; 215-790-5800.
CLASS WOMEN & NON-BINARY WRIT-
ING
Learn comedy writing and collabora-
tion skills in a comfortable, encouraging
space, Wednesdays through Nov. 20 at
Good Good Comedy Theater, 215 N. 11th
St.; https://goodgoodcomedy.com/wom-
ennonbinary/.
ELF: THE MUSICAL
Media Theatre Company presents the
stage adaptation of the holiday comedy
film, Nov. 13-Jan. 12, 104 E. State St.,
Media; 610-891-0100.
GOLDEN GIRLS…DRAG DIVA BRUNCH
Mimi Imfurst and special guests thank
you for being a friend with a themed drag
show, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 9 at Punch Line
Philly, 33 E. Laurel St.; 215-606-6555.
HAMILTON
The smash-hit blockbuster musical makes
its Philly debut, through Nov. 17 at Kim-
mel’s Forrest Theatre, 1114 Walnut St.
St.; 215- 923-1515.
HERBERT FERBER: FORM INTO SPACE
Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an
exhibition featuring sculptures and related
drawings that Herbert Ferber (1906-91)
created during the 1950s — the artist’s
most creative period, through Jan. 5, 26th
Street and the Parkway; 215-763-8100.
JANELLE JAMES
The comedian seen on Netflix performs
8:30 and 10 p.m. Nov. 9 at Good Good
Comedy Theater, 215 N. 11th St.; https://
goodgoodcomedy.com/womennonbina-
ry/.
THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY: LGBTQ
POLITICS AND THE RADICAL LEFT,
1969-1999
William Way Community Center pres-
ents an exhibit telling the hidden history
of LGBTQ politics and the radical left in
the three decades following Stonewall,
through Dec. 27, 1315 Spruce St.; 215-
732-2220.
SAEED JONES
The Stonewall Award-winning out author
discusses his book, “How We Fight For
Our Lives,” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 at Central
Library, 1901 Vine St.; 215-686-5322.
SHREK: THE MUSICAL
Walnut Street Theatre presents the stage
adaptation of the hit animated film about
an ogre on a quest to rescue a princess,
through Jan. 5, 825 Walnut St.; 215-574-
3550.
NOTICES: Send notices at least one week in advance to: Out & About Listings, PGN, 505 S. Fourth St., Philadelphia, PA 19147 fax: 215-925-6437 or e-mail: listings@epgn.com. Notices cannot be taken over the phone.
EVENTS
A SMALL FIRE
Tony and Emmy Award winner Bebe Neu-
wirth stars in the play about a woman who
mysteriously starts losing her senses, through
Nov. 10 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S.
Broad St.; 215-985-0420.
SUNSET BABY
Azuka Theatre presents a drama about the
reunion of a former Black revolutionary and
political prisoner with his estranged daughter,
through Nov. 24 at Louis Bluver Theatre at
The Drake, 302 S. Hicks St.; 215-563-1100.
SUSAN ORLEAN
The New Yorker staff writer and author dis-
cusses her book, “The Library Book,” 7:30
p.m. Nov. 14 at Central Library, 1901 Vine
St.; 215-686-5322.
MUSIC
ELTON JOHN
The iconic out singer-songwriter performs
Nov. 8-9 at Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S.
Broad St.; 215-389-9543.
POPS ROCKS ABBEY ROAD
The Philly POPS performs the classic Beat-
le’s album, Nov. 8-10 at Kimmel’s Verizon
Hall, 300 S. Broad St.; 215-893-1999.
REBIRTH BRASS BAND
A New Orleans-based brass band performs
Nov. 8-9 at Underground Arts, 1200 Cal-
lowhill St.; 215-627-1332.
THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS
The indie rock band performs 8:30 p.m.
Nov. 8 at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Gar-
den St.; 215-232-2100.
STEELY DAN
The classic rock band performs through
Nov. 9 at The Met, 858 N. Broad St.; info@
TheMetPhilly.com.
THIRD EYE BLIND
The rock band performs 8 p.m. Nov. 9 at
Xcite Center, 2999 Street Road, Bensalem;
888-588-7279.
TODRICK HALL: THE HAUS PARTY TOUR
The out singer performs 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11
at The Fillmore Philadelphia, 29 E. Allen
St.; 215-309-0150.
TAKING BACK SUNDAY
The punk band performs 8 p.m. Nov. 13 &
14 at Franklin Music Hall, 421 N. Seventh
St.; 215-627-1332.
NIGHTLIFE
THE WIG BALL
Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus presents its first
annual dance party and wig competition, 9 p.m.
Nov. 8 at Tabu, 200 S. 12th St.; 215-964-9675.
REFLECTING &
AFFECTING:
Gender-fluid drag performer
and visual artist, Sasha Velour,
brings her first one-queen
theatre tour, “Smoke & Mirrors,”
blending drag, visual art and
magic for an evening of fun,
8 p.m. Nov. 12 at Merriam
Theater, 250 S. Broad St. For
more information or tickets, call
215-790-5800.
American indie/folk rock group, Big
Thief, featuring out singer, Adrianne
Lanker, comes to Philly in support of
their new album, “Two Hands,” 8:30
p.m. Nov. 9 at Union Transfer, 1026
Spring Garden St. For more informa-
tion or tickets, call 215-232-2100.
STOLEN MOMENTS
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
events
TENTH ANNUAL PHILLY BEAUTY BALL
Philadelphia’s premier amateur drag
event, 8 p.m. Nov. 9 ay Voyeur Nightclub,
1221 Saint James St.; 215-735-5772.
GQ KINGS BAG O’ SNACKS
Philly’s hottest kings perform, 9 p.m.
Nov. 9 at Tabu, 200 S. 12th St.; 215-964-
9675.
CELEBRATING VISIBILITY: A BENEFIT
CABARET FOR HRC
Comedy duo Ruth and Estelle host a ben-
efit cabaret in partnership with Nightcap
Cabaret and Mauckingbird Theatre Com-
pany, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at L’Etage, 624
S. Sixth St.; 215-592-0656.
RABBIT PUNCH
A night of short theater productions from
Philly’s best theater-makers, Nov. 14-15
at Franky Bradley’s, 1320 Chancellor St.;
215-735-0735.
GET PEGGED CABARET FEAT. MORGAN
BASSICHIS AND GIRL POOP
An evening of sexy, satirical, daring, de-
lightful, queer and dangerous performers,
10:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at Fringe Arts, 140 N.
Columbus St.; 215-413-1318.
O U T TA T O W N
THE O’JAYS
The R&B group performs 9 p.m. Nov. 8
at Ovation Hall, 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic
City; 609 225-9898.
SKID ROW & GREAT WHITE
The rock bands perform 9 p.m. Nov. 8 at
the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa Music
Box, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City, N.J.;
609-317-1000.
BEST IN SHOW
The comedy film is screened, 4 p.m. Nov.
9 at The Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge
St., Phoenixville; 610-917-1228.
PHILADELPHIA
The award-winning drama film is
screened, 1:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at The Co-
lonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenix-
ville; 610-917-1228.
STRANGELOVE
The Depeche Mode tribute band per-
forms 8 p.m. Nov. 15 at The Queen, 500
N. Market St., Wilmington, Del.; 202-
730-3331.
PAUL ANKA
The singer performs 9 p.m. Nov. 15 at
Ovation Hall, 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic
City; 609 225-9898.
GALAXY QUEST
The sci-fi comedy film is screened, 9:45
p.m. Nov. 15 at The Colonial Theatre, 227
Bridge St., Phoenixville; 610-917-1228.
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
Allentown community center hosts
queer coloring book creator
10/11
LARRY NICHOLS
larry@epgn.com
The Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Cen-
ter in Allentown is hosting out coloring book artist
Jacinta Bunnell as part of its artist-in-residence
series, Nov. 11-12.
Bunnell is an artist and author from New York’s
Hudson Valley. She has created coloring books that
challenge readers to look differently at notions of
gender and sexuality with titles like “Girls Will Be
Boys Will Be Girls Will Be …” and “Sometimes
the Spoon Runs Away with Another Spoon.”
Adrian Shanker, founder and executive direc-
tor of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community
Center, said “Bradbury Sullivan LGBT Community
Center brought Jacinta Bunnell to our organization
last year to do an exhibit of her coloring book pag-
es in our art galleries, where people were able to
color on the walls,” Shanker said. “This year, we’re
bringing her back as an artist-in-residence to teach
people how to make coloring books that are, what
she calls, ‘gender liberating,’ and also have a com-
munity coloring party with the pages of her books.
It so important that people be able to express them-
selves, and coloring is one way to do that.”
Bunnell said she draws from her experience as
a teacher for her books but also seeks advice and
ideas from the queer communities she wants to
engage.
“My own experience would not feel broad-spec-
trum enough, so I always get feedback from as
many people as possible before publishing a book.
Usually, a small committee of people read the book
and give feedback,” she said. “Then I’ll go back to
the drawing board and change things beyond that.”
While queer families are far more visible now,
inclusive coloring books and other LGBT-centered
amusements for queer children, youth and families
are difficult to find and often not available in main-
stream retail spaces. Both Bunnell and Shanker
said that the support of LGBTQ organizations and
A RT S
23
Health and Wellness Directory
Advertise your business
in our directories
for only $25 per week
when you run for
a minimum of 8
weeks.
Cour tesy of Queer Book Committee
retailers is essential to reach the books’ intended
audiences.
“We know that a lot of times, these books are hard
to find,” Shanker said. “They’re not always in places
where people go to find books. Sometimes it’s hard
to access these materials. That’s why we make sure
that our library has books like Jacinta’s but also goes
further and creates community programs that engage
our population with the artists themselves.”
“A lot of GSAs will buy [my books], along with
LGBTQ centers and homeless shelters and schools,”
Bunnell said. “I hope the children will finally be able
to see a reflection of themselves in media because
so much media ignores queer families or tokenizes
them. Much of the children’s literature that is made
for queer youth is very didactic in that it’s a teaching
tool. Like, ‘This is what a lesbian family looks like,’
as opposed to normalizing it and weaving it into the
story.”
Books created for queer children and their families
draw some criticism from people outside of the
community. Bunnell said she tries to insulate herself
from any criticism that anyone might have about her
books.
“It’s wonderful to have a publisher who creates
a buffer for me from that,” she said. “I don’t get a
lot of direct feedback because they handle commu-
nication around the books. I feel strongly that what
I do is right, and there’s nothing wrong. If there is
pushback, we’ve all dealt with that our whole lives
as queer people. I feel strong in who I am and have a
strong foundation of support from my publisher and
my community.” n
Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center’s
artist-in-residence series presents Jacinta Bun-
nell, 6 p.m. Nov. 11. Attendees can create coloring
books and at 6 p.m. on Nov. 12, join a commu-
nity coloring party, 522 W. Maple St. at Bayard
Rustin Way, Allentown. For more information, visit
bradburysullivancenter.org, jacintabunnell.com or
queerbookcommittee.com.
24
FAMILY PORTRAIT WITH SUZI NASH
Kai Yohman: Taking care of business
Are you a business owner? Would you
like to start a business? Do you enjoy
talking about business? Basically, what
I’m trying to say is that the IBA, the In-
dependence Business Alliance has a little
something for everyone. Also known as
the LGBT Chamber of Commerce, the
mission of the IBA is to promote diver-
sity, support LGBTQ businesses, develop
leadership and collaborations and advocate
for positive change for the LGBT business
community. Through PGN, I am a mem-
ber and have been to a number of great
events and workshops held by the IBA. I
took time this week to say hello to the new
operations coordinator for the Chamber of
Commerce, Kai Yohman.
Let’s start with the 411 on Kai
Yohman. I was raised in a suburb just
outside of Cleveland. I grew up with a
twin sister and a single mom, and I had a
pretty great childhood, but it was in a very
sheltered and homogeneous community.
The demographic was mostly white folks.
I ended up going to a small-sized liberal
arts school where I had my eyes opened a
little bit. When I was 25, I moved to New
York. I didn’t totally know what I wanted
to do with my life as I was just beginning
to explore my queer identity. In New York,
I started working at the LGBTQ health
center where, for four years, I worked with
HIV positive folks who were experienc-
ing severe barriers to access the support
and care they needed to maintain, not only
their physical health but also their mental,
social and emotional health as well. That
experience was also very eye-opening and
helped me realize that what I wanted to do,
both in my career and in my life in general,
was to support and uplift and give power
to folks who are not able to easily access
those things because they’re members of
communities that experience oppression
and harm at disproportionate rates. That
work now has looked like a lot of differ-
ent things for me, from direct service to
HIV positive people, to management of a
drop-in center for folks who had been in-
carcerated and then on to more operational
positions to support nonprofits, which all
leads to where I am right now as the op-
erations coordinator at the local LGBTQ
Chamber of Commerce where we pro-
vide opportunities, access and resources
to LGBTQ professionals and allies in the
Greater Philadelphia area. My job is to
manage a lot of areas, including member-
ship, event planning, finance and facilita-
tion and collaboration with other minority
chambers of commerce that have similar
mandates, ethics or missions.
Whew! I think that was the most con-
cise and condensed history I’ve ever
been given! [Laughing] I tend to try to be
intentional with the way I use my words.
PROFILE
Going back a little, I want to know
about having a twin sister. Any weird
twin things? When we were very little,
my mom says we had a secret language
that we spoke in that no one else could
understand. Other than that, we were very
different growing up, and, to this day,
she is a lot more extroverted than I am.
She’s the type of person who walks in and
immediately commands the room. She’s
extremely loving and open and sweet, and
you can sense that right away. So grow-
ing up, she was definitely more outgoing,
where I was the quieter introvert who
would spend my time hiding in bathrooms
reading a book.
“...WHAT I WANTED TO DO,
BOTH IN MY CAREER AND IN
MY LIFE IN GENERAL, WAS TO
SUPPORT AND UPLIFT AND
GIVE POWER TO FOLKS WHO
ARE NOT ABLE TO EASILY
ACCESS THOSE THINGS...”
Are you identical or fraternal? Frater-
nal. We don’t look anything alike. If you
looked closely at us, you could tell we
were related, but that’s about it.
Well, that erases some of the twin
mystique! No parent trap action, I
guess. So is your twin also part of the
LGBTQ community? She is straight
but a wonderful ally. She and the rest of
my family have really come a long way,
and I’m very close to all of them.
I feel extreme gratitude for that because
I know that many queer folks do not have
a relationship with their families because
of their identities. I’m so lucky because
not only have they supported me as an
individual, they have grown to be active
in their support for the larger LGBTQ
community. They’ve taken the time to be
aware of the members of our community
who experience harm at disproportionate
rates, such as communities of color and
specifically trans women of color. I have
a lot of love for my family being so open
to that. I also have two half-sisters, one
of whom is queer and the other who is
also very supportive. So my twin is not
gay, but two of us out of four is pretty
good!
When you were a kid, what was your
favorite part of school? As I said, I
was very quiet, so I enjoyed anything
having to do with reading and writing. I
read voraciously; I would read the back
of a shampoo bottle, whatever I could
put my hands on.
What was your favorite book? I loved
The Boxcar Children books — the scrap-
piness of the kids and the idea of being
able to be on their own and explore.
That’s why I liked “Pippi Longstock-
ing” and “One Was Johnny,” which
was also about a kid living alone. Yeah,
there were a lot of stories like that avail-
able that I also enjoyed. I was always curi-
ous about people who lived different lives.
When did you start to figure out your
sexual orientation? I went to
Catholic school from kinder-
garten through 12th
grade. Being
queer was
just
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
not something that anyone ever spoke
about there. It wasn’t super strict, but
queerness was never mentioned as an iden-
tity or option. I didn’t really date in high
school and didn’t really think much about
my sexuality. I had a little secret relation-
ship with the head cheerleader, but my
first real girlfriend was in college. It was
very natural; it was a friendship that just
grew into a romantic relationship. At first,
my family and friends wanted me to sort
of choose and label my identity — was I
a lesbian, was I bisexual, but I resisted it;
I just was who I was. But now, I’m more
cognizant about queer identity and what it
means, so I now strongly identify as queer
and a dyke.
I think labels help us identify each other
and find community, but that’s just me!
I actually have a button with a gay bar
code that I sometimes wear. That’s so
funny. Yeah, now I feel so connected to the
label “queer,” though I do know that lan-
guage can sometimes be divisive or limiting,
but I believe in the power of love and care
that you can receive when you find ways to
understand and embrace your identity.
Where did you go to college, and for
what? I went to a small school called Wit-
tenberg University that no one’s ever heard
of and majored in sociology. There I had
a teacher, Dr. Broh, who really helped me
figure out what I wanted to do. It may sound
corny, but she helped me embrace that what
I really wanted to do was help people. I
graduated in 2008 when the market crashed
and was told immediately that I had to get
a master’s degree, because jobs that used to
only require an undergrad degree were now
going to require a master’s. So I went and
enrolled at Cleveland State and
got a masters in sociology
there.
page 26
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
S C E N E I N P H I L LY
25

H E N R I D AV I D P R E S E N T S :
H A L L O W E E N T H E B A L L 2 0 1 9 AT
PHILADELPHIA 201 HOTEL PHOTOS BY KELLY BURKHARDT
26 Q PUZZLE Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com

FAMILY PORTRAIT works to end economic disparity in the

from page 24 trans community by connecting employers
and job seekers, as well as having work-
It seems that you’ve either worked at shops and events like our recent job fair for
or participated in some interesting trans-identified people. On Nov. 12, we’re
places since then, like the Institute having one of our Lunch & Learn mem-
for Community Justice (ICJ). What bers’ events. This one highlights commu-
and how was that? I managed a drop-in nication techniques for businesses. We do
center for those who’ve been incarcerated breakfast business workshops too. We also
or affected by the criminal justice system. have a scholarship program and a ton of
I loved that job. I’ve had a lot of different collaborations with groups like PHLDiver-
positions and dipped into a lot of differ- sity.
ent things, but the underlying mission is
always the same. There’s a Toni Morrison You have a lot going on with work.
quote I love, which basically says, “When What else occupies your time? Moving to
you get these jobs that you’ve been so Philly has provided me with a much better
brilliantly trained for, just remember that work/life balance. With that time has come
your real job is that if you’re free, you need the ability to focus on and navigate some
to free somebody else. If you have some of the personal pain and trauma I’ve gone
power, then your job is to empower some- through, as well as an awareness of the hurt
one else.” It’s something I try to prioritize, that participating in those cycles has caused.
no matter what I’m doing. Philadelphia has a very strong community
of queer people in recovery from different
I saw an ICJ event that seemed in- addictions and trauma responses. The steps
teresting. The organization holds a I’ve been able to take here to continue to
holiday party for families of those who be the best version of myself have been
are incarcerated. People forget that transformative. I am constantly inspired and
it’s not only about the people behind blown away by how folks in recovery of all
bars, but also families are affected. kinds lift up, respect and love one another.
Yes, it affects everyone. Their parents, their
children, their friends, their co-workers and What things do you like to do for fun
communities, and as someone who has had outside of work? I like to nest! I’m a Can-
family members and allies who have been cer rising, so I love to just stay home and
incarcerated, I can appreciate the burdens. enjoy the quiet. I can be extroverted outside,
Kids especially are often not supported so when I’m home, I like to just turn it all
52 Invite from bot- vin’ That Man Of mond’s shot when their caretakers are taken away, so off and do some self-care. But on the other
Q Puzzle toms to tops?
53 The life of Riley
___”
13 Asks from one’s
43 Baseball great
Ralph
this program was really appreciated. hand, I do love to be spontaneous and have
off the cuff adventures.
54 Tickle a funny knees 44 “Getting to What brought you to Philadelphia? I
FRIENDS OF bone 19 Just not done Know ___”
JESSICA JONES lived in New York for four years, and as What’s a recent adventure? I went to Las
57 Skipper’s spot 21 Tallulah’s home, 46 Amsterdam
59 “Dancing for short transport someone who grew up in the Midwest, my Vegas for two days with no notice. The best
Across Queen” band 24 Cut 47 “Till There ___ eyes were really opened in New York. It part was going to the desert outside of Vegas
1 Easy putt for Patty 63 TV show with 26 One with limbs You” was a really important experience learning and exploring the beauty of it.
Sheehan Alex Danvers, big spread wide 48 In the world about life and how big it is. But I would
6 Bunch of stallions sister of one from 27 Legal conclusion 50 Casual top come to Philly to relax, and at some point, What is the worst hairstyle you’ve had?
10 Mary’s pet Krypton beginning 54 Sailing the Pa-
14 Best possible 65 Katrina Law 28 Gridiron kicks cific I realized, you know, I could live here and [Laughing] OK, I think, at one time, the
15 1847 Melville plays Nyssa on this 29 Stones’ song cov- 55 Bitch without have a more sustainable way of life. I like mushroom cut was kind of in style, and
travel book program ered by Tori Amos papers, e.g. that it’s on the East Coast and fast-paced, I thought that it was working for me, but
16 Steinbeck mi- 66 Penetrating 31 Siege site of 56 Capable of per- but more manageable than New York. I looking back at pictures of that time, it re-
grant question? 1836 forming also like how significant and involved the ally wasn’t.
17 With 18-Across, 67 Shirley Ma- 32 ___ T. Lardbot- 58 “At Wit’s End”
first Black lesbian cLaine’s la Douce tom of “Kudzu” author Bombeck queer community is here. I’ve felt very
superhero on TV role 33 Pundit Alexan- 60 Soft cheese welcomed and supported. Your most unusual possession? I recently
18 See 17-Across 68 Moonshine der 61 Cheeky got a lava lamp. It has glitter in it and is
20 B in Leviticus maker 35 Where to stick 62 They poke What are some of the things happen- amazingly soothing.
21 Memory unit 69 Straddling your salami around in leather ing with IBA? We do monthly networking
22 Endora por- 70 Dog owner of 39 Navigator with 64 Bunkmates on
trayer “South Park” a strait named for base events called ConnX that have become What is the origin of your name — first
23 “___ no idea!” 71 Where to stick him 65 Tammy Bald- really popular. The next one coming up is and/or last? I chose my first name, Kai,
25 “Queen of Coun- your tools 42 Norma Des- win’s party symbol on Nov. 19, 5:30 p.m. at WeWork located when I was 25 because I connected to it
try” McEntire at 1430 Walnut St. (2nd floor). The event is more and felt it was less gender-specific. My
27 Rio beach of D ow n also going to be a clothing drive to benefit last name now is Yohman, but it was Joch-
song 1 Bee Gees family
30 “Rainbows name the nonprofit Career Wardrobe and is free mann when my ancestors came over from
Reign” and more 2 Laying out to all. We are strongly encouraging attend- Austria to the U.S. in 1890. They changed
34 Hulu program 3 Sexual partners, ees to bring a piece of clothing to donate. it to Yohman then because no one was pro-
with a teen lesbian inelegantly Our sponsor, KASHIYAMA the Smart nouncing Jochmann correctly. So techni-
36 Bread 4 Deus ex ___ Tailor, will be graciously providing beer cally, anyone with the last name of Yohman
37 Elton John’s 5 Antlered beast
lang. 6 Easter, Passover, and wine. is someone I’m related to, and there aren’t
38 Bottom line and Bette Midler’s Our holiday party on Dec. 17 is always a many of us.
40 Queer ___ birthday? big gala. It’s actually become the largest
three-dollar bill 7 Do a nocturnal LGBTQ+ holiday gathering of its kind in What genre of music would people be
41 Like a porn activity the Greater Philadelphia region, and this surprised to know you listen to? I don’t
facial 8 Mister with a
45 Title role for neighborhood year it will be held at the Curtis Cen- know about surprising, but I was raised on
Ruby Rose on the 9 Homer’s outburst ter. We also have a subcommittee called Stevie Nicks, Bruce Springsteen and the
CW 10 Once upon a TransWork, which is made up of trans and Goo Goo Dolls. Not long ago, I went to a
49 “Cats” inspirer time... gender non-conforming IBA board mem- Goo Goo Dolls concert with my mother,
51 It may be eaten 11 Similar (to) bers and community members. The group and it was everything and more. n
in a bar 12 “Can’t Help Lo-
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
FILM
27

Gay filmmaker’s latest drama is pretty but flimsy

GARY M. KRAMER
PGN Contributor
Out gay writer and director Ira Sachs’
new drama, “Frankie,” is lovely but also
a pretentious concoction of Europudding. Frankie stumbles upon a birthday party
Opening Nov. 8 at the Landmark Ritz
at the Bourse, the film is set in in Sintra 88-year old stranger blowing out candles.
— a backdrop as beautiful as the interna- As Frankie becomes forlorn, silently ac-
tional cast of actors. “Frankie”’s elegiac
tone suggests Sachs has been listening to won’t have any more birthdays to cele-
melancholic Portuguese fado music.
The film concerns the title character
(Isabelle Huppert), an actress, gathering
her extended family plus a close friend,
Ilene (Marisa Tomei), for a vacation.
Frankie does not have long to live, a fact characters. The first act of “Frankie”
that is only briefly discussed. But this
MARISA TOMEI AS ILENE BIANCHI
Photo by Rui Poças. Cour tesy Sony Pictures Classics
elephant in the room seems to freight
every aphorism — “Find it before you
look for it” — and every moment with
meaning. The drama and the characters
nearly buckle under the weight of it all.
and forces a smile as she sits next to an
knowledging to herself that she probably
brate, it feels obvious and contrived. At
least Huppert’s expressive performance
here elicits sympathy for Frankie.
However, this slight film barely gives
viewers enough time to get to know the
quickly — and didactically — introduces
all the characters V I N E T T E R O B I N S O N A S S Y LV I A A N D O H A N D
A R I YO N B A K A R E A S I A N A N D O H
and their situa- © Guy Ferrandis / SBSProductions. Cour tesy
Sony Pictures Classics
tions. Frankie’s
step-daughter
Sylvia (Vinette
Robinson) is
looking to leave her
husband Ian (Ari- husband; Michel (out actor Pascal Greg- she gives him her ornate gold-and-dia-
yon Bakare) and gory) is Frankie’s gay ex-husband. Ilene, mond bracelet. Paul takes this literally
asks their teenage her friend, arrives with her beau, Gary heavy-handed symbol that represents
daughter Maya (Greg Kinnear). Gary proposes to Ilene love, wealth, and legacy, to magnify the
(Sennia Nanua) to in Sintra, but her response is non-com- tensions between mother and son. There
keep quiet about mittal. are also two warm and tender scenes of
her plans. Frankie’s The characters all talk and talk about Frankie and Jimmy together. One where
son Paul (Jérémie love — having faith in love, not confus- he crawls into bed to hug and kiss her,
Renier) is prepar- ing money and love, and even expressing and another where she plays the piano as
ing to move to ideas about eternal love. One character, he sits beside her. These silent moments
New York, and his Thiago (Carloto Cotta), a tour guide, of the loving couple just being together
mother says that describes his wife as being “like the convey more emotion than any dialogue
he should find the police,” to define his relationship. Maya in this talky drama.
right woman. (She finds a potential boyfriend on a day trip “Frankie” should have featured more
has one in mind: to the beach, hinting at young love. Even scenes like these. The subplot about Syl-
via and Ian feels superfluous, and Maya’s
Ilene). Jimmy a myth about an ancient fountain where
(Brendan Gleeson) women drink to find a good husband is romance feels underwritten. These char-
included. All these observations about
is Frankie’s current acters are not quite developed enough to
romance and rela- care about; they seemed designed to echo
tionships suggest the how love can break down or blossom.
importance of love and Also, a strange exchange occurs between
the fragility of it. Sachs Ilene and Paul, where he tells her a rather
makes his points in a inappropriate story that could be read as
gentle fashion that al- his effort to rebel against his mother’s
lows viewers to absorb matchmaking wishes.
them. Even though Sachs suggests more than he tells,
Frankie tries to play an approach that can be worthwhile for
cupid setting up Paul viewers who like to fill in the narra-
and Ilene, the film is tive gaps and backstories, but it can
not really a comedy. At also muddle more than illuminate. The
least two scenes feature film offers beautiful piano music and
the characters discuss- gorgeous shots of Sintra as breathers be-
ing inheritance tax. tween the dramatic scenes, but it is hard
The best moments not to want more from the characters or
show Frankie in con- the story.
trol. Her unexpected The ensemble cast benefits from Hup-
encounter with Gary pert’s knack for conveying Frankie’s cal-
has her sizing him up culated thoughts and emotions through
and dismissing him. her tone of voice or body language. In
MARISA TOMEI AS ILENE BIANCHI AND ISABELLE When she and Paul support, Jérémie Renier and Marisa
HUPPERT AS FRANÇOISE CRÉMONT (FRANKIE)
© Guy Ferrandis / SBSProductions. Cour tesy take a long walk down Tomei stand out because they each get
Sony Pictures Classics a country lane, they meaty parts.
each communicate “Frankie” is perhaps too subtle a film
a subtext that comes to be truly satisfying, but the few strong
to the surface when moments are worth savoring. n
28 FILM
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com

Chet Catherine Pancake lives with their ideas. I was also surrounded by a number of est in “Queer Genius” and also Barbara Ham- much more identified as female then and
partner and child at Black Oak House — Baltimore artists — Laure Drogoul, Blaster mer and Eileen Myles. When I turned 40, I endured very intense street harassment for
also the art gallery Pancake curates. The Al Ackerman, Neil Feather — who kept al- assessed my life and determined that I needed years as well as all the other things that come
quaint but roomy West Philadelphia row ternative archives of their lives and worked to make my creative life central to all my with appearing in the range of desirable for
home is across the street from Malcolm X largely outside the mainstream art world, endeavors. I accepted that this may mean less cis straight men. My “softness” may also
Park and often adorned with drawings from and that resonated with me. I would con- economic success for me, which was very be due to caring for a child and also my
Pancake’s daughter. sider alternative culture and queer culture hard to do as I’ve never had financial support embracing of my trans-masculine identi-
Pancake moved from rural West Virginia my social/emotional/intellectual context, from family or external benefactors. I then ty, which feels much more peaceful to my
to Baltimore, Maryland, body. I found that Barbara
when they were a teenag- and Eileen were much more
er and immersed themself in the present, working and
in various art scenes. active than almost any artists
They built community I know. It was extremely
that uplifted women, gratifying to document
people of color and queer and learn from them. Also,
voices in music, visual Barbara, in particular, has
art and performance. been in and out of favor in
“In 1999 I said: no more the art world, so looking at
white guys,” Pancake someone’s history in terms
ruminated. of working through obscurity
After moving to to fame back to obscurity
Philadelphia, Pancake and back to fame, etc., is
found another well of an ocean that I think many
artists with whom to form “successful” artists swim in. I
community — those ge- don’t feel in between genera-
nius inventors who were tions, but I do feel over time,
creating and preserving the urgent pressure to more
queer art. Enter “Queer intensely address constantly
Genius,” a film that unlearning racism and the
explores the visionary gap between pushing very
work of Barbara Hamer, hard to be inclusive over the
Black Quantum Futurism, years or devoting lots of time
Jibz Cameron and Eileen to it and the awkwardness
Myles. Billed as “a cine- of being asked to step aside
matic exploration of four when others need a certain
visionary queer artists space. I recognize in myself
breaking down barriers the “good feeling” of fighting
in their creative fields as for equality and then the
they confront fame, fail- stress of being decentralized
ure, censorship, family, or not “the diversity hero”
gender and sexuality,” when that is achieved. It’s a
“Queer Genius” captures thing about white privilege
artists in their element, on the left that is not talked
like capturing a dream. about that much and should
PGN talked with Chet be more explored openly

Queer director talks

Pancake about the film, with empathy. The Leeway
as well as art, community, Foundation has taught me a
futurity and genius. lot about this process.

genius film
Your film explores the Do you feel most fulfilled
history of queer art as a curator or artist? I feel
and literature by way equally fulfilled by both, but
of Eileen Myles and I work most currently as an
Barbara Hammer spe- artist and less as a curator.
cifically. How import- “Queer Genius” is a synthesis
ant is preserving and ALEX SMITH | PGN Contributor of both, and I think a sort
documenting history to of capstone of 15 years of
you? As a younger queer volunteer curating and DIY
artist arriving in Balti- organizing to create and
more, Maryland in the diversify independent art
‘90s out of the Appala- spaces.
chian mountains where F R O M “ Q U E E R G E N I U S ,” J I B Z C A M E R O N , A . K . A . DY N A S T Y H A N D B A G , P E R F O R M I N G O N S TA G E
many queer people were What moments were the
pulling up stakes and saddest, most awkward
moving to cities in search and empowering during
of jobs and a new way of life, I was deeply and I do think it’s very important to honor became deeply curious about what it means the making of “Queer Genius”? Great
influenced by books, movies and music and document one’s “family” of choice to make queer art into one’s later years, and question. The saddest A: Losing Barbara
that spoke to a new way of cultural life. I — as well as biological family if you have to me, it seemed a life choice that came with Hammer from this world as a living active
was essentially mentored by these complex one — regardless of the dominant culture’s a sort of dignity that was not the case in the force. I’m still sorting out my complicat-
artworks in a world that felt pretty extreme- acknowledgment. corporate world where I had been working for ed grief. The saddest B: The utter lack of
ly alienating. I saw Hammer’s “Nitrate about 11 years. I actually see myself as more interest from the larger art world institutions
Kisses” around this time, along with films Queer timelines seem altered, different and more childlike, curious and hopeful as I in terms of funding or supporting this film
like “Step Across the Border” and “W.R.: than normative timelines — more fluid. get older, which has been a big surprise. in Philadelphia besides The Leeway Foun-
Mysteries of the Organism” that presented How do you see your art, generationally? When I was younger, I was much, much dation, Bree Pickering, Kate
deep dives into intriguing alternate cultural This is one of the key motivators of my inter- more cynical, ironic, and “hard.” I was also Kraczon and Amanda Sroka. page 30
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
FILM
29

Out director’s new film tackles the church abuse

scandal in France

FRANÇOIS OZON

M E LV I N P O U P A U D ( L E F T )
DENIS MÉNOCHET (CENTER)
E R I C C A R AVAC A ( R I G H T )
FRANÇOIS OZON

GARY M. KRAMER
PGN Contributor
Out gay director François Ozon’s excep-
tional drama, “By the Grace of God,” re-
counts the church’s recent child abuse scandal
in Lyon. The film, which opens Nov. 8 at the
Landmark Ritz at the Bourse, chronicles the
efforts of several victims of pedophile priest
Bernard Preynat (Bernard Verley), bringing
the situation to light and demanding account-
ability from the Catholic church.
Ozon decided to make the film after dis-
covering the testimonies of abused children.
He met with victims, and his film depicts how
they found the courage to speak out and orga-
nize to create change. “By the Grace of God”
also illustrates the ripple effect child abuse
has on each’s man’s family.
is a ticking time bomb. Their [trauma] affects
everyone in the family. The parents, the broth-
ers and sisters, and even their children feel
guilty. The film is about the repercussions of
abuse for all members of the family.
You have a striking scene of Alexandre
(Melvin Poupaud) recounting the story of
his abuse. Other scenes depict the young
Bernard Preynat on a camping trip with
the children in the film. Can you talk
about the decision to both tell and show
the abuse? We were deciding if we needed
flashbacks or not. Talking with the survivors,
it was important to show the abuse and the
circumstances of that — where it happened,
how it could happen, etc. The children were
paralyzed at the time. They don’t understand
what is happening. They are like the lamb in
came out and spoke out. I know some new
victims spoke for the first time. When you
are abused, you think you are alone, and
when you share your suffering and fight to-
gether, you realize you are not alone. In the
film, Emmanuel is reborn. This [activism]
helps him survive.
How was your film received in France
and/or by the church? The church was
afraid before the release, but when they saw
the film, they were nice to me because they
understood I respected the faith. I was ear-
nest. The film shows the point of view of the
victims, and the [church] discovered how
much these men suffered. In the end, the
film was supported by the Catholic commu-
nity; they came to see it. Many Catholics are
upset by the situation, and they thanked me.
They want things to change.
What has changed? Many things. After
the release of the film, [Cardinal] Barbarin
was condemned, and the priest [Preynat]
was defrocked. People realize how much pe-
dophilia can be a crime. Change is slow, but
it is happening.
Do you think it’s possible for victims to
find closure or healing? It takes time. It’s
a long fight, but some are able. It depends
on social background. For some, it destroys
them for their entire life, and some victims
commit suicide. n

Daniel Gioioso
Ozon’s concerned approach thankfully nev- front of the wolf. I wanted these flashbacks to
er allows “By the Grace of God” to become show the tragedy of the child in front of the

THE CONNIE BERG TEAM

too melodramatic or histrionic. In a recent in-
terview, the director spoke with PGN about
his absorbing film.
Did you grow up with a strong connec-
tion to the church? I had a Catholic edu-
cation as a child. It was a good education. I
enjoyed it because I learned many things. But
I lost my faith during my adolescence when
I saw how the church could be hypocritical
about sexuality.
It is difficult for people who have been
abused to share stories. It’s more than
just shame; it’s a loss of trust and faith;
it’s about feeling weak and vulnerable.
What are your observations about the im-
pact of this? When I met the victims, it was
moving to hear the survivors telling me the in-
timate stories of their families when they de-
cided to speak out. I saw that an abused child
adult who is abusing him.
You take an interesting approach to tell-
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that? I hope it does. In France, the film was Fox & Roach, REALTORS® dgioioso@gmail.com Email
successful and had a big influence. People
30
QUEER DIRECTOR
from page 28
The most awkward moments of the film
were working with so many amazing
musicians, cinematographers and people
on the film and having to leave some of
those folks’ work out in the final edit, i.e.,
getting people excited for the film, and then
not being able to include commissioned
music, visuals or ideas brought to me with
total enthusiasm and generosity. I found the
Kickstarter process and finding so much
grassroots support for the film to be very
heartening and exciting. Also, bringing my
7-year-old gender-expansive child to the
Castro Theater in San Francisco for the
premiere, and having her see the film on
the big screen and seeing her name at the
end in the dedication. She sacrificed a lot of
time with me as I worked on the film, and
it was very hard to endure for both of us. I
basically worked on the film every single
day for months, and she wasn’t sure why.
Then she understood it was a “real movie,”
and she was super psyched.
The film has quite a few tonal shifts,
the kind of reserved playful madness of
Hammer, the irreverent chaos of Jibz
Cameron, rugged lifestylism of Myles
and the intense, truth-to-power mel-
ancholia of Black Quantum Futurism.
Did these tonal shifts influence your
vision for the film or was it the result
of editing, interviewing and process?
Yes … However, I am now pondering the
melancholia of Black Quantum Futurism.
PGN
Frequently they are described by white
critics as “angry,” and I disagree with that,
but it is a deeper and very rich range of
abjection at times. Within this abjection and
melancholia are also the frequent tender
moments of care that they extend to each
other and the community, so complex and
very radical.
I originally was trying to impose a tone on
the film by using expert testimony from a
lot of art world big-wigs. This was a more
analytical approach. However, frankly,
Barbara Hammer rejected this tone and
approach, and I think, in the end, she
was right. I then worked with an editorial
consultant, Fiona Otway, who helped me
find the core tone in each portrait and also
the story arc toward each artist’s personal
genius and expression of that. I had asked
each one specifically about “genius” in our
core interviews, so that was then easy to
build around that core concept.
What’s next for Chet Catherine Pan-
cake? I am currently [working] on a short
fictional film in West Virginia addressing
family dynamics and addiction as another
aspect of my “Bloodland” fine artwork
series. I’m also working on a larger video
installation regarding the emotional and
somatic resonances of ecological activism,
landscape and labor around fossil fuel
extraction on the East Coast of the United
States. n
The next showing for “Queer Genius” will
be in Baltimore, MD, Nov. 21. For more in-
formation, visit facebook.com/queergenius.
SASHA VELOUR
from page 21
“Smoke & Mirrors” does not rely heav-
ily on camp; Velour focuses on appearance
and aesthetics. “One element of camp
I play with are moments of failure, and
challenging that, and presenting it as suc-
cess,” she insisted. “Instead of focusing on
the tension of body, and my experiences,
and society’s programmed ideas and narra-
tives of gender, I’m interested in creating
nonbinary and fluid ideas of gender. I have
had success with that. That may be why
[my show] feels less ‘classic drag camp,’
but it speaks to what people are craving
— something beyond the binary. It’s about
trying that out through fantasy, then onto
the street into reality.”
As Velour enters this new chapter of
her career, she admitted that it was the
visibility of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” that
enabled her to move more into the public
eye. She indicated, “I see ‘Drag Race’ as
this great trick where queer people proved
what great success we have in mainstream
entertainment in how we talk, and think,
and present ourselves. It’s so good for so
many individuals. I want to use my suc-
cess and share with a national platform
and also shift it back — that I come from
a community where people have long been
doing this.”
Velour hopes that her work will inspire
people to go and create and paint or even
perform.
But she also reflected on the difficul-
ties of drag. She said, “It is quite intense
Philadelphia Gay News . epgn.com
physically, and sometimes we forget
about that. There’s a lot of — I’ll say it
— masochism in drag, but there is a bit of
empowerment in that, too. We take charge
of our bodies that we are told are ugly or
undesirable. Putting ourselves through
something intense can be empowering.”
Stressing the importance of self-care,
Velour said that she deals with her
“self-destructive spirit and ways I have put
my career or relationship or health in jeop-
ardy,” through performance “where I’m
an evil magician and an innocent assistant
sawing myself in half to a Lana Del Rey
song. That’s how I tell it truthfully. It’s
not just creating something beautiful,
expensive or entertaining, but sharing the
uncomfortable side and bringing that to
the surface to connect with people.”
As for breaking through and becoming
a household name and pop culture per-
former, Velour demurred, “A mainstream
pop star removes the queerness, and the
drag becomes an aesthetic phenomenon.
The spirit of drag requires it to be more of
a commentary on pop culture using and
collaging something outside of yourself.
I think queer people are celebrities across
the board, and I hope that’s the change,
regardless of drag or flamboyantly fluid,
or nonbinary or trans.” n
Sasha Velour performs “Smoke &
Mirrors” at the Merriam Theater on
Nov. 12 at 8:00 pm. For tickets and more
information, visit www.kimmelcenter.org/
events-and-tickets/201920/kcp/sasha-ve-
lour/
NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
PGN
31

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