Family Portrait: What’s cooking with Joy Parham? PAGE 31
Reading Pride covers all the bases
PAGE 6
Methodist ministers who supported Rev. Schaefer now find themselves under the microscope
Warhol at Wilma PAGE 29
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July 18-24, 2014
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Vol. 38 No. 29
Alleged murderer found competent By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com
I DONATED FOR: Micah Tyler (right) donated blood on behalf of her friend Adonis Ajayi, who is gay, for the National Gay Blood Drive July 11. The two friends, originally from Indiana and Maryland, respectively, went to the American Red Cross building on Spring Garden Street from Delaware State University in Dover to donate blood and raise awareness of the still-outstanding federal prohibition barring gay and bisexual men from donating blood. About 45 other people donated blood at the site the same day, with thousands participating across the country. Photo: Scott A. Drake
PA wedding venue refuses to serve lesbian couple By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com A Pennsylvania wedding venue is under fire for refusing to host a same-sex wedding last week. The Inne at the Abingtons, in North Abington Township near Scranton, reportedly refused to host a wedding for a lesbian couple solely because of the couple’s sexual orientation. Pennsylvania is the only state in the country to sanction same-sex marriage but not have a law on the books banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Two other marriageequality states lack laws banning discrimination based on gender identity.
Thirty-four municipalities in the state ban LGBT discrimination, but North Abington Township is not one of them. According to The Times-Tribune, Desiree Mark, who lives in the Scranton area, had planned to wed out of state but the couple revamped their plans after Pennsylvania legalized same-sex marriage May 20. Mark contacted the Inne by email, inquiring about services, and received an email back from wedding and event planner Courtney Killeen stating that the Inne does not host same-sex weddings. Killeen told The Times-Tribune that she did not personally agree with the policy. The Inne at the Abingtons is owned by PAGE 15 John O. Antolick.
It has been one year since transgender woman Diamond Williams was brutally murdered — but, unlike several unsolved homicides of local transgender women, Williams’ alleged killer is in custody. The day before the one-year anniversary of Williams’ murder, a judge found that Charles Sargent is competent to proceed to a preliminary hearing. A number of community members gathered Wednesday at the Criminal Justice
Center for the status hearing, which was delayed more than three hours. Sargent was in attendance, dressed in a suit and having lost considerable weight. A preliminary hearing had been postponed numerous times due to concerns about Sargent’s mental competency. At Wednesday’s proceeding, Sargent told Judge Marsha Neifield he had not been interested in a psych exam. Neifield asked him a series of questions to gauge his mental capacity, including asking him to identify her and his attorney, J. Michael Farrell, and describe their roles in the case. Sargent properly identified both parties. Neifield said she was “satisfied” with his answers and that a preliminary hearing will be scheduled for sometime later this PAGE 15 month.
Another loss for opponent of PA marriage equality By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com A U.S. Supreme Court justice last week denied a Pennsylvania clerk’s effort to stop marriage equality in the Keystone State. Justice Samuel Alito on July 10 rejected Theresa Santai-Gaffney’s bid to place samesex marriages on hold so she could appeal U.S. District Judge John E. Jones 3d’s May 20 decision overturning Pennsylvania’s ban on marriage equality. On June 18, Jones ruled that SantaiGaffney, a clerk of courts in Schuylkill County, did not have legal standing to intervene. She appealed and the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Jones’ finding July 3, prompting her to take the case to Alito, who handles emergency requests from Pennsylvania litigants. Alito did not issue a written explanation of his ruling. Santai-Gaffney can choose to bring her request to another Supreme Court justice, and she has indicated she may do so. Her case is being handled pro-bono by
the Independence Law Center, helmed by Randall Wenger, who has represented a number of clients opposing LGBT rights — such as a couple challenging their late daughter’s wife for her death benefits, a Kutztown University police officer who refused to remove anti-LGBT demonstrators from campus and a group of landlords who wanted to overturn the city’s LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance. Wenger did not respond to a request for comment. Santai-Gaffney was seeking to become an intervenor in the Whitewood v. Wolf case, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a group of same-sex couples, since no other state officials were appealing. Attorney General Kathleen Kane declined to defend the state ban in this and other challenges, and when Jones issued his ruling in the spring, Republican Gov. Tom Corbett declined to appeal. Pennsylvania became the 19th state, along with Washington, D.C., to sanction samesex marriage. ■
“Day in the Life Of” is a monthly feature that tells the unique, day-to-day stories of local LGBT community members. Meet this month’s subject: Steve Mast PAGE 18