pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 43 No. 3
Family Portrait: Michael Bowell blossoms with the PHS flower show PAGE 19
Jan. 18-24, 2019
American Bible Society board member resigns PAGE 2
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
Study says Pa. schools need more bullying protections
Quintessence Theatre Group’s out director talks about its Mt. Airy location and what’s to come PAGE 15
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City council sees its first trans candidate By Brittany M. Wehner PGN Contributor
PROUD OF THE PAST: New Hope Celebrates and Visit Bucks County collaborated on a New Hope LGBT history show which opened Jan. 13 at the Bucks County Visitor Center in Bensalem. Photographs, an LGBT timeline, drag dresses and the city’s 100-foot-long pride flag are all parts of this display, open through March 23. It is the first time an LGBT exhibition has been shown at the tourism site. About 100 people attended the opening day brunch. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Remembering LGBTQ activist and archivist Dorothy Beam By Adriana Fraser adriana@epgn.com Dorothy Saunders Beam, mother of the late prolific writer Joseph Beam, died Dec. 26, leaving behind a legacy of helping to amplify the voices of black gay men in America. What Beam was most known for was extending her motherly love and support to gay African-American men who were otherwise written off by their families, said Tyrone Smith, longtime LGBTQ-rights activist. “She was everybody’s mama and everybody’s best aunt. She could make you laugh. She could spend her time with you. She was a very intelligent woman but a very caring woman. That was just who she was,” Smith said. “Her journey was to be a mother, an educator, and somewhat of an angel for broken men. She had a spirit in her that was a repairing and healing spirit. That was something that was needed at the time.” Beam died of advanced colon cancer, the day before the anniversary of her only child’s death. She was 94. Her funeral was held Jan. 9 at Vine Memorial Baptist Church, the church she frequented for a
majority of her life. She was born in Bulloch County, Ga., and moved to Philadelphia as a young child where she lived the remainder of her life. As a teen, Beam left high school to support her family when her mother had a stroke. She operated a sewing machine for the Army during the day and took classes for her high school diploma at night. Beam later attended Cheyney University and then Temple University where she earned a master’s degree in elementary education. She taught in Philadelphia public schools for two decades, including 15 years as a counselor. Unable to give up teaching entirely, Beam worked as a substitute teacher for two days a week after her retirement at age 65. In 1954, Beam gave birth to Joseph and raised him in West Philadelphia with her husband, Sun Beam. She began her journey into LGBTQ activism after her son died from AIDS-related complications in 1988. Beam was unaware her son was diagnosed until after his death. Joseph Beam’s literary work explored the trials of living in America as a black gay man during the AIDS epiPAGE 13
Deja Lynn Alvarez, an LGBTQ advocate and trans woman, has announced her candidacy for an at-large seat on the Philadelphia City Council. Alvarez is the city’s first trans candidate for an at-large seat on the council and said it is time for someone with a fresh perspective on important community issues. “I think for far too long we’ve had the same old, same old in politics here in Philadelphia. I’m tired of seeing people try to represent communities they couldn’t possibly understand,” said Alvarez, who is running for a Democratic at-large seat. “I think I’ve been doing the work for a long
time in the community and it just started to feel like it was time for us to stop asking for a seat at the table and take our seat in City Hall.” All 17 city council seats are up for election in 2019. City council is comprised of 10 members elected by district and seven members elected at-large. The five Democratic at-large candidates receiving the most votes earn the seats. The primary election will be May 21. Alvarez grew up in Philadelphia, the city she calls her home, and PAGE 8
Amidst turmoil, two Saturday rallies for women in Philadelphia By Adriana Fraser adriana@epgn.com For the third year, the Women’s March will flood the streets of more than 200 cities across the country on Saturday, Jan. 19, and the organizers of Philadelphia’s rally said they are making it a point to be inclusive to all women. While making sure the day is inclusive, independent local organizers also hope to dispel separateness after they had initially encountered a hiccup when the national Women’s March organization decided to hold its own march. In what began as a nationwide protest to the inauguration of President Donald Trump in 2017, more than five million women have marched in solidarity, advo-
cating for women’s rights, immigration reform, racial equality, LGBTQ rights and the rights of all women from underrepresented communities. Organizers of the Women’s March on Philadelphia said an average of 60,000 protesters participated in the rally, each of the past two years. Although the inaugural march had more than four million protesters all across the country — the largest single-day demonstration in recorded U.S. history — the rally has come under fire for its lack of representation of women of color and transgender women. The signature pink pussy hats worn by march participants have drawn some criticism for symbolizing the erasure of women of color and trans women because not all women have vaginas and not all vaginas are pink, said critics PAGE 8
Is a rainbow-colored Walt Whitman bridge on the way? By Adriana Fraser adriana@epgn.com The Walt Whitman Bridge may be getting a rainbow-flag makeover in celebration of the poet and essayist’s 200th birthday, which will be May 31. The University of Pennsylvania Libraries’ Kislak PAGE 7 Center is organizing a yearlong