Philadelphia Gay News Vol. 33 No. 4
Honesty Integrity Professionalism
Jan. 23 - 29, 2009
HBO slights gay bishop
Gay film festival organizers split By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer
By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer The invocation delivered by the Rev. Gene Robinson, an openly gay Episcopalian bishop, during a Jan. 18 inauguration event was heard by the hundreds of thousands who assembled at the Lincoln Memorial — but not by the rest of the nation who tuned in to watch the event live on television. The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced several weeks ago that Robinson would deliver the opening prayer to kick off the inauguration ceremonies, a move that was lauded by LGBT advocates. Obama had been under fire from the LGBT and ally communities after selecting antigay pastor Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the prayer during the Jan. 20 inauguration. HBO reportedly paid $2 million for exclusive rights to “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.” Robinson delivered his prayer at 2:25 p.m., but the HBO coverage did not begin until five minutes later.
See Robinson’s prayer
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The PIC took the blame for the gaffe, saying it mistakenly categorized the prayer as “pre-show” rather than the actual program. “We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of [the] program,” said Josh Earnest, PIC communications director. “We regret the error in executing this plan — but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the Mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event.” An HBO statement released Jan. 20 concurred that the scheduling decision was made by PIC and not the network. “Rev. Robinson’s invocation was not included in the live presentation due to a miscommunication within the Presidential Inaugural Committee,” it stated. HBO re-aired the entire program, including Robinson’s invocation, Jan. 21 and will show it again at 6 p.m. tomorrow and 3:30 p.m. Jan. 25. The network also posted the updated version of “We Are One” on its Web site beginning Jan. 21. Robinson made headlines in 2003 after he was elected bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, a move that caused numerous Episcopalian parishes across the country to split from the church. ■ Jen Colletta can be reached at jen@epgn.com.
ALL ABOARD: Soon-to-be President Barack Obama addressed a crowd of 250 supporters and politicians at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station Jan. 18. Obama, his wife Michelle (seated, right) and about 40 “everyday Americans” boarded a train from the station en route to Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 20 inauguration, emulating Abraham Lincoln’s famous whistlestop train tour. Openly gay Ohio history professor Lisa Hazrijian and her partner Michelle (front row, from left) were among the riders. Before Obama took the podium, Gov. Rendell, Mayor Nutter and U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter welcomed the community to the historic event. Photo: Scott A.
The two companies that stage the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival have separated from one another, and as a result the city could potentially see two separate LGBT film festivals this year. TLA Entertainment Group launched PIGLFF in 1995 and, in 2002, created the nonprofit Philadelphia Film Society to oversee the production of this event, as well as the annual Philadelphia Film Festival, although TLA representatives headed the artistic direction of the festivals. TLA announced last week, however, that “recent disagreements between PFS board leadership and TLA over the management and artistic vision of the festivals has necessitated a breakup of the business relationship.” Matthew Ray, TLA spokesperson, said the split was a necessary step. “Like any difference of opinions, more dominoes kept falling until it led to this, when no more negotiating See FILM FESTIVAL, Page 15
Pa. Sen. moves on Supreme Court denies hate-crimes bill Drake
final COPA appeal The U.S. Supreme Court decided Jan. 21 that it would not hear arguments against a lower-court ruling that found the Child Online Protection Act to be unconstitutional. COPA has twice before come before the Supreme Court. In its refusal, the court did not comment on the ruling, which effectively ended a legal battle that has been underway for more than 10 years. Congress passed COPA in October 1998 and President Clinton signed it into law. COPA would have forced all Web sites that contain material that could be deemed “harmful to minors” to verify the age of their site visitors by requesting credit-card information or by other means. The potential harm that Web sites could inflict on minors would be subject to “contemporary community standards,” which opponents argued could have prevented youth from accessing vital sexual-health information and LGBT resources. Several plaintiffs, including PGN, filed suit in 1998 and the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer
issued an injunction, banning the federal government from enforcing the law. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Department of Justice’s appeal in 1999, finding that the provisions of the law were too vague. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that COPA could be unconstitutional if other technology could be utilized to prevent children from viewing objectionable sites, and the case went back to the Third Circuit, which ruled the next year that COPA was unconstitutional and violated citizens’ right to free speech. In 2004, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the District Court, where a judge ruled in 2007 that COPA violated the First and Fifth Amendments. The DOJ appealed this ruling and, in July, the Third Circuit again affirmed the unconstitutionality of the law. Congress passed COPA one year after the Supreme Court ruled that a similar bill, the Communications Decency Act, was unconstitutional. ■
Pennsylvania state Sen. Jim Ferlo (D-38th Dist.) has taken the first steps in the legislative process to introduce a bill that would reinstate hate-crimes protections for the LGBT community in the state. On Dec. 30, Ferlo issued a memo to leadership of both the Pennsylvania Senate and House encouraging lawmakers to make hate-crimes legislation their “first order of business.” Ferlo’s proposed legislation would add sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry and physical and mental disability as protected classes under the Ethnic Intimidation Act. The state legislature approved such changes in 2002 but, following a suit from antigay group Repent America, the Commonwealth Court ruled in 2007 that the legislative manner by which the bill was approved was unconstitutional. The court found that, as the hatecrimes legislation had been passed as an amendment to an agricultural bill, the legislature violated the constitutional stipulation that amendments cannot change the initial intent of the bill. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld this decision in July. Currently, the state’s hate-crimes legislation extends protections based on race, color, religion or national origin.
— Jen Colletta
See HATE-CRIMES BILL, Page 15