Suzanne Westenhoefer is tickling funnybones in New Hope
Judge deals blow to voter-ID law
Family Portrait: David Grimes, fashion all the time
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Out federal judge to visit Philly for Penn Law event PAGE 6
Jan. 24-30, 2014
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Vol. 38 No. 4
Feds give $6-mil grant for HIV-cure study By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com
SERVICE INDUSTRY: LGBTs stepped up in record numbers to volunteer for the annual MLK Day of Service Jan. 20, including supporters from the William Way LGBT Community Center and Radical Faeries, shown here tagging clothes at Philly AIDS Thrift. Story and more photos, pages 8-9. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Kane, Corbett dropped from MontCo case By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com A judge last week agreed to separate requests from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and Attorney General Kathleen Kane to be removed from a case challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini dismissed both as defendants from a case filed in September by a group of same-sex couples who received marriage licenses from CORBETT Montgomery County Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes last summer. The couples are calling on the court to issue a ruling on the validity of their licenses and on the constitutionality of the state’s law prohib-
iting same-sex marriage. Health Secretary Michael Wolf will remain as the sole defendant. Kane announced last summer that she would not defend the state’s ban on samesex marriage in a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Pellegrini, who is also presiding over that case, dismissed her from that suit, and she has also filed similar requests in other pending challenges to the state law. Corbett argued that he was an improper party to serve as a KANE defendant and that Wolf’s involvement would suffice. Pellegrini dismissed the pair from the case following oral arguments last Thursday morning in Harrisburg. ■
With the support of a multimillion-dollar federal grant, several local organizations are taking part in a groundbreaking study that aims to develop a cure for HIV. The Wistar Institute, in partnership with Philadelphia FIGHT, the University of Pennsylvania, University of California and Merck, is undertaking a trial study based on a therapeutic strategy that has already shown promise at reducing HIV-1 virus levels. Dr. Luis J. Montaner, a professor at The Wistar Institute and director of Wistar’s HIV1 Immunopathogenesis Lab, and collaborators received a four-year, $6.2-million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Disease of the National Institutes of Health to support the study. Montaner said his team has been pursuing the grant for several years. “There is a lot of preamble before the award is given,” he said. “We have been chasing the opportunity to do this study since 2011.” The study is based on a prior pilot trial in which a protein called interferon-alpha was shown to reduce persistent HIV-1 in patients being treated with antiretroviral therapy. The grant will pay for the management of the clinical and administrative expenses of the study and for laboratory follow-up, which will allow researchers to calculate the study’s outcome. Montaner said the team will perform an initial evaluation of the study in mid-2016, PAGE 21
City: Trans litigant can’t seek punitive damages By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Bobbie E. Burnett, a transgender library assistant who’s suing the city for workplace bias, wants the opportunity to seek punitive damages. But the city maintains Burnett shouldn’t have that opportunity, because the antibias law in effect during the relevant time period didn’t authorize punitive damages. In civil-rights cases, punitive damages are awarded to promote social justice, and because of their deterrent effect. They can be quite sizable, though they’re also subject to reduction on appeal. Recently, Burnett’s attorneys filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge C. Darnell Jones 2d for permission to seek punitive damages from the city. “Evidence has shown that punitive dam-
ages under the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance are appropriate,” the motion states. The motion cites several bias incidents allegedly experienced by Burnett, including being issued unfair performance evaluations, being banned from a public restroom and being prevented from working with children. All of those bias incidents were perpetrated by Burnett’s supervisors, according to the motion. “Any one of these actions, or series of actions, is sufficient to cause an average member of the community to exclaim, ‘Outrageous!’” the brief states. But city attorneys note that a punitivedamages provision wasn’t included in the ordinance until June 2011, well after Burnett allegedly suffered workplace PAGE 20 bias.
“Day in the Life of” is a new monthly feature that tells the unique, day-to-day stories of local LGBT community members. Meet this month’s subject: Geno Vento. PAGE 18