PGN Feb. 1-6, 2019

pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976 Planned Parenthood debuts programs for gay and trans people

Vol. 43 No. 5

Feb. 1-7, 2019

Family Portrait: Sagacious stages theater events

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HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM

Who’s in charge of brightening the rainbows?

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Gayborhood Gaybashing?

Program director is latest to leave Mazzoni Center

By Victoria A. Brownworth PGN Contributor

By A.D. Amorosi PGN Contributor After nearly 10 years of service, R Perry Monastero, the notable go-to on all things Mazzoni Center and its chief advancement officer, is leaving his post.

His departure comes at a time when the LGBTQ wellness center is still trying to rebound from the leadership changes and personnel losses of 2017 and 2018.

“It has been my privilege and honor to be a part of the Mazzoni Center team since 2009,” wrote Monastero in a mass email. “Thus, it is bittersweet for me to inform you that Friday, January 25, 2019 will be my last day … When I arrived at Mazzoni Center, we were about 80 staff members strong.

Now, the organization employs more than 165 people full-time.

In 2009, the budget was about $6 million; today, the budget stands at $18 million, and g r o w i n g .”

M a z z o n i ’s brain trust, an interim leadership team of Racquel Assaye, CFO; Dr. Nancy Brisbon, CMO; and Alecia Manley, Interim COO, stated in part to PGN on Tuesday morning: Perry joined Mazzoni Center more than nine years ago, during which time he worked to build resources and strengthen relationships on behalf of the organization to further our mission and programs. Of particular note, through Perry’s collaborative efforts with multiple stakeholders, we were able to obtain the $1.5M RACP grant for our new building. We wish Perry the best for his future endeavors and thank him for his serPAGE 7 vice to Mazzoni

Philly native plays the first black lesbian superhero on television

RECOGNIZING TALENT: Falcons Soccer League Hall of Fame members Raed Nasser (from left), Monika Kruemmling, Eli Fargione, Juliana Rogenski, Kharina Rogenski, Emilia Rastrick, Drew Adair, Janine Remillard and Eduardo Argothy celebrate their two newest inductees, Rogenski and Rogenski, during the league’s 30th anniversay dinner Jan. 26 at William Way LGBT Community Center. Some 80 people attended the dinner and awards presentation. To learn more about the league, go to http://falcons-soccer.org/. Photo: Scott A. Drake

Harris Wofford, 92, U.S. senator and activist who married his male partner

By Lenny Cohen PGN Contributor A former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who didn’t serve in that role long — but will be remembered for fighting for civil rights since the segregation era, and in LGBTQ circles for his same-sex marriage – has died.

Harris Wofford spent 1991-1995 in the Senate, but already had a remarkable history of civil-rights accomplishments.

He was heralded as having helped elect two presidents, served as president of the all-female Bryn Mawr College for most of the 1970s and married his male partner.

Wofford died Jan. 21 at a Washington hospital from complications of a fall. He was 92.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney issued this statement: “Pennsylvania, the nation, and the world have lost a true visionary with the death of Harris

Wofford. He was an inspiration to me and to many others in public service today, fighting for the rights of those less fortunate in every chapter of his storied career, from teenaged activist to U.S. Senator.

While we mourn his loss, we find it fitting that a man who fought for civil rights — and who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — passed away on the day we honor King’s legacy. Rest in peace, Senator. You have truly left the world a better place.”

Wofford was born in New York on April 9, 1926. He grew up in the wealthy Westchester suburb of Scarsdale.

His first big hisPAGE 8

Josh Schonewolf was bartending on a convivial Sunday at the Toasted Walnut at 13th and Walnut streets when a vicious attack shattered the night and his sense of safety.

It happened about 11 p.m. Jan. 27, Schonewolf said in an interview with PGN. “Sunday night I was bartending. A guy was having a really fun night with his friends from work and then he ended up being taken away in an ambulance. It was absolutely terrifying.”

As Schonewolf tells it, the patron was standing outside when a car pulled up and four men and a woman “jumped out and attacked him. It seemed random, but they were definitely calling him some gay slurs as they were beating him up.”

The commotion drew people out of the bar and eatery, including Schonewolf and the Toasted Walnut’s general manager, Rocco DeFinis. The assault “happened so fast” and was “relentless,” according to Schonewolf.

“They also punched Rocco, who I love, who I’ve known for 10 years,” he said.

The assault left Schonewolf shaken and questioning what is happening in the Gayborhood and the country.

“I wasn’t hurt physically,” he said, “but I watched this happen. This 50-year-old guy who was just having a good time with his friends, maybe 5-foot-6, and he gets attacked like that, and then Rocco got punched for stepping in. I wasn’t hurt, but it’s really made me walk looking over my shoulder since then.”

Schonewolf said he had heard of a prior incident of a lesbian being assaulted outside Franky Bradley’s at 13th and Chancellor streets, adding, “I wasn’t there, so I can’t speak to that.”

What he and others in the Gayborhood have been saying since the weekend attacks and the news of the assault on gay actor Jussie Smollett is that anger has ramped up under the current presidential administration.

“I heard about the attacks this weekend and I was shocked,” said Mimi Cohen, a lesbian who has lived near Giovanni’s Room bookstore for the past 20 years. “We [she and her partner] walk around here all the time, arm in arm. It’s our neighborhood. It’s where we live. Is this a new thing we can expect to be happening? Because that would be really, really terrible.”

Schonewolf echoed Cohen’s concerns, maintaing that the rhetoric from PAGE 6

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PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

Resource listings Legal resources • 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

• Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations — Rue Landau: 215-686-4670 • Philadelphia Police Liaison Committee: 215-7603686; ppd.lgbt@gmail.com • SPARC — Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition: 717-920-9537

• Office of LGBT Affairs — Amber Hikes: 215-686-0330; amber.hikes@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. Court St., Doylestown; 215-957-7981 ext. 9065, rainbowroom@ppbucks.org.

• William Way LGBT Community Center 1315 Spruce St.; 215-732-2220, www.waygay.org.

Health and HIV testing • Action Wellness: 1216 Arch St.; 215981-0088, actionwellness.org • AIDS Healthcare Foundation: 1211 Chestnut St. #405 215971-2804; HIVcare.org • AIDS Library: 1233 Locust St.; aidslibrary.org/ • AIDS Treatment Fact line: 800-6626080 • Bebashi-Transition to Hope: 1235

Spring Garden St.; 215769-3561; bebashi.org • COLOURS: coloursorganization.org, 215832-0100 • Congreso de Latinos Unidos; 216 W. Somerset St.; 215-7638870 • 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.; 215985-9206 • 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, IndependenceBusinessAlliance.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

Planned Parenthood expanding services for gay men and trans people

By Gary L. Day PGN Contributor Planned Parenthood has long been known as a provider of reproductive healthcare and education for women.

Recently, however, the organization has expanded its mission, inaugurating programs specifically for gay men and trans people.

Newer programs for gay men involve PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a therapy regimen of medication that serves as a preventative to HIV infection.

“We’ve just started doing PrEP fairly recently,” said Phebe Brandt, clinician at the Planned Parenthood (PP) at 1144 Locust St. in Center City. “We started [PrEP] out at our Norristown office in the spring, and we started here just a few months ago.”

The PrEP services at PP are fairly comprehensive in line with a number of other Philadelphia community health agencies such as Mazzoni Center.

“We do all the counseling around it,” Brandt said. “We do all the testing that’s necessary. We actually provide prescriptions. And if people don’t have insurance and need to go through the program through Giliad to pay for it, we facilitate the applications for that.”

Giliad, the pharmaceutical company that holds the patent for PrEP medications, has an in-house program designed to help uninsured people cover the otherwise exorbitant cost of the medication. Giliad has come under criticism from some community activists for the cost of its drugs, but Brandt has nothing but praise for the company’s in-house program.

“Giliad is actually pretty great about helping people afford their drugs.” she said. “They have a very good program for uninsured people. You have to know about it, of course, but you just have to fill out the application for it and you get a pretty quick approval.”

The implementation of PP’s PrEP program was actually inspired by another recent program expansion.

“We started providing hormone therapy for trans folks over a year ago, the summer of 2017,” said Brandt.

“We soon realized that we were doing a disservice to our patients because we realized that trans folks who have sex with men are at such high risk for acquiring HIV, it was a disservice to them to not offer PrEP.” Brandt said currently those services are only offered at the Norristown center, but she expects those services to expand to other locations soon.

And while there are some different programs, services for gay men are not an entirely new development, accord-

ing to the provider.

“We’ve always provided services for gay men,” Brandt said. “We’ve always provided STD testing and treatment for many, many years. We’ve been providing HIV testing for as long as it’s been available. We offer rapid testing too.”

One of the most needed programs PP has added provides counseling, education and clinical services to trans people who are starting hormone therapy.

Brandt said of the process: “We have everybody on their first visit meet with a social worker. They make sure that the client is in a good place to be starting hormone therapy — make sure that they’re safe and also go over with them what changes to expect and other things they need to know. Most clients are already very well-educated about all this before they come to us, but we have to be sure. It’s very rare for the social worker to say the client is not in a good place to start the therapy, but we want to check just to make sure that everything’s good for them.

“If everything checks out, if everything is good, we actually have the medication in house to get them started on the hormone therapy,” Brandt added. “So, once again, if somebody doesn’t have insurance, then we can provide the medication on a sliding-fee scale.”

An important and often-necessary part of the counseling process involves making a genuine gender-identity diagnosis. “For those with insurance,” Brandt cautioned, “we actually have to use the gender-dysphoria diagnosis code in order to get the therapy covered.”

But she also was quick to note that Planned Parenthood is a judgment-free zone.

“We don’t want to be gatekeepers, so if the client feels they are in that place and need to start hormones, unless there’s a medical reason not to, we can start them. We only take on those who are 18 and over. Under 18, we refer them elsewhere.”

Right now, PP’s services for trans people are only available at PP’s Center City and Pottstown locations, but could expand to West Chester soon.

Many of the gay-specific programs are offered on an affiliate-by-affiliate basis, but they are expanding rapidly and soon could become nationally available throughout the Planned Parenthood network.

“We’ve always felt that, as an organization, it was very important to be open to everybody, and to give understanding and excellent care to just anybody that walks through our doors,” Brandt said. n

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‘Empire’ actor a victim ‘racially-charged assault and battery’

By Victoria A. Brownworth PGN Contributor Jussie Smollett, one of the stars of Philadelphian Lee Daniels’ hit Fox TV series “Empire,” was the victim of what police are calling a racial and homophobia-based assault and battery in Chicago on Tuesday.

Smollett was attacked by two people who yelled homophobic and racist slurs at him, put a noose over his neck and poured a chemical on him, which the actor thought was bleach. Smollett said the attackers yelled President Trump’s phrase, “Make America Great Again” and the phrase, “MAGA country” during the assault.

Smollett, 36, is openly gay and plays a gay man in the series. He went to Northwestern Hospital emergency room after the attack, where he was still recovering as of press time. The hospital did not release specifics, but said the actor was listed in “good condition.” Reports are that Smollett sustained broken ribs and facial and other injuries in the attack.

A statement from the Chicago Police Department confirmed that a member of the “Empire” cast was involved in a “racially-charged assault and battery.” The police also stated, “Given the severity of the allegations, we are taking this investigation very seriously and treating it as a possible hate crime.”

According to the statement, “A 36-yearold man was walking … when two unknown offenders approached him and gained his attention by directing racial and homophobic slurs toward him.” The offenders then battered the victim’s face and poured an unknown chemical substance on him.

“At some point during the incident, one of the offenders wrapped a rope around the victim’s neck. The offenders fled the scene.”

The noose has a long history in the United States with more than 4,000 black men and women known to have been lynched through the years.

In April 2018, the Legacy Museum, which details the history of lynching, opened in Montgomery, Ala. A memorial to the thousands of victims, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, opened the same month.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department told PGN that no arrests had been made in the attack. Chicago police confirmed the account from Smollett, but declined to comment on the exact language used by the attackers, saying only that it was “racially charged and homophobic” and that these are “serious allegations,” being taken “very seriously.”

Chicago police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said, “The Streeterville neighborhood where the alleged attack occurred has a very high density of city and pri-

vate surveillance cameras. “As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, detectives canvassed and reviewed hundreds of hours of video and have now expanded the search area along the Chicago riverfront hoping to find video to be able to release a public description of the offenders.”

ABC News, which interviewed Smollett’s co-star, Terence Howard, on “GMA” Wednesday, reported Smollett has received homophobic threats before.

Police told ABC that a letter containing threatening language, laced with a powdery substance believed to be Tylenol, was sent to Smollett at the Fox studio in Chicago last week. Due to the previous threats and the assault, the FBI is investigating.

Smollett is one of the most visible openly gay black men in the U.S., tweeted Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) Wednesday. “When one of the most famous black and gay men in America is not safe, the message is clearer than it has ever been. The dangerous lies spewing from the right wing is killing & hurting our people. Thinking of you @JussieSmollett, and my LGBTQ neighbors.”

“We are deeply disturbed and outraged by the recent racist and homophobic attack on Jussie Smollett,” the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs and Office of Black Male Engagement said in a joint statement. “Attacks on black gay men are an extension of the nation’s continued history of racism and homophobia that permeates our communities on every level.

We denounce acts of hatred sanctioned by white supremacy and homophobia. Our offices will continue combatting ideologies and actions motivated by hate. We must unite to support one another in the face of bigotry.

“We extend our condolences to Jussie, his family, and loved ones, and wish for his full mental and physical recovery. Our hearts are also with members of the black LGBTQ+ community, who continue to feel the emotional, psychological, and physical effects of centuries of systemic oppression.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a 2020 candidate for president and a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community, tweeted, “This is a sickening and outrageous attack, and horribly, it’s the latest in too many hate crimes against LGBTQ people and people of color.”

Smollett spoke publicly about being gay on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2015.

He told Ellen that he had always been open about his sexual orientation.

“There’s never been a closet that I’ve been in,” he said. He added that his choice not to discuss his personal life was in no way an effort to “hide or deny who God made me. There is, without a doubt, no closet that I’ve ever been in, and I just wanted to make that clear.” n

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Rainbow crosswalk seems doomed, unless the community steps up with funds

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

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By Josh Middleton PGN Contributor There’s a petition to recognize the LGBT community by repainting the Walt Whitman Bridge in rainbow colors in honor of its namesake’s 200th birthday.

Meanwhile, the rainbows painted onto an intersection of the Gayborhood are fading, with no plan to refresh their stripes.

The four rainbow crosswalks at 13th and Locust streets have given way to four years of heavy traffic, repairs and at least three Pride parades.

Those seeking to preserve the colors of the community want to know: Who is in charge of preserving the crosswalks?

The questions inevitably fall to Philly Pride Presents executive director Franny Price, who spearheaded the project with the help of the Streets Department. The project was paid for with $15,000 of unused funds left over from that winter’s snow clean-up budget, but regular upkeep was never part of the conversation.

“I didn’t know that we would be forever responsible for maintaining it,” said Price.

“We just got it done the first time and hoped members of the community would help to get it maintained.”

The crosswalks were always meant to be temporary, a way to mark the 50th anniversary of the Annual Reminders, the nation’s first demonstration for gay and lesbian rights that happened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

The 2015 project was a huge success, nabbing national headlines for the City of Brotherly Love and gathering likes on Instagram. The rainbows were painted with regular street paint, which began to fade and crack after only a week, thus beginning a conversation about how to create a more-permanent design.

Price said the answer is in a report put

together by the Streets Department in 2015 that details how other cities, such as San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles, have been able to maintain their rainbow crosswalks.

The consensus is to follow in the footsteps of West Hollywood and use a more-durable material called Thermoplastic, which involves digging up the street and filling it in with colorful concrete. But it’s expensive, at $26,000 per intersection, and there’s been little interest in funding it.

One private citizen reached out to Price unsolicited last summer about repainting it as a tribute to his friend who had recently died. He fell off the radar after she detailed the cost and procedure, and she hasn’t had the time or resources to pursue other options.

“It’s just not a priority for us right now.

We have to raise money for our events,” she said, adding she may be willing to reopen the discussion after Pride — especially if she has help. “Maybe we can start a roundtable discussion with the community to see if there’s something we can do.”

But that also spurs her to bring up a deeper question: With such little interest, is a rainbow crosswalk something the community actually wants right now? And more importantly, is it something it needs.

“There are so many other things to focus on, like homeless shelters for LGBTQ youth,” she said, noting an email she received recently from a 19 year old who was kicked out of his mother’s house for being gay.

“If a kid is homeless, we can’t just take them to the crosswalks,” she said. “We need to have a safe place to put them. It would be nice to have the crosswalk — and it was really cool when it happened — but right now maybe we need other things in our community.” n

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

The saga of the gay Mariel boatlift refugees

By Gary L. Day PGN Contributor Most people know about the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. But many don’t realize that large number of the more-than 120,000 Cuban refugees that made the dramatic trek to Florida that year were gay.

The stories of how these gay Cuban refugees made their way to this country, and what happened to them once they got here, are the focus of a new exhibition at William Way LGBT Community Center called “With Open Heart and Open Arms.”

The genesis of what has become known as the Mariel Boatlift has its roots in the complicated diplomatic relationship between the United States and Fidel Castro’s Cuba, a connection that had been frozen in hostility and suspicion since Castro came to power in 1959. Attempting to improve the longstanding impasse between the U.S. and communist Cuba, President Carter began loosening some of the travel restrictions to the island in the late 1970s. This was a one-way deal, however, since Castro would not permit Cubans to migrate.

Partly because of Carter’s overtures and also due to severe economic downturn, massive numbers of Cubans began seeking asylum; at one point more than 10,000 aspiring immigrants were taking refuge in the Persian Embassy.

After several months of hostile exchanges between the Cuban government and the various embassies involved, Castro relented. He stated that the port of Mariel would be opened to all who wanted to leave, provided someone was there to take them away. The result was a mass migration.

However, Castro decided to take advantage of the situation to clean house socially, as it were.

He dumped thousands of hardened criminals, political prisoners and mental-health patients into the migration, including large numbers of gay Cubans. The Castro regime was, unsurprisingly, virulently homophobic, considering homosexuals to be social pariahs and antithetical to the Revolution.

Most gay people, once discovered, were imprisoned.

When word got out about the large number of gay people taking part in the Boatlift, many American LGBT activists and philanthropists stepped up to help with resettlement efforts. “With Open Heart” documents some of these stories.

Organized by John Anderies of William Way’s John J. Wilcox Jr. Archives, the exhibition is structured to provide maximum information with a minimum of academic fussiness. There are a fair number of period photographs documenting the lives of some of the Mariel gay refugees, many of whose faces shine with optimism at the prospect of living free and uncloseted in their new home.

Given the complicated politics of gay immigration at the time, officials were not allowed to use the term “refugees” in reference to the Boatlift’s homosexual participants. The term “Marielita” was coined, often used as a pejorative, but like the term “queer” before it, some Marielitas claimed the term as a badge of pride.

The estimates of the final tally of the gay Cubans who made their way to the United States during the Boatlift vary widely, ranging from a low of 1,000 to upwards of 20,000. There were a number of resettlement camps set up to accommodate the influx of people.

ATTACK from page 1

the Trump administration has, as Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) said in her CNN townhall Jan. 28, “empowered a lot of angry people.

A lot of people have been angry because of the administration. It’s like it has given people permission to do these things to hurt people.

It’s horrible.”

Cohen said she would be much more vigilant while being out in the Gayborhood.

“We’re gender-nonconforming queer women. We look gay.

There’s no question who and what we are. If someone were looking

Photos: Courtesy John J. Wilcox Jr. Archives

The one set up near Philadelphia was at Fort Indiantown Gap outside of Harrisburg. The camps were originally managed by FEMA, and later were taken over by the newly formed CubanHaitian Task Force, which had been set up to help deal with the ongoing issue of migration from the troubled Caribbean islands.

The Philadelphia branch of the Metropolitan Community Church initiated much of the resettlement efforts for the gay Cubans.

for a target, we would be that target.”

Amber Hikes, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs, said because of the police investigation, the office could not comment on the attacks at this time.

The victim was taken to Jefferson University Hospital via ambulance.

He was still hospitalized at press time.

The police have not released the victim’s name, but gave PGN this statement: “On Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019 at approximately 10:52 p.m., police responded to the 1300

MCC helped lead the search for community sponsors to assist the immigrants in becoming official U.S. residents. Many of the immigrants settled in the Cuban neighborhoods of North Philadelphia’s Fairhill section.

This information, and much more, is provided in short historical summaries interspersed with the photographic exhibit. These summaries are presented in both English and Spanish.

These historical summaries

block of Walnut Street for a person screaming. A 50-year-old male victim was assaulted by four male defendants and one female defendant. The defendants fled in a vehicle prior to police arrival. The victim was transported to Jefferson University Hospital by medic unit for head injury and is listed in stable condition. This investigation is active and ongoing with Central Detectives Division. Offenders and vehicle make unknown at this time.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sixth District at 215-686-3060. n

also provide interesting follow-up information on what happened to some of the gay Cuban immigrants after they settled into their new lives. For many, resettlement was not an easy process.

One distressing point of information is that the Marielita were hard-hit when the AIDS epidemic reared its ugly head just a few years after the Boatlift.

Subsequent research with blood samples taken during the resettlement process showed that many of the gay Cubans had already been infected with HIV at the time of the resettlement in 1980.

This proved that HIV had already spread worldwide before it was first diagnosed in the U.S. in the early 1980s.

The exhibition also contains numerous clippings of the press coverage of the Boatlift and its aftermath. Early issues of PGN (then simply called “Gay News”) and its then-rival newspaper Au Courant also devoted much effort to covering the story.

One more important component of the exhibition is the video presentation. The archivists personally interviewed and recorded some still-living survivors of the Boatlift and subsequent resettlement. These survivors provide fascinating and intimate first-person narratives, giving us a glimpse of what it was like to live through such tumultuous times. The video interviews are on a repeating loop, and can be listened to privately on individual headsets.

“With Open Heart and Open Arms” will remain on display through April 27 at William Way, 1315 Spruce St. The exhibition is free and open to the public, and is presented in both English and Spanish translations. For information about gallery hours­, visit waygay.org. n

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LOCAL PGN MONASTERO from page 1

Center.”

Monastero said that he left the center on good terms and that he was “excited to announce that I will join the campaign to elect Tiffany Palmer for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a community leader whom I have known for over 22 years.”

Mount Airy’s Palmer, a family-law attorney and partner at Jerner & Palmer, P.C., started the Family Rights Project at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, and was appointed director of the LGBT Family Law Institute, a joint venture of the National LGBT Bar Association and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, in 2018.

“I greatly respect and admire her expertise, service commitment, and quality of character,” stated Monastero.

The stability of Mazzoni Center’s administration started making headlines in March 2017, when longtime medical director Dr. Robert Winn was suspended for sexual misconduct allegations (several of which had been reported four years earlier). To make matters worse, longtime Mazzoni CEO Nurit Shein, who was accused of failing to respond to the sexual-misconduct allegations against Winn.

In April 2017, Mazzoni Center staff members walked out in protest of Shein’s lack of action and called for her to resign. Board president Jimmy Ruiz also resigned, partially due to the urging of Philly’s Black and Brown Workers Collective over questions about how allegations against Winn were handled.

In September 2017, the nonprofit’s frontline staff voted in favor of unionizing with the Service Employees International Union, but not before Mazzoni interim CEO Stephen Glassman sought the counsel of antiunion consultants (one of which had ties to a right-wing hate group), allegedly to stop employees trying to unionize.

Mazzoni Center’s appointment of employee Dr. Nancy Brisbon, as its new medical director in October 2017 was thought of as a balm to the year’s wounds. The good vibes didn’t last long, however, as a straight woman from Florida with little to no connection to the Philadelphia area was brought on to lead the organization in March 2018.

By late summer, another mass staff walkout occurred when diversity director Kay Martinez, a queer transgender person of color hired to suss out troubles in workplace-advancement opportunities and compensation discrepancies, was let go.

By September, 82 employees signed a petition demanding that Mazzoni’s board of directors force several resignations. Five legacy board members retired in the autumn and, by winter, the center also lost board president Chris Pope, CEO Lydia Gonzalez Sciarrino and, more tellingly, COO Ron Powers, who resigned after more than 20 years in his position.

“This is an important time of transition at Mazzoni Center,” said Mazzoni Communications Director Larry Benjamin. “Our Interim Leadership Team has spent the past two months taking a step back and listening to the needs of employees while we all work to overcome the challenges our organization experienced in the past several years. As an organization, patients and clients continue to be our top priority.

We feel that Mazzoni Center is taking the overdue steps to enable us to heal from our recent past, and strengthen our organization’s culture.” n

Spring Wedding Issue March 8 Send your announcements to editor@epgn.com

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WOFFORD from page 1

toric moments in life happened when he was 11 and accompanied his widowed grandmother on a six-month world tour. They spent Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, visited Shanghai after the Japanese conquered it, saw India where he became “fascinated” by Mahatma Gandhi, and happened to be in Rome to see Benito Mussolini announce Italy’s withdrawal from the League of Nations and hold a fascist parade.

After college, Wofford enrolled at historically black Howard Law School. According to Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, that made him “the first white student to do so since the suffragist movement of the early 1900s. While at Howard, Wofford toured Alabama doing research on the status of civil rights in the South.”

Wofford first heard of MLK during the Montgomery bus boycott. He taught nonviolent tactics against segregation that he learned from methods used by Gandhi.

Wofford later joined John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. As special assistant to President Kennedy, Wofford worked with Sargent Shriver and was instrumental in the formation of the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps has been giving out the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award “to an outstanding global leader who grew up and continues to live in a country where Peace Corps volunteers serve and whose life was influenced by the Peace Corps” every year since 2011.

Wofford was only the second male president of Bryn Mawr College, and held the position from 1970-78.He returned to politics as chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Labor and Industry, appointed by Gov. Robert Casey.

Four years later, on April 4, 1991, U.S. Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.) and six other people were killed in a

LOCAL PGN

mid-air collision between Heinz’s plane and a helicopter dispatched to investigate a problem with its landing gear. The tragedy happened above Merion Elementary School, just outside the city. Two children were among the victims.

Casey had to appoint a replacement for the open Senate seat until a special election could be held, and appointed Wofford on May 8, 1991. Wofford said he’d considered running for office, but never found the right opportunity.

In Washington, he worked with Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) to make MLK’s birthday a national holiday and day of service.

The special election was held just six months later. Wofford and his Republican opponent, Dick Thornburgh, were chosen by the party committees since there was no time for a primary. Thornburgh had been governor and U.S. Attorney General under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Wofford was down by more than 40 points, according to one of his own polls. Somehow he won, and campaigners Paul Begala and James Carville reached the national stage.

Wofford campaigned for universal healthcare, which became a bigger issue a few years later when Begala and Carville helped get Bill Clinton elected.

In 2015, Rush Limbaugh complained on the radio: “But healthcare as a right. You know who started that line of thinking? A guy named Harris Wofford, who was a senator from Pennsylvania. Back in the, I forget, ’80s and during one of his reelection campaigns he ran around saying (paraphrasing), ‘If the Constitution provides you a lawyer because you are too destitute or too poor to afford one, well, then, by God, the Constitution will provide you healthcare if you get sick.’ And of course low-income people all over the country cheered, got rabidly happy over such

a premise.”

Unfortunately for Wofford, he was up for reelection during Bill Clinton’s first midterm election in 1994.

Midterms historically don’t go well for the president’s party and Wofford narrowly lost to Rep. Rick Santorum, 49-47.

In 2005, he became friends with new Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. It was Wofford who introduced Obama before the future president gave his “A More Perfect Union” speech in the midst of his Democratic primary campaign.

In 2014, The New Republic featured Wofford in its 100th-anniversary issue. The profile was called “The Man Who Was Everywhere,” but there was something nobody seemed to know at the time.

It wasn’t until late April 2016 that PGN reported: “A former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania announced this past weekend that, at age 90, he is getting remarried — this time to a man.

“In an op-ed in The New York Times, April 24, Harris Wofford announced he was marrying his partner of 15 years, Matthew Charlton, next week.

Wofford’s wife, with whom he had three children, died in 1996. “Wofford stopped short of ‘coming out’ as gay or bisexual. “‘I don’t categorize myself based on the gender of those I love,’ he wrote. ‘I had a half-century of marriage with a wonderful woman, and now am lucky for a second time to have found happiness.’”

Now, Wikipedia lists Wofford as just one of three senators, and the only man, in its section, “List of LGBT members of the United States Congress.” The others are Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), who has served since 2013, and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), elected in November and who started serving last month.

He leaves behind a daughter, two sons, six grandchildren, his husband and an amazing legacy. n

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LOCAL PGN

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EDITORIAL PGN EDITORIAL

Creep of the Week

D’Anne Witkowski

Karen Pence

Editorial

History must not be allowed to repeat itself At a time when the LGBTQ community is under attack from many sides, we must remember this is not a new story.

History must NOT be allowed to repeat itself in any way when it comes to entire groups of people being persecuted.

Just this week, “Empire” star Jussie Smollett was hospitalized in Chicago after being attacked by two men in what is being investigated as a possible hate crime. The actor is an out gay man, as is his character on the show.

Gay-bashing incidents seem to be having a resurgence — a reality that is especially disturbing when one considers that this past Sunday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the 74th anniversary of Soviet troops liberating the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz.

A ceremony was held outside the concentration camp with the sentiment that we must never forget.

During the Holocaust, the Nazis murdered an estimated 17-million people — including thousands of homosexuals, who also did not fit into Hitler’s idea of a master race. We need to remember that the LGBTQ population was also on the Third Reich’s extermination list.

“People growing up today must know what people were capable of in the past,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the Holocaust. And we must work proactively to ensure that it is never repeated.”

President Donald Trump chimed in on Sunday. “To remember these men and

women — those who perished and those who survived — is to strive to prevent such suffering from happening again.

Any denial or indifference to the horror of this chapter in the history of humankind diminishes all men and women everywhere and invites repetition of this great evil.”

Seriously?

Despite it having been seven decades ago, there are still obviously many who agree with Hitler that homosexuals are not “people” and deserve to be wiped out. There have been way too many hints that history could repeat itself. Look at who is in the Oval Office. Look at those who support discriminatory policies such as a ban on transgender personnel in the military, conversion therapy, schools allowed to reject LGBTQ people. The list goes on.

Members of the LGBTQ community and their allies need to do more than remember. We all need to act. We cannot afford to acknowledge the similarities of rule and suppression and not act.

As presidential hopeful Kamala Harris (D-California) put it recently while making media appearances to announce her candidacy for the highest office in the country, “The future of our country depends on millions of people like you fighting for our American values.”

We cannot stand by and hope something happens to stop this terrifying arc we’re on. That’s what happened back when Hitler was able to gain power and do what he did. Action! n

Imagine walking into art class one day in grade school and finding that none other than Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, is your teacher.

For a lot of kids, such a thing would be pretty exciting, regardless of how said kids’ parents voted in 2016. I mean, hey, how many kids can claim that they have a B-level celebrity as a teacher? Also, her watercolor paintings are actually really good.

What isn’t good is the school at which Pence is teaching. Because that school, the K-8 Immanuel Christian School in Virginia, bans LGBTQ people. No gay teachers. No queer students. No lesbian lunch ladies. They don’t even want LGBTQ allies working for, attending or sending their kids to the school.

And people are a little, well, grossed out that the vice president’s wife would take a job at such an unwelcoming school. It’s worth pointing out that Pence worked at this same school for a dozen or so years back when her husband was a congressman. So why is it a big deal that she’s going back?

Because her spotlight is brighter now. Her platform is elevated. When she was a congressman’s wife teaching there was, while still gross, pretty low-key. But no more. Now she’s doubling down on a school that very explicitly discriminates against LGBTQ people. And from the very highest reaches of government, that’s being condoned and encouraged, and it’s wrong.

This is just piling on to the harm this administration has done to LGBTQ people, whether it’s rescinding guidelines that aimed to protect LGBTQ students or banning transgender troops.

Not surprisingly, Pence has received criticism from the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU and GLAAD. “Why not teach at a school that welcomes everyone, instead of choosing one that won’t serve LGBTQ kids, kids of LGBTQ parents?” JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president for policy and political affairs at the HRC told HuffPost. “The Pences never seem to miss an opportunity to show their public service only extends to some.”

“This sends a terrible message to students,” the ACLU tweeted, while GLAAD encouraged people to sign a petition telling Pence and Immanuel Christian School “to stop discriminating against LGBTQ students.”

But the Pences also pissed off Lady Gaga.

“To Mike Pence, who thinks it’s acceptable that his wife work at a school that bans LGBTQ, you are wrong,” Gaga said during a recent performance. “You are the worst

representation of what it means to be a Christian. I am a Christian woman and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice and everybody is welcome.”

That is, of course, not the Pence brand of Christianity where being a Christian and discriminating against LGBTQ people go hand in hand and cannot be separated.

There is some confusion about what this means when it comes to freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Does Karen Pence have those rights? Yep. Can the school legally ban LGBTQ people? Yep. Does reporting on this story and/or criticizing Pence constitute an “attack?” Nope.

It’s not an attack to call someone out for being awful and hateful. And it’s still not an attack when you call someone out for being awful and hateful when they’re doing it in the name of religion. The funny thing about freedom of religion and speech is that they work both ways. In other words, not everyone believes the same shit you do, or hates the same people you do, and when you’re a public figure, you’re going to be called out no matter what you do.

So why not teach at a school that welcomes everyone? Unless, of course, Pence doesn’t welcome everyone. And, yeah, she has every right to believe that LGBTQ people aren’t deserving of equality, but that’s a view held by a smaller and smaller group of increasingly hateful and reactionary people. Cling to that view if you choose, but don’t be surprised to get shit for it.

Mike Pence rejects the idea of even questioning a school’s wholesale rejection of LGBTQ people.

“To see major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive to us,” he said in a statement, adding that “this criticism of Christian education in America should stop.”

There’s that pesky freedom of speech thing again. Criticism must absolutely continue.

It’s the bare minimum we can do in the face of injustice. n

It’s not an attack to call someone out for being awful and hateful. And it’s still not an attack when you call someone out for being awful and hateful when they’re doing it in the name of religion.

D’Anne Witkowski is a poet, writer and comedian living in Michigan with her wife and son. She has been writing about LGBT politics for over a decade. Follow her on Twitter @MamaDWitkowski.

OP-ED PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

I don’t do movie reviews, but …

There is a movie that by seeing its trailLikewise, our community had and still ers and advertising on TV, you’d have no has need for its own green book. The major expectation that it has any relevance to you international LGBT Green Book equivalent or our community. is called “Spartacus.” In the United States, At the end of 2018, there there is the Damon guide, and were five major movies with in some cities they have local major gay characters or themes. directories.

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Boy The need for the Green Book Erased,” “The Favourite,” “Can and the LGBT guides are simiYou Ever Forgive Me?”, and the lar. To allow the traveler to feel one you must see, “The Green safe in a world that does not Book.” accept us as equals and at times Here’s how IMDB (interwish to cause us harm. The simnational movie data base) ilarity is overwhelming. describes the film: “A workToday, an LGBT traveler can ing-class Italian-American literally be jailed or killed visbouncer becomes the driver of an iting some parts of the world. If African-American classical piayou’re in a relationship, please nist on a tour of venues through do not show any affection the 1960s American South.” toward each other in eastern Mark Segal Europe. Also, make sure you The title refers to a publication that listed “safe places” find a hotel that will be safe that “colored” people could stay and eat or for an LGBT couple. In the Middle East, be welcomed in a segregated South of the you’ll need these guides to find safe places 1930s-’60s, or as the publisher described in most of the Muslim world, and parts of it, “The Negro Travelers’ Green Book.”

Asia. Most of Africa could be particularly Does any of that sound familiar? problematic with the exception of South

Mark My Words

Transmissions

Africa.

Even in the U.S., I’m not sure I’d feel any safer walking down the street in Mississippi or Alabama holding my husband’s hand.

While the Green Book ended publication with the passing of the Civil Rights Act, we in the LGBT community still await the passage of an Equality Act. And back to the film …

For a film with such a heavy subject matter of discrimination, it’s surprising to say that it’s a comedy at times, and you will laugh. But, there is a scene that I’m almost sure was written for the LGBT community that will bring you to tears.

The story is based on real events of the two leading characters in the film. It is real, and you will feel that both for the characters, and personally. I’m not going to spoil it for you. You’ll want to watch the film for yourself. You won’t regret it. n Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s mostaward-winning commentator in LGBT media. You can follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ MarkSegalPGN or Twitter at https://twitter.com/ PhilaGayNews.

Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Join or Die For the last couple of years, I spent a lot of time warning of the dangers to come.

Now, I no longer have to. Because, you see, the danger is here.

The Supreme Court of the United States took an unusual action recently, in a 5-4 decision to let the Trump Administration ban transgender members from the military, even as lower courts are still hearing arguments. This could well mean thousands of transgender people may be discharged.

However, it gets oh so much worse.

The New York Times reported on a meeting at the White House, requested

by Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Clarence Thomas, one of the Supreme

Op-Ed

Court justices who just allowed the possible transgender military ban to go forward.

The president, then still in the midst of the partial government shutdown, allowed it, meeting in in the Roosevelt Room with her and a number of right-wing activists.

They spoke of many things, but the one item in particular I want to focus on is their statement to the president that transgender people — and, for that matter, non-transgender women — should not be allowed to serve in the military.

While this is going on, anti-transgender activists from the United Kingdom, where they have become notorious for their actions demonizing transgender people, are

being flown around the United States.

These U.K. anti-trans campaigners are colloquially referred to as “TransgenderExclusionary Radical Feminists,” or TERFS. I’m actually not a fan of this term for several reasons. For one, “transgender-exclusionary” is too soft a phrase for a group that doesn’t want to see just exclusion, but the elimination of transgender people overall.

What’s more, their views are regressive, not radical, and I am hard-pressed to call their actions “feminist.” As they are cozying up closer to groups such as the Heritage Foundation and the Alliance Defending Freedom, I strongly question just how much of their PAGE 13

Victoria A. Brownworth

We need more LGBTQ news, not less The news was shocking. On Jan. 15, Grindr laid off the entire editorial staff of INTO, their award-winning news site.

According to Business Insider, the move was spurred by a “shift to video content,” but associate editor Mary Emily O’Hara tweeted, “I see a lot of comments about Grindr closing down INTO in a ‘pivot to video’ and want to clarify for the record: INTO’s video staff was also let go today.”

INTO was roundly seen as the future of queer media. Profiled in The New York Times, Washington Post and Vanity Fair, honored by GLAAD and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, as

well as the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, the publication had broken major news stories as well as focused attention where LGBTQ publications had failed so often: on the non-gay-white-male majority of the queer community.

Focusing on millennial queers with an emphasis on women and trans queers, INTO also refused to ignore people of color, as so many LGBTQ publications have in the past.

Since it started two years ago, INTO had been building its hot brand. And then — boom. Done.

The story of what happened may be

more complex than the Grindr press release suggested, but as Business Insider noted, INTO had both broken ground and risen fast, and “quickly made an impact on the starved LGBT media ecosystem.”

And “starved” it is. As a contributing editor at Curve magazine since its inception, a writer and columnist for The Advocate for two decades and a contributor to the LGBTQ department at Huffington Post, I have watched queer media fly and fall.

But in the past few months, queer content has been less and less on established news sites, making the shuttering of INTO loom even more ominously.

PAGE 13

Street Talk How important is it that Philadelphia has a rainbow crosswalk?

“I think that it’s a 10 that we have a rainbow crosswalk.

I mean the city is kinda broke down altogether so I’d Kornelius Dorsey have to give Restaurant worker the crossWest Philadelphia walk on an importance scale from one to 10, it’s a 10.”

“I think that now that it's been established it should be maintained, because it has been made a precedent.

So it would be nice to keep it as nice as it was first done."

Brian Moyer Bartender South Philadelphia

when it was

“Being that it’s the Gayborhood, and there’s flags everywhere, I think the rainbow crosswalk is a big thing.

Helen Murtha I see the Cook crosswalk East Passyunk and I know what area I am in.”

11

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PGN TRANSMISSIONS from page 11

actions are truly feminist in nature.

These actions are all part of a coordinated effort to attack transgender people, fueled by hate groups looking for a convenient and weak scapegoat in the post-Obergefell v.

Hodges world. They decided transgender people are just the patsy they were looking for.

That these groups have the ear of the wife of a sitting Supreme Court justice who wields enough power on her own to swing a private meeting with the president of the United States, at a time when the right-leaning SCOTUS is deciding on the rights of transgender people, should terrify you. The flags can’t get much redder or much larger.

I think we find ourselves in most perilous times. The military ban is, I feel, not an end, but a beginning, the very first, tentative step toward the total exclusion of transgender people from American society – and, potentially, existence altogether.

So, if you have read this far, you may be wondering what, if anything, we can do about this.

First and foremost, we need our community to come together as one. We are comprised of a lot of different forms of trans and gender expressions and identities, but we need all hands at the table.

As Benjamin Franklin put it, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

This, too, means that we need to consider the basics. How can we sustain each other, what can we do to be well and happy, and able to be active? What can we do to make sure we have the resources we need to survive as a whole, and what programs can we

OP-ED from page 11

Who is reporting our queer news? I do in-depth investigative reporting for several national news sites. But who is doing that work for the queer press? In December, I did a two-part investigative series on LGBTQ poverty in Philadelphia, which received national attention. But such series are time consuming and publications must be willing to cover such stories. INTO did that, with in-depth, award-winning stories on transgender prisoners and LGBTQ asylum seekers, among other work.

Now, it’s gone, making the queer news landscape that much less accessible for those who most need it. In a press release, the editorial staff noted, “We aimed to give a voice to those who need one now more than ever, a platform for them to see themselves wholly.”

The lens through which we see everything is complex. But when it comes to news, the skew is always white, male, heteronormative, cis-gender. Where is the other side — our side?

The role of the LGBTQ press is more vital than ever as the Trump administration does daily damage to our community. This past weekend the president met behind closed doors with anti-gay activists, among them Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.

put in place now to ensure our continued well-being at a core level? We need to stand ready to assist the most venerable among us.

What’s more, this isn’t just about transgender people. Many of those organizations named above are anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion, anti-sex worker and anti-anything that isn’t their narrow view of what is acceptable.

With that in mind, we need to focus on our coalition building. We need to build our ties with the true feminists out there, the sex workers, the larger LGBT-focused organizations, the pro-choice activists and civil rights activists of all forms. We need their support, their knowledge and their resources, even as we provide the same to each of them.

We also need to be finding political allies. With Democratic presidential contenders cropping up, it will be key to find and secure our allies right now. Speak to the candidates and get their support on the record. Find out what they will do – now and in office – for their transgender and gender non-conforming constituents, and hold them to it.

We also need to find our voice, and we have to take every opportunity to use it. Those who stand against us aren’t sitting idly by waiting for the phone to ring, so neither should we wait for the media to come to us. It is vital that we learn to control the narrative.

I’ve said it before, and I will assuredly say it again: These times are dire, and we need to begin to act as if they are. While we are still here and still breathing, we need to fight as if our very existence is at stake – for it may well be. n Gwen Smith is usually far more optimistic. You can find her at www.gwensmith.com.

According to The New York Times, Trump “listened quietly” as the group gave vent to their strident outrage over transgender and gay military service and other issues. The NYT also reported that the antiLGBT activists said, “women shouldn’t serve in the military because they had less muscle mass and lung capacity than men.”

They revived the anger from conservatives over the Supreme Court ruling for marriage equality, saying it is “harming the fabric of the United States.”

That these attacks on LGBTQ Americans are being heard by the president in a meeting at the White House is concerning.

Stories like these demand coverage by LGBTQ people for LGBTQ people. Issues that matter to our community — breaking news as well as the in-depth articles — these stories have to be told by us. We can’t rely on straight media to remember we’re here, let alone that our vantage point on stories integral to our lives might be wholly different from the straight skew from straight media.

That’s why we need more, not less queer media addressing the issues vital to our community. The demise of INTO is shocking and saddening for our community because it means that once again, voices long suppressed will not be heard: ours. n

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

13

To many, ‘family’ is simply a foreign word Perhaps George Bernard Shaw was right All of these shows place a huge emphasis when he said, “I can remember quite well on family despite their social status, and the joy I felt when my family was happy.” despite how screwed up the family might But, what is a family, and why be. The message is clear: does the concept seem so out of family, at the end of the day, grasp for me, and many others? is what’s important. Also, My family would tell you that all of these shows, like most I’m snobby and judgmental and shows, contain nearly all that’s why the relationship is white families. Not a critorn. Alas, I am in a city while tique, just an observation. they still live in Boise, Idaho. I So what if we don’t have fervently oppose their conserfamily? I have friends that vative Trumpist views, while I could definitely say, quite they say almost nothing about possibly in attempt to feel mine. I went to an Ivy League normal, are family to me. school, while most of them have Many people tell me, “well only walked through a college you have family, but it’s campus. I chose to visit foreign not blood,” and I suppose countries over visiting them, they’re right. But maybe and ultimately, I do feel like I’m not, and maybe that’s Johnathan they’re a better human because of that, just fine. I’ve spent most among other reasons.

Gilmore adult Christmases alone or Is this cocky? I would say, with friends. I’ve travelled “No.” After all, I’ve gained a network of the world with friends. I’ve depended on friends spanning the globe. I’ve learned friends. But at the end of the day, while I culture, science and communication from would absolutely jump in front of a bullet some of the brightest minds in the academic for them, they are just friends.

Richard Bach, an American novelist community. I actively support inclusivity says, “The bond that links your true famincluding DACA, LGBT equality, and I actively oppose Islamaphobia, homophobia, ily is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” Think about that etc. ... I can compare Spain’s fascist takefor a minute. Shouldn’t we all respect over by Franco to modern historic events each other? Shouldn’t we all try to bring to create my own opinions and ideas about our nation’s current state. I read and read joy in each other’s lives? Whether or and read, while they live their boring Idaho not you have family that is blood or of lives. I know. I’m pompous. I don’t try to respect, do you ever catch yourself otherhide that, but it’s because we have the world ing people? Maybe you’re at the bar with at our fingertips with the internet, and so your family and you judge another human. unless you don’t have access to this, you Maybe you copy Drake and say, “no new should be just as knowledgeable as I am. friends.” What kind of bullshit is this?

Regardless, I don’t feel like I have a Rarely, if ever, has creating tight-knit family. I don’t call them and they don’t groups outside of the activist, activity call me. I do feel a deep emptiness at and assistance realm produced positive times. And at times, I dwell on it. But I results. And, the tighter, more exclusive the don’t think it’s because I actually miss group, the more dangerous it can become. them or need them.

Take Nazis, Franco’s fascists, Stalinists, My life was quite miserable after my Christians, Catholics, Muslims, and yes, even parents got divorced, and my family has staunch atheists — they’re inclusive in their been anything but strong since. I think own exclusivity. Like prejudiced groups, we I feel this pain because of the social create rules for acceptance in families. We importance we’ve placed on families, say things like, “only in this family,” and “we and on a deeper level, the social weight don’t do that in this family.” we’ve placed on normality. To be differI think the notion of family is ent, whether your Muslim, gay, poly or un-evolved, or rather too restricting. The you name it, is to go against the flow of reality is that we are all connected. We America’s 1950s nuclear family. are all “family” if you’d like to call it that.

A family structure is surprisingly still That homeless woman on the street — she such an important image in our culture. is your sister. That Muslim in a burka — Think about some shows we have: she is your sister. That gay boy running “Modern Family”: sure there’s a gay away from home — he is your brother. couple, but the white picket fence still That trans man — he is your brother. All exists. Also mostly white. deserve love. All deserve acceptance. Stop “Game of Thrones”: Totally isolated being so exclusive, and start realizing that as different and fun as you may think your to the idea of a family, even if it means family is, they are not that different or breeding within your own blood. special, even genetically. If we were dogs, “Stranger Things,” “This is Us,” “The we would all be the same breed. Think Conners” (previously “Roseanne”), “The about it. n Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “Shameless”:

Critical Conversations

14

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

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15

entertainment Philly actress brings the ‘Thunder’ to ‘Black Lightning’

By Larry Nichols larry@epgn.com Nafessa Williams is taking her role as Thunder, the first black lesbian superhero character on television, to heart for the second season of “Black Lightning.”

Williams plays the openly gay eldest daughter, Anissa. Much to the chagrin of her worried parents, Anissa as Thunder fights crime with her special power of increasing her density to render herself immovable and bulletproof.

Williams, who identifies as a straight LGBT ally, said she takes the responsibility of playing TV’s first African-American lesbian superhero very seriously.

“It was not just another acting gig,” she said about landing the role of Thunder.

“When I first went out for it, I didn’t know it was a superhero show until my final audition. I just saw the character. She was a strong, bold activist who unapologetically lived her life. That was the breakdown of who she was.

“I had never heard of Black Lightning prior to this, so it took some research.

I went back and dug up the old comic books from 1977 to research it,” Williams said.

“I wasn’t worried about the pressure of playing a lesbian character and representing the LGBTQ community, and an AfricanAmerican lesbian character on top of that.

I just figured I’d do what I do with all my characters. I go into them.

I don’t judge them. I rememb e r telling myself

when you go into this, don’t even think about it as ‘she’s a lesbian.’ Just think about the foundation of love and make sure you bring that to the character and you won’t have to worry.”

This year critics of the show have taken notice of the role as the series and its representation of LGBTQ characters as it has been nominated for 2019 GLAAD Media Award for Best Drama Series.

“Black Lightning” is based on the African American superhero DC Comics debuted in 1977. The main character has a number of abilities related to generating and manipulating electricity.

In the TV series, the title character had semi-retired from fighting crime at the behest of his wife to focus on being a family man (and not almost getting killed every week) in the fictional city of Freeland.

Years after he hung up his costume, he’s forced to put it back on after a local crime gang threatens the lives of his daughters, who also end up having powers.

Williams, a Philly native, said that besides repres e n t ing the LGBTQ community on screen, she has taken to b e i n g what she called “a comic-book geek.”

“When you’re playing a character and there’s tangible research out there, you kind of lose your-

self in it, and you’re grateful for it, that you can build this character off of research and information that is already out there,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to play a superhero. I was physically getting my body ready to play a superhero. I just didn’t know it was going to come in the form of the first black lesbian superhero.”

Since the series started, Thunder has become the more revolutionary of the heroes on the show.

In the first season, we learned the children of Freeland were subjected to years of experiments by a shadowy agency that resulted in many children getting superpowers and then disappearing. Corruption in the government and the police force are also major plot points in the series. This leads to a clash in philosophies between Black Lightning and Thunder, with the former wanting to work within the system to fix these injustices while the latter wants to take a more-direct vigilante route.

Williams said she enjoys portraying a strong, radical character.

“What’s cool is that I love that about her. That is who Thunder is, what she stands for. I love that she’s so deviant.

She’s like, ‘This is not working this way.

You raised me to follow these rules, but I’m an adult and this is how I feel and I’m going to take matters in my own hands.’ I love, love, love that about her.

She’s always had that about her since the first season.”

Williams said she definitely believes there’s an obvious arc to her character. Thunder has become smarter and sharper and has grown as a superhero, even if her parents still question some of her decisions.

CW, the network that produces “Black Lighting,” also produces other superhero TV shows such as “The Flash,” “Supergirl” and “Arrow.” Most of those

Photos: Courtesy of CW

Comics Family Portrait Out & About

Page 26 Page 25 Page 22

Q Puzzle Scene in Philly

Page 24 Page 17

Black Trans Futuristic PAGE 18

shows exist in their own realities that sometimes cross over for special story events each season. “Black Lighting,” so far, has been in its own universe and hasn’t encountered the other heroes, but sooner or later they’re going to meet up in one or more of the other shows.

Williams said she welcomes the collaboration.

“I think the future is female,” she said.

“I’m always down for teaming up with Supergirl. And I hear that Batwoman is coming. So I think that would be great for me to team up with the other super, badass women on the CW and fight crime together.”

Until she fights alongside (or against) Supergirl and Batwoman, Williams is focused on being part of a show that is important to fans who aren’t used to seeing themselves in that light.

“We’ve been getting really good feedback, and it’s been really cool and rewarding as an artist to know that you’re being effective. And to know that we are inspiring, and giving the culture something they’ve never seen before. In particular for me, knowing that I’m inspiring a generation of young black lesbians and lesbians as a whole who watch our show and feel normal after seeing it.”

“I went to ClexaCon, which is a comic convention for the LGBTQ community, and there was a young woman who was about 16. And she was in tears when she came up to me. She hugged me and said, ‘Thank you so much because after seeing Thunder, I feel normal being a lesbian now and I didn’t prior to seeing the show.’

So those are the experiences and encounters that make me feel like I’m truly doing my job and being an inspiration.” n “Black Lightning” airs on the CW at 9 p.m. Mondays.

For more information, visit https://www.cwtv.com/ shows/black-lightning.

16

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

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Call For Artists The 2019 Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference (PTWC) is seeking artists/photographers for its annual cover art competition.

Theme We are looking for a visual narrative that moves the viewer to experience the beauty or uniqueness of any aspect of the trans experience.

Guidelines Submissions for consideration can be in any still medium— painting, photography, sculpture, collage, drawing, assemblage, should be expressive of the artist’s emotions, whether it is bold energy, subtle expression, inner beauty, or a unique vision.

All art submitted should be family-friendly.

Eligibility

Remembrance • Resistance • Resilience

The competition is open to all artists who identify as transgender, non-binary, or gender non-conforming expressing themselves in any still medium.

August 2–4, 2018

2018 Artist Rae Senarighi

The cover art winners will receive a cash prize and a vending table for all three days of the conference (July 25-27, 2019).

Submission Deadline: March 1, 2019 (11:59 PM EST) On how to submit visit:

transphl.org/artists

Cover Art by Rae Senarighi

18

Black trans artists envision a positive future in William Way exhibition

By Raymond Simon PGN Contributor

that potentially threatening situation to a cartoon-like underwater world of talking goldfish and beautiful mermaids transforms it into an The art gallery in the William Way LGBT altogether more positive experience.

In contrast to Bennet’s fanciful world, Community Center has been temporarily transformed into a time machine of sorts, thanks to its Edwards’s digital photographs are firmly rooted in everyday life. In “future, who?” a black-andcurrent exhibition.

“Black Trans Futuristic” features the work white image, a nonbinary person sits curbside, of six artists: Jamie Grace Alexander, Wriply leaning against a parked car and gazing directly back at viewers. They reapM. Bennet, Shanel Edwards, pear in a color photo called Devyn Farries, Myx Omiya Isa “Brighter Future.” The photo and Essa Terick, aka Tahnee. was shot at a slight angle and is The contributors are people suffused with vivid colors like of color from throughout the aqua, orange and teal. Now the African diaspora, as well as person is standing and, apparbeing trans, queer, nonbinary ently, on the verge of moving. or gender-nonconforming.

All told, it’s a dynamic image, The work on display in just one of many pieces on dis“Black Trans Futuristic” play in “Black Trans Futuristic” is similarly wide-ranging. that envision a better future.

Among the more than 20 pieces And that’s no coincidence. on display, viewers can see “The reason why I chose watercolors by Farries, evocative objects by Tahnee and “CLOCKED” BY WRIPLY futuristic is because, as we a mini-installation combining M. BENNET know, black trans folks often are the recipients of violence digital images and poetic text and a lot of systemic injustice,” López said.

by Omiya Isa. According to Wit López, who curated the “And so, the idea of allowing black trans people exhibition, the title was kept deliberately open- to have some type of futurism for themselves ended. In other words, the artists were given implies this longevity of life and this longevity plenty of freedom in deciding how to interpret it. of existence that in our current society needs to “It makes space for black trans artists to be a reality.”

The exhibition will be on display throughdefine or to say what’s going to be futuristic for them,” said López, who is also a nonbinary out most of February, which is Black History trans performer and visual artist. “So, it’s spiri- Month. Its focus on the future complements the tuality, it’s their relationships with other people, month-long celebration of the past.

As it turns out, “Black Trans Futuristic” is just it’s their ideas about philosophy, it’s their ideas one of López’s current critical interventions in around themselves and their identities.” this ongoing discussion of race, Seeing the various ways in gender and sexuality. They are which the artists responded also putting on a two-day event is part of what makes “Black at The Rotunda called the “QT Trans Futuristic” so interesting.

Noir Arts Festival.” The festival, Consider, for example, which takes place Feb. 2 and 3, Alexander’s “Contingency is billed as a “joy session for Altar,” a curious object fashand by Black QT folks.” ioned from a discarded mirror, It offers the center yet another paint marker and glitter. Most of opportunity to showcase the the mirror’s reflective surface is creativity of its community. obscured by splotches of color Visitors can check out the work in various shades of purple — of 10 visual artists, includexcept for two small spots, both ing Brian Bazemore and Petra labeled “portal.” What it means is difficult to say, but the cheer“BRIGHT FUTURE” BY Floyd; watch live performances ful colors and graffiti-like squigSHANEL EDWARDS from people such as Icon Ebony Fierce and Alex Smith; or just gles lend it a playful, hopeful a enjoy a set from a set by DJ tone.

Bennet approaches the topic from a different Kilamanzego.

Both events offer a glimpse at a thriving comperspective. Her five digital illustrations, colorful and humorous, are as accessible as any com- munity enjoying a creative, fertile moment.

“There is a very vibrant and productive black ic-book imagery. Her subjects are curvy, beaming, female and fantastic creatures like mer- trans and queer community in Philly,” López maids. In one illustration, a smiling, lush-lipped said. “I feel there is a sort of artistic renaissance goldfish points its fin toward an elegant, beauti- happening within the Black LGBTQ+ community and it is wonderful and life-giving.” n ful black mermaid and exclaims “Clocked!!!”

Ordinarily, the term “clocked” has negative connotations within the trans community. It “Black Trans Futuristic” runs until Feb. 22. Admission free. To learn more, visit www.facebook.com/ refers to situations where a trans person attempt- is events/267511980611714/. For information about the ing to “pass” is recognized by someone from “QT Noir Arts Festival,” see www.therotunda.org/. outside the trans community. But transferring

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

SPECIAL ELECTION NOTICE TUESDAY MARCH 12, 2019

Between the hours of 7:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. in the following election districts and divisions in the City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there will be ELECTED by the voters, a person to fill the following office, as certified by the Secretary of the Commonwealth

REPRESENTATIVE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 190TH DISTRICT

REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICTS ARE COMPRISED OF THE FOLLOWING WARDS AND DIVISIONS WITHIN PHILADELPHIA COUNTY

TH

190 DISTRICT

WARDS 04 [PART, Divisions 01, 07, 08, 12, 13, 19 and 20], 06, 24 [PART, Divisions 06 thru 08, 16 and 17], 38 [PART, Division 09], 44, 52 [PART, Divisions 01 thru 04, 06 thru 13, 21 and 28] and 60 [PART, Divisions 04 thru 06, 08 thru 18, 20 and 21].

AVISO DE ELECCIÓN ESPECIAL MARTES, 12 DE MARZO DE 2019

Entre las horas de 7:00 a. m. y 8:00 p. m. en los siguientes distritos y divisiones electorales en la ciudad y el condado de Filadelfia, Pensilvania, los votantes de la ciudad y del condado de Filadelfia podrán elegir una persona para cubrir los siguientes cargos según la certificación por el Secretario del Estado.

REPRESENTANTE EN LA ASAMBLEA GENERAL DISTRITO 190°

LOS DISTRITOS DE REPRESENTANTES ESTÁN CONSTITUIDOS POR LOS SIGUIENTES DISTRITOS Y DIVISIONES DENTRO DEL CONDADO DE FILADELFIA

°

190 DISTRITO

DISTRITOS 04 [PARTE, divisiones 01, 07, 08, 12, 13, 19 y 20], 06, 24 [PARTE, divisiones 06 al 08, 16 y 17], 38 [PARTE, división 09], 44, 52 [PARTE, divisiones 01 al 04, 06 al 13, 21 y 28] y 60 [PARTE, divisiones 04 al 06, 08 al 18, 20 y 21].

PHILADELPHIA COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS Lisa M Deeley

Chairwoman, City Commissioners Presidente, Comisionados Municipales

Anthony Clark City Commissioner Comisionado Municipal

Al Schmidt

Vice Chairman, City Commissioners

Vicepresidente, Comisionados Municipales

Kevin A Kelly Acting Supervisor of Elections Supervisor Interino de Elecciones

www.philadelphiavotes.com

19

20

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

INFORMATION STATEMENT ON ACCESS TO THE ELECTION PROCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA SPECIAL ELECTION MARCH 12, 2019 REPRESENTATIVE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 190TH DISTRICT

In accordance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Voter Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984, the City of Philadelphia does not discriminate against people with disabilities in providing access to its election process.

According to these federal laws, the City of Philadelphia is required to ensure that its election process as a whole is accessible to people with disabilities in all elections.

This means that polling places shall be accessible to people with disabilities to the extent that accessible locations are available within each election district.

The City Commissioners designates and lists polling place accessibility in varying degrees. Polling places that fully meet all federal and state criteria are designated with an “F” for fully accessible building and an “H” for handicapped parking.

If a polling place location does not fully meet these federal and state criteria but provides relative accessibility with minor assistance in entry then that location will be designated with a “B” for substantial accessibility.

If a fully accessible location, that meets all federal and state criteria (designated as “FH”), is not available for a polling place in your election Division, voting accessibility will be provided through the use of an Alternative Ballot in accordance with directives issued by the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

If you are a registered voter who is disabled or age 65 or older and who is not assigned to a polling place that has been designated as “FH”, you are qualified to vote using an Alternative Ballot.

ONLY THE FOLLOWING WARDS AND DIVISIONS POLLING PLACES HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED AS “FH” OR FULLY ACCESSIBLE. IF YOU ARE A REGISTERED VOTER IN ANY ELECTION DISTRICT IN PHILADELPHIA, EXCEPT FOR THOSE LISTED BELOW, AND YOU ARE DISABLED OR AGE 65 OR OLDER YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FROM HOME USING AN ALTERNATIVE BALLOT OR AT CITY HALL ROOM 142 ON ELECTION DAY USING AN EMERGENCY ALTERNATIVE BALLOT: Electoral District

Electoral Division

Address

Location

6

2

4400 Fairmount Ave.

Angela Court Nursing Home

6 44

9, 11 8

4035 Parrish St. 4901 Chestnut St.

Sarah Allen Senior Housing West Phila. High School

44

16,17

5201 Haverford Ave.

Spectrum Community Health Ctr.

52 52

3 11, 12

3900 City Ave. 2600 Belmont Ave.

Presidential City Apts Inglis House Founders Hall

60

4,6

5429 Chestnut St.

Holmes Senior Apts.

60

8,12

4901 Chestnut St.

West Phila. High School

THIS LIST IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. REFER TO THE WEBSITE BELOW FOR UP TO DATE INFORMATION

www.philadelphiavotes.com

An Alternative Ballot may be obtained for any election, upon your advance request on an Alternative Ballot Application. In Philadelphia an application for an Alternative Ballot can be made on the regular Absentee Ballot Application by checking the box for “Handicapped or 65 years or older and who is assigned to an inaccessible polling place”. The applications may be obtained at the County Board of Elections in Room 142, City Hall or by contacting (215) 686-3469 VOICE, or TTY/TDD through the AT&T Relay System. TDD users may utilize this service by calling 1-800-654-5984 and telling the communications assistant they want to speak to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Elections at (717) 787-5280.

Alternative Ballot Applications by mail must be received by the County Board of Elections not later than 7 days before the election.

Alternative Ballots must be returned to the County Board of Elections no later than the close of the polls, at 8:00 P.M. on Election Day. Additionally, registered electors with disabilities may apply for an Emergency Alternative Ballot Application and cast their ballot in person at the County Board of Election, in Room 142, City Hall, up to the close of the polls on Election Day. In addition, the City shall provide registration materials in large print at each registration facility, and voting instructions in large print at each polling place.

Should you have any questions about your rights, or the City’s obligations under these laws, or if you need assistance in determining if your polling place fully meets federal and state criteria, please contact the Accessibility Compliance Office, or the County Board of Elections.

City Commissioner's Office City Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19107

County Board of Elections City Hall, Room 142 Philadelphia, PA 19107 215-686-3469 215-686-3943

Accessibility Compliance Office 1401 JFK Blvd, MSB 10th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19102 – 1677

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

DECLARACIÓN DE INFORMACIÓN SOBRE EL ACCESO AL PROCESO DE ELECCIONES PARA LAS PERSONAS CON DISCAPACIDADES EN LA CIUDAD DE FILADELFIA

ELECCION ESPECIAL MARTES 12 DE MARZO DE 2019 REPRESENTANTE EN LA ASAMBLEA GENERAL DISTRITO 190°

De acuerdo con el Título II de la Ley de Americanos con Discapacidades de 1990 y la Ley de Accesibilidad de Votante para los Ancianos y los Discapacitados de 1984, la Ciudad de Filadelfia no discrimina a la gente con discapacidades al suministrar acceso para el proceso de elecciones.

Según estas leyes federales, se requiere que la Ciudad de Filadelfia asegure que su proceso de elecciones en conjunto sea accesible a la gente con discapacidades en todas las elecciones. Esto significa que los sitios de votación serán accesibles a los discapacitados de tal manera que haya locaciones accesibles disponibles dentro de cada distrito electoral.

Los Comisionados de la Ciudad designan y enumeran la accesibilidad de los lugares de votación en grados variables. Los sitios de votación que cumplen en su totalidad con los criterios federales y estatales son designados con una "F" que indica que es un edificio totalmente accesible, y con una "H" que indica que hay estacionamiento para discapacitados.

Si un logar de votación no cumple en su totalidad con estos criterios federales y estatales, pero provee accesibilidad relativa con una pequeña ayuda en la entrada, entonces ese logar será designado con una "B" que indica que tiene una accesibilidad substancial.

Si no hay disponible un lugar totalmente accesible, que cumpla con todos los criterios federales y estatales (designados como “FH”), como sitio de votación en su División de elección, la accesibilidad para votar será proporcionada mediante el uso de una Boleta Alternativa de acuerdo con las directrices expedidas por el Secretario del Estado.

Si usted es un votante registrado, que es discapacitado o tiene 65 años de edad o más, y no se le ha asignado un lugar de votación que haya sido designado como “FH”, entonces cumple con los requisitos para votar mediante una Boleta Alternativa.

SÓLO LOS CENTROS DE VOTACIÓN DE LOS DISTRITOS Y LAS DIVISIONES ELECTORALES QUE SE MENCIONAN A CONTINUACIÓN SE HAN DESIGNADO COMO “FH” O TOTALMENTE ACCESIBLES. SI USTED ES UN VOTANTE REGISTRADO EN CUALQUIER DISTRITO ELECTORAL DE FILADELPHIA, SALVO EN AQUELLOS QUE SE ENUMERAN A CONTINUACIÓN, Y ES DISCAPACITADO O MAYOR DE 65 AÑOS, CUMPLE CON LOS REQUISITOS PARA VOTAR DESDE SU HOGAR MEDIANTE UNA BOLETA ALTERNATIVA O EN LA SALA 142 DEL AYUNTAMIENTO EL DÍA DE LA ELECCIÓN MEDIANTE UNA BOLETA ALTERNATIVA DE EMERGENCIA: ESTE AVISO ESTA SUJETO A CAMBIOS. PARA OBTENER INFORMACION ACTUALIZADA IR A WWW.PHILADELPHIAVOTES.COM Distrito Electoral

Division Electoral

Domicilio

Centro de votacion

6 6 44 44 52 52 60 60

2 9, 11 8 16,17 3 11, 12 4,6 8,12

4400 Fairmount Ave. 4035 Parrish St. 4901 Chestnut St. 5201 Haverford Ave. 3900 City Ave. 2600 Belmont Ave. 5429 Chestnut St. 4901 Chestnut St.

Angela Court Nursing Home Sarah Allen Senior Housing West Phila. High School Spectrum Community Health Ctr. Presidential City Apts Inglis House Founders Hall Holmes Senior Apts.

West Phila. High School

Es posible obtener una Boleta Alternativa para cualquier elección, a petición avanzado de una solicitud de boleta alternativa. En Filadelfia se puede pedir una Boleta Alternativa en la solicitud corriente de Boleta para Votar en Ausencia, señalando la casilla de “Discapacitado, 65 años de edad o mayor y a quien se le ha asignado un lugar de votación inaccesible”. Las solicitudes se pueden obtener en la Junta de Elecciones del Condado en Sala 142, del Ayuntamiento o llamando al teléfono (215) 6863469 VOICE, o por TTY/TDD (Teletipo/Aparato de Telecomunicación para Sordos) a través del AT&T Relay System. Los usuarios de TDD pueden utilizar este servicio llamando al 1-800-654-5984 e informándole al asistente de comunicaciones que desean hablar con la Oficina de Elecciones de Pensilvania en el (717) 787-5280.

Las Solicitudes de Boleta Alternativa deben enviarse por correo a la Junta de Elecciones del Condado a más tardar siete días antes de la elección.

Las Boletas Alternativas deben devolverse a la Junta de Elecciones del Condado a más tardar al momento del cierre de las urnas, a las 8:00 p.m. del Día de Elecciones.

Además, los electores registrados con discapacidades pueden pedir una Solicitud de Boleta Alternativa de Emergencia y depositar la boleta personalmente en la Junta de Elecciones del Condado, en sala 142, del Ayuntamiento, hasta el momento del cierre de elecciones durante el Día de Elecciones.

Además, la Ciudad proporcionará materiales de inscripción en letras grandes en cada instalación de inscripción, y suministrará las instrucciones en letras grandes sobre cómo votar en cada sitio de votación.

Si tiene alguna pregunta sobre sus derechos o sobre las obligaciones de la Ciudad según estas leyes, o si necesita ayuda para determinar si su lugar de votación cumple en su totalidad con los criterios federales y estatales, comuníquese con la Oficina de Cumplimiento con la Accesibilidad, o la Junta de Elecciones del Condado.

Oficina del Comisionado de la Ciudad City Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Junta de Elecciones del Condado City Hall, Room 142 Philadelphia, PA 19107 215-686-3469 215-686-3943

Oficina de Cumplimiento con la Accesibilidad 1401 JFK Blvd, MSB 10th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19102 – 1677

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PGN LISTINGS

U.K. indie rockers find their voice on debut album

CHARDINE TAYLOR-STONE (FROM LEFT), ESTELLA ADEYERI AND STEPH PHILLIPS Taylor-Stone said the U.S.A.’s socio-poBy Larry Nichols litical situation has both positive and neglarry@epgn.com ative effects that reverberate in the U.K. United Kingdom-based band Big Joanie “Politically, as activists, we are defiis grabbing the attention of fans and music nitely influenced by what queer activwriters on both sides of the pond with ists are doing in the U.S.,” she said.

“For example, recently, Manchester Pride debut LP “Sistahs.”

The indie punk trio, all women of color, adopted [Philadelphia’s] new rainbow is comprised of singer-guitarist Stephanie flag that has brown and black stripes on Phillips, bassist Estella Adeyeri and drum- them. In terms of the discrimination we mer Chardine Taylor-Stone. They’re get- face here, with Brexit as well, we see ting critical praise for their sound, which homophobia on the rise.

“In terms of activists, we definitely folis classic girl-group pop like The Ronettes fused with riot grrrl punk rock like The low what’s happening in the U.S. It’s just a different political face here in the U.K. Breeders.

If their sound isn’t captivating enough, It’s difficult to talk about it in extremes. their activism is sure to win over fans. I always think about the States as having All three members of the band are deeply extremes. You have amazing radical proinvolved in causes. Taylor-Stone started a gressive things happening there, which campaign to fight racist performances at here I can’t even dream of happening in LGBTQ venues in the U.K. and is also the regard of access to things. “But then you have the other end, with the Trumps and education officer for U.K. Black Pride.

She said their activist pursuits as indi- people losing healthcare and all that kind viduals aren’t always tied to band activi- of stuff. We don’t have those two extremes ties, but the two sometimes share a sym- as much. A lot of the issues we’re trying to deal with here now are things within biotic relationship.

“We play on a very queen feminist punk the community about racism and waiting scene anyway, so it kind of developed lists for trans healthcare and the removing through that,” Taylor-Stone said. “It’s hard of our rights.” to think about when things happened. Big Joanie may get an up-close look at We were involved in feminist activism the United States soon, as its debut album anyway. Being known as an LGBTQ “Sistahs” has earned critical acclaim and activist came through my work with the spots at some of the hottest festival showStop Rainbow Racism Campaign that I cases. started. That started because there were “We’ve been invited to South By some blackface acts on the scene in quite Southwest so we should be in Austin, Texas, a prominent venue. I can’t say if it was in March,” Taylor-Stone said. “We’re playthe band that influenced me to do that, or ing in New York as well, at the Colossus if it was the other way around. I just think Festival. I think we’re going to try and fit having a platform and talking to people some shows in between. I don’t know how and being comfortable in that place is part we’re going to do that, but I do hope that of the job of being an activist. Being in a after South By Southwest, we’ll be able to band helps with that. There are layers to get a U.S. booking agent and then we’ll be me sometimes. There’s the music world, able to tour the U.S. properly.” n and there’s my LGBT activist world.

Sometime they cross over and sometimes Big Joanie’s “Sistahs” is out now. For more information, visit https://bigjoanie.bandcamp.com. they don’t.”

FAR EAST DANCE FEAST: Five millennia of traditional Chinese culture come alive on stage when Shen Yun, the internationally famous dance troupe, performs its visually stunning show, Feb. 8-March 3 at Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call 215-893-1999.

Theater & Arts All Tchaikovsky The Philadelphia Orchestra performs a program celebrating the classic composer’s music, through Feb. 2 at Kimmel’s Verizon Hall, 300 S. Broad St.; 215893-1999.

Arte Povera: Homage to Amalfi ’68 Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an installation recreating one artist’s reactionary exhibition against minimalism and pop art, through July 7, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215-763-8100.

Betrayal Lantern Theater Company presents a drama exploring

love, sex, marriage and friendship, through Feb. 17 at St. Stephen’s Theater, 923 Ludlow St.; 215829-0395.

Between Nature and Abstraction: Edwin Dickinson and Friends Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition exploring the works of the modern American painter, through Feb. 10, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215-763-8100.

Bill Bellamy The comedian and actor performs Feb. 7-9 at Punch Line Philly, 33 E. Laurel St.; 215-606-6555.

The Bridges of Madison County Philadelphia Theatre Company

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.

presents the Tony Award-winning play based on the bestselling novel, Feb. 8-March 3 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St.; 215985-0420.

Dieter Rams: Principled Design Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition surveying the designer’s prolific body of work — from radios, clocks and cameras to kitchen appliances and furniture, through April 14, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215-7638100.

Equality — Pride in Our History Exhibit A new exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the decades of gay Pride, showcasing a collection of stories, photos and memorabilia contributed by LGBTQ individuals and their allies, through March 23 at Bucks County Visitor Center, 3207 Street Road,

Bensalem; www. newhopecelebrateshistory.org.

Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors Walnut Street Theatre presents the comedy set in 1930s Paris, just hours away from “The Concert of the Century,” through March 3, 825 Walnut St.; 215574-3550.

Little Ladies: Victorian Fashion Dolls and the Feminine Ideal Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition exploring the influence of Miss Fanchon, the ultimate toy for privileged girls in the 1860s-’70s, through March 3, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215763-8100.

Masters of Illusion Live Talented illusionists perform 8 p.m. Feb. 7 at Keswick Theatre, 291 N. Keswick Ave., Glenside; 215-572-7650.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PGN LISTINGS

Music Peabo Bryson The R&B singer performs 8 p.m.

Feb. 2 at Keswick Theatre, 291 N. Keswick Ave., Glenside; 215572-7650.

READY TO ROCK IT: Influential jazz, funk and electronic music pioneer and composer, Herbie Hancock takes a trip through his legendary career 8 p.m. Feb. 8 at Xcite Center at Parx Casino, 2999 Street Road, Bensalem. For more information or tickets, call 888-588-7279.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Opera Philadelphia presents Shakespeare’s classic comedy, Feb. 8-17 at Kimmel’s Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St.; 215893-1999.

Mimi Imfurst Presents Drag Diva Brunch Mimi Imfurst and special guests perform 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Feb. 2 at Punch Line Philly, 33 E. Laurel St.; 215606-6555.

New Chinese Galleries Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition exploring 4,000 years of Chinese art, opening Feb. 3, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215763-8100.

Oleanna Walnut Street Theatre presents David Mamet’s explosive drama

about gender politics, privilege and power, through Feb. 17 at Independence Studio on 3, 825 Walnut St.; 215574-3550.

Shen Yun The classical Chinese dance troupe performs Feb. 8-March 3 at Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St.; 215-893-1999.

Weeding Out The Stoned Sixteen comedians enter, all but one of them are stoned and the audience gets to figure out who’s sober among them, 8:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at Good Good Comedy Theatre, 215 N. 11th St.; 215-399-1279.

Whitney Cummings The comedian and actress seen on Comedy Central performs through Feb. 2 at Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St.; 215-496-9001.

Pop Rocks: The ’80s The Philly Pops perform songs from the decade of excess, Feb. 1-3 at Kimmel’s Verizon Hall, 300 S. Broad St.; 215-893-1999.

Viva España!

The Philadelphia Orchestra performs an evening of Spanish compositions, Feb. 7-9 at Kimmel’s Verizon Hall, 300 S. Broad St.; 215893-1999.

Nightlife Gender Queery: Trans and Nonbinary Drag Show Celebrate queerness and gender expression with fluid drag performers, 8 p.m. Feb. 1 at Stir Lounge, 1705 Chancellor St.; 215-732-2700.

FEUD: The Drag Show Bev hosts an evening of performances with Philly’s biggest drag queens, 9 p.m.-midnight Feb. 2 at Tabu, 254 S. 12th St.; 215964-9675.

Steven Universe Drag Show Steven Universe hosts an interactive drag show, 10 p.m.-1 a.m. Feb. 2 at The Victoria Freehouse, 10 S. Front St.; 215543-6089.

Melangerie: An All QPOC Show Mae Rose hosts an evening of entertainment, 9:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at Tabu, 254 S. 12th St.; 215964-9675.

Paula’s Drag Kitchen Paula Deen-White cooks up a killer drag show with her friends, 8-10 p.m. Feb. 7 at L’Etage, 624 S. Sixth St.; 215592-0656.

Pokémon: Let’s Go Philadelphia Lorna Doom hosts this gaymerthemed drag show, 8 p.m. Feb. 8 at Tabu, 254 S. 12th St.; 215964-9675.

Outta Town Kick (The INXS Experience) The INXS tribute band performs 8 p.m. Feb. 1 at Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville; 215257-5808.

Rewired ’80s A tribute concert, 9 p.m. Feb. 1 at The Queen, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del.; 202-730-3331.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors The horror film is screened 9:45 p.m. Feb. 1 at The Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville; 610917-1228.

Groundhog Day The comedy film is screened 1:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at The Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville; 610917-1228. n

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

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Queer flicks worth the tickets

By Gary M. Kramer PGN Contributor With a number of queer classics being screened this month at The Lightbox Film Center, there are at least two that definitely are worthy of your time.

Jean Vigo’s 1933 masterful “Zero for Conduct,” about “little devils at school,” will be screened Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. at the center on 3701 Chestnut St. Based on Vigo’s own experiences, this 44-minute short has four students, including the “sensitive sissy” Tabard (Gérard de Bédarieux), wreaking havoc at their boarding school.

Episodes show Tabard and his classmates Caussat (Louis Lefebvre), Colin (Gilbert Pruchon) and Bruel (Coco Golstein) misbehaving in the dormitory, the playground, the classrooms, and in the dining hall, where they initiate a food fight. In one of the film’s most famous scenes, the kids start a pillow fight that precipitates the pièce de résistance, a rebellious act on the rooftop of the school on commemoration (alumni) day.

“Zero for Conduct” was a daring film in its day — it was even banned — for its depiction of anarchy against authority. Yet audiences today may be more startled at the film’s inclusion of Tabard’s character, along with the use of language (“merde,” the French word for “shit,” is said a few times), and snippets of youthful nudity, including one full frontal.

The adults in the film are treated mostly as buffoons, particularly the Principal of the school (Delphin) and Huguet (Jean Dasté) a monitor who is often seen in comic poses from walking on his hands to imitating Charlie Chaplin. But these elements make “Zero for Conduct” funny, clever, surreal and raucous; it has gleeful contempt for authority, and who doesn’t need some radical inspiration these days?

“Zero for Conduct” is screening with “The Flower Thief,” director Ron Rice’s 1960 underground film about a beatnik (out gay “Warhol” superstar Taylor Mead) wandering through San Francisco’s North Beach.

On Feb. 9 at 7 p.m., a restored version of out gay director Luchino Visconti’s sumptuous 1954 film “Senso” will screen at the Lightbox Film Center. Queer actor Farley Granger received top billing in this romantic drama that unfolds in Italy during the summer of 1866, the last months of the Italian-Austrian war of unification. Gay playwright Tennessee Williams and bisexual author Paul Bowles collaborated on the film’s dialogue.

At an opera, Countess Livia Serpieri (Alida Valli) tries to smooth things over when her nationalist cousin Roberto (Massimo Girotti) stages an incident that prompts a confrontation with Franz Mahler (Granger), an Austrian lieutenant. However, when Roberto is sent away, the married Livia finds herself falling in love with the

handsome Franz — despite being on the opposite sides of the war. When they spend an evening together, their sensual tryst ends with her giving him a medallion and a lock of her hair.

Livia and Franz meet again a while later, when he sneaks into her bedroom at her country estate. The sexual tension builds as the lovers decide if Franz should stay or go.

As the lush music swells, they consummate their passions with an erotic kiss. Livia is so enamored with Franz that she agrees to hide

him on the estate. She wants them to spend one more day together. Franz, who risks being a deserter, contrives to get money from Livia to bribe a doctor to declare him unfit for service. As the story reaches its conclusion, acts of betrayal and revenge are played out.

“Senso” was Visconti’s first color film, and the imagery, from the magnificent opera scenes that open the film to the elaborately staged battle scenes that take place in the third act, show the director’s penchant for opulent compositions. Yet, much of this film features romantic scenes of the lovers together. There are tender moments of Franz placing his hand on Livia’s shoulder, lying in her lap or lounging next to her in a stable.

The appealing actors are beautifully filmed and gorgeously costumed. Valli’s gowns and veils are exquisite and say much about Livia’s wealth and emotions.

(Visconti often punctured the aristocracy in his films, and “Senso” is no exception.)

Granger’s uniform features tight-fitting pants that often display his attractive body.

Both performers also wear capes that add some drama to their movements.

While Granger could be a bit stiff as a performer, he manages the role of Franz well. He is especially impressive in his big dramatic scene confronting Livia with some painful truths in the last act. Valli, in contrast, becomes more unhinged as Livia’s passions consume her, and the actress’ performance borders on camp as Livia gets obsessive and jealous. (Fun fact: Marlon Brando and Ingrid Bergman were Visconti’s first choices for the main roles.)

“Senso” ends with a dramatic scene that packs a wallop — even if what happens is not entirely unexpected. The film is a classic melodrama that benefits from its director’s keen eye for arresting visuals, his sharp criticism of class, and the splendor of the two romantic leads. n

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

PGN

All-queer theater company goes sleepless for second annual Philly Theatre Week

By Suzannah Cavanaugh PGN Contributor The Hum’n’bards didn’t start out this gay.

“Funnily enough, no. We got gayer!” said Wyatt Flinn, a founding member of the all-queer theater company. He’s also the artistic director of the group’s newest production, “We’ll Sleep When We’re Dead.”

“We all found each other before a lot of us knew how gay we really were. Our theater MACY JAE DAVIS AND MONICA FISCHER was queer before we knew we Photo: Courtlyn Louise were queer because that’s how ters whose shared reality is a world where it happens: Your art speaks for you before you can speak for yourself,” government-mandated implants make it required for humans to forgo sleep.

Flinn said.

For the ’Bards, self-discovery has also Except for Lou — the show’s protagonist, played by Monica Fischer. She gone hand-in-hand with success.

In the three years since its first show the missed getting chipped and spends her post-apocalyptic folk-opera “Pangaea” at time hiding out in “sleep-easies,” underthe 2016 Fringe Festival, it has turned out ground hangs where counter-culture chara handful of devised musicals and two acters can flirt with the new taboo: sleep. more Fringe performances. The ’Bards The ’Bards say weaving a world where 2018 show “God, Forgive These Bastards” humans hold limitless productive potential brought a large-enough crowd to pay for is a critique of capitalism. their latest production and upgrade their “Of course, if this technology is availpractice space from a friend’s living room able, it’s going to make sense that it’s going to get exploited; it’s going to make to a Mantua rehearsal studio.

“We’re at a point now where we don’t sense that it’s going to be mandated,” have to pay out of pocket for rehearsal director Maskart said. space,” said Hum’n’bards’ managing Infused with queer sex and witty worddirector Taylor Plunkett-Clements. “We play, the music that drives “We’ll Sleep got some momentum going and we want When We’re Dead” elevates it to someto keep that momentum going, and now thing much more fun.

Songs include “Let’s Sleep Together we’re here.”

“Here” is the last two weeks of rehearsal (it would be my pleasure),” an acoustic before the premiere of their newest devised duet between Fischer as Lou and her lover musical, “We’ll Sleep When We’re Dead,” Poppy, played by Macy Jae Davis, flush set to run during the second annual Philly with sing-songy come-ons between two lovers, like “close your eyes, open your Theatre Week.

The plot concept came from an all- thighs.” Plus, “Sex Bed,” a spoken-word electronic-dance number set to tinny nighter Flinn pulled back in college.

“I watched the sun come up and was synths and completed by Davis’ flexible like ... I wish I could just never have to choreography. sleep and I could just get all the things Flinn said that while he’s glad for done that I would want to get done,” the eclectic crowd past productions have drawn, he hopes this show brings out more he said.

“So, we came into this with just the of the LGBTQ community. prompt of ‘What would a world without “I’m personally hoping that the queers sleep look like?’” Plunkett-Clements said. find out about us,” Flinn said. “Some of “And then we started just coming up with them know. But as a trans person who is often seeking to watch other trans people the rules of the world.”

In devised theater, the script- and perform on stage, I’m like, ‘Guys! We’re score-writing are a collaborative process. here, we’re queer, we do theater! Come For “We’ll Sleep When We’re Dead,” the support us and be our friends.’ It just feels ’Bards set the parameters of their musi- like they’ll like it.” n cal’s universe, and its four main characters “We’ll Sleep When We’re Dead” runs six times, Feb. together, democratically.

4-16, at three locations: L’Etage at 624 S. Sixth St. “We all went like round-robin and said on Feb. 4 and 11; Tracey’s Loft at 2704 Girard Ave. things that we felt were absolutely true on Feb. 9 and 16; and The Fire at 412 W. Girard Ave. about the world and then everyone would on Feb. 12 and 13. All shows are pay-what-you’reable. For ticket information, visit http://www.humneither like ‘yay’ or ‘nay,’” said show bards.com/. For information on other Philly Theatre director Reanne Maskart.

Week shows, go to http://www.theatrephiladelphia.

They settled on a queer cast of charac- org/whats-on-stage/philly-theatre-week.

Q Puzzle Oh Dear Across

1 Notes to Tammy Baldwin’s staff 6 Greenish-yellow fruit 10 Buffy creator Whedon 14 Playground retort 15 Part of San Francisco’s BART 16 Not taken in by 17 Spy-action thriller series with Sandra Oh 19 James of “East of Eden” 20 “Bewitched” mother 21 Mommies of a child 23 Clean-air org.

25 Hard to come by 26 Allie on “Weeds” 31 They hold balls in pool halls 34 Oscar, to Felix 35 Phallic fish that need no lube?

37 Played (with) 39 Drug cop 40 Like a stripper’s attire 42 Tiny speck 43 Coming soon 45 Spanking spot 46 Suffix with leather 47 Masters 49 Annie Leibovitz’s workplace

51 Will “beneficiary” McCormack 53 “Look at Me, I’m Sandra ___” 54 The top Miami Sol players, e.g.

58 “___ fi” (Gomer’s USMC motto) 63 Taylor of “I Shot Andy Warhol” 64 Psychopathic assassin of 17-Across 66 Apple of a sort 67 Some guys do it nocturnally 68 Use a rubber 69 Hill with a flat top 70 Some IRAs 71 Of the kidneys

Down

1 It comes before ends meet 2 Sinead O’Connor’s country 3 21-Across may do this 4 Norse port 5 Evening engagement 6 What you touch when you get to first base?

7 Hershiser of baseball 8 Cut 9 Rubicon crosser 10 She plays 64-Across 11 Draft eligible 12 “South Park”

owner of a gay dog 13 Niles and Frasier to Martin 18 City near Vesuvius 22 Kid needing a butt-whipping 24 Word with smart 26 “There ___ there there” (Stein) 27 Point of view 28 Vital carrier 29 Network that airs 17-Across 30 Serengeti sight 32 City in the land of the Samurai 33 ___ music (do Britten’s job) 36 Golfer Sam 38 Regard as 41 Weatherspoon once of the LA Sparks

44 Cheeky 48 They have holey bottoms 50 Lee portrayer in “Capote” 52 Whodunit start 54 Like a Muscle Mary who works out 55 What they do behind bars 56 “Uh-oh!” to Lord Byron 57 Freudian undergarment?

59 Verlaine’s mother 60 Scheme 61 ­“Frozen” queen 62 Rod attachment 65 Some O.C.S. grads

PGN PROFILE

Family Portrait

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Feb. 1-7, 2019

25

Suzi Nash

Sagacious: Perfect with a pen Hello, thespians and drama kweens! Itching to get your bard on, but don’t have the bucks?

You’re in luck.

From Feb. 7-17, Theatre Philadelphia presents Philly Theatre Week. It’s actually a 10-day celebration of the arts, showcasing more than 100 unique theater events including productions, readings and interactive programs. It’s a great way to check out the growing, vibrant and diverse theater scene in the area. The shows include world and regional premieres, Black History Month and Valentine’s Daythemed events, programs with food and drink, physical theater and dance, regional theater and the classics as well as academic and community performances. Many events are free.

Some cost $15 or $30.

This weekend offers two free preview events. First Friday at the Cherry Street Pier is a preview party from 5-8 p.m. and includes gallery tours, preview performances of Philly Theatre Week events, a cash bar and food. The big Theatre Week Kick-Off and Open House will be held Saturday, 1-4 p.m., and is a great chance for audiences to interact with participating Theatre Week artists in a casual midday open house.

But, let’s first interact with one of the players right here. Sagacious is an artist, minister, writer, poetic entity, producer and director.

Her show, “Nobody’s Perfect,” opens Feb. 7.

PGN: Tell me a little about the show.

S: “Nobody’s Perfect” is the story of a woman who leaves her abusive boyfriend and gets involved romantically with another woman. It’s about love and trust and healing.

PGN: And tell me a little of your story.

S: I was born in New York. After high school I went to University of Pittsburgh and then transferred to West Chester University.

After college I moved to Philly and now I live in Wilmington.

PGN: Big or small family?

S: Very big! On my mom’s side, there are five sisters, two brothers and they all have, like, three to four kids. On my dad’s side, he has six siblings himself and they all have kids too. I grew up in a household with both parents, but they weren’t my biological parents. I was raised by my aunt and uncle.

There was never a formal adoption, but they’ve raised me since I was 8 months old, so they’re the only parents I’ve known. I’m the oldest of their six children; the rest of the kids are either foster kids or adopted. I’m helping my mom plan our family reunion this year and it’s an undertaking. The last time, we had over 100 family members there.

PGN: Nice! What led to you being taken in by your parents?

S: I was the last of five kids that my birth mom had. She had challenges, and just couldn’t handle it, so her sister stepped in.

That’s the kind of family we are; one where

if the child needs to go stay with Auntie for a while, that’s what happens. I know who my mom is. She actually passed away in January last year, but I never really knew my bio dad, though I met him once. I never had much desire to know him because I already had a dad.

PGN: What’s a fun family memory?

S: We have fun every time we get together.

They live in Ohio, so when I go to see them, the most fun for me is just hanging out, watching movies. My siblings laying all over the place, sleeping on the couch and floor, just being together.

PGN: What kinds of things were you into as a kid?

S: Oh, everything. My parents made sure we always had things to do. I was a cheerleader.

I played basketball. I did karate. I did dance.

I did gymnastics. My dad’s a preacher, so we were always doing church things, a lot of civic engagement and volunteering. I’m an ordained minister myself.

PGN: What did you study at West Chester?

S: I was an English major and a theater minor. I originally wanted to study law. I’m someone who appreciates oratory. I appreciate presentation, being able to comfortably talk in front of people. I loved debate in school, and take pride in always getting an easy “A” in my public-speaking courses. I had the gift of gab, so I thought I’d go to law school. But the other side was that I started writing when I was in sixth grade. It began with the death of my grandmother. It was my way of healing and trying to make sense of the fact that she was no longer with me. I wrote to her and that’s how my talent developed. Both my teachers and parents acknowledged that there was something special there, so they encouraged me to write any chance that I had.

PGN: The show deals with some heavy topics. Where did that come from?

S: Finding work after college is always a challenge, but I somehow got a temporary job in the behavioral and mental health field, which ended up being a 12-year experience.

I worked with children who came from abusive homes, teenagers in unsafe environments — and hearing their stories touched me in a way that never went away. In my personal life, one of my past partners was a victim of domestic violence, which made the experience more impactful. I wanted to learn more about it so I could be more effective in how I handled it. I took courses and became an advocate for that community. I also worked with kids with autism, kids who were nonverbal, adults with brain trauma and everything in between. A great desire of mine was to put that knowledge together and bring it to the stage to raise awareness about mental health. There are people suffering every day.

People who have stories to tell but are afraid of being stigmatized, so I decided to use my gift as a writer to tell their stories in poetry and plays.

PGN: Where did you get your cast?

S: I worked with Allen Clark of RunBoyRun Productions to present this show. They are an amazing theater company whose goal is to produce thought-provoking theater. Their mission is to produce the kind of theater you will want to run and tell someone about. Allen got about 100 people from all over the country that auditioned and narrowed it down to 20 for me. I chose a cast of eight from all different backgrounds and experiences. I grew up with diversity and I don’t want any of my shows to be isolated to one race, one kind of person. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where we come from, what our skin looks like or what our financial situation is when dealing with these problems.

Conversations About Race” by Beverly Daniel Tatum and a book on Ted Talks.

PGN: What star would you want to cast in a show?

S: Oh my gosh! I’ve already put thought into this; Naturi Naughton, who played Lil’ Kim in “Notorious,” and in a perfect world, Kerry Washington.

PGN: When did you come out?

S: I came out when I was 19. I’m 35 now.

My sister’s best friend at the time was gay, but not openly. When my girlfriend from college came to visit me, he quickly put two and two together, and he did it in front of my parents. So that’s how that happened. My mom had 21,000 uncomfortable questions for me. All the questions you wouldn’t want your mother to ask you about what you do privately? Yeah, she was that person. As I mentioned, my dad’s a minister. He told me, “You can be what you want, just not in my house.”

PGN: Ouch.

S: Right. So I didn’t see my parents for five years.

And it killed me. Then, there was a family tragedy.

My dad had a heart attack and several other health problems, so I put my life on hold and went home to help them. After that, things changed. I remember my dad and I sitting on the porch, which we would do in the mornings with a cup of coffee. It was our thing.

And this one morning he said, “You know what? I thought when you came out, that you had changed, and because of that, you had become a different person.

I thought that I had lost the child I knew, and I didn’t want to deal with this new person I didn’t know. But now, I know that you’re still the same person. You’ve shown me that you haven’t forgotten any of the lessons Photo: Alllisss Images we taught you growing up, and I want you to know PGN: What’s ahead? regardless of whatever your preference is, S: I’m launching an open-mic night in we still love and support you. Now go back Wilmington on the 15th, and I potentially to Philly and live your life!” And so I did, could be the director of a performing-arts and they’ve been accepting since then of me center, but that’s still in the works. And, I’m and my partners. In fact, my ex-partner is working on a proposal to run a theater sumthe one who helped them find their house mer camp, among other things. in Ohio! It’s shifted so much that my dad has hired a 16-passenger van to bring his PGN: Two books I’d find on your friends and church members to the show! bookstand?

It’s still overwhelmingly surprising, but I’m S: “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting so grateful because I know a lot of people Together in the Cafeteria: And Other are still going through that struggle. n

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Legal Notices Change of Name Notice In the Court of Common Pleas of Phila. County, PA December Term, 2018, No. 2005 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on December 18, 2018 the Petition of Edward Michael Kondrashov was filed, praying for a Decree to change Petitioner’s name to Dauria Tevis. The Court has fixed March 1, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. in Room 691, City Hall, Broad & Market Sts., Philadelphia, PA as the time and place for the hearing of said Petition, when and where all persons interested may appear and show cause, if any they have, why the prayer of the said petition should not be granted.

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