pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 42 No. 9
Family Portrait: Jonathan Lovitz is bringing LGBT commerce to Philly
March 2-8, 2018
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
Mediation ordered in lesbian financial dispute
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Several LGBT-related films are poised to strike gold at the Academy Awards
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FIGHT protests racism allegations
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Gruesome details dominate trans murder trial By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com
PHILADELPHIA FIGHT EMPLOYEES AND BOARD MEMBERS MARCH TO THE PHILADELPHIA COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS OFFICE FEB. 26. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Visit epgn.com for updates on this developing story By Jeremy Rodriguez jeremy@epgn.com Waheedah Shabazz-El, the goodwill ambassador for Philadelphia FIGHT, led a chant Monday in a conference room at the office for the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. “People with AIDS are under attack,” the group chanted 12 times. Midway through the demonstration, a PCHR employee walked in, requested them to quiet down and offered them the opportunity to chant outside the office. The group ultimately decided to quiet down. Twelve FIGHT employees and board members marched from the organization’s Locust Street office to PCHR. The group, which included 10 people of
color, protested what they called “misrepresentations” of the nonprofit regarding racism and organization practices. About an hour after the protesters entered the office, PCHR Deputy Directors Pam Gwaltney and Randy Duque met briefly with the group. PCHR Executive Director Rue Landau was not available for the meeting but Gwaltney said she would be available on March 1 and requested that the group send two or three representatives. In its report, “Inform, Monitor, Enforce: Addressing Racism and Discrimination in Philadelphia’s LGBTQ Community,” PCHR presented findings on racism in Gayborhood bars and LGBT-serving nonprofits. The report stated that “past and current employees of certain LGBTQ social-service agencies report patterns of discrimination relating to the agencies’ employment practices.” PAGE 15
Jurors in the Diamond Williams murder trial heard gruesome details of the trans woman’s death this week, including that her severed pelvis was discovered in the Schuylkill River. The trial began Feb. 26 and is expected to continue through next week. Charles N. Sargent is accused of murdering Williams in July 2013 inside the Strawberry Mansion residence he shared with his then-girlfriend, Veronica Johnson. But Sargent claims he stabbed Williams in self-defense after she became violent during a sexual encounter and then dismembered her corpse. CHARLES He pleaded guilty to making terroristic threats, abusing a corpse and possessing an instrument of a crime while abusing a corpse, but denies murdering Williams. According to police, Sargent initially said he deposited
UPenn study finds that GBQ boys need more sex ed By Brittany M. Wehner brittany@epgn.com
A recent University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing study showed the importance of receiving sexual-health education at a young age. The study specifically examined communication between parents and their gay, bisexual or queer adolescent male children. According to Dr. Dalmacio Flores, a postdoctoral student in Penn’s Nursing Department of Family and Community Health, it’s important for parents to communicate sex-related topics to adolescent males for healthy sexual devel-
NJ governor appoints first LGBT admin of term PAGE 5
opment. “The growing information on how sex communication occurs between parents and LGBTQ children can ultimately help families and health-care providers address this population’s health outcomes through inclusive sex communication,” Flores said in a statement. Flores created the study after working on the HIV/AIDS floor at a hospital a few years ago. “We kept seeing admissions among younger gay men and, to me, it just reinforced that they are not getting the appropriate prevention messages. They were getting infected at such young ages,” Flores told PGN. He began interviewing clients and found that even if the
Williams’ body parts in a vacant lot. But evidence disclosed during the trial indicates he threw Williams’ pelvis into the Schuylkill River. The victim was 31 years old. On Feb. 28, jurors were shown color photographs of several of Williams’ body parts strewn in a vacant lot. They also were shown a photo of the left side of Williams’ head with a deep puncture wound made by a cylindrical object. According to police, Sargent admitted stabbing Williams with a screwdriver. On Feb. 27, Veronica Johnson testified that she arrived home from work on the morning of Williams’ death and learned from Sargent about SARGENT the presence of a corpse. Johnson said she saw Sargent drag Williams’ body from the second floor of her residence to the basement, where authorities believe he dismembered the corpse with an axe. PAGE 14 Johnson
young men were getting sex education in a school setting, they weren’t learning about same-sex behavior. Flores said it’s more than just teaching about “the birds and the bees.” “Sexual communication has always been exclusively focused on heterosexual behavior.” Additionally, he said there was a lack of literature and education for parents when it comes to sexual communication. “Supporting parents’ capacity to address the needs of their LGBTQ children through inclusive sex communication has the potential to minimize risk behaviors before PAGE 2 these youths leave the confines of the