Hope on the street
Family Portrait: FrancIs Elling PAGE 27
Creep of the Week: Boner’s best friend, Kirk Cameron
PAGE 29
PAGE 10
March 9-15, 2012
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Vol. 36 No. 10
The Power List Philly’s out movers and shakers PGN Staff Power: possession of control, authority or influence over others PGN’s Power List: A snapshot of out Philadelphians who influence, impact
Dr. Donald Schwarz
City of Philadelphia Health commissioner and deputy mayor for health and opportunity Dr. Schwarz was appointed to head the city’s health department in 2008 after a career in pediatric medicine. Schwarz, 55, manages a $2.1-billion budget and has direct supervision over about a dozen employees. Schwarz said that “maintaining services for the most vulnerable during the recession” has been his greatest accomplishment — as well as a “huge and constant” challenge — in both of his city positions. Schwarz’s educational background includes a bachelor’s from Brown University, his medical degree and a master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University, and a master’s in business administration from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
or otherwise shape the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection and its surrounding environs — its corporations, government, nonprofits and academic institutions. School of Business. He completed his residency training at Yale-New Haven Hospital and also did fellowships at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Schwarz was vice chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine when he was tapped for city government, which he said was a transition, but a welcome one. “The content in the current position wasn’t unfamiliar but there was a lot to learn and I’m still learning,” he said. “The management structure is a little bit different but the basic parts of management are similar most places you go — the planning, talking, getting input.” One simple mantra has helped Schwarz navigate the ins and outs of his two positions in the last four years. “Do the right thing,” he said. “When I’m up in the middle of the night trying to fig-
It’s often said that gays have power. Though veracity of that across the board is debatable, it’s certainly true for those on this list. For more about the criteria, see the editorial on page 10.
Antigay incident sparks media controversy By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Local news coverage about the investigation of an alleged incident of antigay bias within a city government office has itself created more allegations of homophobia. In early February, an employee of the city controller’s office and his partner, a contractor with the office, were the target of a sexually explicit note on a bathroom stall door in the office in the Municipal PAGE 2 Services Building.
Groundbreaking HIV data comes out of Philly study By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Local researchers unveiled a pioneering study this week that showed some ure out what to do, the real question it comes patients with HIV were able to remain down to is, What’s the right thing? Not what’s healthy, despite discontinuing their antithe smart thing to do politically or the thing retroviral medication. that’s easiest. But what’s the right thing?” At the 2012 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle Wednesday, scientists from Philadelphia’s More Power people Pages 6-8 Wistar Institute, Philadelphia FIGHT and other organizations presented results of a clinical trial that PAGE 19
Penn expands health coverage for trans employees By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
THE ATTIC GOES GLAM FOR FUNDRAISER: Members of The Attic Youth Center performed in the second-annual Sweethearts and Redhots Drag Extravaganza at Broad Street Ministries March 2. The drag show raised $2,800 for The Attic Youth Center’s trip to Connecticut for the annual True Colors LGBT Youth Conference March 15-18. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Beginning this summer, University of Pennsylvania’s employee healthcare plan will cover gender-reassignment surgery for transgender individuals. The new coverage, offered under the Aetna Point of Service II plan, was announced last week and will go into effect July 1. Penn joins just a handful of other American universities that offer this option to employees.
The university currently has more than 16,000 faculty and staff members. Penn has offered similar coverage to students who take advantage of its student healthcare plan for two years. Efforts were underway last year to extend the benefits to employees, but the university at the time said the change would be too costly. The university did not respond by presstime to a request for comment. Jason Landau Goodman, executive director of the Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition and a Penn PAGE 2