What’s a Fela to do?
Family Portrait: DeAnn Cox PAGE 23
Penn LGBT Week arrives with spring
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March 15-21, 2013
Vol. 37 No. 11
Philly only archdiocese in nation to sponsor antigay D.C. event Buses to leave from five Archdiocesan locations March 26 to transport participants to the March for Marriage in nation’s capital
By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com A Central Pennsylvania student and her family successfully fought back against her school district’s discriminatory policy against students bringing same-sex dates to school dances. In January, Elizabeth Lord and her wife found out that their daughter, a ninth-grader at Forbes Road Junior Senior High School, was told she could not bring a same-sex friend to a school dance. The school is part of the 500-student Forbes Road School District of Fulton County, about 40 miles west of Shippensburg. Equality Pennsylvania and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania warned the district that it was violating students’ constitutional PAGE 22
By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com The antigay National Organization for Marriage is mobilizing supporters to head to the nation’s capital to demonstrate against marriage equality the day of the historic U.S. Supreme Court hearings on Proposition 8 — an effort that has garnered support from local Catholic groups. The March for Marriage, scheduled for March 26, includes among its sponsors the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. Philadelphia’s is the only archdiocese in the nation listed as a sponsor. NOM did not respond to a request for comment. Archdiocese spokesperson Kenneth Gavin told PGN that the Archdiocese is not financially supporting the event. “To my knowledge, the only assistance we are providing is organizational, in terms of getting the word out and providing information,” he said. “We’re not making a financial contribution to the event.” Gavin said the Archdiocese is “encouraging faithful from across the five-county Archdiocese to participate in the event in support of traditional marriage.” The Archdiocese is running buses to the march from parishes in Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Bucks counties and from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center on North 17th Street in Philadelphia. Participants can reserve a seat by making a $10 “donation,” with checks payable to the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese is operating a March page on its website (archphila.org/marriagemarch/marriagemarch.phop), with information for individual parishes, including talking points, bulletin announcements and promotional materials. Amy Hill, spokesperson for the PA Catholic Conference, the public-affairs arm of the state’s Catholic bishops and dioceses, said PCC is not providing any monetary contribution to the event. “The extent of the PCC’s support of the Marriage March is in promoting it to Catholics in PAGE 18
PA student wins right to samesex date
Police: No comment on Morris redactions HEARTS ON THEIR SLEEVES: Models strutted their stuff down the runway at “Transform/Renew Together” March 7 at the Art Institute’s Philadelphia Gallery. The event raised awareness about University of Pennsylvania’s HIV vaccine trials. The show allowed students to use their fashion finesse to spice up T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan of the trials. There was ultimately a tie for first place between student designers Kevin Garino and Honey Kim. For more information on the HIV vaccine trials, visit www.phillyvax.org. Photos: Scott A. Drake
Group to revamp drag presence at Mummers By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com A group of LGBT leaders and allies met this week with the Mummers Fancy Brigade Association to start solidifying an LGBT presence in the annual tradition. The Mummers invited Brittany Lynn and the Drag Mafia to participate in the 2013 event but, next year, drag performers will be selected through a series of contests, a proposal spearheaded by a new committee tasked with streamlining drag inclusion in the event. The committee consists of Councilmen Jim Kenney and Mark Squilla, Franny Price, Tami Sortman, Mark Segal, Lisa
Thompson, Michael Byrne, Ian Morrison — who portrays Brittany Lynn — and Scott Brown, who will serve as the liaison between the group and the Mummers. There will be 11 spots available in the drag contingent, Price said, and two will automatically go to the 2013 Miss Philadelphia Black Gay Pride and Miss Philly Pride. The other nine performers will be identified through drag contests at Gayborhood bars, with the winner of each contest representing that venue in the Mummers event. “We want to make it fair and competitive,” Price said. The contests will start next month. The committee will PAGE 18
By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Nearly 10 years after Philadelphia police released a redacted version of the Nizah Morris police report, the department has refused to comment on the redactions. “I’m not going to speak about the particular details of a case that I’m not familiar with,” said police spokesperson Lt. John Stanford last week. His predecessor, Capt. Ray Evers, has emphatically denied the redactions. He claimed that Officer Thomas Berry wrote two reports about the Morris incident that were never redacted. Stanford stopped short of denying the redactions. “I can’t speak for my predecessor,” he said. Morris was a transwoman found with a fatal head injury in Center City at 3:25 a.m. Dec. 22, 2002, shortly after she received a courtesy ride from police. The homicide remains unsolved. The unredacted version of Berry’s report didn’t surface until 2011, PAGE 12