Putting family and friends in the crosshairs PAGE 21
Family Portrait: Daniel Cooper
“Priscilla” cast chats with Attic youth
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March 8-14, 2013
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Vol. 37 No. 10
People to Watch: The region’s emerging LGBT leaders By PGN Staff As a community working to secure its rights, LGBTs are consistently looking towards and thinking about the future. When will Pennsylvania attain a statewide nondiscrimination law? How can we work to make sure future generations are free of homophobia? Where is the HIV/AIDS epidemic headed? In looking towards the future, it is important to recognize the emerging leaders among the seasoned network of LGBT people in the region who will continue to carry the LGBT-rights movement into the decades ahead. PGN has identified 20 LGBT people from the ri-State area whose body of work is already impressive — and whose potential is just as promising. At the end of the year, when the community looks back on the work that was accomplished in 2013, it is likely that many of these figures will be integral in those successes.
David Torres Philadelphia native Torres has delivered on his goal of serving the public.
DAVID TORRES
Torres, 28, has worked for city government for about four-anda-half years, currently serving as assistant managing director for
administration in the Managing Director’s Office. He has also been president of the board of the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative for nearly two years. After earning his bachelor’s in applied communication in 2006 from Temple University, he lobbied successfully to turn his ninemonth fellowship in the Managing Director’s Office into a full-time position. Among his city hats, Torres coordinates Global Philadelphia, the city’s language-access program. “We want to make sure that our city services, across all departments, are accessible to people who don’t speak English,” Torres said. “I feel I’ve made a solid impact through Global Philadelphia, making sure folks who need to interact with the city are able to be served in their own language.” He also manages the Managing Director’s Administrative Services Unit, a title that comes with tasks
such as writing the office’s budget. Torres joined GALAEI’s board in January 2011 and was appointed president a few months later. “We’ve seen some challenging times but it’s been great to see GALAEI grow and to be part of the renewal of an agency that is continuing to grow,” he said. “I’ve been able to help [executive director] Elicia [Gonzales] work towards our mission and reinvigorate GALAEI as an agency.” Having feet both in the nonprofit and government worlds has further diversified his understanding of public service. “I’m probably going to stay in government for a time, but I definitely see my life’s work focusing on public service, whether that’s in government or at a nonprofit,” he said. Sam Wegman Former Philly resident Wegman is back in town — and so is her popular lesbian mixer. Wegman, 47, moved back to
SAM WEGMAN
Philly, where she spent the better half of the last decade, in 2011, after a two-year hiatus in San Francisco, and in December of that year resurrected Sam’s Philly Mixer, a social outing for lesbians and allies that she previously operated for about two years. PAGE 16 She launched
PA school board says no to GSA
CDC: Most Philly HIV diagnoses are AIDS
A Central Pennsylvania school board voted against an effort to establish a highschool Gay Straight Alliance last week. In a 5-4 vote Feb. 27, the Chambersburg School Board rejected a student application to form a GSA at Chambersburg Area High School, in Franklin County, about 50 miles southwest of Harrisburg. LGBT-identified students had been meeting in an unofficial format for two years prior to the vote and had received support from a number of faculty members, who were willing to serve as advisors for the club. Students first presented a formal application to form the GSA in January, but the decision was ultimately delayed until the board’s meeting last week. The board did not respond to a request for PAGE 9 comment by PGN as of
By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com
BELLE OF THE BINGO BALL: Michael Byrne, as drag alter-ego Carlota Ttendant, made a grand entrance at the start of the AIDS Fund annual Black Tie GayBINGO event March 1 at the Crystal Tea Room. About 230 people attended the gala, which raised more than $20,000 for AIDS Fund, supporting HIV/AIDS organizations in the region. The agency presented awards to Byrne, Afríca Jones and former state Rep. Babette Josephs. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Nearly 50,000 Americans were newly diagnosed with HIV in 2011, and Philadelphia ranked 24th among metropolitan areas in terms of new diagnoses — the vast majority of which were classified as AIDS. Approximately 960 Philadelphians were newly diagnosed with the disease in 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s HIV Surveillance Report, released every three years. The rate of infection per 100,000 people was 23.8 percent. Of the new Philadelphia diagnoses, 726 cases — or more than 75 percent — were Stage 3 AIDS, and about 12,000 people are living with AIDS in the city. The PAGE 19 P h i l a d e l p h i a r eg i o n