Taking to the air
Family Portrait: Amber Hikes PAGE 19
Philly AIDS Thrift’s relocation means a call for volunteers — and bargains.
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Mar. 25-31, 2011
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Vol. 35 No. 12
Man stoned to death, suspect cites Bible By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Police in Lansdowne last week charged a man with first-degree murder whom they say allegedly stoned a 70-year-old developmentally disabled man to death, saying the victim made unwanted sexual advances toward him. Police filed charges against John Joe Thomas, 28, March 18 in connection to the January killing of Murray Seidman. Thomas was already incarcerated on unrelated charges. Thomas confessed to SEIDMAN the murder last week, saying he beat Seidman in the head with stones and batteries inside of a sock after the older man allegedly came onto him over a period of time. Police say Thomas told them he prayed about how to handle the advances and committed the murder after reading of stoning as a punishment for homosexuality in the Old Testament of the Bible. Seidman’s brother, Lenny, however, called the Biblical defense a sham, contending the defendant, a former psychiatric patient, repeatedly took advantage of his brother’s generosity. Within the past year, Seidman drew up a will and had Thomas listed as executor and sole beneficiary. Although Thomas indicated Seidman was gay, Lenny said that he never knew his brother to have sexual impulses one way or the other, save for a time about 25 THOMAS years ago when he told his brother that he kissed a female friend. Lenny, a Philadelphia musician, said he has plenty of gay friends and would have happily accepted his brother if he were gay, but that was not the case. “My brother wasn’t gay,” he said. “I don’t think he was necessarily anything — he wasn’t heterosexual, gay — I just think he liked people. If I thought he may have been gay, I’d say so.” Seidman was born with brain damage and lived until his late 20s in Elwyn Institute, a home for the developmentally disabled before he moved out on his own. Two
years ago, he retired from a 40-year career as a laundry worker at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital. Seidman befriended Thomas when the latter was in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Thomas called police to Seidman’s apart-
ment Jan. 12, saying he found the older man dead on the floor when he went to check on him. The medical examiner, however, determined Seidman was killed up to 10 days before police were called. The cause of death was determined to be blunt-force trauma to the head.
Thomas told police last week he struck Seidman at least 10 times. Lansdowne chief of police Daniel Kortan cautioned that Thomas’ allegations of advances should be put into perspective. “No one has ever stated that either Seidman or Thomas was PAGE 16
Giovanni’s Room honored with historical marker By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
IVY LEAGUE LGBTS: About 50 LGBT and ally students turned out for the kickoff of the University of Pennsylvania’s annual LGBT celebration week March 20. QPenn got underway with a launch party Sunday at the LGBT Center at Penn’s Carriage House that offered food and fellowship. Throughout the past week, QPenn, organized by the university’s Lambda Alliance, featured workshops on LGBT issues, socials and discussions with figures like National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling and LGBT activist Sherry Wolf. Events continue through March 27; a full listing can be found at www.vpul.upenn.edu/lgbtc/. Photo: Scott A. Drake
First state sees first civil-union bill Lawmakers in Delaware this week introduced a measure seeking to grant same-sex couples the rights afforded by marriage, but without the title. The civil-union bill was introduced in both chambers of the Delaware legislature March 22 by Sen. David Sokola and Rep. Melanie George. Eight senators signed on as cosponsors, along with 18 representatives. The list of supporters is heavily Democrat, although a few Republicans are cosponsors. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) said this week that he supports the legislation and stood beside advocates at a press conference announcing the introduction of the Civil Union & Equality Act.
The measure would offer “all of the same rights, benefits, protections and responsibility as married persons under Delaware law.” The bill summary includes language that it does not seek to “revise the definition or eligibility requirements of marriage under Delaware law or to require any religious institution to perform solemnizations of civil unions.” Last week, Equality Delaware released the results of a statewide poll indicating that more than 60 percent of voters are in favor of a civil-union law. A civil-union bill was introduced last month in the Pennsylvania House. ■ — Jen Colletta
Giovanni’s Room, the nation’s oldest LGBT bookstore, will soon have its place in Philadelphia history marked permanently. The store was one of 13 sites recently approved for a historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. The Giovanni’s Room marker is only the second LGBT marker in the state, after the placard designating the Annual Reminder LGBT marches of the 1960s outside of Independence Hall. The commission reviewed 54 applications for this latest round of markers, making the final decisions at its March 16 meeting. A coalition of local advocates first submitted an application early last year but just missed the deadline. Gloria Casarez, the city’s director of LGBT affairs, said contributors worked to make this year’s application, submitted in early January, as full as possible, including scholarly articles that mention the store and letters of support from the Mayor’s Office, the Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors Bureau, the PAGE 16
GIOVANNI’S ROOM PGN file photo