PGN April 1 - 7, 2016

40 years ago in PGN

Quince Productions gets ready for a hoe-down

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Spring LGBTQ Youth Supplement

Family Portrait: Séan Curran has all the right moves PAGE 35

PAGES 21-28

Liberty City makes primary endorsements

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Apr. 1-7, 2016

Since 1976

PGN Philadelphia Gay News HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM

Vol. 40 No. 14

Family of bullying victim seeks day in court

By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com The parents of a bisexual girl who allegedly suffered extensive anti-LGBT bullying at her former school continues to seek his family’s day in court. But the school district they’re suing says their case lacks merit and should be dismissed.

Tammy and Russell Bittenbender say their daughter, S.B., suffered pervasive anti-LGBT bullying while a student at the Bangor Area School District.

For five years, S.B. was often called a “lesbian” by fellow students because she didn’t conform to gender stereotypes. At times, classmates became so hostile, S.B. was punched, pushed down stairs and roughed up in other ways, according to the Bittenbenders.

They say the district violated Title IX, a federal civil-rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.

But district officials maintain that even if

classmates behaved inappropriately towards S.B., it wasn’t because of her gender. Thus, the school district shouldn’t be held liable for sex discrimination.

In February, district officials asked U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel to dismiss the Bittenbenders’ suit as meritless.

In a March 18 reply brief, the Bittenbenders reiterated that their daughter suffered sex discrimination. They urged Stengel to deny the district’s request to dismiss their suit.

“S.B. was the subject of repeated, severe physical and emotional harassment because of her sex,” the Bittenbenders’ filing states.

The school district should be held liable for the sex discrimination because it knew about it and didn’t take reasonable steps to end it, the Bittenbenders maintain. “[Students] sexually harassed, verbally abused and physically attacked S.B. because of their perception of her non-conformance with their gender norms, because of her sexual preference PAGE 9

MEET ME ON SOUTH STREET: City Councilman Mark Squilla (from left), Henri David and Mayor Jim Kenney hopped off South Street for a quick photo Sunday with The Attic Youth Center bunnies at the 85th-annual Easter Promenade. The event, organized by South Street Headhouse District, boasted a record crowd, with kids and adults alike reveling in the parade, music, dancing, costume contest and games. Photo: Scott A. Drake

Election Spotlight: Attorney General race 2016 Leading up to the April 26 primaries, PGN is spotlighting candidates who will be on the ballot.

This week, we continue our election coverage with a focus on the race for Attorney General.

Voters will pick among five contenders for the two who will earn major-party nominations to run for the job of the state’s top prosecutor. Three Democrats and two Republicans are seeking their respective party’s nomination. The winners will face each other in the November general election.

Amid accusations of leaking information from a grand-jury probe, incumbent Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced she would not seek reelection.

John Morganelli (D)

MORGANELLI (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT), SHAPIRO, RAFFERTY AND PETERS

PGN: Why do you want to run?

JM: I believe that at this critical time, Pennsylvania needs an experienced, tested prosecutor. I’m the longest-serving district attorney at this time and served as a special deputy attorney general on two occasions. I have experience with first-degree murder cases, taking some of the most dangerous people off Pennsylvania’s streets. I feel I have the best

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Oral arguments next week in Morris case

By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Both sides in an open-records dispute regarding the Nizah Morris case will present oral arguments to a Philadelphia judge next week.

Oral arguments are scheduled for 10 a.m. April 7 in Courtroom 232 of City Hall before Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Linda A. Carpenter.

Morris was a trans woman found with a fatal head wound shortly after a Center City “courtesy ride” from Officer Elizabeth Skala in 2002. Inexplicably, Skala initiated a traffic stop at 13th and Market streets while assigned to handle Morris, who was intoxicated.

Morris sustained a fatal head

wound from an unknown person or persons a few minutes before Skala initiated the traffic stop.

While Skala ticketed a motorist for driving without proper paperwork, Morris gradually became brain dead, lying unconscious at the corner of 16th and Walnut streets.

PGN is seeking from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office dispatch records pertaining to Skala’s traffic stop.

A document PGN obtained from the city’s Police Advisory Commission appears to contain records for the traffic stop. But the records appear to be missing key entries, including entries that would specify the traffic stop’s priority level.

PGN gave the PAC document to the D.A.’s PAGE 5

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

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Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.

Police charged both in relation to the Feb. 20 killing of Young in Frankford.

News Briefing Temple publishes groundbreaking HIV study New research from Temple University points to the possibility of developing a cure for patients with HIV and other viralbased diseases.

Dr. Kamel Khalili, who led the team from Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple, said research using gene-editing technology proved successful at permanently suppressing HIV replication. The lab tests showed that gene editing not only eliminated HIV from cells, but it also protected them against reinfection.

The research used T-cells in blood drawn from HIV-positive patients.

“It’s a good step toward utilizing this technique for an ultimate cure of HIV,” Khalili said, noting the next phases of research would include small-scale animal studies, larger-scale studies and ultimately clinical trials. It could take several years depending on funding, Khalili said.

He described how the gene-editing technology works by locating HIV-1 DNA in the T-cell genome and cutting it out of the sequence, effectively stopping the virus from spreading.

“We treated the virus like a genetic disease,” Khalili told PGN. “We wanted to get rid of the bad gene. You can actually reach into those sequences and excise a small portion or a large portion of viral DNA.” People with HIV can take anti-retroviral drugs to suppress the virus from replicating in the body. But if they stop the medication, the virus can resume replication and spread, possibly developing into AIDS. The research by Khalili’s team shows replication can be stopped permanently.

“After excision, the cells are not negatively impacted,” Khalili said. “It’s a safe strategy.”

Hearings delayed in Maya Young murder The two people accused of murder and conspiracy in the fatal stabbing of transgender woman Maya Young will now have preliminary hearings in June.

After a March 23 status hearing, lawyers for the commonwealth and defense set a preliminary hearing for May 3 for Tiffany Floyd, 24, and Jose Pena, 19. But updated court records indicate the hearings were moved to 9 a.m. June 7 in Room 306 of the Criminal Justice Center, 1301 Filbert St. Floyd and Pena have been denied bail.

Floyd remains in custody in Riverside Correctional Facility, while Pena is in

Benefit for LGBT shelter A community event for children of transgender parents will double as a fundraiser for Divine Light LGBTQ Wellness Center, a housing shelter in North Philadelphia.

SapphosWay is hosting “My Parents are Transgender” starting at 6 p.m. April 1 at 4914 Walnut St. The program includes conversations with families about building and sustaining community.

Tickets cost $25 at the door and a portion of the proceeds benefits Divine Light.

A sliding scale is available for those who can’t afford the entrance price. People can also bring donations including household items, toiletries and nonperishable food.

For advance tickets, call SapphosWay at 267-756-0400. For those who can’t make the event, donations to Divine Light can be made by visiting www.gofundme.com/ DivineLightLGBTQ.

Apply for $10K biz award The Independence Business Alliance, Philadelphia’s LGBT chamber of commerce, is seeking nominations for a $10,000 award sponsored by PNC Bank.

The award recognizes businesses with “a well-defined plan for growth, including innovation, sustainability and ongoing contribution to the community.” The deadline is 5 p.m. April 15 to submit an application form, two letters of recommendation and a mini business plan.

To qualify for the award, LGBT businesses must belong to the IBA and have a headquarters in Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey or New Castle County in Delaware. The companies that apply must be privately held.

A selection committee will interview the finalists. The winner will be announced at the annual Business Leaders Luncheon, May 13 at the Sofitel Hotel.

For more information, visit www. thinkiba.com.

Allentown LGBT center opens Just over six months after acquiring a 13,000-square-foot building, the BradburySullivan LGBT Community Center plans to open in Allentown.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for 1 p.m. April 9 at the center, 522 W. Maple St. It sits in the heart of the downtown business district, next to a new parking garage.

“It’s been a community collaboration to bring us to this point,” Adrian Shanker, the center’s executive director, said in a statement. He recognized the founding donors, design team, financing team and hundreds of volunteers.

The Bradbury-Sullivan Center began its fundraising campaign in June 2014 and purchased its building in September

through a variety of nonprofit and pro-bono resources. It’s named after two longtime Lehigh Valley activists, Liz Bradbury and Dr. Patricia Sullivan.

For more information, visit www.bradburysullivancenter.org.

— Paige Cooperstein

Briefing schedule issued in SEPTA case The state Supreme Court issued a briefing schedule in an antibias case involving SEPTA, the region’s mass-transit system.

The dispute involves SEPTA’s claim that, as a state agency, it’s exempt from compliance with the city’s LGBT-inclusive antibias ordinance.

In August, Commonwealth Court sided with SEPTA, but in March, the state Supreme Court agreed to review the matter, at the city’s request. City officials are hoping Commonwealth Court’s ruling will be overturned so the city’s Human Relations Commission can investigate antibias complaints filed against SEPTA. According to a recently issued briefing schedule, the city has until May 2 to file its appellant’s brief. Then, SEPTA has 30 days to file a reply brief.

Andrew A. Chirls, an attorney

for Mazzoni Center and the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said SEPTA should abide by the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance.

“We expect to file a brief in support of overturning the Commonwealth Court’s decision by May 2,” Chirls said. “I would hope that SEPTA will see the right thing to do is abide by the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance, and take the steps necessary to end the case. But if they won’t do that, we’re ready to keep litigating.”

SEPTA serves about 650,000 riders daily in Philadelphia, four surrounding counties and parts of New Jersey and Delaware.

Eakin to receive pension J. Michael Eakin, a former state Supreme Court justice, will receive a pension, but he must pay a $50,000 fine for ethics violations stemming from his role in the “Porngate” scandal.

On March 24, the state Court of Judicial Discipline issued the fine and cleared the way for Eakin’s pension, which is estimated to be about $153,000 annually.

On March 15, Eakin resigned from the court in disgrace, after acknowledging he exchanged inappropriate emails. He had a 21-year career as an appeals-court judge.

Prior to resigning, Eakin, 67, received and sent numerous homophobic, transphoPAGE 13

40 years ago in PGN Gay Democratic Caucus holds first meeting in Philly Adapted from reporting by PGN staff The Gay Democratic Caucus of Philadelphia held its first meeting in early March as the election year of 1976 continued to see increased activity by gay people in grassroots party politics around the state.

The group helped get gay people registered in time to vote in the April 27 primary in Pennsylvania and campaigned in support of the openly gay candidates who are running for Democratic division posts: Jeff Britten, Tom Tages, Jack Freil and Harry Langhorne, politics reporter for PGN. Started by Britten, the Gay Democratic Caucus of Philadelphia made contacts with similar political groups across the country to get more gay people involved in political work.

Woman fights for fair treatment of women on Philly police force Adapted from reporting by Denise Keiller A woman who joined the Philadelphia Police Department in 1965 continued to fight discrimination against women on the

force.

Penelope Brace said she and her lawyers were thinking of appealing an agreement made March 2, 1976, between Philadelphia and the Justice Department stipulating that the city police would hire 100 women as officers by the end of 1976 and study their performance over the following two years to evaluate them on beat patrols and other skills.

“I would suggest the Justice Department conduct its own two-year study to determine why it cannot comply with its own civil-rights obligations,” Brace said, “before it suggests that women are so inferior as a class that they must be studied.”

The agreement released $4 million in Law Enforcement Assistance Administration funds that were being withheld because of Brace’s sex-discrimination suit.

Brace said she passed promotion exams twice for the rank of sergeant, but she was never upgraded, despite police officials naming her one of the top 10 officers in the Delaware Valley in the mid-1960s. When Brace lodged a formal complaint in 1973, she said she was transferred to a division far from her home, making travel to work inconvenient. n — compiled by Paige Cooperstein

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

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Weekly features

News&Opinion 2 — News Briefing 10 — Creep of the Week Editorial 11 — Mark My Words Op-Ed

Street Talk 13 — Obituary

Arts community mourns the loss of Randy Dalton.

AC

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35 37 38 42 43

C o l u m n s

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BATTERS OUT!: Members of the City of Brotherly Love Softball League wound their way through the Gayborhood March 19 for the league’s annual St. Patty’s Day-themed pub crawl. The event was held following Skills Day, in which new league members took part in batting, fielding and running exercises so they could be sorted into their new teams. The league is still accepting registrations for spring play; the registration fee increases April 1. Photo: Scott A. Drake

Family Portrait Scene in Philly Out & About Q Puzzle Comic

This week in the Youth Supplement Pages 21-28: Does money matter?

Cameron Esposito at the Troc Creative writing Out and off to college Youth Pride preview Out & About

15 — Queer Faith: LGBT and Muslim 38 — Get Out and Play: Major leagues sports support

Classifieds 44 — Real Estate 46 — Personals 47 — Bulletin Board

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“Queer theory is in everything I teach. How can it not be? It’s undeniably the lens through which I see the world.”

~ Dr. Cheryl Nicholas, on what is missing in literature, page 7

Next week

40th Anniversary Issue

The appropriately named Emily Wines gives us a Wine 101 class.

PGN 505 S. Fourth St. Philadelphia, PA 19147-1506 Phone: 215-625-8501 Fax: 215-925-6437 E-mail: pgn@epgn.com Web: www.epgn.com

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Editor

Jen Colletta (ext. 206) jen@epgn.com Staff Writers Paige Cooperstein (ext. 215) paige@epgn.com Larry Nichols (ext. 213) larry@epgn.com Writer-at-Large Timothy Cwiek (ext. 208) timothy@epgn.com

Advertising Manager Greg Dennis (ext. 201) greg@epgn.com

Advertising Sales Representative Prab Sandhu (ext. 212) prab@epgn.com Office Manager/ Classifieds Don Pignolet (ext. 200) don@epgn.com

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Scott A. Drake (ext. 210) scott@epgn.com 267-736-6743 Graphic Artist Sean Dorn (ext. 211) sean@epgn.com

National Advertising Rivendell Media: 212-242-6863 Philadelphia Gay News is a member of: The Associated Press Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Suburban Newspapers of America Published by Masco Communications Inc. © 1976-2016 Masco Communications Inc. ISSN-0742-5155

Copyright © 1976 - 2016 Copyright(s) in all materials in these pages are either owned or licensed by Masco Communications Inc. or its subsidiaries or affiliate companies (Philadelphia Gay News, PGN, and it’s WWW sites.) All other reproduction, distribution, retransmission, modification, public display, and public performance of our materials is prohibited without the prior written consent of Masco Communications. To obtain such consent, email pgn@epgn.com

The views of PGN are expressed only in the unsigned “Editorial” col­umn. Opinions expressed in bylined columns, stories and letters to the editor are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of PGN. The appearance of names or pictorial representations in PGN does not necessarily indicate the sexual orientation of that named or pictured person or persons.

LOCAL PGN

Lib City endorses Sims, McGinty, Clinton

By Paige Cooperstein paige@epgn.com After a 20-minute debate and secret ballot voting, Katie McGinty emerged as Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club’s preferred candidate to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate.

Liberty City endorsed McGinty in a 30-9 vote at its March 23 endorsement meeting at the William Way LGBT Community Center.

McGinty will face fellow Democrats Joe Sestak and John Fetterman in the April 26 primary. The winner will challenge incumbent Republican Pat Toomey in November.

Much of the Liberty City debate centered on McGinty versus Sestak. Some felt Sestak had a stronger LGBT voting record, noting his early efforts to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which had prevented gay people from serving openly in the military. Others said they would like to advance a female candidate who has taken the time to learn about gaps in coverage for transgender health care and has achieved bipartisan success in her career in public service.

The endorsement committee called it “an embarrassment of riches in the Democratic race for Senate this year,” but noted McGinty stood out because she answered her candidate questionnaire more thoroughly than the others. Candidates seeking endorsements were asked to answer questions related to LGBT civil rights, health

care and youth and seniors.

Their answers are available online at www.libertycity.org/committees/endorsements/questionnaire-archive.

Other notable endorsements were made for state Rep. Brian Sims, Pennsylvania’s first elected openly gay state lawmaker, and Hillary Clinton for president. There was no debate about backing either candidate.

But, the endorsement committee did note it took its time to consider all candidates for the state congressional district that includes the Gayborhood, which Sims currently represents. Members of the committee said Sims was not recommended just because he is an out candidate; Lou Lanni is also gay and seeking to represent the district. They said Sims has a great record of constituent services.

Liberty City endorsed 18 other candidates, including Josh Shapiro, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, for attorney general. For a full list of endorsed candidates, visit www. libertycity.org.

Equality Pennsylvania also released its list this week of 15 endorsed candidates for the state legislature. There was some overlap with Liberty City’s preferred candidates.

Both organizations endorsed state Sen. Larry Farnese. For the state House, both endorsed Sekela Coles and incumbents Sims, Michael O’Brien, Donna Bullock and Mark Cohen. For a full list of candidates endorsed by Equality Pennsylvania, visit www.equalitypa.org. n

The endorsement committee called it “an embarrassment of riches in the Democratic race for Senate this year

MORRIS from page 1

Office in 2009.

Since 2013, the D.A.’s Office has submitted eight affidavits relating to Skala’s traffic stop. But PGN contends the affidavits don’t certify whether or not the D.A.’s Office has dispatch records for the stop.

In August, the state Office of Open Records ordered the D.A.’s Office to certify the traffic-stop records contained in the PAC document.

But the D.A.’s Office refuses to comply, claiming it’s not required to certify records given to it by outside entities such as PGN. In a recent brief, the D.A.’s Office claimed OOR’s order could result in people demanding “legal certifications from the DAO of any document imaginable, including Barack Obama’s birth certificate, a transcript of the 18 and one-half missing minutes of the Nixon tapes or a photograph of the Loch Ness monster.”

The D.A.’s brief also argues that the agency isn’t a “custodian” of Morris dispatch records, thus PGN’s request is inappropriate.

For its part, PGN claims the D.A.’s Office should certify whether or not the PAC document contains traffic-stop dispatch records.

Alternately, the D.A.’s Office should certify whether or not its other documents contain traffic-stop dispatch records.

To refute the D.A.’s claim that it isn’t a “custodian” of Morris’ dispatch records, the paper also notes that the office supplied several Morris dispatch records to the PAC in 2008.

Melissa B. Melewsky, media-law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia association, supports transparency in the Morris case.

“The state’s Right-to-Know Law is intended to provide citizens a measure of accountability for government action,” Melewsky said. “Access is absolutely necessary to enable accountability, and government agencies must be forthcoming and operate in good faith under the law.

Government functions best when there is an informed citizenry, but a lack of access does a disservice to citizens as well as government function overall. The city needs to provide clear information on the Morris incident, so the public can understand what happened, and what, if anything, went wrong. Only then can the public truly hold the city accountable.” n

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LGBTEI ramping up programming with three April events

By Paige Cooperstein paige@epgn.com Almost two years have passed since the last time the LGBT Elder Initiative invited the community to take part in a discussion about women’s sexual health and aging.

“There is a great lack of research and information on sexuality and sexual health available for older women in LGBT communities,” Jennifer Barnhart, co-chair of the LGBTEI Program Committee; and Helen Down, LGBTEI board member, said in a release about the event.

The conversation, called “Women’s Sexuality as We Age,” takes place from 12:30-3:30 p.m. April 9 at William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St. It’s free to attend and will cover coming out to your health-care provider and exploring sexual pleasure with age.

The women’s sexuality event joins two other free events this month: Healthy Mind, Healthy Body, a conversation on HIV and aging; and Balancing Dollars and $en$e, a program about financial literacy and housing.

David Griffith, director of programs and outreach for LGBTEI, said the organization aims to grow its programming this year and has taken advantage of partnerships with other organizations to make it happen.

Healthy Mind, Healthy Body represents a collaboration with the Positive Committee at the Office of HIV Planning. It takes place from noon-2 p.m. April 11 at the office, 340 N. 12th St. Balancing Dollars and $en$e is being co-hosted with Center in the Park, a senior center in Germantown. It takes place from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. April 15 at the center, 5818 Germantown Ave. “It all ties into making sure older adults feel empowered to have open, honest conversations,” Griffith said. “Many older adults have had a lot of experience with discrimination that may have enforced the idea of staying in the closet with their doctors or lawyers.

“You need to be able to talk about your relationships and the important people in your life,” he continued. “Being able to have an open, honest and respectful conversation that actually gets to the needs you have is important.”

To register for the workshops on women’s sexuality or HIV and aging, contact the LGBT Elder Initiative at 215-720-9415 or info@lgbtei.org.

For the financial workshop, contact Center in the Park at 215-848-7722 ext. 225 or visit http://bit.ly/2016dollarsandsense.

The deadline to register is April 8. The free lunch is only available to those who have registered. n

40th anniversary issue next week!

Students organize speed-friending brunch for older adults

By Paige Cooperstein paige@epgn.com

Follow us @phillygaynews.

News updates more reliable than “a little bird told us”

Regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, older adults don’t want to feel like they’ve lost connection with their community, said Robin GoldbergGlen, professor of social work at Widener University.

The number-one complaint older adults have, she said, has to do with isolation and loneliness.

About 40 students from GoldbergGlen’s classes are organizing an Older Adult Speed-Friending Brunch to help people in Philadelphia stay connected with each other. It’s the first time GoldbergGlen’s students are hosting the brunch specifically for LGBT people. The older adults will spend the time pairing off with each other for conversations and trading partners at various intervals.

The event takes place from 11 a.m.-2

p.m. April 10 at William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St. It’s free to attend and includes food.

“Overwhelmingly, the students wanted to work with William Way, which is really refreshing,” Goldberg-Glen said. “If I had done this when I was in college, no one would even want their name listed.”

Many of her students are majoring in nursing or social work. Goldberg-Glen assigned readings on LGBT older adults and their health and social concerns. She also screened “Gen Silent” for her classes.

The 2011 documentary focuses on LGBT seniors living in the Boston area and the phenomenon of returning to the closet in nursing homes and interactions with aging services Goldberg-Glen said she hopes to hold the speed-friending brunch every semester.

To register, call Golderg-Glen at 484-4296013 and leave her with your name and contact information. n

LOCAL PGN

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Penn State Berks student to present Youth groups vie for IKEA makeover Two local youth organizations that The Attic provides multi-faceted prowork with LGBT youth were nominated gramming and resources for LGBT youth. research on lesbian Batwoman to win a makeover from furniture giant Valley Youth House is a housing initiative IKEA. The Attic Youth Center and Valley Youth House, as well as Philadelphia Furniture Bank/Pathways to Housing PA, are up for the IKEA Life Improvement Challenge.

The national initiative helps local charities redo their spaces, free of charge.

that includes an LGBT program.

Supporters can vote once per day. To cast your vote, visit http:// ow.ly/106syg and follow the prompts to the South Philadelphia contest.

— Jen Colletta

REBECCA JONES (RIGHT) DURING A CLASS TRIP TO NEW YORK COMIC CON Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Cheryl Nicholas

By Paige Cooperstein paige@epgn.com Kate Kane sports a close-cropped bob in her daily life but long locks as her alter ego, Batwoman. She gets expelled from West Point after coming out and later dances in a tux with a woman at a ball.

“I thought the creative team was trying to cover all their bases, trying to make her ultra femme and butch, an every-woman lesbian,” said Rebecca Jonas, a student at Penn State Berks. She will present her research on Batwoman this week at the annual convention of the Eastern Communication Association. This year’s event takes place in Baltimore with the theme of [R]evolution.

Jonas looked at “Batwoman: Elegy,” which came out in 2010 and reimagined Kane as a Jewish lesbian. Greg Rucka wrote and J.H. Williams III illustrated the run. The character is considered the highest-profile gay superhero in the DC universe.

Jonas, who is bisexual, started studying Batwoman in the fall for a class on research in comic-book culture taught by Dr. Cheryl Nicholas, the 2015 recipient of the Commission on LGBT Equity’s Outstanding Service Award.

“The topic of queerness arose because we talked about it,” said Nicholas, whose own research focuses on Malaysian Muslim lesbians. “The students recognized it as an issue in society in general. When we talk about what’s missing in the literature, it’s easy to go into that space.

“Queer theory is in everything I teach,” she continued. “How can it not be? It’s undeniably the lens through which I see the world.”

Two other students from Nicholas’ class will participate in the communication convention this week: Karissa Smith and Jordan Smith. Their paper looks at recasting Thor as a female character and its broader implications on gender in comics.

Jonas met Rucka at New York Comic Con last year and interviewed him about his intentions with Batwoman. She said she was especially sensitive to bisexual invisibility in media. Rucka told her that he wanted Batwoman to be a lesbian because she was a groundbreaking character for comics. Rucka said he didn’t want readers to question if Kane was really straight and just messing around with women as an “experiment.”

Kane’s confidence as an open lesbian was a selling point among readers, Jonas found.

She formed several focus groups last year with women who identified as being attracted to other women. Jonas wanted to know: How would readers respond to a lesbian character that wasn’t written by a lesbian? She asked the women if they could relate to Batwoman and if they were proud of her.

Jonas said one criticism was the fact that so many other female characters in the comic fawn over Kane.

“It’s difficult to find other queer people who are interested in you,” Jonas said.

She added, at the convention, she hopes to foster discussion about LGBT characters with both consumers and producers of media.

“I want to see a wider range of LGBT characters,” Jonas said, noting, “Batwoman is a great starting point. Any character that builds on what they did with Batwoman is moving in the right direction.” n

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AG INTERVIEWS from page 1

résumé to run.

PGN: What sets you apart from other candidates?

JM: Neither [of my opponents] has been in a courtroom prosecuting a single case. I’m very active in the grand-jury process.

I don’t think their résumés are equal to mine.

PGN: People in the LGBT community reacted strongly to the homophobic emails exposed in the Attorney General’s Office.

What would you do to combat stereotypes and increase inclusion in the office?

JM: That whole affair is a complete disgrace to the office and law-enforcement community.

Regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, people need to be treated fairly. We need to continue to diversify law enforcement. One of the greatest cures for discrimination is to get to know folks. Ill will fades when you put a name to a person.

PGN: Why should an LGBT resident vote for you?

JM: When Kathleen Kane said she wasn’t going to defend the same-sex marriage ban [in Pennsylvania], I wrote an op-ed to support her. I was in the forefront to support legislation to include LGBT folks in hatecrime legislation. As a district attorney, I’ve done this work for 24 years. I think LGBT residents, like all Pennsylvanians, want safe streets.

John Morganelli serves as Northampton County District Attorney.

Josh Shapiro (D) PGN: Why do you want to run?

JS: It’s a critically important office. It’s the only job in the Pennsylvania government that can be a voice for all people of the commonwealth. I’m a Georgetown law graduate and have been in private practice for over a dozen years. I also serve as chairman of the Pennsylvania Board of Crime and Delinquency. My complete background enables me to use this office to its full potential.

PGN: What sets you apart from other candidates?

JS: My progressive vision for the office. I have a record of integrity and executive leadership skills to clean up the mess in that office. I will stand up for

all Pennsylvanians.

PGN: People in the LGBT community reacted strongly to the homophobic emails exposed in the Attorney General’s Office.

What would you do to combat stereotypes and increase inclusion in the office?

JS: I speak about this literally 10 times a day. It really goes to the heart of a lack of fairness. Swapping homophobic, racist or misogynistic emails, it really puts into question whether you can get a fair shot in Pennsylvania. I’ve come out with a 12-point integrity agenda.

I’d like to have a chief diversity officer to make sure we have a more diverse office that reflects the public it serves. I will also use the megaphone of the office to continue to advocate for expanded hate-crime legislation and nondiscrimination legislation.

PGN: Why should an LGBT resident vote for you?

JS: All Pennsylvanians should consider voting for me because of my record leading the third-largest county in the state.

We started nondiscrimination hiring in Montgomery County, which led to record numbers of women, African-Americans and LGBT people in county government. I helped elect the first openly gay judge in Montgomery County history. Montgomery County was the first [in the state] to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In the state House, I sponsored hatecrime legislation to include LGBT brothers and sisters, and I cosponsored a nondiscrimination bill now called the Pennsylvania Fairness Act. Josh Shapiro serves as chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.

John C. Rafferty Jr. (R) PGN: Why do you want to run?

JR: My background serving as a state senator, a deputy attorney general, a private-practice attorney and a small-business owner has given me a wide breadth of experience that few others have.

PGN: What sets you apart from other candidates?

JR: Outside of my unique background, I believe my pledge to serve as attorney general, if elected, for two terms, and not use the office as a springboard to governor or U.S. Senate like all

of my competitors separates me from my opponents.

PGN: People in the LGBT community reacted strongly to the homophobic emails exposed in the Attorney General’s Office.

What would you do to combat stereotypes and increase inclusion in the office?

JR: Those emails were inappropriate in any forum and that type of behavior will not be tolerated under my leadership in the office of attorney general.

PGN: Why should an LGBT resident vote for you?

JR: All Pennsylvanians should vote for me because I am going to be a fair and impartial attorney general who is motivated by doing the right thing, not the politically expedient thing.

John C. Rafferty Jr. represents parts of Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties in the state Senate.

Joe Peters (R) PGN: Why do you want to run and what sets you apart from other candidates?

JP: I am a former cop who served as the state’s top drug prosecutor. As a federal Mafia prosecutor, I helped bring down notorious Philadelphia mob boss Little Nicky Scarfo and his gang in a three-month trial before a sequestered and anonymous jury.

I also served two presidents as a top official at the White House drug czar’s office, battling drugs and terrorism. The attorney general is the state’s top cop and prosecutor. As a former cop and a career prosecutor, I am the cops’ choice and the prosecutors’ choice. I am not a career politician — I have been elected to nothing. I have spent a life from local, state, national and international experience in the very areas that haunt us today: drugs and terrorism. There is no on-the-job training here. I am ready on day one. I am independent. I will do the right thing for the right reasons.

PGN: What would you do as attorney general to combat stereotypes and increase sensitivity and inclusion in the office?

JP: I would mandate regular sensitivity training for all employees (attorneys, agents, support personnel), as this is both an important workplace as well as an equal protection public-service issue.

I will work to hire and promote

PGN LOCAL

to ensure that the OAG workforce is more inclusive and also reflective of the diversity of our state.

PGN: Why should an LGBT resident vote for you?

JP: My first priority as attorney general will be to restore the public’s full faith in the office. I began there as an intern and later rose to be the state’s top drug prosecutor, as the first executive deputy attorney general of the Office’s Drug and Organized Crime Division. Also, battling the heroin epidemic will be a top priority for me. My opponent worked [at the OAG] for three years, in the 1980s, doing Medicaid DISCRIMINATION from page 1

and because of the perception of S.B having ‘lesbian diseases,’” her parents wrote.

S.B. was repeatedly called “lesbian,” “gay,” “fag,” “slut” and “whore,” according to the filing.

“None of the student bullies directed these sexually charged labels at male students.”

The alleged discrimination caused S.B. to suffer depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, social isolation, suicidal thoughts and other emotional harm, her parents maintain.

School-district officials were sometimes present during the

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

cases in a regional office. Compare that to me: not a career politician but a career prosecutor. It’s a simple equation: career prosecutor or career politician.

LGBTs moving south of the Gayborhood

Joseph C. Peters served as communications director for Attorney General Kathleen Kane in 2013. He also formerly served as a Scranton police officer and a federal prosecutor.

Just south of the Gayborhood, another popular place for LGBT people to live is emerging.

Over the last couple years, Gaurav Gambhir, principal at The Condo Shop, said he’s seen one of his buildings at Broad and South streets attract a growing number of LGBT residents.

Gambhir said about half the people living at 1352 Lofts are gay men or lesbians. The building has 72 units, with about 50 taken.

Gambhir said residents do not have to identify their sexual orientation on any rental or purchase paperwork, but he personally knows most of them. He called 1352 Lofts a “tight community.”

The Mazzoni Center also plans a move to the neighborhood next summer with a building at Broad and Bainbridge streets. The center will consolidate its medical practice and operations like counseling, legal services, a food bank and housing program. The Washington West Project will remain in the Gayborhood.

“I think it’s a natural progression of the Gayborhood,” Gambhir said. “I think the LGBT community has been expanding and growing.

They have been moving further south than north.”

He said people are drawn south because there is more new construction, while still being close to the restaurants, shopping and cultural amenities of the Gayborhood and Rittenhouse Square.

Nurit Shein, CEO of Mazzoni, said her organization found the neighborhood appealing because Broad Street is an iconic Philadelphia

Stephen Zappala (D) Did not respond to interview request.

Stephen Zappala serves as Allegheny County District Attorney. n alleged discrimination. Alternately, they received written and verbal reports about it, according to the filing.

Because the discrimination didn’t end, the Bittenbenders wrote, the family had to move to New Jersey, where S.B. was enrolled in a school that has better safeguards against anti-LGBT bullying.

The Bittenbenders are seeking more than $150,000 in damages from the district. They hope to present their case to a federal jury.

As of presstime, Stengel hadn’t ruled on the district’s request to dismiss the case. n

By Paige Cooperstein paige@epgn.com

9

location and has a confluence of public transportation.

“When we talked to our clients and supporters, they all agreed this was the perfect place,” she said. “We made connections with the neighborhood association and they were very happy to hear we were moving.”

Shein said she expects more LGBT businesses will migrate down the 12th Street corridor once Mazzoni becomes a visible anchor for the LGBT community in the area.

“The neighborhood is really expanding and growing,” Shein said. “You can see it’s energetic and has diversity with the old neighbors and the new people moving in.”

Bart Blatstein is developing a mixed-use space at Broad Street and Washington Avenue with 1,000 residential units and space for several major retailers that’s expected to bring hundreds more to the neighborhood.

Gambhir said the real-estate market has rebounded faster than other sectors of the economy since the recession. Units in 1352 Lofts are meant to be owned and have anywhere from 1,400 to 2,300 square feet.

“That’s a home in itself,” Gambhir said. “We started getting a lot of feedback from the LGBT community because we’re not a traditional two-bedroom space.”

The lofts have 20-foot-high ceilings, floorlength windows and balconies. They come with a price tag in the half-million-dollar range.

“It’s a good investment for couples moving in together,” Gambhir said. n

10

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

EDITORIAL PGN

Creep of the Week

D’Anne Witkowski

One Million Moms

Editorial

Is it worth it?

North Carolina is in the midst of seeing one of the many prices of hate.

After the state pushed through a “religious-freedom” law — basically giving carte blanche to bigotry — private and public sectors are fighting back. The governors of New York, Vermont and Washington have banned state-sponsored travel to the state, a move echoed by several American mayors. Ninety CEOs of major corporations, such as tech giants Apple, Google and Facebook, signed on to a letter condemning the law. A coalition of LGBT groups has sued the state over the measure.

Ideally, the backlash will have North Carolina elected officials regretting the restrictive move. But even more so, the public outcry sends an important message to lawmakers in other states considering such discriminatory laws.

Pennsylvania has the good fortune to be led right now by an LGBTaffirming governor, but that doesn’t guarantee that lawmakers in our state who oppose LGBT rights — and we’ve unfortunately seen that we have many of them here in the Keystone State — won’t try to follow in North Carolina’s misguided steps.

As much opposition as the law is getting, it can also be seen as a rallying point for staunch conservatives, who may want to ride on the coattails of a certain divisive Republican presidential candidate. Drawing on the ignorance of some voters has seemed to work for him, so why not stir up some controversy and take advantage of the bigotry of constituents for political gain?

The LGBT and ally community needs to be as proactive as possible in fending off these attacks, just as free-thinking voters are in countering the vitriol spewed by Donald Trump and other candidates. Lawmakers need to be shown the price of discrimination before they take steps to codify degradation.

From tourism to business to public relations to economics, treating LGBT people as second-class citizens is simply not worth it. n

Alert! Alert!

All One Million Moms to their battle stations! A new TV show has a gay. I repeat: A new TV show has a gay.

Until President Ted Cruz makes such defilements of the small screen a federal hate crime against Christians, we must join our 2-million hands together and pray the gay away!

The particular gay is the character Kenny O’Neal on the new ABC sitcom “The Real O’Neals,” a show about a Catholic family.

To make matters worse, Kenny is played by openly gay actor Noah Galvin and the TV show is loosely based around the life of Notorious Gay Dan Savage. Which makes this a gay trifecta and is probably a sign of End Times.

Or it could just be yet another in a long line of likely short-lived mediocre sitcoms that deal with all kinds of family trials and tribulations.

But one can never be too sure! Which is why One Million Moms (a group that boasts 83,957 Facebook “likes” but doesn’t let math get in the way of its mission) says that “this Jesusridiculing show needs to go dark right now” and is urging its members to contact Simply Orange (a Coca Cola product) and shriek at them for daring to run commercials during the depravity of “The Real O’Neals.” “‘The Real O’Neals’ mocks Christianity and insults Catholicism,” One Million Moms laments on its website. “One Million Moms recognizes this show ridicules people of faith, and Christians across America are offended by it.”

Yeah! Cue Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It!” Because if there’s anything Catholics never do, it’s poke fun at themselves! Humor is the devil’s work!

Things that 1MM singles out as depraved include the fact that Jesus appears to Kenny, and only Kenny, during a scene at a family restaurant and the fact that Kenny’s mom encourages him to try

having sex with a girl.

Other things 1MM failed to mention but were probably also aghast at: Kenny’s girlfriend wants him to have sex with her and gives him a big box of condoms. When he goes into the bathroom to put one on, a beefy shirtless dude appears in the mirror and encourages him to “come out.” In a panic, Kenny flushes the condoms down the toilet, which causes it to overflow. The ceiling below begins to drip and then collapses, complete with condoms, onto the priest who is visiting downstairs.

Ha! So funny! Are you laughing so hard?

Or are you, too, wondering how the ceiling could have become so damaged so quickly from an overflowing toilet? It’s not realistic, I tell you! Why aren’t One Million Plumbers taking to the streets over this show?

Seriously, though. As David Windsor, an executive producer of the show, told the Huffington Post, “At the end of the day, you are going to realize that [the show] is about this family that just loves each other. And faith is an important part of their lives.”

I get that 1MM is upset because it’s their job to be upset. But part of what they’re mad about is the fact that a Catholic family is being portrayed as dysfunctional, and yet they’re still Catholic. If every family had to renounce their Christianity every time the parents got divorced or a child came out as gay, anorexic or a kleptomaniac (and the O’Neals are all of those things), there would be no Christians left.

Aside from the significantly less-than 1-million self-righteous members of 1MM, of course. n

I get that 1MM is upset because it’s their job to be upset.

But part of what they’re mad about is the fact that a Catholic family is being portrayed as dysfunctional, and yet they’re still Catholic.

We want to know!

Tell us what you think

If you are celebrating an anniversary, engagement, wedding, adoption or other life event, we would be happy to help you announce it to the community. Send your contact information and a brief description of the event to editor@epgn.com.

Send letters and opinion column submissions to: pgn@epgn.com; PGN, 505 S. Fourth St., Philadelphia, PA 19147; fax: 215-925-6437.

D’Anne Witkowski has been gay for pay since 2003. She’s a freelance writer and poet (believe it!). When she’s not taking on the creeps of the world, she reviews rock and roll shows in Detroit with her twin sister and teaches writing at the University of Michigan.

Please include a daytime phone number.

Letters may be edited for clarity, style and space con­sid­er­ations.

OP-ED PGN

Judicial irony After Republican senators announced the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which they would unequivocally not “advise accepted briefs on the issue earlier this and consent” to any nominee to the U.S. month. If by any chance the state top Supreme Court that President Obama court tosses Cruz off the ballot, Cruz’s seeks to appoint, I wrote in my Feb. 18 only appeal is — you got it — to the U.S. column that “by taking such an approach, Supreme Court. the GOP has handed liberals a SCOTUS could just allow golden opportunity … Court the state-court ruling to stand, experts, listen up: There are 13 but in a high-stakes race like appellate court districts in the the run for president, they United States and only four of would most likely hear the the 13 are considered consercase. Considering the other vative, meaning that nine — rulings on voter rights and or two-thirds — are comprised state-election laws, it is conof liberal-leaning judges. ceivable that there would be When an appellate court another tie — meaning Cruz rules, their position becomes would be off the ballot. the law of the land, unless Now this is a long shot to SCOTUS agrees to hear, and be sure but, Republicans, you then overturns, the case. And, brought this upon yourselves. if the court agrees to hear a And as stated in that February case, and is split four-four — column, there are many more because of Scalia’s vacancy Mark Segal lower-court rulings to come — the appellate court ruling where, if a tie vote occurs, libstands.” erals will be cheering. This has to be the Well, the first domino fell this week ultimate proof of the Republican dislike when the Supreme Court handed down of President Obama, since it makes the its first tie vote. It left the appellate-court point clear that your hate trumps your order supporting teachers’ unions as the political policies. Did I actually use the law of the land (and we know how much word “Trump,” as in that guy who was part of that birther movement?

Republicans like teachers’ unions!). But if you think this is as far as it can go, get Isn’t this all so delicious. n ready because it’s about to get bumpy.

Carmon Elliott has challenged Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s Ted Cruz’s eligibility to be on the most-award-winning commentator in LGBT Pennsylvania primary ballot as a “natmedia. You can follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarkSegalPGN or Twitter ural-born U.S. citizen.” A lower court at https://twitter.com/PhilaGayNews. ruled against him, but Elliott appealed to

Mark My Words

Op-Ed

J.G. Sandom

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

11

Street Talk What's your favorite April Fool's Day prank?

"Someone at work brought in several different outfits.

Throughout the day, she'd change into a different Chastity Cook outfit and security guard act like West Oak Lane nothing was out of the ordinary. People were looking at her like, 'What's going on, girl?' She just went about her business, nonchalantly."

"Switching the ladies' and men's signs for a restroom. It was funny to see the expression on people's faces after Lila James they walked student out. It got Claymont, Del. people to appreciate their privacy more."

"My friend translated a racy sex book from Spanish to English.

She used her friend's name as her pen name. He was shocked Jeni Mattingly when she salesperson gave him South Philadelphia a copy of the book and his name was on the cover. He had no idea his name would be on a book containing graphic sex tips!"

"Pretending to be a born-again Christian, and that I want to become straight. And that I want to repent Haden Reed all of my assistant store sins. That's manager something Fishtown that will never happen in reality. But it's a good prank that strikes people as absurd."

Making the business case for PA Fairness Act While rancor and posturing drives most of today’s political discourse at both the national and state levels, those of us in the real world are focused on the economic realities of growing our businesses, serving our clients and, in my case, nurturing my latest digital enterprise while writing another book.

The divisive and too often duplicitous primaries and caucuses unfolding around us; the questionable ethics of too many corporate cultures that ignore the public good, while living large on the fruits of the climate government nurtures, when we’re surrounded by news of public officials doing little to protect the health and the welfare of the publics they were elected to serve, like in Flint, Mich.; or, closer to home, the latest round of state budget deliberations in Harrisburg, where folks bicker while schools struggle to survive — all of these things make it easy to become cynical about change here in Pennsylvania.

But perhaps there is something we all can agree on: making the places we spend most of our days, our workplaces, centers of fairness and harbors of meritocracy.

What is more American and politically uniting than the notion that all of us should get a square deal — no matter who we are, no matter where we come from, no matter how we started — in making a living and providing for our families?

That is why I believe so strongly that we have the ability to overcome today’s political divisiveness and to come together on a piece of legislation that I hope all our legislators will support — R, D or I, whether from Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, Scranton or Erie. My expectation for support is high because the issue is so fundamental, so much at the core of what makes us all Americans. I’m talking about the fight against discrimination.

The Pennsylvania Fairness Act (House Bill 1510 and Senate Bill 974) updates

Pennsylvania’s current nondiscrimination law, originally drafted back in 1955. Over the years, there have been updates to the law to address discriminatory practices that developed as society changed. Language addressing race, color, religious creed, ancestry, age, sex, national origin and disability have been added to update and strengthen the law. We’re not living in the ’50s anymore.

But today’s law has not been updated to include LGBT protections. Sure, gay marriage is now the law of the land, and people are much more tolerant and relaxed about sexual orientation, especially millennials, but as fundamental as nondiscrimination is, current Pennsylvania law does not protect this right for gay and transgender individuals in employment, housing and business services. That’s worth repeating because it’s so incredible: Pennsylvania law does not protect gay and transgender individuals from discrimina-

tion in employment, housing and business services. That’s right. You can be fired, kicked out of your house or apartment and discriminated against as a business just for being gay or transgender, and you can’t do a damned thing about it. In 2016, 61 years after this law was first put on the books, such fundamental human rights have yet to be codified.

This is completely at odds with Pennsylvania’s heritage as the Keystone State, and it places Pennsylvania on the losing side when it comes to economic growth. The law is simply outdated and, like any other software, needs an update.

As a co-founder of the nation’s first digital advertising agency — Einstein and Sandom Interactive, which grew to become the nation’s largest digital-marketing services firm in the world — and as an investor, author, publisher and chairman and CEO of Mnemania, Inc. (the company behind photo app PAGE 12

12

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

PGN OP-ED from page 11

and cloud service MemoryBox, centered right here in Brewerytown), I’ve been privileged to experience my fair share of dynamic workplaces. One of the central tenets of my business life has been to create environments that inspire innovation.

That’s what being a good business leader is all about, in my view: finding ways to liberate and to grow — often to everyone’s surprise and delight — the innate talents of the people around you. I’m highly mindful of the fact that Benjamin Franklin, a hero of mine whom I feature in my novel “The God Machine,” came here to escape the puritanical confines of Boston because Philadelphia was then, and remains to this day, one of the nation’s leading hubs of innovation and creativity.

I grew up in Europe, went to college in Massachusetts and, after a couple of decades in New York City, have chosen Philadelphia as the city in which to locate my latest enterprise, MemoryBox. I helped found Silicon Alley in New York.

But that city has changed. Much of the creative talent that was around when I lived there has been forced, due to housing costs, to relocate — first to Brooklyn and Queens, then out to the Bronx and New Jersey. Philadelphia is one of the last affordable cities in the Eastern megalopolis, that patch of artificial light you see at night from space stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C. It’s also highly diverse, full of interesting neighborhoods, uniquely historic, a great food town, chock full of universities and colleges and primary medical resources, and has more investment in public art per square mile than any other city in America. One of the main reasons we’re so blessed is because our city is the crucible of fundamental human rights, and still the fountainhead of American democracy.

While I’m proud to say the city of Philadelphia does provide legal protections for gay and transgender individuals,

the commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not. We can all agree that this causes uncertainty, even distress, for fellow gay and transgender citizens. Why, when you go a few miles from Center City, do your rights suddenly cease to exist? Doesn’t the rest of the state deserve the same privileges? Are people out of the main urban centers somehow unworthy of protection?

I don’t think so, and I doubt you do either.

The digital economy requires a culture of innovation and mental permissiveness.

And I’m happy to say that, contrary to what folks normally associate with Silicon Valley’s so-called bro culture, we value diversity — of thinking and outlook, which is why so many techies are immigrants. [Full disclosure: Our CTO, Penny Goodwill, is a gay woman. She would not have relocated to Philadelphia if this city did not fully protect gay rights. The state, on the other hand, does not.]

I’m writing this op-ed as a call to action with two urgent requests, asking all those who read this to: • Please contact your local legislators to express the importance of their support for the Pennsylvania Fairness Act. Visit http://www.legis.state.pa.us/ and click on Find My Legislator.

Then, call or email them today. It only takes a few minutes.

• Reach out to any and all of your connections, your friends and those you know will support this measure throughout the state and request that they contact their legislators too. Urge them to support the Pennsylvania Fairness Act. It’s called the Fairness Act for a reason.

But it’s not just the right thing to do; as an entrepreneur, I know it’s good business. We need to bring Pennsylvania into the 21st century if we’re going to remain competitive as a state, and if we’re going to nurture and grow our tech industry. n J.G. Sandom is chairman and CEO of MemoryBox.

LOCAL PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

13

Obituary Randy Dalton, artist, 67

By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Blue was more than a color for Randy Dalton.

Throughout his career, the highly accomplished artist promoted the motto “Do Blue,” encouraging people frustrated by a lack of support for the arts to get active around the issue.

The Mount Airy artist and activist died Feb. 5 after a stroke. A community memorial will be held April 9.

Dalton was a native of Milwaukee, Wisc. His partner of 34 years, Michael Martin Mills, said that when Dalton moved to Philadelphia in 1970, he worked in a state store and on a road crew before taking a position that paved the way for his art career.

“He was a nursery school teacher at the Durham School, which was an experimental program in the ’70s. Through that, he became engaged with people with progressive ideas and connections into the arts and through this, that and the other that led him to know a lot of people who became lifelong friends who worked in arts, architecture and urban development,” Mills said.

He later joined the crew at the Institute of Contemporary Art. “For about 15 years, he

installed exhibitions and helped construct exhibitions,” Mills said.

“He worked with Keith Haring, he was part of the crew that installed the famous Mapplethorpe show that prompted Jesse Helms to go bonkers and worked on the Red Grooms’ ‘Philadelphia Cornucopia.’”

Dalton was an early member of the Dumpster Divers, who create art from found objects.

“His specialty was making lamps from just about anything that were illuminated with blue,” Mills said. “Blue bulbs, shades, gels — whatever. They were very idiosyncratic sculptural lamps. He could make a lamp out of a gas can or a colander, that sort of thing. And it grew from there.”

The Community Education Center, which he had been involved with since the 1970s and where he most recently served as artist in residence, ultimately became the setting for his beloved “Blue Grotto” installation.

“He was at the CEC once, twice, three times a week through the rest of his life,” Mills said.

“He stripped paint off the banisters, he was the one who knew how to deal with the furnace. He organized art shows there, he was on their board, he was on the first performance-art committee that started a series of really edgy performances. And then he got permission to start installing his sculptures in the basement.”

The CEC basement is now filled with Dalton’s sculptural creations illuminated with blue hues, which

NEWS BRIEFING from page 2

bic, misogynistic and racist emails.

Eakin has six months to pay the fine. His attorney, William C. Costopoulos, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Discovery hearing set in sexabuse case A discovery dispute has emerged in the case of Rhonda Miller, who claims her son was sexually abused by a former counselor at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Germantown.

Miller claims that Percy Outland inappropriately touched her son during a field trip to the Kimmel Center in May 2015.

Outland allegedly followed the 12-yearold boy into a restroom at the center and attempted to have sexual contact with him.

The Boys & Girls Clubs wants a Philadelphia judge to compel Miller to produce documents and provide answers to questions pertaining to the matter.

Mills said is a wondrous sight.

“He started bringing in more and more and more and there are now hundreds of them there.

There’s not much natural light in the basement so if you go, especially at night, and it’s just the sculptural lamps that are on, it’s a little wonderland, with all these blue lights.”

In addition to working on his own creations, Dalton also aimed to share his gifts with other artists.

“Randy was a very giving, sharing person,” Mills said, noting that among Dalton’s mentees was his godson, who started working as a teenager with Dalton.

“He started churning out paintings, ceramic work and Randy was always encouraging him and helping him put up shows of his work. He now has a mural with the Mural Arts Project at 36th and Lancaster that he created with Randy and a few other people’s help. Randy just liked to help people. That’s what motivated him.”

Outside of his art, Dalton was also a gifted gardener.

In their three decades in their Mount Airy home, Mills and Dalton developed an extensive garden, which includes many azaleas and rhododendrons. Dalton was a member of the American Rhododendron Society and worked on a rhododendron exhibition at the Philadelphia Flower Show for the past 20 years.

Mills and Dalton met at a Labor Day picnic in 1981.

“It was a matchmaking type of thing by a mutual friend,” Mills

A hearing on the dispute was set for 10 a.m. March 30 in Room 483 of City Hall.

Outland, 40, is charged with simple assault, unlawful contact with a minor and related offenses. He remains free, pending the outcome of a trial, which hasn’t been scheduled.

Miller is seeking more than $5 million in damages, according to court records.

Candidate’s record expunged Louis D. Lanni Jr., an openly gay man running for the state House seat in the 182nd District, recently had an insurance-fraud conviction expunged from his record.

The conviction, which Lanni says was erroneous, dates to 1997, when he was 38.

“The city and state police, and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts have all been ordered to destroy all [criminal] records of any type associated with this affair,” Lanni added.

DALTON’S “THE BLUE GREEN HOUSE” AT PETERS VALLEY ARTS CENTER Photo: Jack Ramsdale

explained. “It took rather quickly.”

Mills said Dalton’s positivity was infectious, and inspiring.

“He madly cared about the arts and the power of art to make places better, especially to make Philadelphia better. He was constantly throwing out ideas: ‘Let’s have a visual-arts festival. Let’s restore this antique building. Let’s develop this or that,’” Mills said.

“Some of them were pie in sky and maybe a few happened. But he was always thinking about how we could use art to make the world around us better.”

In addition to Mills, Dalton is survived by siblings Kathy and Richard, several nieces and nephews, in-laws and a wide circle of friends.

A memorial for Dalton will be held 4 p.m. April 9 at Germantown

In December, Gov. Tom Wolf issued a pardon for Lanni. On March 24, a Philadelphia trial commissioner granted Lanni’s request to have his record expunged.

Lanni said he was engaged in an 18-year quest for vindication, during which he incurred about $40,000 in legal fees.

“This is the same tenacity I will bring to the General Assembly next January, should I be given the privilege of representing the 182nd District,” Lanni said. “I intend to have a voice in that body. And I know that I can move issues important to the LGBT community, city and state forward.”

Lanni is running as a Democrat.

He’s hoping to unseat Brian K. Sims, Pennsylvania’s first elected openly gay state lawmaker. Democrats Ben Waxman and Marni Snyder also are vying for the seat, which covers parts of Center City and South Philadelphia. The primary election will be held April 26.

Friends Meeting, 44 W. Coulter St. Memorial donations can be made to the Community Education Center.

A pop-up show titled “Blue for Randy Dalton” will be open 6-10 p.m. April 1 and 2-5 p.m. April 2 at TandM Arts Studio, 319 N. 11th St., on the fourth floor. The ImPerfect Gallery, 5601 Greene St., is featuring a front-window display of several of Dalton’s works, with nighttime the best opportunity to view Dalton’s lamp creations.

The “Blue Grotto” is open 6-9 p.m. Wednesdays and 6-9 p.m. on the second Friday of the month, as well as by appointment, at CEC, 3500 Lancaster Ave. To make an appointment, call 215-387-1911 or email daltonbluegrotto@gmail. com. n

Killer of gay man in general prison population Frank R. Chester has transitioned into the general prison population at Graterford Prison, a state Department of Corrections spokesperson confirmed this week.

“I can confirm that he’s now in general population,” said Susan McNaughton in a March 28 email.

Chester and Richard R Laird murdered gay artist Anthony Milano in 1987. But a federal judge vacated Chester’s first-degree murder conviction in 2011, due to faulty jury instruction by the trial judge.

Rather than re-try Chester, prosecutors agreed to allow Chester to leave death row, where he’d been for about 28 years. In return, Chester pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, and will remain behind bars without parole for the rest of his life. n — Timothy Cwiek

14

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

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We have a lot of monks to thank for “some really righteous booze,” master sommelier Emily Wines told a roomful of champagne enthusiasts gathered on a recent Thursday evening at Stratus Lounge, on the rooftop of Hotel Monaco in Old City.

The appropriately named Wines, a lesbian and one of only about 25 female master sommeliers in the world, presented a 2005 bottle of Dom Perignon, explaining its namesake was a Benedictine monk.

Wines had five other champagnes on offer that she paired with everything from wild mushrooms in a puff pastry shell to a red berry dessert.

As a woman in the mostly male wine world, she shared the story behind Veuve champagne. The word means “widow” in French. When the owner of the Clicquot champagne house died in the early 19th century, his widow wondered if she should pass its management to another family member. But she decided to run the house herself and the Veuve Clicquot brand took off, especially as it became one of the first to embrace rosé champagne.

Wines poured it over a bowl of sherbet with strawberries, raspberries and pomegranate seeds, making a simple desert stunning.

Before her class got underway, Wines sat down with PGN. The San Francisco resident, who serves as senior director of national beverage programs for Kimpton hotels, talked everything from becoming a “sommager” to paying no mind to “the men who won’t let you” into the industry and coming out after she thought it wasn’t an option.

PGN: How did you get into wine?

EW: I was working in a restaurant waiting tables while I was going to school. As I was learning more about wine, I just couldn’t get enough of it.

At a certain point, it was like, “I kind of would rather do this than go to college.” After I passed my master sommelier exam, I started doing more corporate wine director work for Kimpton. I’ve been there for 15 years. It’s very open, very diverse and very welcoming in the LGBTQ community, which has been very cool.

PGN: What do you like about champagne?

EW: Champagne goes with a lot of foods. It’s not just its own little aperitif or celebratory thing. It can be an everyday thing. You can have it with beef and you can have it with oysters and dessert.

They all work depending on the style that you drink. [During the class, she said her favorite pairing with Perrier-Jouët is a bucket of fried chicken.]

PGN: What is it like to be a woman sommelier?

EW: There are 130 master sommeliers in the world and I want to say 25 of us are women. There are women who, certainly, feel shut out or like there’s a little bit of a glass ceiling. I always say, if your excuse for why you can’t get ahead in this industry

is that the men won’t let you in, then that’s going to be the reason that you don’t get ahead. You can’t make it your excuse. It has boys’ club-ish moments, but there are a lot of great women in it as well. People who are professional and passionate do really well.

This Fab Could

PGN: How did you come out?

EW: I came out when I was 19. I don’t even know if it’s much of a story. It was a lot bigger of a for only story when I was younger. I always had this affinwhen ity for women and really loved women. I actually a minimu didn’t know I could be gay. I didn’t know it was an option. When I was in high school working at the mall, I remember somebody I worked with talking about these two women who were lesbians and owned the pizza shop in the mall. I was so fascinated with them. Then I ended up working at a Starbucks and met a lesbian there and I was so smitten with her. All of a sudden it just opened up this whole world of possibilities for me.

PGN: You’re one of a select group to have passed all three sections of the master sommelier exam on the first try. How did you prepare for that?

EW: Anywhere from six months to a year before an exam, that was really my sole focus. I spent a lot of my free time driving around, going to tasting groups. I hit the books a lot. I look back at that time and it’s like, “Wow, I didn’t really do that much.” I didn’t go out to clubs because I was working at a restaurant at night and all my days were studying.

PGN: How has the industry changed since you started?

EW: When the economy really went down, there were a lot of sommeliers who lost their jobs because people were thinking, How few people can I have in my restaurant? Maybe the guy selling wine is one I can do without. The sommeliers who were really successful were the ones who were able to cross over into restaurant management and could do both jobs. I think what’s come out now is this sort of hybrid position; I call it the “sommager.” That new hybrid is pretty powerful because they have a lot more skills that can take them into jobs like mine where they’re overseeing multi-concept restaurants in a company or doing other kinds of corporate positions. Nobody can work on the floor forever.

PGN: Are there professional development groups for LGBT people in the industry?

EW: I definitely know of a lot of queer sommeliers out there, but [there’s] nothing organized.

I’m on the board of directors for the Court of Master Sommeliers, so I’m really working closely with a lot of other MS’s around the country and around the world. You really have to learn from one another. We tend to go on trips together a lot.

Sommeliers are the only people I know who use their vacation time to go on a trip to another country with a whole group of strangers who are in the same industry, and they make friends for life.

I love the camaraderie and the way that we share.

They say that a rising tide raises all boats. That’s a cool thing about this business. n

FAITH PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

15

Are there queer Muslims and, if HEALTH AND WELLNESS DIRECTORY so, where can you find them?

Alina Bee is a 24-year-old queer Muslim. Although this is not her real name, she was happy to sit down with me for an interview. I wanted to know what it was like for her to come out as a queer Muslim and what some of the struggles particular to the queer Muslim experience are.

members who do not know. I’d say about 90 percent of them.

I segregate my queer community from my family and friends because of safety.

PGN: Why is it so hard to come out in Muslim culture?

AB: A lot of Islamic knowledge is not accessible to the average PGN: Are there queer Muslims, Muslim. The conversation is still and, if so, where can you find not safe to have. The are comthem? munities, mosques, families who AB: Yes, there are! Queer are accepting, but there is still Muslims are everya large feeling that where: in your Islam, sexuality, genschools, markets, der and autonomy are mosques, in politics, not reconcilable, or in clubs. Anywhere that Islam doesn’t or people are, we’re can’t affirm all identiprobably around, ties as valid. There is too. There are a few space within Islam for LGBTQIA+ Muslim the queer experience organizations that as we see it today. operate nationally.

Most people have to There are cultural trust their male imam LGBTQIA+ organior scholar and there zations with Muslims a variety of comCrystal are in them and there are plications with that.

Cheatham If you don’t affirm or LGBTQIA+ Muslim scholars. There’s a uplift the voices and retreat that happens annually realities of all Muslims, the naron Memorial Day Weekend in ratives of few get to define what Philly for LGBTQIA+ Muslims is seen to be “legitimate.” and their partners. It’s organized

by Muslim Alliance for Sexual PGN: In what ways is your life and Gender Diversity. different here than from your homeland in Karachi, Pakistan?

PGN: Who did you tell when AB: I don’t think I could be you finally came out? as visible as I am, as I use an AB: The first person I told was alias! I am co-chair of the Youth the first woman (person) I dated.

Leadership Council in Asian Soon after that, I had to tell a Pacific Islander Equality-LA cousin because she was getting and work alongside Satrang, a suspicious about how I wasn’t South Asian LGBTQ organiaround as much. I made her read zation. There are queer trans an article on queer Muslims that orgs in Pakistan but they are I wrote, and then I told her. I more underground. In the U.S., immediately started crying but I’m more afraid my family will her reaction was to laugh. She find out but in Karachi I would held my shoulders and reassured fear that the government would me it would be fine. “I love you. find out. Last year there was It’s OK,” she said, “but I don’t a woman killed in Karachi for think this is safe. I think you being known as a lesbian. Not are way too close to home and that there isn’t tons of violence your community to be dating a against Muslims here. woman, or anyone for that matter, and doing this right now.”

PGN: Do you think the state I understand why she said that. “religious-freedom” bills that are She hasn’t told anyone and has being proposed would protect been a safety for me.

Muslims from hate crimes?

AB: [That] feels like a Christian PGN: So, are you out now? thing. You have bills like this that AB: I am not. I am particular come up and people are fighting about who I let in and who I let against it, but there are Muslim know about my queerness. There people who are fielding hate are spaces where I feel severely crimes every day because of their unsafe to identify so I won’t. religion alone. This bill could There are a majority of family pass but I don’t think sentiments

Queer Faith

against Muslims are going to shift in any way because of it.

Hate crimes against Muslims, according to the Department of Justice reports of 2014, were around 2,000-3,000 per year.

That’s about seven to eight per day that get logged and there are plenty that don’t. And this is before the Religious Freedom Act. This is only going up. We went from relative anonymity pre-9/11 to having a spotlight in the media, reporting about borders, bombings, wars they don’t understand and don’t care to put in the effort to unpack. Their Islamophobia and xenophobia is almost comical, albeit alarming, in how elementary it is.

PGN: Is there anything else you would like to say to readers?

AB: To the young queer Muslims floating around, know that you are legitimate. Whether you are in the closet and have every intention in keeping your worlds separate, or you’re out and about to everyone you know — however you choose to move around in the world is OK and up to you. There are resources for you unpacking Islam, queerness, gender, all of that. You don’t have to choose between anything. You can be queer, Muslim, tied to your culture and family. You can have it all. I say that while being conscious of the fact that my bio family doesn’t know and I have no intention of ever telling them.

But you can choose what family looks like to you, or who family is. If you don’t have it, you can develop it. It is possible and you are wonderful, glorious and entitled to your process.

PGN: What are some resources?

AB: Most of my community is Desi, so much of my resources are around that also: Satrang, Trikone, Salga-NYC, Khush D.C., API Equality-LA, LGBT Muslim Retreat, Muslims for Progressive Values, Al-Fatiha and Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity. Be well! n Crystal Cheatham is a writer and activist in Philadelphia. She chairs the Spirituality & Religion steering committee for the Human Rights Campaign and volunteers with Equality Pennsylvania and William Way LGBT Community Center’s Out & Faithful Committee and has written for the Huffington Post. You can find out more about her at CrystalCheatham.com.

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PGN LGBTQ Youth Supplement by our youth, for our youth, for our future

Best of Both Worlds

Lessons in diversity at Friends’ Central School

By Lucky Fischer Age: 24

By Zoe Being out as an LGBT person is not always a luxury afforded to teachers. Just last spring, a teacher at Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion lost her job over her samesex marriage. Down the street, however, at Friends’ Central, there’s a different atmosphere, where a number of teachers say they’re comfortable being out.

As a Quaker institution, Friends’ Central values diversity and encourages individuals to express their true selves.

“I think the presence of difference allows FCS to more fully live the Quaker dimension of our mission and vision,” said Head of School Craig Sellers. “I think it is a fair question to ask, for instance, how we could prepare students to peacefully transform the world if we did not include, celebrate and love a wide variety of talented people in our school.”

Out middle-school teacher Anne Kenealy would agree.

“As a teacher, I want to guide students toward their most authentic selves. I understand that many situations prevent queer teachers from being out and I respect the choices that others make to separate their identities from their work,” Kenealy said. “For me personally, it’s a question of integrity: If I can’t be my most authentic self, if I can’t be whole, how can I expect students to make that attempt every day?”

Many students eagerly commented on the way out teachers affect the school’s community. An 11th-grader remarked, “Representation is very important, so having members of the LGBT community in places of authority, power and leadership has a big impact.”

The range of identities among staff allows students to engage with people who might have different worldviews or experiences. Fellow 11th-grader Julian agreed, adding, PAGE 3

FREEZE FRAME: Youth involved with Out4STEM videotaped coming-out stories last month at the Mütter Museum at the College of Physicians. The effort is part of the Out4STEM VIdeo Project, which documents the personal stories of LGBTQ youth pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math. As part of the 2016 Philadelphia Science Festival, the museum and Out4STEM will host a panel discussion on LGBTQ involvement in the STEM field at 5:30 p.m. April 28. Photo: Scott A. Drake

What’s inside — Does money matter?: page 2 — Cameron Esposito at the Troc: page 3

Let’s go back about three decades or so — there’s proof that one’s assigned sex in no way determines one’s capabilities or how he or she chooses to express him or herself. And what other great example than the late David Bowie.

The creator of one of pop’s conspicuous and mesmerizing characters, Ziggy Stardust, was not afraid to defy the norms of society. Whether through music or notably by his non-conforming fashion-style choices, Bowie stripped away any limitations preventing him from artistically expressing himself while continuously blurring the lines. In a recent article for Entertainment Weekly, Kyle Anderson described

Bowie as “performing with cabaret-glam” in women’s clothing combined with a rocker’s edge.

It’s safe to say the singer/artist/ visionary was one of few at the time to engender a lifestyle to advocate gender fluidity and set a precedent for an array of others to follow today.

What does it mean to be or identify as “gender fluid”? Prior to doing my research, I was ignorant of the term, honestly, and couldn’t tell you, but with a basic understanding, it seems somewhat explanatory. I still couldn’t put a finger on it. One of the first ideas that came to mind was to live both, from a male’s and female’s perspective, regardless of sex. An individual knows and identifies with his/her assigned sex but explores whichever would PAGE 3 be the opposite

— Creative writing: page 6 — Out and off to college: page 7 — Youth Pride preview: page 8

PA celebrates first Teen Health Week

By Shauna Longshore Age: 20 In January, Philadelphia celebrated the first annual Pennsylvania Teen Health Week.

Spearheaded by Dr. Laura Offutt, this initiative began with the idea of helping schools and other teen-oriented organizations teach teenagers more about their health and their identities in a fun, stress-free way. Initially, Dr. Offutt’s teen advisory group sought to earn a statewide proclamation, but the amount of support for the idea grew immensely, even earning a seal of approval from Gov. Tom Wolf.

When we spoke with Dr. Offutt, she told us about how she originally began helping

PENNSYLVANIA YOUTH CELEBRATED THE FIRST ANNUAL PENNSYLVANIA TEEN HEALTH WEEK IN JANUARY

teens through her website “Real Talk with Dr. Offutt,” an online

resource designed to start a conversation with adolescents about

their health. From this popular resource, she later pulled together a group of Pennsylvania teenagers who gave feedback and offered advice based on the initiative.

“They liked the idea and thought clubs might run such a thing in schools, or we could try to get interest on social media,” Dr. Offutt said.

Another great feature produced by the Teen Health Week were the “toolkits” circulated for use by schools and local organizations.

“These toolkits were intended to be a menu of different activities and social-media posts that could be used as desired, or could simply be a take-off point for groups to PAGE 7

PGN LGBTQ YOUTH SUPPLEMENT

PAGE 2

Obsession is mobility

By Alice Wills Obsession is as mysterious as a game of double-dutch to a kid who has never succeeded in playing before. It appears enticing, like some energizing ritual every single time the kid approaches.

Often the most uncoordinated, but willing to prove themselves, they don’t understand the fundamentals of playground hierarchy and lose sight of the fun in the game when handed the ropes as a duty to turn them, since they are beginners and must first prove they can do this correctly. Once they’ve graduated from turning properly, they must jump in, but they still have yet to comprehend that this requires a precise technique: eyes open, focused and alert, feet ready to spring up each time a rope comes close to touching them, and breath placed. Without any thought of the timing of when the ropes rise and fall, the kid closes their eyes, leaving gaping holes of opportunity. They muster some guts to jump anxiously into the two ropes to escape the perceived social pressure of not being good enough, and above all to challenge themselves.

The child over and over again neglects directions on keeping their feet high in order to enjoy the game, and grows upset knowing they will remain on the same level. The child doesn’t feel a sense of sportsmanship but rather failure every time the ropes abruptly stop and hit the asphalt. So they give up on the game of twirling ropes for something with instant gratification, like a hula hoop that stays close to them, moves when they move, and only drops around them, but can be picked up and ordered into movement by their own control — until the next time they grow tired of the simple hoop, and want something that requires

their undivided attention, competition and a spirit of creation.

Obsession can be the most profitable, humbling and educational sport in any arena, at any age, and is not for the faint of heart. Obsession keeps you active, searching and, in time, can make you rich in many ways.

Like the ropes opening, opportunity comes from obsession and can only be seen with eyes wide open that are fixated on getting in and keeping up. How does obsession make you financially free? When speaking in terms of the American Dream, obtaining a monetary fortune is what people become obsessed with.

This is where people wreck the entire equation. Lack of residual income is the root of all evil.

Money is modern-day slavery, but can be worked in one’s favor, as mobility. The quote “The love of money is the root of all evil” continues to say how men fall for foolish desires and into destruction by longing for money.

Working 40 hours a week for an idea that isn’t yours to get paid by the hour (active income) is foolish, destructive to creativity and is barely mobile. Once all bills are paid, food purchased and the remainder spent on whatever commodity, it’s back at square one, hips working vigorously into the hoop to make sure it stays up. If the hoop falls, or active income is lost, acts of desperation may/will occur.

At any point, active income grows tiring and you want to do something that makes your heart race, makes you feel excited and young again — free. Something on your own time, with the option of endless sick days, vacations and breaks. Something people will appreciate, and that will leave a mark long after your death, whether that’s a form of visual/performance art, design

Obsession with one’s self has a negative connotation that being egotistical will cause one to miss out on life, from being so engulfed by their success.

or any type of craftsmanship.

Become obsessed with yourself, your talents and what you can produce. Obsession with one’s self has a negative connotation that being egotistical will cause one to miss out on life, from being so engulfed by their success. I say that’s how legacies are made. Only let it occupy your mind if it has potential to multiply. Being obsessed means you’re not only unapologetically loving yourself but paying close attention to what makes you happy and expressing whatever passion you have pent up inside of you.

Obsession means around-theclock snooping for canals and bridges of business, building a sustainable, more profitable brand, finding the honesty in yourself, learning new tricks to enhance a skill set. Being fixated means you’re paying attention to trends so you have the timing of business right, or will catch the rhythm once the ropes swing over your head a few times. Obsession equals constant growth, new developments and discoveries.

Once obsession has produced a product/invention or piece of artwork, it can be mass-produced, copyrighted and you make money all over the world. You only had to create the piece once, and now are being paid around the clock for it, the coveted residual income.

Having money around the clock affords you mobility to move and shake as you please and, in turn, creates financial freedom to travel and not work for another’s obsession. It’s said that “obsession is a young man’s sport” because there are levels to this, and you must have the energy to feed the fixation. Each new level will command a deeper, more complex you, and you must be so obsessed to develop yourself to find exactly who that is, within the ropes while keeping your feet up. N Alice Wills is a freelance actress and writer who is working on becoming a personal trainer and building her brand, “WonderLand Workouts.”

Catch her hosting The Philadelphia Independent Film Awards on May 22; more details at AliceWills.com.

The next Youth Supplement will be Sept. 30.

If you are interested in participating, contact editor@epgn.com

SPRING 2016

College GSAs Bucks County Community College — Gay/Straight Alliance: Provides a safe haven for LGBTQA campus community members and works to combat stigma on campus; fratrikc@bucks.edu or altemose@ bucks.edu.

Cabrini College — Sanctuary: Offers affinity groups, peer support and educational activities to promote a greater understanding of the LGBT community.

Chestnut Hill College —

H.E.R.O.: Promotes awareness of and appreciation for the LGBTQQIA community and works to instill a sense of unity between the community and allies; kociszewskim@chc.edu.

Community College of Philadelphia — Gay/Straight

Alliance: Advocates for LGBT inclusion and acceptance on campus with programming and events, and offers resources for LGBT and ally campus communities; scooks1@ccp.edu.

Drexel University —

LGBTQA Student Center: Supports the development, growth and education of Drexel students with a safe and inclusive campus location for the community and allies on campus; Creese Student Center Room 48-C.

Holy Family University

— The Alliance for Student Equality: Works to recognize the respect and dignity of the whole person in support of promoting the development of personal identity and social equality on campus; drafter@holyfamily.edu or mmbobholz@holyfamily.edu.

La Salle University — The Alliance: Pledges to provide a safe place and support for the LGBT members of the community; http://studentaffairs.lasalle. edu/umas/service-opportunities/ advocacy-groups/the-alliance/; alliance.lasalle@gmail.com.

Philadelphia University — Gay/Straight Alliance: Connects LGBT campus community with resources throughout the university and region; caulford4949@ mail.philau.edu or horowitzh@ philau.edu.

Saint Joseph’s University — The Alliance: Fosters open and honest discussion about diversity and LGBT issues and works to affect an environment where homophobia and hatred are replaced by mutual understanding and respect; www.sju.edu/int/ resources/alliance/about.html; gsa@sju.edu.

Temple University — Queer

Student Union: Strives to provide a safe social space to LGBTQIA students while exploring issues relevant to the larger community; https://twitter.com/TempleQSU; nurodney.prad@temple.edu.

University of the Arts — OUT@UArts: Through discussion, cultural events and outreach through art, seeks to make a difference for LGBTQ individuals at UArts and beyond; www.uarts.edu/students/outuarts; cfreeman@uarts. edu.

University of Pennsylvania — LGBT Center: More than 20 undergraduate and graduate LGBT student groups abound at Penn, with meetings and community events held at the Center, 3907 Spruce St.; www. vpul.upenn.edu/lgbtc/; center@ dolphin.upenn.edu; 215-8985044.

University of the Sciences — Alliance: Increases awareness of LGBT issues on campus and provides support for LGBT students, faculty, administration and staff; http://orgs.usciences. edu/alliance/; alliance@mail. usciences.edu.

West Chester University — LGBTQQA Services: Provides information, resources, support and programming for the campus community and is home to the LGBTQA Student Organization; LGBTQA@ wcupa.edu; www.wcupa.edu/_ services/stu.lgb/. N

PGN LGBTQ YOUTH SUPPLEMENT

SPRING 2016

PAGE 3

Cameron Esposito brings her brutally honest humor to the Trocadero Theatre

By Jeremy Rodriguez Age: 25 During a time when politicians and news junkies discuss hot-button topics with anger and disgust, it’s refreshing to sit back and find the humor in controversial issues.

Comedian Cameron Esposito, who many may know from her “Ask A Lesbian” video series on BuzzFeed, recently brought her brutally honest humor to the Trocadero Theatre.

During her Jan. 31 show, Esposito outlined humorous experiences from her life. One of the show’s highlights was when she explained meeting Kristanna Loken, an actress she frequently searched for on Google Images.

She even owned an action figure based on Loken’s character in “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” After sharing a hug with the topless actress at a beach, Esposito ended up using this story in her subsequent shows.

However, things took a turn when Loken attended a show hosted

by Esposito and her wife, Rhea Butcher, who also opened for the Trocadero show. Loken loved the show so much, it prompted her to

ask Esposito out for a drink.

Esposito pointed out why it’s so great to be a married lesbian.

Rather than keeping her date with Loken a secret, Esposito went backstage and squealed about her excitement to Butcher. Her wife ended up saying “I’m in” and joined them.

“You go together ... and talk about it later … in an intimate moment,” Esposito said, to which audiences responded with laughter after each pause in the sentence.

However, Esposito’s show wasn’t all about silly topics. Her discussion of controversial issues gave her stand-up routine some added edginess. Rape was among the topics. During this moment of the show, she mentioned how young men and women are taught to respond to sexual advances differently. While men know to be defensive and put up a fight, women are often taught to giggle and say, “Maybe.” While this may not seem like something one should joke about, Esposito successfully made it into a humorous bit while simultaneously showing the audience how ridiculous society can be for teaching young girls these mixed messages. Finally,

BEST from page 1

for them just as well and comfortably.

After more reading and eventually taking my search to YouTube to see what others thought, I found I was pretty close.

I also came to learn how some, like Ruby Rose of “Orange Is the New Black,” don’t identify as any gender, yet instead feel to be “somewhere in the middle.” “Gender fluidity is not really feeling like you’re at one end of the spectrum or the other,” Rose said in Elle. “… In my perfect imagination [it’s] like having the best of both sexes.”

Sounds like a win-win, right? I mean, who wouldn’t want to live according to their own standards and innate feelings on FRIENDS from page 1

“I think it’s necessary for every community that is shaping young people in general to see a lot of different kinds of people. Any different life experience or struggle is an important one to hear about.”

Some straight students express similar opinions when asked about the influence of out teachers on the community. Another 11th-grader believes these individuals have “strictly a positive effect. It’s limited because I’m straight and cis but many people feel safer and like they have somewhere to go.”

Steve Patterson, an English teacher, believes Friends’ Central’s approach reduces the possibility of a single story about LGBT people

Esposito made sure to emphasize how girls should always say “no” when they are getting unwanted attention. The audience approved this message with enthusiastic applause.

She also used this topic to let the audience know women can enjoy sex as well. This portion of the show is where Esposito showcased her ability to interact with the audience while thinking on her feet. After she mentioned how women want sex, a female audience member agreed and shouted out how she wants it several times a week. Esposito engaged

a daily basis? It’s our individual “recipes” that make us unique and that constantly attract others in the first place. Scrutiny will follow whether your actions are deemed good or bad or indifferent, therefore it’s important to always make decisions for yourself.

After the announcement in January of his new modeling endeavor, Jaden Smith too can be added to the list of people redefining societal norms. Recently, “The Karate Kid” star had been called upon to be the new face of Louis Vuitton’s 2016 Womenswear campaign. Like Bowie, he too has no problem hitting up the women’s department, as do some of his other male counterparts. When

from developing in the community.

“At FCS, there are so many out teachers, each with very different personalities and politics and lives,” Patterson said. “That variation allows people to see how different, how unique we are. It reduces the likelihood of stereotypes. Students respond to us as individuals.”

In many other environments, however, LGBT teachers say they have not felt as welcome.

Courtlandt van Rooten, now a Spanish teacher at FCS, reflected on previous careers, saying, “For most of my life, I knew that if it were known that I was gay, I might very well not get the job ... or keep

in a dialogue with the audience member and, after learning she was actually not having sex several times a week, the comedian suggested she should have sex with herself. Moments later, the same audience member let out a high-pitched giggle and Esposito came up with a hilarious response on the fly — “I think she has already started.”

Additionally, she also brought up the topic of gun control by explaining how she sleeps with a pillow on her chest. If someone breaks into her home, the intruder will stab the pillow and she’ll reach into her side table drawer for a knife. At a previous show, an audience member suggested using a gun instead.

“Here’s the thing, Philadelphia,” Esposito said. “I will not be getting a gun. I do not think we need any more guns.

I don’t even think we’re doing a good job with the guns we already have.”

the presidential election, there was an awkward air of disapproval from some audience members, such as one shouting out “Bernie [Sanders]!”), she never stopped the crowd from having a good time. Even when the audience was silent during the more serious topics, she would consistently say, “I understand you’re taking all of this in,” giving everyone a chance to laugh at typically serious situations.

Overall, Esposito’s show at the Trocadero served as an excellent precursor for her show “Marriage Material,” a two-hour comedy special you can stream now on Seeso. Additionally, “Take My Wife,” a six-episode half-hour single-camera comedy series starring Esposito and Butcher, will air on the streaming platform later this year.

If Esposito’s Trocadero show is any indication, audiences are sure to enjoy hours of entertainment on Seeso. N

While there were times when it seemed like Esposito was pushing a political agenda (for example, after mentioning she would be voting for Hillary Clinton in

Jeremy Rodriguez is a freelance writer and blogger from Eastampton, N.J. Since graduating from Rowan University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he has had work featured in several publications.

the headline first hit, it took a minute to register before it was like, “Oh, OK. That’s cool … different but cool.” It was a proud moment: This dude, though not the first, continued to break barriers regardless of who paid attention. Was he not supposed to appear in the ad because he’s a guy?

Or maybe since it’s the “women’s line,” a female should have been cast, right? It’s evident anything associated with gender roles was overlooked and probably not even a second thought given as this project came to fruition.

In the end, gender fluidity is in fact real and a reality for so many. David Bowie took risks and as a result will be remem-

the job. The first place I have felt truly comfortable and able to be ‘out’ has been at FCS, and it is a remarkable feeling.”

History teacher Layla Helwa described her similar experience.

“I used to work at a charter school in North Philly and I was never out there because I was scared that I would be treated differently by the administrators and I didn’t feel that it was a safe environment for someone to be out,” Helwa said. “Then I came to FCS and saw everyone was out.

Before the school year starts, all the teachers get together and I saw pictures of out teachers and their partners. I could see that I could be comfortable here with who I am

bered for pioneering what now is a lifestyle for many to feel comfort in knowing they too belong. While it may have been misunderstood then, today a vast community has the freedom to explore all aspects of all genders without having to be defined by just the one others perceive, just from what they can see from the outside. In whichever medium one chooses to express his or her fluidness, it’s to be respected, for it’s another additive that makes one unique. N Lucky Fischer is a Philadelphia native and graduate of Temple University with a background in communications/PR. When he’s not working, he’s browsing the latest GQ and updating his blog at revilois.tumblr.com.

without losing my job.”

“I came here 18 years ago as an out teacher and knew I had found a home,” said sexuality educator and chair of the English department Al Vernacchio. “Being able to be out as one of the faculty advisors of the Gender and Sexual Orientation Alliance [our school’s GSA] is such a gift!”

Every community needs to continue to grow, and English teacher Ariel Eure says there is more to be done.

“I’d still like to see the school become more intentional about queer and trans access and representation in the school, especially for queer and trans students and teachers of color.”

Some teachers contend that being out helps them engage on a deeper level with students and colleagues.

“I got engaged over winter break, and upon my return told my class ‘what I did over my vacation,’” van Rooten said. “But the best part was the cheerful applause that I got from my class, their cheerful sharing in my happiness, not to mention the open delight of my colleagues. Being able to live and work as who I am is liberating and affirming in ways that I cannot begin to describe, but for which I give thanks every day.” N Zoe is an 11th grader at Friends Central School.

PGN LGBTQ YOUTH SUPPLEMENT

PAGE 4

SPRING 2016

CELEBRATE THE NATION’S FIRST LARGE-SCALE LIGHT, MUSIC AND INNOVATION FESTIVAL IN BALTIMORE. New, immersive and international, this family-friendly free event and ticketed innovation conference includes the 1.5-mile BGE Light Art Walk, 28 original large-scale works of light art, 50 concerts and 100 performances.

Come be transformed as Baltimore becomes a beacon of light.

BALTIMORE’S INNER HARBOR & BEYOND MARCH 28–APRIL 3, 2016 LIGHTCITY.ORG

“The Pool” by Jen Lewin Photo by Peter Valpiani.

Additional photography by Atelier Mateo M.

Visit lightcity.org to download the Light City App, presented by Kaiser Permanente.

TURN ON THE TAP

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3/22/16 11:55 AM

PGN LGBTQ YOUTH SUPPLEMENT

SPRING 2016

SUBARU IS PROUD TO HOST

ART MUSEUM/FAIRMOUNT Buena Onda Jack’s Firehouse La Calaca Feliz London Grill Rembrandt’s Rose Tattoo Cafe 

CENTER CITY EAST

THURS DAY APR I L 14

DineS Uat a participating BARU IS PROUD TO HOST restaurant on April 14, and 33% of your food bill will benefit local THURSin DAYthe APR Ifight L 14 services against AIDS. EVENT BENEFITS HIV/AIDS PROGRAMS AT ACTIONAIDS • AIDS DELAWARE FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICE OF DELAWARE COUNTY PLANNED PARENTHOOD SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA CAMDEN AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTER





Make an additional donation of $25 or more on April 14 and you will receive a 20% Off Tuesdays card which entitles you to 20% off of your table’s food bill on Tuesday evenings throughout the year at participating restaurants marked with a “.” Excluding holidays.

Not to be combined with other offers.

These restaurants are donating 33% of all food and beverage sales on April 14.

DineOut4LifePHL

@DineOut4LifePHL

#DineOutPhilly

RESTAURANT DETAILS AT

DiningOutForLife.com/Philadelphia

Amis Barbuzzo Barra Rossa Bud & Marilyn’s Caribou Cafe  Cheu Noodle Bar Double Knot El Vez  Franky Bradley’s  Garces Trading Company Giorgio On Pine IndeBlue Jamonera Jones  Knock  Little Nonna’s Lolita Mercato More Than Just Ice Cream Morimoto  Nomad Roman Opa Pennsylvania 6 Sampan Tabu Talula’s Daily  Talula’s Garden  The Tavern Time Tria Cafe Wash West Valanni Varga Bar Vedge Vintage Wine Bar & Bistro ZINC 

CENTER CITY WEST Alma de Cuba  Audrey Claire Barclay Prime  Bellini Grill  Butcher and Singer  Continental Midtown  COOK  The Dandelion  Day by Day El Rey  Good Dog Bar Metropolitan Cafe My Thai  Nineteen Oyster House  Parc  The Prime Rib Seafood Unlimited Square 1682 Tinto Tria Cafe Rittenhouse Tria Fitler Square Tria Taproom Twenty Manning Village Whiskey

CHESTNUT HILL/ MOUNT AIRY Bacio 

MANAYUNK Adobe Cafe Kildare’s Irish Pub

NORTHERN LIBERTIES/ FISHTOWN/KENSINGTON Cedar Point Bar and Kitchen Fette Sau  Frankford Hall  Johnny Brenda’s Loco Pez  Martha North 3rd Restaurant  Silk City Diner  Yards Brewing Company

OLD CITY Amada  Buddakan  Common Wealth  Continental Restaurant  DiNardo’s Famous Seafood Fork  Han Dynasty  Lucha Cartel National Mechanics The Olde Bar Panorama Positano Coast by Aldo Lamberti Race Street Cafe Red Owl Tavern Spasso Italian Grill Zahav

SOCIETY HILL/SOUTH ST. Beau Monde Bistro Romano  Bistrot La Minette Copabanana Hurricane Alley Pizzeria Stella  Serpico 

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA/ EAST PASSYUNK AVE. Adobe Cafe August Bing Bing Dim Sum Brigantessa Fond The Industry Bar  Le Virtu Noord Palladino’s Restaurant Neuf Stargazy Taproom on 19th  Villa Di Roma

UNIVERSITY CITY Distrito Doc Magrogan’s Oyster House Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar Pod  The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College

BUCKS COUNTY Poco’s The Raven Square One Pub

CHESTER COUNTY Cedar Hollow Inn Restaurant and Bar Doc Magrogan’s Oyster House Eclat Chocolate Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar Olive Branch Tapas Restaurant Red Star Craft House Side Bar & Restaurant

DELAWARE COUNTY Broadway Bar & Grille Diego’s Cantina and Tequila Bar La Belle Epoque Wine Bistro Lotus Farm to Table

PAGE 5

Nais Cuisine The Original Clam Tavern Picasso Restaurant and Bar Pinocchio’s Restaurant Riddle Ale House Spasso Italian Grill Sterling Pig Brewery

MONTGOMERY COUNTY Al Dar Bistro Barbacoa of Ardmore Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar Shorty’s Sunflower Cafe  Spring Mill Cafe Trax Restaurant and Cafe Viggiano’s BYOB White Elephant Restaurant 

DELAWARE BBC Tavern and Grill  Cromwell’s American Tavern & Taqueria Doc Magrogan’s Oyster House Pizza by Elizabeth’s Timothy’s of Newark Tutto Fresco Ulysses American Gastropub

SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY Barnsboro Inn Bistro di Marino The Candy Jar Casa Bella Trattoria CousCous Moroccan Cuisine  El Sitio Grill & Café Filomena Cucina Italiana Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar Heart Beet Restaurant Indeblue Indian Cuisine  Keg & Kitchen Kitchen 519  L’Oceano Ristorante Los Amigos - Atlantic City Los Amigos - West Berlin Marino’s Bistro to Go Ms. Nancy’s Place Soulfood Restaurant Newtown Kitchen and Lounge  Norma’s Restaurant  Nunzio Ristorante Rustico Oasis Mexican Grill Pop Shop Collingswood Pop Shop Medford Sabrina’s Café Collingswood Sapori Trattoria Short Hills Restaurant & Deli Steak 38 Café Tejas Grill Lindenwold Tortilla Press Tortilla Press Cantina Tre Famiglia Ristorante  Villa Barone Villari’s Lakeside Restaurant Westmont Bagel Westmont Diner 

FOOD TRUCK POP UP

11am - 2pm 1300 Block of Locust St. Chef Johnny Bravo’s Surf n Turf Chewy’s The Cow and The Curd Cupcake Carnivale Farm Truck Philly Foolish Waffles Gigi’s & Big R Mac Mart Mama’s Meatballs Mom-Mom’s Polish Food Cart Nomad Pizza Truck Oink and Moo BBQ Phoebes BBQ Surf and Turf Truck The Tot Cart

PGN LGBTQ YOUTH SUPPLEMENT

PAGE 6

SPRING 2016

The Fear

GAY BOY FAITH

By Matty Bennett Age: 25

By William Shelton Age: 28

God, grant me one more fourteen-year-old sleepover in which Ben and I share a bed and sleep with our bare chests pressed against one another, hugging through the night.

My smile and excitement turned to disgust and horror when I saw his face. He reached out to hug me but I smacked the palms of his hand away from me. This had to be a trick. It couldn’t be real? Without thinking, I quickly turned around and ran.

My feet sprinted down the dimly lit subway stairs. I flipped my brown hair away from my eyes to see his large athletic frame following me. My heart rapidly pounded against my chest. My body pushed past the dozens of people heading towards the exit.

I made it to the lower level of the subway just as the train entered the station. The noise of the subway overshadowed the footsteps behind me. My eyes glanced up the stairs to see his alluring black eyes.

Before I could step onto the train, the passengers behind me pushed me into the train car. The train doors slammed shut, causing the sound to echo throughout the car. I closed my eyes as my heart began to rest.

As I leaned on the train door, my eyes

Then, grant me a tomorrow in which Ben returns the same: a young man with round cheeks, strong hands, and faith beaming from crooked teeth.

Ben, you look so small from the top of this staircase.

Come sit with me. Ben, why won’t you come up here?

God, I thought maybe I felt you hug me when Ben and I stared at each other for five minutes before my lips finally lunged forward for our first kiss.

God, I thought maybe you smiled that first time I slipped my cold hand up Ben’s shirt and touched his warm back in Spanish class.

reopened to see him standing at the end of the car, smiling with sparkling white teeth. His blue glove-covered hand waved at me.

The blood flowing from my heart stopped every muscle in my body. I couldn’t move until the train jerked, causing my body to turn around. I hurried past the people standing in the aisle.

“Watch where you’re going!” someone yelled.

For every person I pushed out of the way, he moved closer to me. I thrust open the door to the last car. My right foot stepped onto the floor of the last car but the train jerked again as it turned.

My hands grabbed onto the chains that connected the train but the force of the turn caused my body to fall over the chain. I screamed but my fall was interrupted when he grabbed me.

“No, let go of me!” I yelled as he pulled me up.

“Don’t be scared. I know I look different but … ” My teeth bit his hand, causing me to fall onto dusty, muddy tunnel ground as the train left my presence. My lungs continued to inhale

and exhale while the lights flickered above me.

I followed the light towards the next station.

My feet splashed the muddy water onto my shoes. The closer I got to the station, I realized it was him coming closer. I turned around and dashed.

“Come back,” he hollered.

When I turned back to see him, I tripped and fell onto the ground. I quickly picked myself back up but he was standing behind me. My body leaned against the dusty tunnel walls.

He reached into his pocket.

I took my hands out my pocket.

His hands inched closer to me.

My hands thrust him onto the train tracks as I screamed.

The horn of the subway train ricocheted off the walls.

But it was too late.

The train continued to go until it stopped at the next station. I looked down at the ground to see a white envelope. I opened the white envelope slowly to see a picture of me and my sister. N William Shelton graduated from St. Joseph’s University with a master’s in writing studies.

My voice

By Timothy Wayne Moore Age: 28

Ben, this doesn’t have to stop. Please. Don’t make this stop. God loves us, right?

God, please, don’t make this stop.

Matty Bennett is a third-year poet in Virginia Tech’s MFA in creative-writing program.

And take those lessons to help me carry on Others may be confused by the picture But that may be because society Has a hard time handling vulnerability And so pressure from others hovers above As some say my wounds aren’t healing fast enough Supposed to be better than what is The world on my shoulders since I was a kid

Coming face to face with expectation Others wanting my life to go in a certain direction Without helping or guidance through conversation One is supposed to know The path of a hero, without sharing All the scars and tearing that it takes I had to comprehend what I didn’t want

Timothy Wayne Moore is pursuing his master’s degree in leadership and would like to continue discovering himself with creative writing and poetry.

Philadelphia HIV testing sites Center City ActionAIDS 1026 Arch St. 267-940-5515 Mon. 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Tues. 10 a.m.-noon Wed. 1-4 p.m.

Thur. noon-2 p.m.

ActionAIDS North Office 2641 N. Sixth St. 215-291-9700 Third Tuesdays 1-4 p.m.

The Attic Youth Center 55 S. 16th St. 215-545-4331

Mazzoni Center and GALAEI’s Washington West Project 1201 Locust St. Mon.-Thur. 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

Sat. 1-5 p.m.

215-985-9206 Planned Parenthood Elizabeth Blackwell Office 1211 Chestnut St. Suite 405 215-496-9696 Mon.-Wed. 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

Thur. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Fri. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Planned Parenthood Locust Office 1144 Locust St. 215-351-5560 Mon. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

Tues. and Thurs. 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

Wed. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sat. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

William Way LGBT Community Center 1315 Spruce St. 215-732-2220 Mon. 4-7 p.m.

Youth Health Empowerment Project 1417 Locust St., third floor 215-564-6388

South/West Philadelphia CHOP 3550 Market St., fourth floor 215-590-3537 Health Center #3 555 S. 43rd St. 215-685-7504 Health Center #4 4400 Haverford Ave. 215-685-7601/7654 Urban Solutions 1408 S. Broad St., first floor 215-755-0700

North Philadelphia Congreso 216 W. Somerset St. 215-763-8870 Walk-in hours Wednesdays and Thursdays Covenant House Health Services 251 E. Bringhurst St. 215-844-1020 GALAEI 215-851-1822 Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Maria de los Santos Health Center 425 W. Allegheny Ave. 215-291-2500 PHMC Health Connection 1035 W. Berks St. 215-765-6690 Planned Parenthood Far Northeast 2751 Comly Road 215-464-2225 Mon. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Tues. and Thur. 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Wed. and Fri. noon-3 p.m.

Sat. noon-2 p.m.

St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, 3601 A St. 215-427-5000

PGN LGBTQ YOUTH SUPPLEMENT

SPRING 2016

Out of the closet and off to college: A reflection on the past four years

By Sean Morris Age: 18 If you had told me at the end of middle school the person I would become now, a mere four years later, I wouldn’t have believed you. And I don’t mean that in any kind of massive egotism, but merely in how big of a personality shift I have gone through. I was once a shy T-shirt-wearing introvert and now I consider myself to be a sociable, three-piece-suitwearing extrovert. I am quite proud of the change I have gone through and, in no small measure, I think that coming to terms with my identity of being gay helped with that transition.

In my middle-school years, I couldn’t really be out and proud with who I was. I was frequently teased by a number of people who were under the assumption that I was gay — without them even knowing it was true. And because of this teasing, I didn’t really think too much about if I was gay or not because I didn’t want to give the bullies the satisfaction of being right. And while I’d had these feelings for ages, I didn’t really know how to confront them. It wasn’t until the summer after I left middle school that I was able to finally come to terms with myself and with my family that I was gay.

Naturally, when I entered high school, I was nervous. I was nervous that I would be confronted with the same teasing, even more so now that it was official that I was gay. Instead, what I found was a loving, caring and great environment for me to be out.

If I can think of the best lesson I have learned these past four years, and to keep in mind for when I’m going to college, is to be nobody other than your true self. There are more than 7 billion people on this planet, all of whom have different

names, thoughts and identities, but there is only one you. And as a person, you only have so much life on this planet and only have so much time to be who you want — so you shouldn’t be sad and you shouldn’t waste time being somebody else. You are fine as you are.

It’s funny: So many people, from what I’ve heard, probably don’t come out of the closet until they go to college; yet, by the time I go to college, I will have been out for about four years.

And within that time, I have been a member of my school’s Gay Straight Alliance, participated in Pride events in the LGBT community and even helped organize the city’s first youth Pride. I’m curious how many people at my college might go through a similar transformation of identity as I did, and I’m even more curious how my mind will undoubtedly change during my own four years at college. I can only hope so that, at whatever college I do decide to attend, I will be allowed to explore and discover myself the same way I was able to do in high school.

I find that reflection is a powerful tool for being able to see the good and the bad of your past and to use that in preparation for your future. I hope that as I go forward, I can take all the lessons I have learned both inside and outside the school to be able to forge myself into the man I want to become. And I hope that others my own age or anybody really can take the lessons from the past and move on to the future — particularly at this time between high school and college, as we transition from one large part of our lives to another — and let us hope it is for the better. N Sean Morris is a senior at Science Leadership Academy.

Youth Resources ■ The Attic Youth Center 255 S. 16th St.; 215-5454331; atticyouthcenter. org. For LGBT and questioning youth and their friends and allies. Groups meet and activities are held 4-7 p.m. Monday-Tuesday and 4-8:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday.

Case management, HIV testing and smoking cessation are available Monday-Friday. See the Youth section for more events.

■ Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center at the University of Pennsylvania 3907 Spruce St., 215898-5044; center@dolphin.upenn.edu. Regular hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday; noon-6 p.m. Saturday; noon-8 p.m. Sunday. Summer hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Monday-Friday.

■ Rainbow Room — Bucks County’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies Youth Center 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays: Salem UCC Education Building, 181 E. Court St., Doylestown; 215-9577981 ext. 9065 rainbowroom@ppbucks.org.

PAGE 7

Spring Out & About Spring Fling Swing Dance 3-6 p.m. April 3 Alma Mater Restaurant, 7165 Germantown Ave. Musical artist Aaron Paul performs at this swing-dancethemed fundraising event for Fifty Shades of Purple Against Bullying; ow.ly/ZmwoD. Pennsylvania Youth Action Conference 2016 April 8-10 3907 Spruce St. Pennsylvania Youth Congress presents its fifth-annual conference exploring LGBT youth issues. Trans elder Miss Major Griffin-Gracy will serve as the keynote speaker for the event, which will include a special focus on trans women of color.

Registration is $35 until April 6 and includes conference activities, five meals and accommodations; youthactionconference. com.

Shut Up & Dance 7-9 p.m. April 9 Forrest Theatre, 1114 Walnut St. The Pennsylvania Ballet stages its annual fundraiser for Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutritional Alliance, which provides nutritional meals for people with life-threatening illnesses, including HIV/AIDS; www. mannapa.org/dance.

Meeting the Needs of LGBTQ Youth 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. April 10 615 N. Broad St. Phoenix Schneider, director of the LGBTQ Initiative at Jewish Family and Children’s Service, leads a conversation around how to best meet the needs of LGBTQ kids and teens. Topics include terminology, youth support and full LGBTQ inclusion, particularly within Jewish spaces.

Dining Out for Life April 14 Various locations More than 200 restaurants will open their doors to raise funds for people affected by HIV/ AIDS. All you have to do to support the effort is have a meal at one of the participating eateries, which will donate a third of your bill to the beneficiaries: ActionAIDS, AIDS Delaware, Family & Community Service of Delaware County, Camden Area Health Education Center and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania. For a list of participating restaurants, visit www.diningoutforlife.com/ philadelphia.

HEROES 12:30-3:30 p.m. April 17 Hotel Monaco, 433 Chestnut St. DVLF honors LGBT and ally leaders, including a youth honoree, at its annual awards brunch; www.dvlf.org.

David Acosta Revolutionary Leader Award ceremony 6-9 p.m. May 6 Location TBD Staged by GALAEI: A Queer Latin@ Social Justice Organization, the seventh-annual awards ceremony honors a leader in the Latino LGBT community; www.galaei.org.

New Hope Pride Noon May 21 The annual parade takes over the riverside town, followed by a festival featuring vendors, performers and more; www.newhopecelebrates.com.

Courage Game May 29 University of Pennsylvania Youth ages 5-18 are encour-

HEALTH from page 1

make their own,” she said.

Topics covered at the event and in the toolkit include substance abuse, mental health, STDs and violence. Many of these resources are especially useful for LGBT youth.

When asked about how the event could benefit these youth, Dr. Offutt responded, “Certain health issues do affect LGBTQ+ youth in specific ways, and this week can be an opportunity to provide focused education in these areas, like bullying of LGBTQ+ youth, how eating disorders might be different in some teens or the risk of depression or

aged to participate in the second-annual lacrosse tournament, inspired by the coming-out story of local gay lacrosse player Braeden Lange. In addition to the games, the event will feature food, drinks, entertainment and surprise guests. The day is organized by Lange’s nonprofit, The Courage Game, which works to curb bullying. For more information or to register, visit www. couragegame.org.

2016 Philadelphia International Children’s Festival June 2-4 Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St. Enjoy circus, theater, story-telling and music performances for the whole family. Plus, take in the free outdoor FUN ZONE with crafts, activities and performances. Tickets are only $10; www.annenbergcenter.org/ events/childfest.php.

Philadelphia Dyke March 3 p.m. June 11 Kahn Park The 19th-annual march to cal for visibility of the dyke community kicks off with a rally followed by a march through Center City. The event also includes speakers, live entertainment and food; phillydykemarch.com.

Philadelphia Pride Noon-6 p.m. June 12 The annual parade sets off from the Gayborhood headed toward Penn’s Landing, where the festival will offer live entertainment, food and networking opportunities with dozens of community organizations, artisans, companies and other vendors; www. phillygaypride.org. N

addiction in teens that are not accepted for who they are.”

In this age where social media has such a large impact on society, having such a resource where teens can interact with their peers and certified professionals about health and identity is paramount.

It can create an outlet for support and learning without bias or judgment. N Shauna Longshore is a sophomore at the State College of Florida. She is studying communications and is an editor at her school’s literary magazine, Elektraphrog.

PGN LGBTQ YOUTH SUPPLEMENT

PAGE 8

Looking forward to Philly Youth Pride

By Matty Bennett Age: 25 Last summer, Mazzoni Center organized the first-annual Philly Youth Pride event, which consisted of live performances, workshops and a fun, inclusive atmosphere. The planning for this year’s event is in full swing, and the goal is to make it even better than last year.

Anthony Leon, Youth Education Manager at Mazzoni Center, who helped with the planning of the first Pride, said there were a lot of successes at last year’s event.

“The fact that it actually happened was a success. It had been planned and proposed for about two years, so it was super that the Mazzoni Center decided to put it on,” Leon said. “We were able to attract a younger audience, and the drag show was also a big success because we were able to get a bunch of young performers.”

Last year, the event took place July 5 on 13th Street, between Locust and Spruce, the same day of the block party celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Annual Reminders. This year, Leon is looking to improve Philly Youth Pride in terms of location, when the event takes place and the

entertainment.

“One big difference is that we’re going to have it in a much different space. This summer, the goal is to have it in a parktype environment, but we want to make it so that a young person can get off the train and not walk more than a couple of blocks.

Anther difference is that this year there will be no sit-down lectures; it will just be an event for young people to come to

“Philly is a big enough, vibrant city, and we should have a Youth Pride of our own. We have a large LGBT population here that deserves to celebrate who they are at home.” with music, activities and to get people out to be themselves and enjoy each other’s company in a safe environment.”

Leon is hoping that the event will take place sometime in mid-

GLBT Group of Hunterdon County Social and support groups for youth, teens and young adults, as well as parents and family members, meets at North County Branch Library, 65 Halstead St. in Clinton, N.J. Schedule at www. glbtofhunterdoncountyofnj.com; 908-3001058.

HAVEN For GLBT, intersex, questioning, queer and allied youth ages 14-20; meets 7-9 p.m.

Wednesdays at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley, 424 Center St., Bethlehem; 610-868-2153.

HiTOPS A safe-space support program for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth, meets 2:30-4:30 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays at 21 Wiggins St., Princeton, N.J. Call Connie at 609-683-5155 (day); hitops.org.

PRYSM Youth Center For youth ages 14-20. Meets 6:30-8:30 p.m Wednesdays at center, 126 East Baltimore Pike, Media; 610-357-9948.

to late August before school starts, mainly because there are no major holidays or events during that time, and there’s not a lot going on in terms of Pride events. This will make it easier for young people to attend, which is an important goal for the event.

“Philly Youth Pride is important because a lot of events either have a cost associated or there is alcohol consumption. Philly Youth Pride creates a space for young people to come together.

They can be authentic to who they are, celebrate who they are and they can learn more from each other,” Leon said.

Leon said Philly Youth Pride isn’t just an important event for young people, but for the entire city of Philadelphia.

“Philly is a big enough, vibrant city, and we should have a Youth Pride of our own. We have a large LGBT population here that deserves to celebrate who they are at home.”

To learn more about the Philly Youth Pride event, or if you are interested in performing at the event, contact Anthony Leon at aleon@mazzonicenter.org. N Matty Bennett is a third-year poet in Virginia Tech’s MFA in creative-writing program.

Rainbow Room — Bucks County’s LGBTQ and Allies Youth Center For ages 14-21; meets 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays at Salem UCC Education Building, 181 E. Court St., Doylestown; 215-957-7981 ext. 9065; rainbowroom@ppbucks.org.

Social X Change Social activity group for LGBT youth of color ages 13-23 meets 6-8 p.m. on Tuesdays at 112 N. Broad St., 11th floor; 215-496-0330.

Space to be Proud, Open, and Together Open to all LGBTQ queer youth and allies, ages 14-21, the SPOT meets Thursdays, 6:308:30 p.m., at Planned Parenthood of Chester County’s West Chester office, 8 S. Wayne St.; 267-687-6648.

Young, Trans and Unified A support group for transgender and questioning youth ages 13-23 meets 7:15 p.m.

Thursdays at The Attic Youth Center.

Youth Making a Difference For GLBTQ African-American and Latino youth ages 14-24. Meets 5-7 p.m. every Tuesday at Camden AHEC, 514 Cooper St.; 856-963-2432.

SPRING 2016

Are you between ages 14-18?

Apply for a paid internship at The Attic this summer!

The Attic is now accepting applications for its summer internship program. The Attic’s internship program empowers LGBTQ youth and youth allies to work toward safety and visibility for LGBTQ youth in Philly.

This opportunity is specifically for youth who are Philadelphia residents between the ages of 14-18.

The internship is for six weeks, from early July to mid-August.

Interns work 20 hours a week, Monday-Thursday, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.. They are paid $7.25 an hour. To apply, please set up a time to come to The Attic and fill out an application.

More information can be found at www.atticyouthcenter.org.

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

Family Portrait Get Out and Play Out & About Q Puzzle Scene in Philly

Page Page Page Page Page

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35 38 38 42 37

PAGE 39

Reverse COWGIRL Quince’s first ‘Rodeo’

By Larry Nichols larry@epgn.com LGBT-centric theater group Quince Productions is back in the saddle with its latest show, “Rodeo,” April 7-23 at Walnut Street Theatre.

Written by Phillip Dawkins, the play is somewhat of a departure for Quince, as it is a family-friendly boot-stomping hootenanny of a comedy about a cowgirl, Cody, and her trusty mule, who have to pass themselves off as a cowboy and a horse in the quest to compete in rodeos.

“It was written for a bunch of junior high-school students to perform after school,” Dawkins said about the play. “It takes its inspiration from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ and also Aaron Copland’s ‘Rodeo.’ ‘As You Like It’ is my favorite Shakespeare play and I thought ‘Rodeo’

would make a good play because it’s a wonderful ballet. So doing a mash-up of those things was my inspiration.”

Dawkins said the work allows families to open up conversation about gender boundaries.

“This play for kids

RODEO WRANGLERS: Michael E. Manley (left top), Jenna Pinchbeck (middle top, bottom left), Katherine Perry (top right, bottom right) and Dexter Anderson (bottom middle) in Quince Production’s “Rodeo.” Photos: John Donges definitely questions gender roles and sexuality in a way that is approachable for the whole family to have discussion around it,” h e

said.

Jenna Pinchbeck, who plays Cody, said the character is trying to pave the way for people, like her, who don’t want to conform to gender roles.

“She’s 100-pecent resilient,” Pinchbeck said. “She fights for what’s right, not only for herself, but for humanity. She’s working hard to raise money to start a school for misunderstood cowgirls because when she was growing up, she was misunderstood and she wants to help the girls who are living that same life and have had the same difficulties she had. She’s riding around the country trying to find that next rodeo she can win so she can get that prize money to start that school.

And she always wins. She’s won every rodeo she’s been in so far.”

PAGE 34 The play is especially

34

FEATURE PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

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MANLEY AND PINCHBECK RODEO from page 33

timely considering the controversies frequently arising nationwide about female and trans inclusion in sports traditionally dominated by cisgender males.

“I can’t ever remember a time when that hasn’t been a debate, unfortunately,” Dawkins said. “I don’t know why it’s still a debate, talking about what people of any gender can’t do. It’s a sad argument to hear played out over and over. Kids have way less judgment around this stuff. Kids have to be told or taught these incorrect things about gender, these social things we decided to make up as a society about what gender is. If you don’t teach them that and you don’t instill that in them at a young age, then they are not going to think that. This is a play that hopefully helps kids form their own questions about what they think gender is.”

“It’s such a wonderful message because these are huge issues, especially in the school system,” Pinchbeck added. “Kids aren’t given the opportunity to find what they are good at. When you are a kid, it’s a parent’s responsibility that you make sure you allow your kids to do whatever they can in school so they can figure out what direction they want to go in the long run.

If we’re not allowing little girls and transgender students to participate in sports or any extracurricular activity, it’s really going to hinder their growth. There’s a great message and it’s really well-balanced.”

“Rodeo” is a comedy at its core, so it offers lots of fun and laughs to go along with that message.

“The writing is done so well that it doesn’t shove anything down the audience’s throat,” Pinchbeck said. “It’s delicately written in a sense that there are notes of feminism and equality and all that, but it’s written so well that the characters have so much heart. They are trying to be the best they can be. Everyone is liv-

ing true to their goals and what they want to achieve in the show. [The show] knows what it is. It’s silly fun. There’s a little bit of satire in there as well and it’s a little offthe-wall.”

“It’s definitely a comedy and can live in a place of a camp aesthetic,” Dawkins added. “It owes a lot to vaudeville or something like ‘Hee Haw.’ If there’s a fart joke to be made, it’s going to make it. I think that’s part of what makes it family-friendly. The themes are deep and real. It’s exploring stuff that people from 3 years old to 60 years old deal with. But it does it in a way that is going to include a laugh and a smile for people of all ages.

Plus, there’s a lot of people playing horses and mules.”

“Definitely the animals are having a blast getting to know how they are going to put the physicality into the horses and the mules,” Pinchbeck added. “And as the human characters, we have a lot of fun riding on our mules and our horses.”

There’s also an unexpected romance to go with the comedy hijinks when Cody find herself falling for her cowboy rival and current rodeo champion.

“She’s never had feelings like this for anyone,” Pinchbeck said. “He may have but certainly not for anyone like Cody, who’s a tomboy. When she ends up dressing like a man and he starts to have feelings for her as a person, what it boils down to is what we’re striving for, in that humanity is equality and people love people. It doesn’t matter who or what or where or when, if someone loves someone, it shouldn’t matter anything other than the human spirit. It’s a hysterical balance but it’s a beautiful message.” n Quince Production presents “Rodeo” April 7-23 at Walnut Street Theatre’s Studio 5, 825 Walnut St. For more information or tickets, call 215-627-1088 or visit www. quinceproductions.com.

PROFILE PGN

Family Portrait

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

35

Suzi Nash

Seán Curran: From Irish influence to world-renowned dancer Seán Curran has been dancing since he was a wee lad. After several years as a lead dancer with the renowned Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company, he struck out and started Seán Curran Company in 1997. Since then, the group has traveled the United States and the globe performing and teaching a wide repertoire of dance.

This weekend, Curran brings his company to Philadelphia to perform two exciting works for NextMove Dance Presents.

We caught up with the delightful Curran on tour.

PGN: Give me the 411 on Seán Curran.

SC: I’m an Irish-American guy, born in Boston. My parents were immigrants. I grew up doing Irish step dancing, which was how I made my way to dance. I spent my formative dance years with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. I spent four years with the New York original cast of “STOMP.” Then it was time for me to do my own thing, so I started my company and we’ve been going strong for almost 20 years, which is remarkable because it sometimes seemed like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill every day only to have it roll down the next day. But I love making dances and collaborating with dancers.

I love giving dancers a place to dance and to earn a little money. I’m certainly not able to pay a living wage or pay them yearround but I do my best.

PGN: Tell me a little about your dancing.

SC: I’m happiest when I’m responding to music. Music is like a best friend in a way.

I’m not a musician, but I’m a music-driven choreographer. I’m 54 so the identity is changing; I was a performer, then I was a performer/choreographer, performing with a company then forming a company. Now I perform less, though I will be dancing in Philadelphia.

PGN: Let’s go back to little Seán in Boston. Were you shy or were you always an extrovert?

SC: I was pretty extroverted and the reason that my mother took me to Irish step dancing was one, because I was a hyperactive kid and two, an aunt — the one who paid my mother’s way over from Ireland — told her, “You should take him over to step lessons. It’ll knock some of the taspy out of him,” taspy being an Irish word for energy. So Saturday mornings, we went to a VFW hall — it was a dollar a lesson — and learned jigs. My mom was really smart; after dinner, after we made tea and did the dishes, she’d send us to my sister’s bedroom where the record player was.

She’d set a baking timer for an hour and we’d have to practice our steps and reels and hornpipes for that hour. I thought, Our mom loves us, she wants us to be really good, but later she told me, “I just wanted

you tired out so you’d go to bed!” I was a pretty over-the-top kid. I went to parochial school and I decided I wanted to be a nun, go figure. Then I decided that I should be a Christian brother. I became quite pious and prayed all the time, didn’t miss a day of school through all of fifth grade and got this red leather box with a ribbon on it. I was happy until I opened it and it was a crucifix. That was a disappointing gift so that was the end of that. Then I asked my parents to send me to public school. I was being teased a lot and for some reason I thought it would be better at public school.

It wasn’t.

PGN: Why were you being teased?

SC: Well, I was gayer than pink tea, as the British say.

PGN: Was being first generation ever a problem? I know at one time the Irish were victimized as the unwanted immigrant.

SC: No, the biggest worry for my sister and I was what to do if something happened to our parents. Would we have to take their bodies back to Ireland or could they be buried here? As a kid, I always felt there was something special about being first generation, that my parents were from another place. Every other summer we’d go “home,” as they called it. They called my father Mr. Ireland; he was more Irish than most of the people still living there.

My father had Aunt Mary and my mother had Aunt Sally, who paid their way over on the condition that they get a job and save money to bring the next wave of family over. As an adult, I learned that they told my parents, “Our people are maids and nannies and janitors” but, to my parents’ benefit, they said no to that. My father went to night school and worked his way up to be able to buy a single-family house and live the American dream. I remember the day they got their citizenship and how proud we all were. Now, being IrishCatholic, I experienced a lot of homophobia. When I was 11 or 12 and started getting an inkling of what was going on with me, my first thought was, Oh, how am I going to find an Irish boyfriend? I thought the only way my parents would continue to love and accept me was if I could find a nice Irish boy.

PGN: What did they do?

SC: My dad came here when he was 15 and he mowed lawns, shoveled snow, worked at a grocery store, drove a bread truck — anything he could do to make some money. He wound up as an account VP at what would have been called a food brokerage, something like that. The company car was a station wagon and he’d schlep cases of stuff like Green Giant vegetables or Skippy peanut butter to the stores. He wasn’t athletic but he loved

soccer and organized Irish soccer leagues.

But what he really loved was a weekly Irish radio program he hosted called “The Sound of Erin with John Curran.” My mom was pretty much a stay-at-home mom until we were older and then she worked at a Hallmark card shop. She had what they called “mother’s hours,” from about 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

PGN: Often a boy’s interest in dance is looked upon as a sissy thing. Do you think being able to enter through a cultural route made it any easier?

SC: Well yes. The weird progression is that my sisters and I danced in St. Patrick’s Day parades and parties, weddings and we competed in what’s called a feis, which is a Gaelic word for festival. We were pretty good. My father loved the Irish dancing, but in high school I discovered musical theater. I had a great English teacher who directed all the musicals; she’s in her 90s and we still exchange Christmas cards.

She asked me to choreograph “Bye Bye

Birdie,” and I asked her what that meant.

I didn’t even know the word so she just told to make up dances for the show. I watched a lot of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and used mostly Irish jigs to choreograph “Bye Bye Birdie” but she didn’t care and I didn’t know any better! The following year, she hired a choreographer so that I could learn how it was really done.

She was a great teacher. When I went to college, I studied acting, thinking I was going to be the next Ben Vereen or Joel

Grey, but I was 17, gay and away from home. I had a blue mohawk and was not exactly the all-American boy type they were looking for. A teacher told me that I should audition for those “weirdos” in the modern-dance department, so I did. When I told my parents that I was transferring from drama to modern dance, they weren’t thrilled. Later when my father came to see me with Bill T. Jones — which was very fist-in-the-air political — he’d turn around to the people behind him and say [with a thick Irish brogue], “Did ja happen to get any o’ that? ’Cause it went right over me head.” It was a great conversation starter.

I’d say, “Dad, you go to church but to me this is where I make sense out of a chaotic universe and here you are talking to strangers about issues. That’s art doing its job.”

I toured the world with Bill T., which he was proud of, but it was “STOMP,” the big commercial hit, that he really loved. And he loved seeing the Seán Curran Company and our nonprofit, Curran Events, Inc. One thing I’m really proud of is that I graduated from NYU and was named the chair of the dance department before he died. But we went through fire. I hated him as a little boy but in the end he was proud.

PGN: So, ever have to perform “STOMP” with a headache or hangover?

SC: Well, another part of my story is that I’m 22 years sober! I spent 10 years with Jones/Zane seeing friends all around me dying of AIDS. It was a time when you wanted to stay numb and I wound up in rehab. I got the job with “STOMP” just after I got sober. [Laughs] They called the Sunday matinee “The Hangover Show,” and at the time sex, drugs and rock and roll were rampant.

People would sweat and it smelled like a brewery backstage, but I somehow stayed sober through it all. I was the first gay “STOMP”er and I’d get notes like, “A little more working-class, Mr. Curran.” Which meant, “not so gay.” But they were really proud to have a diversified cast.

PGN: I read that you were a cultural ambassador during a tour of Central Asia.

Was there certain protocol you had to follow?

SC: Yes, we went to D.C. for briefings.

We were travelPAGE 42

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PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

The

Since 1976

PGN Guide to the Gayborhood

The Philadelphia Gayborhood is roughly centered at 12th and Camac streets. Look for the rainbow street signs at intersections and remember to be aware of your surroundings wherever you go.

Boxers

1330 Walnut St. facebook.com/ boxersphl Sports bar with multiple plasma tvs, pool table, brick oven, djs

❍

<—

❍

Rosewood

Tabu

Woody’s

1302 Walnut St. 215.336.1335 rosewood-bar.com Cozy, panelled bar with dj and high-end cocktails

200 S. 12th St. 215.964.9675 tabuphilly.com Sports bar / drag shows and bar food

202 S. 13th St. 215.545.1893 woodysbar.com American-style bar food and large dance floor

❍ ❍

The Bike Stop

Four-level leather bar; basement enforces a dress code; secondfloor pool table and big-screen sports action

Walnut St. Chancellor St.

❍

❍

St. James St.

❍ Locust St.

the

Come To The CabareT 1412 Chestnut st. • PhiladelPhia, Pa 19102

Therrazzroom.com 215-422-4580

April 2

April 8

and tHE All StAr JAZZ trio “Songs a la king” new cd!

“divorced – dangerous & divalicious!”

PEggy KIng

April 9

America’s Favorite dragapella Beautyshop Quartet

THE

KInSEy SICKS

“Electile dysfunction!”

MAy 13

Star of the films “M*A*S*H” and “Back to School”

SAlly KEllERMAn

“A littlE JAZZ, A littlE BlUES, A littlE rock And roll”

RAIn PRyOR

MAy 6 & 7

MicHElE BAlAn

April 15

london’s Queen of cabaret! First Ever Visit to the USA!

KInSEy SICKS “Electile dysfunction!”

Sings her Songs

April 16

April 29

“Still Sick And Wrong”

liVE At reno Sweeney w/ Jeffrey Johnson as Edie Beale

MISS HOPE SPRIngS...

EdIE BEAlE

11th St.

Quince St.

❍

U Bar 1220 Locust St. 215.546.6660

Relaxing corner bar, easy-going crowd, popular for happy hour and window watching

Tavern on Camac

Stir Lounge

America’s Favorite dragapella Beautyshop Quartet

VICKIE SHAW

A resource for all things LGBT

1221 St. James St. 215.735.5772 voyeurnightclub.com After-hours private club; membership required

ElAynE BooslEr

Therrazzroom.com 888-596-1027

THE

1315 Spruce St. 215.732.2220 waygay.org

Voyeur

West of Broad Street

385 West Bridge st. • neW hoPe, Pa 18938

April 8

William Way LGBT Community Center

MAy 15

“doUBlE tHE FUn”

Manning St.

Spruce St.

TOMMy TUnE “tAPS, tUnES And tAll tAlES” & last comic Standing Finalist

❍

❒ ❒

tony Award lifetime Achievement recipient

All-time comedy great

Latimer St.

12th St.

<—

Camac St.

13th St.

Juniper St.

❍

1705 Chancellor St. 215.732.2700 stirphilly.com Fun two-bar lounge, DJ in the back, regular poker games and specials

255 S. Camac St. 215.545.8731 Piano lounge with upstairs dance floor; Tavern restaurant in the basement.

Knock 225 S. 12th St. 215.925.1166 knockphilly.com Fine -dining restaurant and bar with outdoor seating (weather permitting)

ICandy

254 S. 12th St. 267.324.3500 clubicandy.com Three floors with a total of six bars; dance floor, lounge and rootop deck.

The Attic Youth Center

255 S. 16th St. 215.545.4331 atticyouthcenter.org Safe space and programs for LGBTs age 16-23 weekday afternoons and evenings

Pa. bars close at 2 a.m. unless they have a private-club license. Please drink responsibly.

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

37

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

Get Out and Play

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT LISTINGS PGN

Scott A. Drake

Fields and courts: the political and legal ones As ripples of hate in pockets of the country swell into waves of statewide bigotry, it’s clear the LGBTQI community again has to prepare for another battle with the evil empire rallying under the guise of religion. As mind-boggling as it is, some self-identified “Christians” are still raising their offspring to be intolerant, racist bigots created in their own image and are leading another crusade to eradicate anyone who makes them feel icky.

Which begs the question: Why do people say they belong to a loving, all-encompassing sect of acceptance when they continue to pass down their personal disgusts (and disgusting) behaviors? That may be a philosopher’s question for the ages.

As politicians in Georgia, North Carolina and other states, counties and cities exert enormous efforts to de-citizen all of the harmless LGBTQI people who are simply looking to be treated with the same respect and dignity as everyone else, one might feel that things will never change. Indeed, one can go back through decades of press and politics and find that the same hatred of the 1900s has flowed almost uninterrupted into the 21st century. The only difference now is that we’ve had a few splashes of judicial clarity.

We live in a state that is just as backwards as the worst offenders.

Many of us are fortunate, however, to live in Philadelphia, the top-ranked LGBT-friendly city in the United States by the Human Rights Campaign. We take it for granted that we can organize softball, flag football, kickball or darts leagues and can be treated just as fairly as any other group who might do the same. We can get married and adopt children and take them to Little League with two moms or two dads.

We have the luxury of having had gay softball and bowling leagues in our city going on 30 years, with wrestling, swimming and running groups soon after.

Now we have almost 20 different competitive and recreational teams and leagues that run the gamut from those pioneers to dodgeball, volleyball, soccer and rugby.

But if you don’t live in one of

the 33 cities, counties or communities in this state that have passed equal-rights legislation — something else that boggles the mind; that it is even necessary to have such laws so that every Pennsylvanian is treated equally — then you risk being evicted or fired or even beaten to within a breath of death with little to no recourse.

The saddest part of all is that, at this time in history, there are legislators who are actively working to remove rights and protections from cities by passing counter laws at the state level. In North Carolina now, it doesn’t matter what legal protections, rights and equality measures your local municipality has passed: The state says if you’re LGBTQI, you’re an unwanted second-class pseudo-citizen and they would rather you just left the state.

Fortunately, even though the pols in office there were able to knuckle-drag their way into the capitol for this historically infamous vote, much of the rest of the country has already declared war on our behalf. At this writing, more than a dozen major companies, including American Airlines, which has a hub in Charlotte; Dow Chemical, Apple and IBM had declared their opposition. The mayor of San Francisco has terminated all employee travel to the state.

On the sports front, both the National Basketball Association and National Collegiate Athletic Association have vigorously opposed the new legislation and are declaring that this battleground for equal treatment is not welcoming to all-star or playoff games for either group. That’s serious economic business to a state that holds basketball (and football) as part of its holy grail.

What comes of these announcements is still to be seen. It’s one thing to pronounce disdain for actions, another to follow through. But there is no reason not to believe that either group will back down to any cozying up the state may try to do.

Don’t be fooled. North Carolina may be the most visible antagonist today, but it wouldn’t take much for the Pennsylvania

Republicans to try to follow suit.

Our only saving grace in our commonwealth right now is having an intelligent, fair, citizen-loving governor who would never let that happen. Even after the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the North Carolina law, there will still be some stigma left just from the tsunami of public outcry. Blatant hatred like this is remembered long, long after the wrong is righted.

But imagine if something similar to North Carolina’s self-inflicted foot wound happened here.

Suddenly Philadelphia would be taken off the table for NCAA March Madness games and Major League Baseball would give us a blank stare if we pitched having the All-Star Game here again.

Add to that, scores of businesses and entertainers would make us the latest pariah and suddenly we’re not such a hot destination for tourism.

This should give us all pause to reflect on how we live in this precarious pocket of sanity in our City of Brotherly Love. We play on the backs of those who dug in their heels years ago and who created this safe playing atmosphere by working with our community, our city council and our parks department. Election cycles give us a chance to improve, correct, direct and strengthen our communities but they also give other people a chance to break, bend, coerce and destroy them. If we want to be both out and safe, statewide acceptance, rights and protections are imperative.

How much is our right to play in Philadelphia worth? Even more importantly, what are we willing to do to enable the rest of the communities in our state to have the same rights, privileges and opportunities that we enjoy here?

Not everyone in Pennsylvania has the right to just get out and play without the dark cloud of prejudice and bigotry potentially threatening their lives just for being on a gay sports team.

And that’s a mark in the loss column for all of us. n Send your sports ideas, questions, concerns, event lists and cheerleader photos to scott@epgn.com.

MEET THE DRESS: Outrageously funny “drag-a-pella” group The Kinsey Sicks gets political with its new show “Electile Dysfunction” 7:30 p.m. April 8 at The Rrazz Room, 385 W. Bridge St., New Hope. For more information or tickets, call 888-596-1027.

Theater & Arts Arts & Literature Allowed to Love Muse Gallery presents an exhibition

by Philadelphia artist Carolyn Cohen featuring a series of portraits of activists, artists and others within the LGBT community, April 1-30, 52 N. Second St.; 215-627-5310.

Beautiful: The Carole King Story The Tony Awardwinning story of the successful songwriter runs through April 3 at Kimmel’s Academy of Music, 250 S. Broad St.; 215-790-5800.

Breaking Ground: Printmaking in the U.S., 1940– 1960 Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition exploring the variety of ways in which artists in the 1940s and ’50s pushed the boundaries of printmaking through July 24, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215763-8100.

Drew Lynch The comedian seen on “America’s Got Talent” performs through April 2 at Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St.; 215-496-9001.

Freckleface Strawberry: The Musical The musical based on the children’s book about a young girl learning to love the skin that she’s in, through April 16 at Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St.; 215-574-3550.

The Hateful Eight The Quentin Tarantino film is screened 8 p.m.

April 4 at the Trocadero Theatre, 1003 Arch St.; 215922-6888.

Holly Trostle Brigham: Sisters and Goddesses The Michener Art Museum hosts an exhibition of works

by Philadelphiabased artist Trostle Brigham, featuring seven self-portraits in which she takes the guise of artists

of the past, through May 26, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown; 215-340-9800.

International Pop Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition chronicling pop art’s emergence as a global movement, migrating from the United Kingdom and the United States to Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Japan, through May 16, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215763-8100.

Look Closer: The Work of Michael Newman and Stuart Alter The William Way LGBT Community Center presents a special exhibition of abstract paintings through April 29, 1315 Spruce St.; 215-732-2220.

Meredith Rainey Dance: (In) Visible Dance Affiliates and the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

PGN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT LISTINGS

Work on What You Love: Bruce Mau Rethinking Design Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition of designs by the acclaimed commercial artist through April 3, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215-7638100.

Halestorm and

Music BETTER HAVE HER MONEY!: Pop/R&B superstar Rihanna brings her Anti-World Tour to Philly when she performs 7:30 p.m. April 3 at Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call 215-389-9543.

present the dance company founded

by Philadelphia choreographer and former Pennsylvania Ballet soloist April 1-2 at Harold Prince Theatre, 3680 Walnut St.; 215898-3900.

David Cross: Making America Great Again!

The comedian and actor performs 7:30 p.m. April 3 at Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St.; 215-893-1999.

Neil Simon’s Rumors Bristol Riverside Theatre presents the classic farce through April 17, 120 Radcliffe St.; Bristol; 215-3131575.

Philadelphia in Style: A Century of Fashion The Michener Art Museum hosts a display of approximately 30 dressed forms and additional accessories spanning a century of high fashion through June 26, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown; 215340-9800.

Picture This: Contemporary Photography and India Philadelphia Museum of Art presents the work of four contemporary photographers for whom India is an important subject or setting through April 3, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215763-8100.

Plays of/for a Respirateur Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an installation by Joseph Kosuth that includes a selection of his work along with a group of seminal works by Marcel Duchamp through fall, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215-763-8100.

Peter and the Starcatcher Walnut Street Theatre presents the grown-up prequel to “Peter Pan,” through May 1, 825 Walnut St.; 215-574-3550.

Rain Pryor The comedian performs 8 p.m.

April 8 at The Rrazz Room at the Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut St.; 215-442-4580.

Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn The Philadelphia Orchestra performs selections from these composers through April 2 at Kimmel’s Verizon Hall, 260 S. Broad St.; 215-790-5847.

That Voice: A Tim Curry Burlesque Celebration Cherie Sweetbottom, Mina Corbeau, Moxie LaBouche, Murphy Lawless and Silver Kitsune perform a burlesque show 8 p.m. April 3 at the Trocadero Theatre, 1003 Arch St.; 215-9226888.

Lita Ford The femalefronted rock bands perform 7:30 p.m. April 1 at Santander Arena, 700 Penn St., Reading; 610-8987469.

Disturbed The hard-rock band performs 8 p.m. April 2 at TLA, 334 South St.; 215-922-1011.

Peggy King The singer performs with her jazz trio 8 p.m.

April 2 at The Rrazz Room at the Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut St.; 215-442-4580.

Andrew Bird The singer-songwriter performs 8 p.m. April 4 at the Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St.; 215-627-1332.

The Cult The rock band performs 8:30 p.m. April 8 at the Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St.; 215-627-1332.

Notices Send notices at least one week in advance to: Out & About Listings, PGN, 505 S. Fourth St., Philadelphia, PA 19147 fax: 215-925-6437; or e-mail: listings@epgn.com.

Notices cannot be taken over the phone.

Nightlife Happy Bear The bear-themed happy hour, 5-9 p.m. April 1 at Tabu, 200 S. 12th St.; 215-964-9675.

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

39

Bowie producer returns icon to Philly

Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret: Rite of Spring The Philly drag queen celeb performs 8-11 p.m. at Fringe Arts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd.; 215-413-1318.

Lydia’s Birdcage Lydia Kuntmoore hosts a drag show 9 p.m.-2 a.m. April 8 at Tabu, 200 S. 12th St.; 215-9649675.

Outta Town Diana Ross The legendary R&B diva performs 8 p.m. April 1 at the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa Event Center, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City, N.J.; 609-317-1000.

The Burning The summer-camp slasher flick is screened 9:45 p.m.

April 1 at The Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville; 610917-1228.

Stan Wade’s The Trammps The classic disco band performs 7:30 p.m. April 2 at The Rrazz Room, 385 W. Bridge St., New Hope; 888-5961027.

Yanni The world-famous singer performs 8 p.m. April 2 at the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa Event Center, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City, N.J.; 609-317-1000. n

By A.D. Amorosi PGN Contributor It’s no secret that David Bowie loved Philadelphia.

He saw some of his earliest live-performance successes as the androgynous, gender-bending, bisexual, glam-rock hero Ziggy Stardust at Upper Darby’s Tower Theater in 1972 and ‘73; he made himself a fixture at other local clubs such as Artemis. A year later, as a Diamond Dog, he would return to Upper Darby shorn (mostly) of the glitter for the rough-edged concert recording of “David Live.” Several months after his time in Darby, he would return again, only this time for sessions at North 12th Street’s Sigma Sound Studio for the plastic soul of “Young Americans.”

“David loved Philly, I don’t need to tell you that,” said Tony Visconti, the producer beside Bowie on many of his finest albums — from the aforementioned works to 1970s “The Man Who Sold the World,” the experimental Berlin period of “Low, Heroes and Lodger” and the final four albums of Bowie’s life, including “Blackstar,” released earlier this year, just days before his passing.

On April 2, Visconti’s Holy Holy will appear at the Tower Theater in tribute to Bowie’s hard-rock classics.

Visconti and Ziggy Stardust’s Spiders from Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey were last in the Philadelphia area when they played Phoenixville as Holy Holy, an ensemble dedicated to playing “The Man Who

Sold the World” — the first album of Bowie’s that both Woodmansey and Visconti played upon (the latter as bassist and producer) — and other early Bowie rockers. The album was never played live as, shortly after its release, Bowie began work on the flighty pop of “Hunky Dory,” then Ziggy. “‘The Man Who Sold the World,’ however, is where we heard so many of Ziggy’s themes,” Visconti said, referring to Stardust’s twilight sexuality, nihilistic tendencies and other space-face oddities.

For the uninitiated (and there are many, as the album hardly dented U.K. or U.S. charts upon release), “The Man Who Sold the World” is famous in the Bowie catalogue for its original cover. This is the one where the singer is reclining across a velvet chaise lounge in a cream and blue satin “man’s dress” designed by famed British fashion designer Michael Fish. With his long bleached-blonde locks, a coquettish pout, that dress and that pose — all inspired by a pre-Raphaelite painting

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti — Bowie’s interest in exploiting his androgyny was on full display.

Holy Holy played in Phoenixville the Friday after Bowie’s sudden passing, a tough task considering everyone in the band — Visconti in particular — were broken-hearted.

“We considered stopping the tour as we were in Toronto at the time,” said the bassist/ producer, “but we kept going and asked PAGE 42

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

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Coming out just one element of riveting journey in ‘Take Me to the River’

By Gary M. Kramer PGN Contributor “Take Me to the River,” opening April 1 at Ritz at the Bourse, is straight writer/ director Matt Sobel’s auspicious debut feature about California teen Ryder’s (Logan Miller) awkward family reunion in Nebraska. Ryder wants to announce he is gay to his extended family, but his parents, Cindy (Robin Weigert) and Don (Richard Schiff), express their concerns.

They think it’s best for Ryder not to out himself to the conservative family members on the farm. Nevertheless, family tensions escalate when an unseen incident involving Ryder and his pre-teen cousin Molly (Ursula Parker) rile his uncle, Keith (Josh Hamilton).

Sobel based the film on his experiences “going to a version of that family reunion for the past 20-some years of my life,” he said in a recent phone interview. “There is a lot of myself as a 17-year-old in Ryder.

I was very overly vocal and confident — and I was confident that I always held the higher ground in arguments. When I would visit my more conservative family, I was an open-minded West Coast liberal going to a more narrow-minded, bigoted place. As I became an adult, I got a more nuanced understanding of that situation.”

“Take Me to the River” was made at a

farmhouse where the filmmaker’s mother Sobel also employs a visual strategy to grew up and his grandmother lived until keep viewers on edge as Ryder’s situarecently. While Sobel confides, “None of tion gets stranger. the drama was real, nor were the char“It’s almost surreal, but a more accuacters based on real people,” he wanted rate word is ‘uncanny,’” the filmmaker to depict the nightmare that Ryder expeexplained. “The goal was to create a riences, “being accused of something very strong and increasingly stronger inappropriate.” As such, this compelling dissonance between the way the film drama stems from Sobel’s desire “to looked and the way it felt. Uncanny is capture the feeling of anxiety and being familiar, but strange at the same time. unable to exonerate myself.”

This makes us uncomfortable because The film’s spell is cast as Sobel delibwe’re not sure how to respond to it. It URSULA PARKER (LEFT) AND LOGAN MILLER erately sets up the story as a possible starts naturalistic and as we get more The gulf between how characters coming-out drama, but then turns it into insidious and darker, it becomes more something different. He observed, “Ryder appear in the film and the reality of their like a children’s coloring book: The color is more interested in speaking about his situation is what makes “Take Me to the gets more primary, subtly so. By the time sexuality than living it. The film is more River” percolate. Much of the film’s ten- we get to the river, which is bucolic and about him being on the precipice of not sion comes from the awkward silences pastoral and pleasant-looking, the tone is knowing nearly as much as he thought that exist among the characters. A scene ambiguous and dark.” about himself and the world, rather than where Ryder visits his uncle Keith’s Ultimately, Sobel wanted to create a kind asserting his identity on the family. He is house for lunch is particularly uncomfort- of parable with his film. begrudgingly agreeing not to come out, able. The writer/director worked with his “The feeling I had writing the story was but every point he gets the opportunity to editor to “cut the air out of each moment” that it was kind of like a fable. The sparsedo so, he backs away from it. Those situa- to increase the uneasiness between the ness of the location — and that we don’t tions articulate how insecure he is under the characters. One example of this is when go back to any one of the places again — his uncle’s family responds to a song makes it picaresque and episodic. There is veneer of his loudmouth liberal attitude.”

In talking with the actors about Ryder’s they ask Ryder to sing by changing the something about the river in the title and character, Sobel discussed such things as: topic of conversation, thereby avoiding mentioned in the film, but we don’t see it How did Cindy react to her son’s coming any response to his performance. A latter until the end. It was a ring of fire he has to out? How does she really feel about it? scene of Ryder and Molly sitting in her walk through before he finished his jourAnd, is she adjusting her stance slightly bedroom in silence is equally discomfit- ney.” returning home to it, to keep the other fam- ing because of the tension between the “Take Me to the River” is a journey characters. ily members comfortable? worth taking. n

42

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

PORTRAIT from page 35

ing to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. I was worried about being gay in those countries and they told me that it was an issue especially in Turkmenistan, so I looked it up and, until 2008, if you were gay or perceived to be gay, you were pushed off a cliff or they could build a wall of concrete and tip it over on you. On the other hand, they believe that lesbianism doesn’t exist; it’s just something that the West made up.

There’s a new dictator now so it’s a little better, only punishable by two years in prison. There were also some AfricanAmericans in the group and it’s very rare to see a person of color there, so that was a concern. But we did a lot of outreach classes and were received very well. They don’t have modern dance there; they have folk and ballet and whatever the kids see on MTV. I’m assuming that, because we were a dance company, that some of the audience was probably gay, but I could tell it was very difficult there. I remember a high-school kid who was nattily dressed and spoke English well. He came up and I just thought, This poor kid, I can’t imagine what it’s like for him. Of course I couldn’t say anything, but I invited him to the show. He came with his friend who was obviously lesbian and I had a sense of relief that, even in the middle of Central Asia in a repressive culture, you can still find your tribe.

PGN: Any specific rules that stand out?

SC: In Muslim countries, you don’t touch anybody with your left hand, you hail taxis with your palm down, don’t cross your foot and show the sole of your shoe and don’t touch the head; the head houses the soul and a touch puts it in jeopardy — little things that I’d never heard of or imagined. We had to be polite about eating food that was offered and that included horsemeat. Luckily, there were no vegetarians in our group.

PGN: The first R-rated movie you ever saw?

SC: My father took me to the drive-in and they were playing “The Graduate.” I don’t think he knew. Right away I thought, I’m not supposed to be watching this!

PGN: When did you come out?

SC: Well, I went home for the holidays mid-’80s and my father picked me up alone, which was unusual. I was thinking, Where’s my mother, where are my sisters?

I thought, Oh God, somebody died. We drove in silence for a while and then he said, “I just read the Times story about the A-I-D-S thing. I don’t want to talk about it but I want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.” I thought he was opening a door so I told him about the guy I was seeing, that I loved him and we were in a monogamous relationship and he cut me off and said he didn’t want to talk about it. I just wanted to fling myself out the car door, in dramatic fashion. As we pulled up to the house he said, “I don’t want you to

PGN

ever tell your mother or sisters. It would kill them.” I was torn between thinking how dare he and being glad that I was off the hook with my mother. Fast-forward 10 years and the family was on the way to Ireland for a wedding. I couldn’t make it but the story is that my mother kept going on about when it would be my turn to get married, speculating that it was my career or just not finding the right girl that was holding me back. Finally my sister blurted out, “Mom! Seán’s gay!”

It was very dramatic that day on the Air Lingus flight. When they came back, my parents wanted to have a big meeting to discuss it. They refused to talk about it inside their Catholic home so they came to New York. My mother was upset because she’d wanted all her children to meet in heaven and was afraid it wasn’t going to happen. My father wanted to know how we did it: who was the boy and who was the girl. It was surreal. My mother was worried about my soul and my father was worried about my dick. Instead of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” we had “Don’t Ask, Don’t Listen.” He finally said, “So what do you want now? A sign on the lawn?” I told him just the ability to bring a partner home for Christmas would be fine. He told me it would never happen. I was 32 at the time. He just died a few years ago and I never was able to bring someone home, but time did help and it got better. I know it was tough for him too. I was the only boy and the only Curran this side of the Atlantic.

PGN: Has your mom gotten better?

SC: Not really, we just don’t discuss it.

She would never ask me if I met someone or how a partner was doing.

PGN: Has your work reflected what you’ve been through?

SC: I made a solo piece that addressed it called “Real Boy.” It used the Pinocchio metaphor of wanting to be accepted as a real boy. I had a marionette stage and it started with my pants down, in a kind of shaming thing. I did a lot of LGBT representation from early on; if I had a man and woman dancing, I’d have two samesex couples as well. My dancers used to ask each other, “So are you dancing homo, hetero or lesbo tonight?” I often include race and orientation as themes. I did a piece called “Art Song Dance” and in it the two women kissed. When we played in Reno, we got letters because it wasn’t family-friendly enough — in Reno! The land of gambling, prostitution, quickie divorces and billboards with giant pictures of Chippendale dancers in next-to nothing. Anyway … I’d like to think I’m a humanist: I make dances about what it’s like to be here on planet earth, good and bad. n Dance Affiliates presents Seán Curran Company April 6-10 at Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut St. For tickets, visit princetheater. org. For more information on Seán Curran Company, visit www.seancurrancompany.com.

Q Puzzle Amazon, But Not Dot Com Across

1. With 28-Across, TV series with explicit lesbian content that NBC hopes to reboot 5. With 62-Across, actress of this puzzle’s theme 10. With 64-Across, actress of this puzzle’s theme 14. Club for Spencer-Devlin 15. Pisa place 16. Tennis stadium in Queens 17. Zips 18. Hot to trot 19. Tobacco wad 20. Cause lingering anxiety 22. De-balls 24. Composer Rorem 25. “The Name of the Rose” writer 27. Title for Derek Jacobi 28. See 1-Across 34. Tarzan portrayer Ron 35. Pears of a gay pair

36. Pro partner 37. Amanda of “Married...With Children” 40. Em or Mame 43. “John Brown’s Body” writer 44. Lending letters 47.

Witherspoon of “Cruel Intentions” 48. Sidekick of 1-Across 51. ”J. Edgar” org.

54. Moby Dick, to Ahab 55. Female flyer 58. Be deficient in 60. You wait for him to come on stage 61. Facetious “I see” 62. See 5-Across 64. See 10-Across 66. Elton John’s “You Got to Love ___” 67. Makes potent 68.Looked like Rupert Everett in “Inspector Gadget” 69.Firing point for neurons.

Down

1. Shortened street sign word 2. Wilde country 3. Pitcher who shares a name with Idol of porn 4. “Speak up!”

5. What Edith Piaf regretted 6. Place for trinkets 7. Albert to Armand, in “The Birdcage” 8. Title girl in a 1968 Turtles hit 9. Jane of a 1944 Moorehead flick 10. Milk acid 11. “My Boo” singer in drag?

12. Burn a bit 13. Bow source in “Robin Hood, Men in Tights” 21. “Big Daddy” Amin 23. Org. for your first mate 26. Von Trapp’s rank 28. Jim who wrote “MacArthur

Park” 29. Protected, to seamen 30. Not closed, to Shakespeare 31. “Got a Rainbow” lyricist Gershwin 32. Frida’s halfdozen 33. Opponent of Tinkerbell 38. Gas station abbr.

39. Ollie’s partner 41. LesbiaNation.com and Gay.com 42. Born, in gay Paree 44. With thick plates 45. Like a Piper in a fairy tale 46. Puts a new bottom on 49. “Out!”

50. Tedious list 51. Clean with string 52. Painter Francis 53. “___ to bury Caesar ...”

55. Impudent kid 56. Boobs or butts 57.

Choreographer Bob 59. Trick joint, maybe 61. “Dark Angel” star Jessica 63. Edvard Grieg’s land (abbr.)

65. Chinese AIDS activist ___ Yan Hai

PGN BOWIE from page 39

each audience their permission to play through the grief. They were bawling their eyes out — in joy and sadness. So were we.”

It’s true that Visconti indeed cried on stage that night as he discussed his and Bowie’s love of the Philly area. Visconti also announced to the packed-to-therafters house in Phoenixville that Holy Holy would return this spring to the scene of the crime — the Tower Theater — to play once again.

“We’ll play that album, of course — I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of that — but we’ll always have surprises in the second half of the show,” Visconti said.

Holy Holy will probably never touch any song from Gamble and Huff’s The Sound of Philadelphia-inspired “Young Americans” but I couldn’t resist asking about that 1975 album

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

with its original producer.

Originally meant to include countless instrumentalists from the TSOP crew, these old-school gents were rumored to be leery of Bowie — perhaps his sexuality, perhaps his cultural voyeurism/ vampirism — and “simply didn’t want to give David their sound,” Visconti said. Instead, Bowie rehearsed his crack band in the Sigma Sound Studio and recorded much of the soulful classic (save for “Across the Universe” and “Fame,” which were recorded at Electric Lady Studios with John Lennon in January 1975) throughout November 1974 in Philly.

“I can’t tell you how much your city meant to him — and me too,” said Visconti. n Holy Holy plays 8:30 p.m. April 2 at Tower Theater, 69th and Ludlow streets. Tickets start at $29.50.

Call 800-745-3000 or visit www.

Ticketmaster.com.

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Adoption

Notices

Loving South-Asian/Caucasian Couple Excited to Give Your Newborn A Happy Life. Expenses Paid. Isaac and Pia. Call us! 888-505-3696 Text Us! 929-286-2677. www. isaacandpiaadopt.com ________________________________________40-14

Pursuant to §128.85 of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Title 7 regulations, GROWMARK FS, LLC. hereby gives notice of ground application of “Restricted Use Pesticides” for the protection of agricultural crops in municipalities in Pennsylvania during the next 45 days.

Residents of contiguous property to our application sites should contact your local GROWMARK FS, LLC. facility for additional information. Concerned Citizens should contact: Michael Layton, MGR. Safety & Environment, mlayton@ growmarkfs.com GROWMARK FS, LLC. 308 N.E. Front Street, Milford, DE 19963. Call 302-422-3002. ________________________________________40-14

Financial Services Get funding now for your small business – up to $2 million in as little as 2 days. Minimum 2 years in business. Call BFS Capital: 888-732-6298 or apply online www.bfscapital. com/nyp. ________________________________________40-14

Guess who’s turning 40?

Join us in celebrating 40 years of PGN with our special anniversary issue

April 8.

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

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46

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

Friends Men LOOKING FOR ROMANCE Attractive GWM, warm, sensitive, caring, 48 y.o. with a smooth gymnast build looking for other GWM, 30-50, who is also in good shape. I live in NE Phila. I’m looking for guys who are also sensitive, caring with a fun personality.

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PGN

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Men Delco Dudes A men’s social and support group meets 7-9 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of the month at Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, 145 W. Rose Tree Road in Media; delco.dudes@uucdc.org.

Gay Married Men’s Association Meets 7-9 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St.; www.meetup. com/GAMMA-Gay-Married-MensSupport-Group-in-Philadelphia-PA. Men of All Colors Together Meets 7:30 p.m. the third Friday of the month, September through June, at William Way; 610-277-6595, www.MACTPhila.org.

Mazzoni Center Family and Community Medicine Primary health care and specialized transgender services in a safe, professional, nonjudgmental environment, 809 Locust St.; 215563-0658.

T-MAN People-of-color support group for transmen, FTMs, butches, studs, aggressives, bois, genderqueer and all female-born individuals with gender questions meets 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Mondays, 1201 Locust St., second floor; 215-632-3028, tmanphilly.com.

Transhealth Information Project Sponsors a weekly drop-in center from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and and 6:30-8:30 p.m. Fridays at 1207 Chestnut St., fifth floor; 215-8511822.

Men’s Coming Out Group, N.J. Meets 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays at The Pride Center of New Jersey; njwarrior@aol.com.

Transgender Health Action Coalition Peer trans health-advocacy organization, 1201 Locust St., fourth floor; 215-732-1207.

Men of Color United A discussion/support group for gay and bisexual men of color meets 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays at 1207 Chestnut St., third floor; 215-496-0330.

Young, Trans and Unified Support group for transgender and questioning individuals ages 13-23 meets 7:15 p.m. Thursdays at The Attic Youth Center, 255 S. 16th St.; 215-545-4331, www.atticyouthcenter. org.

Parents/Families Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays/Bucks County Meets 7:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at Penns Park United Methodist Church, 2394 Second Street Pike, Penns Park, and hird Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Warminster UCC, 785 Street Road; 215-3489976.

PFLAG/Chester County Meets 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at the Unitarian Fellowship of West Chester, 501 S. High St.; 484-354-2448.

PFLAG/Collingswood, N.J. Meets 6:30-9 p.m. the fourth Monday of the month at Collingswood Public Library, 771 Haddon Ave.; 609-202-4622, pflagcollingswood@yahoo.com.

PFLAG/Media Meets 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month at the Unitarian Universal Church, 145 Rose Tree Rd.; 610-368-2021.

PFLAG/Philadelphia Meets 2-5 p.m. the third Sunday of the month at the LGBT Center at the University of Pennsylvania, 3907 Spruce St.; 215-572-1833.

PFLAG/Princeton, N.J. Meets 7:30 p.m. the second Monday of the month in the George Thomas Room at Trinity Church, 33 Mercer St.; 609-683-5155.

PFLAG/Wilmington, Del. Meets 7-9 p.m. the second Thursday of the month at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1502 W. 13th St.; 302-654-2995.

Philadelphia Family Pride Advocacy, support and social network for LGBT families offers play groups, monthly kids and teen talk groups, activities and outings. Planning meetings held monthly; 215-600-2864, info@ phillyfamilypride.org, www. phillyfamilypride.org.

Trans Evolutions A drop-in support group for anyone on the transgender spectrum meets 6 p.m. Thursdays at 21 S. 12th St., eighth floor; 215-563-0652 ext. 235.

Women Hanging Out With Lesbians A group in Central Pennsylvania that organizes concerts, camping, golf, picnics, hikes, plays and game nights in nonsmoking environments; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ howlofpa/.

Lesbian Community of Delaware Valley Social group meets monthly for activities for gay women of all ages in Delaware, Chester and Montgomery counties; http://groups. yahoo.com/group/LCDV/.

Lesbian Couples Dining Group of Montgomery County Meets monthly; 215-542-2899.

Mt. Airy Lesbian Social Club For lesbians in the Philadelphia area ages 35-plus; www.meetup.com/ mtairylesbiansocial/.

Queer Connections Social group for women in their 20s meets weekly; http://groups.yahoo. com/group/queerconnections/.

Sisters United A social/support group for transwomen of color ages 13-24, with weekly social events, open discusson and monthly movie/ discussions meets 6-8 p.m.

Wednesdays, 1207 Chestnut St., third floor; 215-496-0330.

Women Coming-Out Support Group Women, ages 18 and over, who consider themselves gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning and are at any stage of the coming-out process are welcome to meet 7:30 p.m. the first Tuesday and third Thursday of the month at the Pride Center of New Jersey; www.pridecenter.org.

Youth 40 Acres of Change Discussion group for teen and young adults meets 6-8 p.m.

Thursdays at The COLOURS Organization Inc., 1207 Chestnut St., third floor; 215-851-1975.

GLBT Group of Hunterdon County Social and support groups for youth, teens and young adults, as well as parents and family

members, meet at North County Branch Library, 65 Halstead St. in Clinton, N.J.; schedule at www. glbtofhunterdoncountyofnj.com, 908-300-1058.

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

Community Bulletin Board Community centers

HAVEN LGBT, intersex, questioning, queer and allied youth ages 14-20 meet 7-9 p.m. Wednesdays at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley, 424 Center St., Bethlehem; 610-868-2153.

■ The Attic Youth Center 255 S. 16th St.; 215-545-4331, atticyouthcenter.org. For LGBT and questioning youth and their friends and allies. Groups meet and activities are held 4-7 p.m. Monday-Tuesday and 4-8:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday. Case management, HIV testing and smoking cessation are available Monday-Friday.

HiTOPS A safe-space support program for LGBT and questioning youth meets 2:30-4:30 p.m. the first and third Saturdays at 21 Wiggins St., Princeton, N.J.; 609-683-5155, hitops.org.

■ Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center at the University of Pennsylvania 3907 Spruce St., 215-898-5044, center@dolphin. upenn.edu. Regular hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. MondayThursday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday; noon-6 p.m. Saturday; noon-8 p.m. Sunday. Summer hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Main Line Youth Alliance Meets from 7-9:30 p.m. Fridays at 106 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne; 610-688-1861, info@myaonline. org.

■ ActionAIDS: 215-981-0088

■ Rainbow Room: Bucks County’s LGBTQ and Allies Youth Center Salem UCC Education Building, 181 E. Court St., Doylestown; 215-957-7981 ext.

9065, rainbowroom@ppbucks.org. Activities held 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays.

■ William Way Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center 1315 Spruce St.; 215-732-2220, www.waygay.org.

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays Peer counseling: 6-9 p.m.

Monday-Friday Library: noon-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Volunteers: New Orientation, first Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m.

Key numbers

Project Keeping it Safe LGBT youth drop-in center offers meetings, HIV and STD prevention and testing, counseling and other services on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 514 Cooper St., Camden, N.J.; 856-9632432, camden-ahec.org/.

■ AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania: 215-587-9377

■ Equality Pennsylvania: 215731-1447; www.equalitypa.org

■ AIDS Law Project of Southern New Jersey: 856-933-9500 ext.

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■ Equality Forum: 215-732-3378

PRYSM Youth Center Youth ages 14-20 meet 6:30-8:30 p.m Wednesdays at the center, 126 East Baltimore Pike, Media; 610357-9948.

■ AIDS Library: 215-985-4851

Rainbow Room: Bucks County’s LGBTQ and Allies Youth Center Youth ages 14-21 meets 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays at Salem UCC Education Building, 181 E. Court St., Doylestown; 215-957-7981 ext.

9065, rainbowroom@ppbucks.org.

■ AIDS Treatment Fact line: 800662-6080

Social X Change Social activity group for LGBT youth of color ages 13-23 meets 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays at 1207 Chestnut St., third floor; 215-851-1975.

Space to be Proud, Open, and Together Open to all LGBTQ queer youth and allies, ages 14-21, the SPOT meets 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursdays at Planned Parenthood of Chester County, 8 S. Wayne St.; 267-6876648.

Young, Trans and Unified A support group for transgender and questioning youth ages 13-23 meets 7:15 p.m. Thursdays at The Attic Youth Center; 215-545-4331, www. atticyouthcenter.org.

You’re Not Alone Sponsored by AIDS Delaware, the group for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth meets during the school year at 100 W. 10th St., Suite 315, Wilmington, Del; 800-810-6776.

Youth Making a Difference A group for LGBTQ AfricanAmerican and Latino youth ages 14-24 meets 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays at Camden AHEC, 514 Cooper St.; 856-963-2432.

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■ ACLU of Pennsylvania: 215592-1513

■ Barbara Gittings Gay and Lesbian Collection at the Independence Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library: 215-685-1633 n The COLOURS Organization Inc.: 215-496-0330

■ LGBT Peer Counseling Services: 215-732-TALK ■ Mazzoni Center: 215-563-0652; Legal Services: 215-563-0657, 866-LGBT-LAW; Family & Community Medicine: 215-563-0658 ■ Office of LGBT Affairs — Director Nellie Fitzpatrick: 215-6860330; helen.fitzpatrick@phila.gov

■ Philadelphia Police Department liaison — Deputy Commissioner Kevin Bethel: 215-6863318 ■ Philadelphia Police Liaison Committee: 215-760-3686 (Rick Lombardo); ppd.lgbt@gmail.com ■ Philly Pride Presents: 215875-9288 ■ SPARC — Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition: 717-9209537 ■ Transgender Health Action Coalition: 215-732-1207 (staffed 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 6-9 p.m.

Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays)

■ Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (Philadelphia): 215-572-1833 ■ Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations: 215-686-4670

Health

Anonymous, free, confidential HIV testing Spanish/English counselors offer testing 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday at Congreso de Latinos Unidos, 216 W. Somerset St.; 215-763-8870.

ActionAIDS Provides a range of programs for people affected by HIV/ AIDS, including case management, prevention, testing and education services at 1216 Arch St.; 215-981-0088, www. actionaids.org.

GALAEI: A Queer Latin@ Social Justice Organization Free, anonymous HIV testing from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at 1207 Chestnut St., fifth floor; noon-6 p.m.

Tuesdays at the Washington West Project, 1201 Locust St.; 215-851-1822 or 866-222-3871, www.galaei.org.

Spanish/English HIV treatment Free HIV/AIDS diagnosis and treatment for Philadelphia residents are available from 9 a.m.-noon Mondays (walk-in) and 5-8 p.m. Thursdays (by appointment) at Health Center No. 2, 1720 S. Broad St.; 215685-1821.

HIV health insurance help Access to free medications and confidential HIV testing 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays at 13 S. MacDade Blvd., Suite

■ Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia Board meetings at 6:30 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month at 100 S. Broad St., Suite 1810; free referral service at 215-6279090, www.galloplaw.org.

■ Independence Business Alliance Greater Philadelphia’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce, providing networking, business development, marketing, educational and advocacy opportunities for LGBT and LGBT-friendly busi-

108, Collingdale; Medical Office Building, 722 Church Lane, Yeadon; and 630 S. 60th St.; 610-586-9077.

Mazzoni Center LGBTQ counseling and behavioral health services, HIV/ AIDS care and services, case management and support groups; 21 S. 12th St., eighth floor; 215-563-0652, www. mazzonicenter.org.

Mazzoni Center Family & Community Medicine Comprehensive primary health care, preventive health services, gynecology, sexual-health services and chronic-disease management, including comprehensive HIV care, as well as youth drop-in (ages 14-24) 5-7p.m. Wednesdays; 809 Locust St.; 215-563-0658.

Philadelphia FIGHT Comprehensive AIDS service organization providing primary care, consumer education, advocacy and research on potential treatments and vaccines; 1233 Locust St.; 215985-4448; www.fight.org.

Washington West Project of Mazzoni Center Free, rapid HIV testing. Walk-ins welcome 9 a.m.-9 pm.

Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Sunday; 1201 Locust St.; 215-985-9206.

Professional groups nesses and professionals; 215557-0190, www.IndependenceBusinessAlliance.com.

■ National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Philadelphia chapter of NLGJA, open to professionals and students, meets for social and networking events; www.nlgja.org/ philly; philly@nlgja.org.

■ Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus Regional organization dedicated to promoting LGBT tourism to the Greater Philadelphia region, meetings every other month on the fourth Thursday (January, March, May, July, September and the third Thursday in November), open to the public; 215-8402039, www.philadelphiagaytourism.com.

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Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Apr. 1-7, 2016

PGN

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