pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 43 No. 14 April 5-11, 2019
Family Portrait: David Lebe focuses on light PAGE 29
Alleged discrimination in the DOJ
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HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
Valley Youth House scores big funding increase PAGE 6
David Charles Abell conducts a Philly POPS tribute to Cole Porter PAGE 30
HRC awards high marks for PA companies
Chicago elects the nation’s first black lesbian mayor By Victoria A. Brownworth PGN Contributor
By Josh Middleton PGN Contributor Major companies in Pennsylvania are on the right track when it comes to meeting the needs of LGBTQ employees, according to a new survey by the Human Rights Campaign. The 17th annual Corporate Equality Index rated more than 1,000 national companies and law firms on their commitment to providing equal and inclusive practices, policies and benefits to LGBTQ workers. Out of the 48 companies surveyed in Pennsylvania, half of them earned a perfect score of 100 and a spot on the HRC’s “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality” list. Those include The Hershey Company, IKEA, Giant Food Stores, PNC and 10 Philadelphia-based outfits, including Aramark, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and Ballard Spahr LLP. The average score for Pennsylvaniabased companies and law firms is 87 percent. Besides the 100-point scorers, 11 corporations earned 90 points and above, including Wawa and Comcast NBCUniversal. Three companies including American Eagle Outfitters earned 80 points and above. “What I see when I look at the Pennsylvania numbers is a very strong showing of companies that are committed, and I think that’s reflective of the results nationally — that more companies are actually very committed and doing a lot of good work in this space,” said Beck Bailey, acting director for the HRC’s Workplace Equality Program, which works yearround to compile the annual Corporate Equality Index. To gather the necessary data, the HRC invited every company on the Fortune 1000 and American Law 200 to participate, and then invited any company with more than 500 full-time employees to voluntarily take part. The organization rates the entire Fortune 500, whether they actively participate or not. Companies are rated on a broad set of criteria in four categories: Do they offer LGBTQ-inclusive nonPAGE 12
“A PROUD DAY FOR BLACK QUEERS IN PHILADELPHIA” depicts Philly LGBTQ community leaders of color in celebration of Black Pride’s 20th anniversary. For more on this event, see OUTPour on page 11. Photo: Jamal Harrington
LGBT candidate takes on long-time incumbent to move city forward By Josh Middleton PGN Contributor A decade of working in city government and volunteering for community groups and nonprofits has given Lauren Vidas a valuable piece of insight that’s fueling her run for City Council: A lot of good can happen in communities when government is working properly. And right now, she said, it’s just not. That’s why she decided to launch a bid against Second District Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, citing corruption in
the body that has the city “sliding back into the bad old days.” “We’re really at a crossroads here, and I wanted to jump into the race because the city’s changing very rapidly,” Vidas said. “It’s becoming less and less affordable; our poverty rate is still headed in the wrong direction. It just doesn’t feel like there’s a sense of urgency about solving any of these problems in the way that there should be.” Vidas’ experience in the chamber goes back to 2008, when she served as legislative aide to Councilmember Bill Green. She made waves in that role when she successfully sued Mayor Michael Nutter to stop the closure of several library branches. In 2010, she was hired to serve as an assistant finance director in the Nutter administration, where she said “ethics and transparency and good government were really beaten into you every day as part of your job and commitment to the city.” PAGE 20
First. Black. Lesbian. Mayor. Of. A. Major. U.S. City. It is difficult to overstate the historic nature of Lori Lightfoot’s landslide victory to become the next mayor of Chicago. In a runoff that pitted two black Democratic women progressives against each other, Lightfoot’s win puts LORI LIGHTFOOT her not only in one of the highest-profile positions for a black woman, but also makes her one of the highest-placed LGBTQ people in U.S. politics. After she was declared the winner of the nation’s third-largest city with 70 percent of the vote, Lightfoot spoke to a jubilant crowd at her victory party Tuesday with her wife, Amy Eshleman, and their 11-year-old daughter Vivian by her side. “Out there tonight, a lot of little girls and boys are watching,” Lightfoot said. “They’re watching us, and they’re seeing the beginning of something, well, a little bit different. They’re seeing a city reborn.” Lightfoot said it again Wednesday morning as she took to greeting Chicagoans with the traditional subway glad-hand as they commuted to work. “We felt very comfortable that we would have a nice margin based upon our internal polling and what we were hearing from other people across the city, but to sweep all 50 wards with that kind of margin, obviously it’s historic and it’s very, very gratifying.” Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims called Lightfoot’s win a “rainbow wave.” “Did you know that only 0.1 percent of all elected officials in the U.S. identify as LGBTQ?” Sims posed, highlighting the Victory Fund’s efforts to elect LGBTQ politicians. Lightfoot ran as the outsider candidate ready to break with the legendary Chicago PAGE 17 political machine