pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976 Family Portrait: Kitty Devereaux on empowering entertainment PAGE 29
Vol. 41 No. 15 April 14-20, 2017
Dining Out For Life has something new on the menu PAGE 5
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
$60K lawsuit settlement for inmate PAGE 2
Hedwig and her high heels return to Philly PAGE 21
Mazzoni Center medical director on paid leave The Mazzoni board was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Thursday. To stay updated on this developing story, visit epgn.com. By Jeremy Rodriguez jeremy@epgn.com
LEADING THE WAY: The LGBT community raised a glass to local leaders and businesses hailed as this year’s HEROES by DVLF. The LGBT grantmaking agency held its annual awards brunch April 9 at Hotel Monaco. This year’s honorees were Business HERO PHL Diversity, accepted by Gregory DeShields (from left); Lifetime Legacy HERO Heshie Zinman; Nonprofit HERO Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, accepted by Adam Funck; Youth HERO Giana Graves; and Individual HERO Sergio Morales-Garcia. Photo: Stacey Salter Moore/SSM Photography
Judge halts eviction of N.J. LGBT community center By Jeremy Rodriguez jeremy@epgn.com A judge granted a motion to protect a New Jersey LGBT community center from eviction while a discrimination lawsuit against its landlord moves forward. In November, QSpot filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming the Jersey Shore Arts Center would not renew the center’s lease at its Ocean Grove facility as an act of bias toward the LGBT community. New Jersey Superior Court Judge Dennis O’Brien granted the motion for a preliminary injunction April 4, halting the eviction, and denied JSAC’s request to dismiss the case. “We’re grateful that the court granted QSpot’s request, which will allow us to stay in our home and hold QFest [New Jersey LGBT Film and Digital Media Festival] while our discrimination case against the Jersey Shore Arts Center proceeds forward,” QSpot Executive Director
John Mikytuck said in a statement. “We want to assure everyone in the community that QSpot will remain open and accessible as a safe haven, place of support and a social and cultural gathering spot until our lawsuit has concluded.” In May, JSAC notified QSpot that the organization’s lease would not be renewed at the end of the year due to a lack of arts and education programs, which are part of the lease’s requirement, according to court documents. “Our primary argument was, and continues to be, that QSpot does provide robust arts and education programming and therefore should be allowed to remain in the building,” Mikytuck said at a Sept. 24, 2016, QSpot Town Hall. Mikytuck noted at the town hall that QSpot took steps such as meetings and mediations with JSAC to have the decision reconsidered. He said officials never offered QSpot a new lease during those discussions. PAGE 14
Mazzoni Center’s medical director, Dr. Robert Winn, is currently on paid leave, Mazzoni Director of Development and Marketing Perry Monastero told PGN this week. Monastero declined to comment on the reasoning behind Winn’s leave, saying that, “legally, Mazzoni Center cannot discuss personnel issues.” Monastero did note that “an external process is taking place which is both objective and thorough.” Monastero said Dr. Shanin Gross, one of Mazzoni’s assistant medical directors, will take over as acting medical director. Monastero said she will work with an internal team, including Practice Manager Valarie Canavin, Clinical Operations Manager Dane Menkin, CNRP, and Assistant Medical Director Dr. Hilary Rosenstein. Mazzoni’s board of directors scheduled
an emergency meeting for Thursday evening. CEO Nurit Shein did not respond to a request for comment. Director of Communications Elisabeth Flynn is on vacation and did not respond to requests for comment by presstime. While the reasoning behind his departure has not been publicly announced, several local reports, based on anonymous sources, indicated Winn is being investigated for alleged sexual misconduct with patients. Winn has been the target of criticism from the Black & Brown Workers Collective in recent months. In a statement, the BBWC said Winn should resign from his position at Mazzoni for a “history of power abuse.” It went on to allege Winn was complicit in “hiring or paying persons without properly adhering to agency confidentiality and possibly violating HIPAA; multiple reported incidents of sexual vioPAGE 15 lence; multiple reports
Health-care worker files LGBT antibias complaint By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com A Norristown gay man contends he was fired from a health-care position at Meadowview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center because of his sexual orientation. Last month, “Frank Doe” filed an amended complaint against Meadowview with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. Doe alleges wrongful termination and retaliation due to his sexual orientation and gender nonconformity. Doe worked as an activities director at the facility from May 2015 to September 2016. He was fired for allegedly sleeping during a work-related meeting, which Doe denies doing.
“This [sleeping on job] is an exaggerated and completely fabricated reason for terminating me,” Doe states in his complaint. He alleges that his firing sidetracked his career and educational goals. Meadowview is located in Whitemarsh Tow n s h i p , M o n t g o m e r y C o u n t y. Attorneys for Meadowview seek the dismissal of Doe’s complaint on the basis that Meadowview isn’t under PCHR’s jurisdiction. Doe contends a colleague warned him to “turn down the gay” before a new administrator took the reins at Meadowview in February 2016. Doe stated he did his best to adjust to PAGE 14 the new administrator