Canada in the spotlight at Equality Forum PAGE 5 2014
Family Portrait: The other singing Michael Bolton PAGE 31
GALAEI celebrates a silver anniversary and honors a revolutionary leader PAGE 5
Bruno Mars and dozens of others are in our Summer Concert Guide
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Apr. 25 - May 1, 2014
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Vol. 38 No. 17
ACLU case fast-tracked By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
TOAST TO THE FUTURE: About 40 members of the Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia raised a glass to the next phase of the church’s development — including its new name, Whosoever Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia. The name-unveiling took place during the Easter Sunday services, which was followed by a buffet and champagne toast. WMCCP also released its new logo, mission statement and revamped programming. The church holds services 11 a.m. Sundays at University Lutheran Church. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Appellate brief filed in Morris case By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com An appellate brief was filed this month in support of PGN’s request for an unredacted dispatch record relating to the Nizah Morris case. In 2008, the city’s Police Advisory Commission gave PGN a copy of a redacted dispatch record in the case. The paper is seeking an unredacted version from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Morris was a transgender woman who became a homicide victim in 2002, shortly after entering a police vehicle for a Center City “courtesy ride.” The case remains unsolved, and Morris’ advocates are calling for a state probe. It’s believed the unredacted dispatch record could help explain why Morris’ initial set of police-tracking numbers were permanently voided at the 911 call center. Once those numbers were voided, responding officers had no obligation to document the courtesy ride. Detectives didn’t learn about it until several days after Morris was declared a homicide victim on
Dec. 25, 2002. The dispatch record, also known as a time-response log, is a public record under the state’s Right-to-Know Law. Last year, PGN gave the D.A.’s Office a copy of the redacted dispatch record and requested an unredacted version, citing the RTKL. The D.A.’s Office denied the request, indicating it didn’t have any dispatch records relating to the case. But a subsequent attestation of non-existence provided by the D.A.’s Office didn’t name the person who performed the search, nor did it specify the record searched for. Typically, homicide records are filed under the victim’s legal name. Morris’ legal name was Robert G. Morris. But the D.A.’s Office gave no indication that it searched under Morris’ legal name. Additionally, the D.A.’s Office failed to cite supporting legal authority when denying the request, as required by the RTKL. Melissa B. Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said it’s important for agencies to fully explain pubPAGE 20
A decision could be made in the coming weeks in a case filed by same-sex couples challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Whitewood v. Wolf, filed last summer by the American Civil Liberties Union and firm Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller, was slated to head to trial June 9. But both parties agreed this week to have the case decided upon the briefs rather than a trial. All legal papers will be filed by May 12, and the judge could rule any time after that. The case was filed on behalf of 11 couples, two of their children and a widow. It was the first of a series of legal challenges to the state law filed last summer. Dylan Steinberg, of Hangley Aronchick, said the plaintiffs moved for summary judgment after state attorneys announced they would not call expert witnesses at trial to dispute certain issues. “The goal of going to trial was balancing our desire to have a complete record with our desire to get the law overturned and have marriages recognized and have our clients and others able to marry in Pennsylvania,” Steinberg told PGN this week. “When the
commonwealth decided not to have their own experts, which would have created issues of facts to be resolved at trial, and to not offer evidence of its own beyond the legislative record, we were able to essentially have the best of both approaches: the full record we wanted to develop at trial but an earlier resolution.” By next month, the plaintiffs will have submitted expert reports, declarations from plaintiffs and other evidence that would have been offered at a trial. “We were able to essentially build the record we would have made in trial,” Steinberg said. “But we’ll get this resolved hopefully more quickly.” Steinberg said his team is confident that the judge will find the state’s ban on marriage equality unconstitutional. Since last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning a key portion of the federal ban on same-sex marriage, nine federal judges have found similar state bans to be unconstitutional. “Every court since the Supreme Court decision in Windsor in June that has addressed this issue has found the marriage bans to be unconstitutional,” Steinberg said. “There have been nine decisions so far and the unanimity is very striking. We are hopeful and optimistic that this trend will continue in Pennsylvania.” ■
Rep. to introduce first-ever trans bills By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com A state legislator plans to introduce the first-ever legislation to specifically tackle issues affecting the transgender community. State Rep. Mark Cohen (D-202nd Dist.) announced last week that he plans to introduce a four-bill package addressing transgender discrimination. He is circulating a cosponsorship memo for the legislation. The bills will focus on Medicaid expansion to include transition-related treatment; trans-inclusive state-employees’ health-care benefits; establishment of a
tax credit for all private businesses that provide transgender-related health care; and elimination of gender-based restrictions and prerequisites for high-school students. Cohen said he has had conversations with transgender activists for several years about legislative efforts to support the trans community. “I think it is time that the legislature deals with these issues of transgender rights,” he said. In his cosponsorship memo, Cohen referenced the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems’ recognition that gender dysphoria should be treated and supported. Cohen cited the success of Philadelphia’s recent adoption of legPAGE 21