pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976 Family Portrait: Celeste Cottrelle, no “Ordinary Life” PAGE 29
Vol. 43 No. 18 May 3-9, 2019
Supreme Court puts workplace discrimination on the docket
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HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
The radical roots of Roberta Hacker PAGE 12
A century of drag in print PAGE 28
Senator’s co-authored bill could help LGBTQ elders By Gary L. Day PGN Contributor
ON THE LIST: Philadelphia Black Pride held its third annual ball event, “The List” at Philadelphia Boys Choir and Chorale April 27 with a grand prize of $1,000. The Mother of the event was Jacen Prodigy, and commenters included Jack Mizrahi, Dashaun Lanvin and Greg Lanvin. VJ the DJ provided music for the event. Photo by Kelly Burkhardt
Out educator to receive Hero Award By Michele Zipkin PGN Contributor
teachers confide in her as well.” Out of 77 applications, NLM associates selected 12 educators who demonstrate Freda Anderson created the first Queer- outstanding teaching practices and act as Straight alliance at the U School, a North role models to their students and coworkPhiladelphia high school where she teaches ers. Award winners will have their stories a community-organizing class. On May 11, she will be one of 12 edu- displayed in NLM’s Live Like a Hero galcators to receive the Teacher as Hero lery for the next year. In the QSA, which consists of six core Award presented by the National Liberty members but ranges in size from meeting Museum. to meeting, students Anderson’s colengage in a varileague, Clarice ety of discussions, Brazas, who teaches activities and proj10th-grade humanects. ities and helps run The group is curthe QSA, nomirently working on a nated her for the campaign in which award. they invite their “Freda’s always peers to respond to willing to take on one of two prompts: more responsibil“One thing I love ities, especially about being queer is things that help kids … ” and “One thing specifically,” Brazas I love about myself said. “In addition to is … ” a lot of kids confid- FREDA ANDERSON IN HER ing in her, a lot of CLASSROOM PAGE 21
A Pennsylvania senator is among three U.S. legislators who introduced a bill to expand health services and resources for the older LGBTQ population. U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) authored the Invlusive Aging Act with Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). The IAA has three main goals. First, it would establish an Office of Inclusivity and Sexual Health in the Administration on Aging. Second, it would establish a rural grant program to fund training and expand available resources to address the healthcare needs of LGBTQ seniors. Third, it would reauthorize the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging — the country’s only technical-assistance resource center aimed at improving the quality of services and support for older LGBTQ individuals.
Casey, a ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, has made addressing the needs of seniors, including LGBTQ, one of his signature issues. “For too long the needs of LGBT elders and seniors living in rural communities have been overlooked. The Inclusive Aging Act would expand access to culturally competent health care services for LGBT elders and help reduce social isolation among older Americans in rural areas,” said Casey in a press release. The senator promoted the IAA at a townhall April 28 in Center City, where he emphasized the isolation and scarcity of services experienced by rural LGBT seniors. He noted that, in Pennsylvania, almost three-quarters of the state’s counties could be classified as “rural.” “How prepared are our communities to provide needed services for LGBT seniors?” Casey asked his townhall audience. “Especially rural communities? In a state like ours, we have a tremendous rural population, and in rural PAGE 16
Fraternities disband over homophobia, other allegations By Victoria A. Brownworth PGN Contributor In an unprecedented action, two Swarthmore College fraternities have announced they are disbanding in response to campus protests by women’s, LGBTQ and other student groups. The action comes after documents from Phi Psi and Delta Upsilon were leaked to the campus newspaper, the Swarthmore Phoenix, and other media. Racist, sexist and homophobic language and behavior, as well as hazing and pornography were detailed in those documents dating back from 2013-16. Another campus outlet, a protest group, Swarthmore Voices, said the documents were emailed anonymously and included photos showing members “kissing, groping and touching women.”
One of the leaked documents was the 117-page “Phi Psi Historical Archive,” which included numerous rape jokes, racist references, vulgar descriptions of sexual exploits and details of hazing. All of this was framed within the fraternity’s meeting minutes. Also in that archive were references to a “rape attic” and “rape tunnel” at Delta Upsilon. The Voices story begins: “Content Warning: this article contains racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, classist, and transphobic comments (including curse words and slurs).” One account from the leaked documents describes the apparent sexual assault of a woman at a fraternity party who is passed out “face first.” In another reference, the writer describes a plan to “take over one building at a time until we possess enough PAGE 1 building space to start