World Cafe Live to host Uh Huh Her
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane talks about LGBT lawsuits and constitutional rights in a PGN exclusive. PAGE 6
PAGE 29
Family Portrait: Danielle Erwin, behind the camera
PAGE 35
May 9-15, 2014
����������
��� ������������ �������� �����������������������������������������
Vol. 38 No. 19
Details announced for nation’s first LGBT jazz fest
Philly man murdered after alleged Grindr hookup By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com
A 25-year-old Philadelphia man was brutally murdered last week in Chester, and police believe the victim may have met his killer on a dating app frequently used by gay men. Dino Dizdarevic was scheduled to arrive in his native Kentucky May 1 but never boarded his plane. His body was discovered early the next morning in an alley behind the 900 block of Packer Street in Chester. Police say he was PHILADELPHIA JAZZ PROJECT DIRECTOR HOMER JACKSON AT THE OUTBEAT partially clothed and had been beaten and PRESS GATHERING MAY 7 AT CITY HALL Photo: Scott A.Drake strangled. By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Organizers of the nation’s first LGBT jazz festival, to be held later this year in Philadelphia, unveiled plans for the inaugural event this week. At a press conference Wednesday at City Hall, it was announced that OutBeat: America’s First Queer Jazz Festival will be held Sept. 18-21. Headliners will include Grammy-winning pianist Fred Hersch, Andy Bey, Patricia Barber Quartet and Bill Stewart.
The event is being staged by William Way LGBT Community Center, with backing by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. “Philadelphia has enjoyed a legacy of being a great music city. We’re also a city that affirms the lives of LGBT people,” said Mayor Michael Nutter. “Hosting the first LGBT jazz festival in North America provides an opportunity to showcase the rich and vibrant culture of our city.” Events will be held across the city, including at the center, Painted Bride
Art Center and Chris’ Jazz Café. Union Transfer will host a daylong closing event, with Spring Garden Street closed down for vendors, musicians, food carts and artisans. William Way executive director Chris Bartlett said it was an honor to host the “historic occasion.” “We are thankful that the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage embraced this visionary initiative that we can now share with the world,” Bartlett added. For more information, visit OutBeatJazzFest.com. ■
Endorsement: Rob McCord for governor PGN is endorsing state treasurer Rob McCord for governor. We reached out to all candidates running for governor in the May 20 primary and conducted interviews on their positions on LGBT issues. Incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett did not respond to PGN’s requests for an interview. Rob McCord (D) State treasurer Rob McCord r e c e n t l y fi l e d a
friend-of-the-court brief in support of marriage equality in the Keystone State. And as governor, McCord said he would advance a wealth of LGBT rights. McCord, 55, has held the position of treasurer since 2008. McCord said he understands the fight for marriage equality, drawing experience from his own interracial marriage. “When I am talking about marriage equality with a conservative legislator, I will point to my wife and my marriage and say that it was illegal once. It is about building that personal relationship,” he said. “I’ve heard my PAGE 19
Several media outlets have reported authorities believe Dizdarevic met his killer through Grindr, a phone app frequently used by gay and bisexual men to meet other men. Multiple calls to Chester Police to confirm this information were not returned by presstime. A suspect had not yet been publicly identified. Police are in possession of Dizdarevic’s cell phone. His car was parked at his home, and it is unclear how he got to Chester. Dizdarevic was originally from Bosnia. His family fled to Kentucky as war refugees in 1993. PAGE 18 He moved to Philadelphia
Community hit hard by loss of David Rosenblum By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com The LGBT community continues to grapple with the sudden death of a local leader last week. David Rosenblum, the director of Mazzoni Center’s legal-services department, died May 2, two days after suffering a heart attack. A memorial is expected to be held later this month. Rosenblum, 47, helmed Mazzoni’s legal unit since August 2011. He was also an adjunct professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law in its sexual orientation and gender-identity law program. Prior to joining the Mazzoni team, Rosenblum served as the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer in New Jersey’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development. He also served as the state’s deputy attorney general and as a trial attorney at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He was co-founder and co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Committee on the Legal Rights of Lesbians and Gay Men. He sat on the board of Gay and Lesbian
Lawyers of Philadelphia from 1994-2002, chairing the board from 1995-98. Rosenblum chaired the National LGBT Bar Association’s Lavender Law conference when it was in Philly in 2002 and was a cofounder of its career fair. Association executive director D’Arcy Kemnitz said Rosenblum’s leadership in launching the career fair “led to countless young LGBT legal professionals finding their calling and their careers in our profession.” Kemnitz called Rosenblum “a true champion of LGBT equality and opportunity.” Mike Viola, a member of Mazzoni’s legal advisory board and one of his fellow PBA LGBT committee members, said Rosenblum was the “institutional memory” of a number of community entities due to his longstanding involvement here and in New Jersey, where he lived with his husband, Stephan Stoeckl. “David’s always been very active and involved, on both sides of the river,” Viola said. “He was such a source of information and always the person people went to when they had a question about PAGE 22