pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 43 No. 22 May 31-June 6, 2019
Family Portrait: Anne Geary supports a Golden Crown PAGE 47
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM The Road to Stonewall: Kiyoshi Kuromiya from the internment camps to GLF
Philly gay-rights activism in 1906? PAGE 2
HIV Prevention and Education Summit
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Vigil commemorates transwoman and activist Local LGBTQ orgs
join national lawsuit to protect medical rights
Michelle “Tamika” Washington, founder of a trans support group at Mazzoni Center, was murdered in North Philadelphia May 19.
By Laura Smythe laura@epgn.com
By Laura Smythe laura@epgn.com When Michelle “Tamika” Washington’s younger sister, Crystal Davis, was sad she couldn’t visit the aquarium as a kid, Washington brought her a stuffed white and purple penguin — her sibling’s favorite color. Mikal Woods regularly talked on the phone with Washington, who he called his chosen mother in the LGBTQ community, for hours at a time just to hear her voice. For Donna Kinley, Washington’s aunt, the best memories with her niece involve cooking together and constantly joking around. “She was really wonderful,” said Kinley, 67. “She kept me laughing and she would do anything for you. Tamika was just that type of person. She would go above and beyond.” Davis, Woods and Kinley joined about 70 people May 23 at a vigil for Washington, 40, at the recently opened Gloria Casarez Residence, Pennsylvania’s first LGBTQfriendly youth-housing facility. Washington’s friends, family members and allies of the gay community gathered amid handmade signs displaying messages like “Trans lives matter” and “Say her name, Tamika” to share stories
MEMORIAL FOR MICHELLE “TAMIKA” WASHINGTON and commemorate Washington with a candlelit moment of silence. Washington, a transwoman of color and LGBTQ activist, was shot to death May 19 in North Philadelphia’s Franklinville neighborhood. Police have arraigned Philadelphia man Troy Bailey, 28, in her murder. Nationally, Washington is one of three transwomen to be murdered in a recent one-week span. Muhlaysia Booker, 23, was fatally shot in Dallas on May 18, while Cleveland resident Claire Legato died May 14 from injuries sustained in an April shooting. They were all women of color. In Philadelphia, at least six transwomen of color have been murdered in the last six years. They include Shantee Tucker, 30, who Woods
Photo: Laura Smythe
described as a “great friend, [like an] aunt,” and Keisha Jenkins, 22, Woods’ “first gay mother.” Woods said transwomen, particularly those of color, are experiencing a “witch hunt” — and that a law protecting them is necessary. “I’m tired of going to funerals,” he added. “I’ve been to more funerals than I’ve been to graduations, birthdays, celebrations, anything. I’m tired of going away crying and weeping because people are getting killed for senseless murders.” Washington helped found Sisterly L.O.V.E., a support and education group for transwomen at LGBTQ healthcare hub Mazzoni Center, which organized the May 23 vigil. Mazzoni staff presented Washington’s family with a certificate for heroism that PAGE 18
A national smattering of LGBTQ health centers and other medical organizations are taking the Trump administration’s “Denial of Care Rule” to bat in district court. The action calls for striking down the federal ruling that would allow healthcare workers to refuse to perform medical procedures, like abortion and gender-affirming surgery, that violate their religion or “conscience.” The Mazzoni Center and Allentown’s Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center are joining plaintiffs from cities including Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles in County of Santa Clara v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a lawsuit filed Tuesday. HHS, headed by former pharmaceutical executive Alex Azar, released its final 440page ruling earlier this month. The decision, which has been in the works since January 2018, will be effective July 22 — unless complainants have their say. “This rule that invites discrimination by those trusted to provide care for our bodies and for our lives will worsen health outcomes for the LGBT community, worsen health disparities and lead to lower-quality care,” said Adrian Shanker, executive director of Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center. “Then, some peoPAGE 17
Supreme Court declines to hear Boyertown case By Tim Cwiek tim@epgn.com
The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear an appeal filed by students at Boyertown Area Senior High School who object to transgender students using restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity. Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizonabased anti-LGBT group, filed the appeal Nov.
19 on behalf of two current and four former Boyertown High students. The Supreme Court announced May 28 that it won’t hear the case, without elaborating. Michael I. Levin, an attorney for the Boyertown Area School District, said district officials are happy with the decision. “We are very pleased that the court saw there was no need to consider the case further,” Levin told PGN. “This is great news for trans students
throughout Pennsylvania,” added Jason Landau Goodman, executive director of Pennsylvania Youth Congress. “The U.S. Supreme Court evaluated the case and decided that the lower-court rulings for trans-student inclusion should stand.” Ria Tabacco Mar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT and HIV Project, also praised the decision. “This is an enormous victory for transgender students across the country,” Mar said in
a statement. “Boyertown’s schools chose to be inclusive and welcoming of transgender students in 2016, a decision the courts have affirmed again and again. This lawsuit sought to reverse that hard-won progress by excluding transgender students from school facilities that other students use. That would have increased the stigma and discrimination that transgender students already face. “But our work is far from over,” added Mar. “We will continue PAGE 19