Philadelphia Gay News Vol. 33 No. 26
Honesty Integrity Professionalism
June 26 - July 2, 2009
Inclusive ENDA introduced By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer
A RECORD FIGHT: About 800 people attended Philadelphia FIGHT’s 10th annual Prevention and Outreach Summit at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, a record high and at least 200 more than attended last year’s summit. Jeffrey Crowley, openly gay director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (pictured with Jane Shull, executive director of FIGHT), served as the keynote speaker for the event, which was the capstone of FIGHT’s 15th annual AIDS Education Month. The summit brought together HIV service providers, city representatives, community leaders and men and women living with HIV/AIDS for a series of workshops meant to raise awareness about HIV-related issues facing such communities as women, Latinos, LGBTs, youth and sex workers.
Openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced a bill this week that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT employees across the country. Frank is spearheading the Employment NonDiscrimination Act, HR 2981, again this year, after having drawn the ire of some members of the LGBT community last legislative session for agreeing to remove gender identity from the legislation. This version of the bill, however, extends protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Harry Gural, Frank’s press secretary, said the representative initially introduced the legislation June 19 but the list of cosponsors — 10 at the time — was incomplete, so he reintroduced the bill June 24 with more than 100 cosponsors, including all four Philadelphia U.S. representatives: Bob Brady (D-1st Dist.), Chaka Fattah (D-2nd Dist.), Patrick Murphy (D-8th Dist.) and Allyson Schwartz (D-13th Dist.). Mara Kiesling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said the inclusion of gender identity in the bill is a necessity to alleviate some of the widespread employment bias that transgender people face. “Day after day, we hear from transgender people who have lost their jobs for no other reason than plain and simple discrimination,” Kiesling said. “This
includes people who have had long and distinguished careers who, after they transition, suddenly find themselves unable to find meaningful work, and young transgender people who are unable to get their first job. The Employment Nondiscrimination Act will be an important step in helping these folks get to work.” ENDA was originally introduced in 1994 and has resurfaced every session except 2005-06. Frank introduced ENDA again in 2007, marking the first time the bill included the transgender community. The bill had about 65 cosponsors but eventually garnered 184. Several months later, however, Frank introduced a new version of ENDA that lacked protections based on gender identity, noting the inclusive bill did not have the votes to pass. That bill did pass the House in November of that year, but was not taken up by the Senate. D’Arcy Kemnitz, executive director of the National LGBT Bar Association, noted that while the inclusion of gender identity in the legislation may decrease its legislative support, it is “absolutely essential” that the bill include such protections. “We look forward to working with legislators to preserve the bill’s strengths and fend off any efforts to derail this crucial piece of legislation,” Kemnitz said.
Philly priests face sex-abuse charges
Photo: Scott A. Drake
U.S. reps call on Obama to end military ban By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer A bipartisan coalition of members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued a letter this week to President Obama, calling for a halt to investigations conducted under the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers. The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) and signed by 76 other lawmakers, does not call for an executive order lifting the ban, but rather asks the president to demand that no new investigations are initiated and that military officials disregard tips given about one’s sexual orientation by other sources. Included among the 77 signatories were local Reps. Joe Sestak (D-7th Dist.) and Chaka Fattah (D-2nd Dist.).
“I am pleased to join with my colleagues in Congress to call for an end to the wrong-headed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy that restricts patriotic gays and lesbians from military service,” Fattah said this week. The lawmakers requested that Obama “exercise the maximum discretion legally possible in administering ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ until Congress repeals the law,” which they asserted would entail that Obama “impose that no one is asked and that you ignore, as the law requires, third parties who tell.” The letter goes on to request that Obama then take a leadership role in the Congressional repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which has been in place since 1993, and See MILITARY, Page 16
See ENDA, Page 8
By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer
WEST COAST COMMERCE: Louise Chernin, executive director of the Greater Seattle Business Association, the largest LGBT chamber of commerce in the country, was the featured speaker during Independence Business Alliance’s annual meeting June 22 at the Sofitel Philadelphia. The meeting drew about 150 people, including about 80 percent of the organization’s membership and special guests like Mayor Nutter and former Pennsylvania governor and president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Mark Schweiker. Also during the event, IBA members elected two new board members, Eileen Coggins and Janice Mahlmann. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Two former Archdiocese of Philadelphia students filed separate suits this month alleging sexual abuse by diocesan priests, while a third suit was filed last week against a current diocesan priest. Plaintiffs in the first two suits allege that officials with the archdiocese had knowledge of the abuse and did not intervene. Richard Green, 31, of Pittsgrove Township, N.J., filed suit last week in Delaware Superior Court, alleging that the late Rev. John M. McDevitt Jr. sexually abused him during his freshman year at Father Judge High School in Northeast Philadelphia. The suit states that Green was struggling in his religion class in 1990 and McDevitt, who taught at Father Judge from 1989-94, kept him after school for private tutoring. Green described in the suit that “getting a bad grade in religion just wasn’t an option,” as he was See PRIESTS, Page 8