Countdown to QFest
Summer storytelling is history (really)
Family Portrait: Jena Serbu PAGE 19
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July 6-12, 2012
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Vol. 36 No. 27
Alleged assailant of gay inmate indicted By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com
OUT UNDER THE STARS: About 100 LGBT and ally youth dressed to impress for the 17th annual Alternative Prom last Friday night at Gershman Y, which offered a typical prom experience in a safe and welcoming environment. Hosted by Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative, the event, themed “Evening Under the Stars,” featured dinner and dancing, opportunities for snapshots in a photo booth and the election of a Royal Court. “It exceeded my expectations,” said GALAEI prom coordinator Nikki Lopez. “The youth were really excited, ready to dance, and ultimately the energy in the room was very positive.” Photo: Scott A. Drake
A federal grand jury has indicted Kevin Vincent Hannig for his alleged role in last year’s brutal assault of openly gay inmate Kenneth J. Houck Jr. at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia. The June 28 indictment charges Hannig with aiding and abetting the attack on Houck, and causing serious bodily harm to the victim. Hannig was at the detention center last November while awaiting sentencing for a supervised-release violation when the alleged assault on Houck took place. In February 2004, Hannig was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison for to a bank-robbery conviction. He entered a supervised-release program in July 2011, but was remanded back into custody four months later after drugs were detected in his urine.
New Colours head looks forward By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
A college professor with a wealth of background in nonprofit management has assumed the helm of a local LGBT of color agency. Ralph Godbolt was appointed executive director of The Colours Organization Inc., this spring. Colours’ former executive director, Robert Burns, passed away suddenly in December. Godbolt, a straight ally, is on the faculty at Cheyney University, a historically black college, where he teaches in a master’s of public administration program. He has also taught at Chestnut Hill College and Neumann University. The 38-year-old Pittsburgh native attained his undergraduate degree from Clarion University. Among his nonprofit accomplishments, he is the founder and former executive director of the Campbell Street Youth and Family Center, a north-central
Pennsylvania multipurpose community center. Locally, Godbolt has served as executive director of Special Olympics Philadelphia, where he spearheaded a fundraising campaign and worked to bring the agency’s work to underserved communities, and as executive director of the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children. In that capacity, he created a dropout prevention program for at-risk youth and developed a library-service program for a number of local elementary schools. Godbolt said he has long been interested in Colours’ work and pursued the director position in remembrance of a young gay man he mentored who passed away. “He was essentially a little brother of mine. He was openly gay, and that took him a long time to get to that point. He was ostracized from his family, from the African-American church, from his neighborPAGE 2
Also while on supervised release, Hannig failed to make any monthly payments on a $21,639 restitution order, according to court records. On Nov. 17, U.S. District Judge Legrome D. Davis sentenced Hannig to an additional 10 months of incarceration for those violations. Hannig, 34, was scheduled to be released in July to a halfway house. But now, he faces up to 10 years in federal lock-up for his alleged role in Houck’s assault. On Nov. 10, Houck was reading a gay novel inside his cell at the detention center when two males entered, pulled him by his legs from the top bunk bed, then stomped on him and beat him with a chair, Houck told PGN. The tibia and fibula bones in Houck’s right leg were fractured during the assault, requiring the installation of a metal rod from ankle to knee for PAGE 2
Police: Slain S. Philly man likely knew attacker By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
HOT OFF THE GRILL: AIDS Education Month concluded with the annual cookout June 30 in Fairmount Park. About 300 people showed up to eat, sing, dance and hear personal testimonies from people with HIV/AIDS. Nearly one-third of picnickers this year were first-time participants. Organizers at FIGHT reported this year’s AEM was the most successful in its 18-year history, with nearly 5,000 people attending over two-dozen events. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Investigators have yet to identify a suspect in the murder of a gay South Philadelphia resident last month but believe the victim knew the perpetrator. Michael J. Fox, 30, was found in a pool of blood in his bedroom by a roommate in the early morning of June 22. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Philadelphia Homicide Capt. James Clark told PGN this week that there was no sign of forced entry at the residence, a third-floor apartment at 906 S. Eighth St., leading investigators to believe the victim allowed the attacker into the apartment. Fox’s bedroom was in disarray, with a television and other furniture overturned. Clark said investigators are considering the incident a robbery, but declined to provide details on what items PAGE 2