pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 42 No. 28 July 13-19, 2018
Babs Siperstein: “I truly feel like a first-class citizen” PAGE 2
Miss Gay Pennsylvania: Tatiana Clark
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
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SCOTUS nominee bad news for LGBT rights
Internal Affairs file for Morris incident lacks key evidence
By Adriana Fraser adriana@epgn.com
By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com The official Internal Affairs Division investigative file for the Nizah Morris incident was released last week but doesn’t contain key evidence about the 2002 murder, including a police report written by an officer who responded to Morris and part of a patrol log filled out by another responding officer. Morris was a trans woman of color who was found by passersby with a fatal head injury, shortly after she received a Center City courtesy ride from Officer Elizabeth Skala in December 2002. Morris died two days later, and, more than 15 years later, her murder remains unsolved. After IAD completed its Morris investigation in 2005, PGN requested a copy of the file. However, city attorneys maintained its contents were confidential. On July 5, they reversed their position and released a copy of the file. Prior to its release, trans attorney Julie Chovanes indicated she would file a civil action to procure the file, if necessary. “We are continuing to make progress on the goal of city transparency with respect to the death of Nizah Morris,” Chovanes told PGN this week. The 46-page IAD file includes the front side of a double-sided patrol log filled out by Officer Kenneth Novak on the morning of Morris’ head injury. But the file doesn’t include the log’s reverse side, which contains its only entries relating to Morris. Novak and Skala were dispatched to investigate Morris outside the old Key West Bar, where she was intoxicated, during the predawn hours of Dec. 22, 2002. Skala arrived at Key West first and reportedly gave Morris a three-block ride to the area of 16th and Walnut streets — where passersby found Morris bleeding from a head wound. It remains unclear why Skala only transported Morris three blocks when the ride was supposed to terminate at her home in West Philadelphia. Several years after Morris’ death, PGN obtained a copy of PAGE 6
Arleen Olshan will take over as MAAG executive director
Cirque du Soleil’s Volta is illuminating and electrifying
CAN’T SMILE WITHOUT YOU: Borgata Hotel, Casino and
Spa is throwing itself a 15th birthday bash through the summer and kicked it off with a food and entertainment party in the Borgata parking lot June 7. Barry Manilow (inset) performed for packed houses July 6-7 as part of the celebration. Upcoming LGBT favorites include Britney Spears July 19-21 and Cher Aug. 17-18, concluding the summer with the Miss’d America fundraiser Out at Borgata Presents Pride Bingo Sept. 1. Party photo: Scott A. Drake; inset
photo courtesy of Borgata Hotel, Casino and Spa
President Trump nominated conservative judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to fill the vacant seat in the U.S. Supreme Court in a move that will likely threaten the rights of LGBTQ Americans, say advocates. “It comes as no surprise that Kavanaugh was Trump’s pick. What’s more concerning is if he is confirmed, he will play a major role in rolling back our protections for LGBTQ people, possibly chipping away at the Affordable Care Act and disintegrate the Roe v. Wade decision,” said Stacey Long Simmons, director of advocacy and action for the Washington, D.C.based National LGBTQ Task Force. Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals-court judge in the District of Columbia, has a long history of conservative ties. The nominee served as a Supreme Court clerk for Justice Kennedy in 1993. He later became a prosecutor, working under Ken W. Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton, and then as staff secretary to President George W. Bush. On abortion-related issues, Kavanaugh wrote a dissenting
opinion in 2017 about whether a pregnant 17-year-old being held by immigration authorities was allowed to leave custody to obtain an abortion. The court ruled with a Texas judge that the teenager was legally entitled to an abortion, while Kavanaugh dissented by requesting the government to release the girl to an adult sponsor. Kavanaugh was also backed by the anti-LGBTQ group Family Research Council. Adrian Shanker, executive director of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, believes that, despite clerking for him, Kavanaugh will likely not emerge as a version of Justice Kennedy. “LGBTQ Americans deserve a fair-minded court. Justice Kennedy was a fair-minded justice and the nominee that is likely to replace him doesn’t seem to share those values,” Shanker said. “Kavanaugh does not reflect Kennedy’s legacy, and the difference will be palpable. “It is important that we continue to advance LGBT progress at every level of government — from school boards to federal-policy change.” Justin Robinette, a civil-rights lawyer based in Philadelphia, said the nominee “could be worse.” “Kavanaugh PAGE 13
City releases Bethany’s antibias policy By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Philadelphia officials last week released a new antibias policy enacted by a Christian agency that receives city funds to provide foster-care services for children in the city’s custody. Officials say the new policy provides adequate antibias protections for the LGBT community, but some advocates disagree.
Bethany Christian Services of the Greater Delaware Valley came under scrutiny in March after the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the agency turned away a lesbian couple who wanted to serve as foster parents. The city initiated an investigation of its 30 foster-care providers and determined that Catholic Social Services also discriminates against same-sex couples in the provision of foster-care services on behalf of the city.
Foster-child referrals to both agencies were promptly suspended pending the investigation’s outcome. On June 29, city officials resumed referring foster-care children to Bethany after the agency adopted an antibias policy that putatively covers the LGBT community. Foster-child referrals to CSS remain suspended. But in May, CSS filed suit in federal court to have the referrals resumed. The case remained pending at press time.
Bethany’s antibias policy, which the city released July 6, states in part: “It is the policy of Bethany Christian Services of the Greater Delaware Valley that no employee or volunteer will discriminate against any client or potential client (including, but not limited to, potential foster parent, foster parent, children, youth or families) in the provision of services in a manner that violates any applicable local, state, or PAGE 8 federal law