pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Focusing on LGBT voters ahead of midterms PAGE 6
Vol. 42 No. 32 Aug. 10-16, 2018 Family Portrait: Country singer Mary Gauthier PAGE 47
Managing life ahead of a new baby PAGE 19
Comic Jennie McNulty heads to New Hope PAGE 39
Wedding Issue PAGES 22-29
Wolf announces first statewide LGBTQ commission in U.S.
Meet the NGLCC conference’s Biz Pitch finalists
By Kristen Demilio editor@epgn.com
By Adriana Fraser adriana@epgn.com The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce will host the seventh installment of its Shark Tank-styled business-pitch competition at the chamber’s annual LGBT business conference next week. The sold-out International Business and Leadership Conference, entitled “LGBT Unity,” takes place Aug. 14-17 and will feature more than 1,200 entrepreneurs, corporate decision-makers, affiliate chamber leaders and government officials from around the world. One of the events includes the LGBT Biz Pitch entrepreneurial competition, where three finalist companies will make onstage presentations in front of the conference’s plenary audience Aug. 17 at the Philadelphia Marriot Downtown. Finalists will conduct five-minute presentations about their company, a new or existing product, market or other innovations. Jonathan Lovitz, NGLCC’s senior vice president, said the competition is a celebration of the “most innovative LGBT-owned companies. “This year we’ve had the largest number of applicants since we started the competition because the stakes are so high. We’re giving away $50,000 in cash and prizes, and for a small business owner, that’s a game changer,” Lovitz said. “It’s a feel-good celebration of who’s getting it right. Attendees can use this as a learning experience by hearing the finalists’ pitch to our panel of expert judges and the feedback that they receive.” Three finalists were narrowed down from a pool of more than 500 applicants, and then narrowed down to 15 semifinalists. After an online public PAGE 33
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
RAISING TRANS AWARENESS: Evan Thornburg, Philadelphia Deputy Director of the Office of LGBT Affairs, greets a crowd of about 150 at the trans flag raising Aug. 2 in Thomas Paine Plaza. The ceremony coincided with the opening of the Trans Health Conference. See page 5 for additional conference photos. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Gov. Tom Wolf will sign an executive order Monday evening to form the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs, the only one of its kind in the United States. “The creation of the commission on LGBTQ Affairs is one step of many we have taken to ensure obstacles are removed for anyone who is facing an unfair disadvantage based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression,” Wolf said in a press statement. The commission will “help coordinate and drive statewide equality efforts,” he added. The commission is comprised of executive director Todd Snovel, formerly an assistant dean of Lebanon Valley College, and 40 commissioners. Nominees from Philadelphia include William Way LBGT Community Center director Chris Bartlett; civic activist and Democratic nominee for the state House Malcolm Kenyatta; state Sen. Larry Farnese; Jere Mahaffey of the Philadelphia Youth Network; state Rep. Brian Sims, Philadelphia attorney Henry Sias; Amber Hikes, director of the Mayor’s Office for LGBT Affairs; and Roberto Valdes, an assistant city solicitor in the Child Welfare Department. “When I was a kid, I couldn’t have dreamed that I would be able to be myself
and stand up for the intrinsic humanity and rights of people like me, from within the government,” said Sias, a trans man. “This commission is going to change lives.” Wolf “understands that all Pennsylvanians deserve a voice in our government — no matter who you love, how you worship or how you identify. I welcome this opportunity and am grateful to the governor for his continued leadership and [being an] ally to the LGBT community,” said Kenyatta. Bartlett echoed the other commissioners’ sentiGOV. WOLF ments. Photo: Scott A. Drake “I’m honored to serve alongside such a diverse group of Pennsylvanians from around the state who are committed to working with Gov. Wolf to address the pressing needs of our LGBTQ communities statewide — including trans equity, LGBT economic justice and civil rights for all,” he said. “We need this kind of statewide organizing now more than ever.” The commission is necessary “to be able to speak on behalf of marginalized identities,” said Hikes. “I’ll be pulling from the work that we’re doing in PAGE 36
Activists renew goal post-PARS: Close Berks County facility By Adriana Fraser adriana@epgn.com Now that Mayor Jim Kenney decided not to revew Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s access to the city’s Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System, immigration advocates are refocusing their efforts to shut down a detention facility. Kenney’s July 27 decision to end PARS — a local, real-time database of police arrests that collects personal information such as Social Security numbers, birthdates of birth and countries
of origin — came as a shock to activists who have fought against the information-sharing agreement. “A lot of us are still coming to terms that this is a huge victory. We were speechless because we really didn’t think that it would happen,” said Miguel Andrade, the out communications manager of Juntos, a South Philadelphiabased immigration-advocacy group with several queer staff members. “Meetings with community members, conversations with Kenney’s office and the support
of the occupiers outside of City Hall all really helped to galvanize and push us forward to that win,” Andrade said. “We are the vanguard of immigrant rights.” Juntos staffers said they are renewing their goal to shut down the Berks County Residential Center, an immigration processing facility created as part of an arrangement between Berks County and ICE. Juntos has been actively fighting to close the Berks County facility since 2015. Francisco Cortes, a Juntos board member and the interim
executive director of Galaei, the queer Latinx social-justice group, praised Juntos’ efforts in pressuring Kenney to end PARS. “Juntos, along with other community groups, have fought hard to get Kenney to see the damage that PARS and ICE have done to the immigrant community in the city,” he said. “Our work isn’t done yet. We’re still fighting to shut down Berks County’s detention center.” The facility houses more than 50 undocumented immigrants who have entered the U.S. seeking asylum. PAGE 21