Family responds to vandal with rainbows PAGE 5
‘Game of Thrones’ star chats TV, music careers PAGE 21
Family Portrait: Getting bookish with Donald Root PAGE 23
Openly gay Israeli diplomat looks back on three years in Philadelphia PAGE 6
Aug. 21-27, 2015
Since 1976
PGN Philadelphia Gay News HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
Vol. 39 No. 34
Church backs out of LGBT events
State agency: D.A. must certify Morris records By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com
By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com
The state Office of Open Records has ordered the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to certify a record believed to pertain to the Nizah Morris incident. In a seven-page ruling issued Aug. 14, the OOR ordered the D.A.’s Office to certify the record within 30 days, and provide a copy to PGN upon payment of an “appropriate” certification fee. Certification verifies that an agency knows the identity of a record it’s providing, in response to an open-records request. Morris was a transgender woman found with a fractured skull in 2002, shortly after receiving a “courtesy ride” from Officer Elizabeth Skala. Inexplicably, Skala initiated an unrelated traffic stop while assigned to handle Morris, who was intoxicated. The stop contributed to a three-hour delay before Skala responded to Morris after her head injury, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. By that time, Morris was brain-dead. Her homicide remains unsolved. Eight years ago, PGN received a dispatch record for the traffic stop from the city’s Police Advisory Commission, but it’s missing the incident’s location, priority level and district-control number. PGN gave this record to the D.A.’s Office and asked for complete records for the traffic stop. Since 2013, the D.A.’s Office has submitted seven affidavits, indicating its only “arguably responsive” record for the traffic stop was provided by PGN. But PGN challenges the affidavits, because the agency hasn’t certified the record in question, nor has it denied having a dispatch record for the traffic stop in a different format. Once the agency certifies its “arguably responsive” record, the public can be assured the agency doesn’t have another record for the traffic stop in a complete format. The D.A.’s Office told the OOR it doesn’t have to certify the record. “[PGN] is not entitled to a ‘certification’ by the District Attorney’s Office of a record [PGN] has not been granted access to by the District Attorney’s Office,” the D.A.’s Office stated in an OOR filing. The state’s open-records law doesn’t enable requesters to simply give a record to an agency PAGE 18
Equally Blessed, a national coalition of LGBT Catholic groups gathering in Philadelphia next month in conjunction with the World Meeting of Families, was told this week that a Catholic church won’t accommodate its itinerary, as originally planned. But Equally Blessed has found safe haven at a Methodist church located a few blocks from the Convention Center, where the World Meeting of Families will take place. The coalition intended to use St. John the Evangelist Church on 13th near Market as a base of operations for various LGBT-related events the week of Sept. 21-27. Pope Francis also will be in town during that time. But this week, the coalition was told St. John the Evangelist is no longer available, apparently due to Archbishop Chaput’s disapproval of a gender-identity workshop set for Sept. 26. PAGE 16 The workshop is sponsored
OPPOSING OPPRESSION: Members of The Attic Youth Center illustrated statistics about the effects of systemic oppression during the organization’s Summer Expo Aug. 14 at WIlliam Way LGBT Community Center. The event was led by about 40 youth who interned at The Attic this summer, an experience that focused on the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The youth displayed writings and photos they created over the summer exploring the impact of racism, homophobia, transphobia and other social ills. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Plea discussions ongoing for gay-bashing suspects By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
A judge granted another continuance last Thursday in the case of the three suspects accused of attacking a gay couple in Center City last fall. Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner scheduled another pre-trial bring-back for Kevin Harrigan, Kathryn Knott and Philip Williams for 9 a.m. Sept. 17. The trio was not in the courtroom Thursday. The District Attorney’s Office has offered plea deals to all three, the details of which they have declined to make public. Prosecutor Michael Barry told PGN this week that “there are still some discussions regarding a non-trial disposition ongoing,” prompting the request for a continuance. The three suspects encountered Zachary Hess and Andrew Haught near 16th and Chancellor streets Sept. 11, 2014. They allegedly taunted the couple about their sexual orientation and then attacked them, leaving Haught with multiple broken bones, which resulted in his jaw being wired shut for two months. Harrigan, Knott and Williams are charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and conspiracy. n
(SANDY) BEACH BALL: Local drag star Sandy Beach threw out the first pitch to open the Reading Fightin’ Phils’ LGBT night game Aug. 17. The third-annual event drew contingents from Reading Pride, as well as a bus trip from Venture Inn. The team won 8-1, becoming the first Eastern League team to get 70 wins this season. Photo: Scott A. Drake