Fall entertainment preview PAGE 18
Family Portrait: Aaron Lisbon, civilrights activist
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Temple ‘Guys’ on the way to Emmy PAGE 7 Aug. 30 - Sept. 5, 2013
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Vol. 37 No. 35
Transgender inmate files federal lawsuit
Kyra Cordova remembered, one year later
By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Gene L. Dickerson, a transgender state inmate, has filed a lawsuit in federal court, citing unsafe living conditions relating to her transgender status. Dickerson, 39, is incarcerated at the state prison in Dallas, Pa. She alleges harassment and discrimination by state Department of Correction officials because she’s transgender. She also alleges that DOC officials failed to properly screen her cellmates for transphobia, thus exposing her to dangerous situations. She’s had five different cellmates in a brief period of time, all of whom have either assaulted her, sexually harassed her or threatened bodily harm, according to the lawsuit. One cellmate allegedly said, “I’m in the cell with a faggot,” and tried to commit suicide. “I was still forced to live with this inmate an additional three days,” Dickerson stated. A Muslim cellmate indicated he disapproved of her gender identity and allegedly told staff, “If you don’t move me I’m gonna fuck this dude up,” according to Dickerson. One DOC official threatened to disclose Dickerson’s private medical information throughout the prison if she continued to file complaints, according to the lawsuit. DOC officials also threatened to perform an invasive “cavity search” on Dickerson, and administer an unnecessary enema, if she didn’t stop filing grievances, according to the lawsuit. Dickerson requested to be housed in a cell with her cousin, Deon C. Stafford, 44, who is also an inmate at the prison. “All I have is my cousin, to make sure no one bothers me due to my [transgender status],” Dickerson stated. But DOC officials denied her request without giving a reasonable explanation, according to the lawsuit. Instead, DOC staffers have “intentionally and maliciously placed me in dangerous situations,” said PAGE 2
By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
PEP RALLY: Members of the Greater Philadelphia Flag Football League tried their hand at a different sport last weekend. About two-dozen players and supporters took to the bowling lanes Aug. 23 at PEP Bowl in South Philadelphia and raised about $300 for GPFFL’s competitive team, Revolution. Bowlers included Carmen Gervasio (from left), Justin Dolci, Herbie Sayles, Wayne Lesher, Morgan Sampson Jr. and Ken Howarth. GPFFL’s fall season starts in September, with games through November. For more information, visit www.phillyflagfootball.com. Photo: Scott A. Drake
LGBT leader encourages equality at march By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com In 1963, openly gay Pennsylvanian Bayard Rustin organized the March on Washington, which went on to become one of the nation’s most influential and
ADRIAN SHANKER ON THE STEPS OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL Photo: Brandon Pariser
well-known civil-rights events. Fifty years later, another gay Pennsylvanian headed to Washington, D.C., to reflect on the civil-rights progress, including for LGBT people, since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Equality Pennsylvania president Adrian Shanker was one of six LGBT individuals to speak at the 50th-anniversary event Aug. 24, which was organized in part by Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. In his speech to the crowd of more than 10,000, Shanker said he was proud of the work civil-rights leaders have accomplished in the past five decades, but acknowledged there was far more work to be done. “I stand here reflecting on the civil-rights leaders who paved the paths that allow us to stand here today, more equal than we were yesterday, but with so much farther to go before the dream that Dr. King shared will be realized,” Shanker said in his speech. “But today’s march is not just a commemoration. It is a march to mobilize our communities, to work for freedom, justice and equality under the law.” PAGE 17
While this Labor Day weekend will mark a symbolic end to the summer, it will also represent another more somber milestone for the local LGBT community. On Sept. 3, 2012, Labor Day, Kyra Cordova was murdered in Frankford. The trans activist was shot in the head and her body left in a wooded area near Castor and Adams avenues. One year later, her killer has yet to be apprehended, and there appears to be no new movement in the case. Police spokesperson Lt. John Stanford told PGN that Homicide Capt. James Clark “didn’t have anything new to add to the case.” “We’re still investigating, but there is nothing new,” Stanford said. Police did not respond to requests for additional information about the investigation. Investigators said in November that they had identified a person of interest, yet no further information was available and a suspect was never named. “The waiting is horrible,” said Cordova’s mother, Dawn Maher. “Somebody in the neighborhood has to know. There has to be somebody that knows what happened. If they would just come forward, hopefully this person would go to jail. That’s the frustrating part: Somebody knows and they won’t say anything.” Last fall, the city, and a community donor, offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest and conviction. “It boggles my mind that even for $25,000 someone hasn’t come forward,” Maher added. Elicia Gonzales, executive director of GALAEI: A Queer Latin@ Social Justice Organization — where Cordova previously worked — said the lack of an arrest is concerning on a number of levels. “It’s scary because that PAGE 17