pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976 Family Portrait: Fashionable Conrad Booker PAGE 37
Vol. 41 No. 37 Sept. 15-21, 2017
Court to DA: Certify the Morris records
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HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM A photo tale of two conferences PAGES 26-27
Celebration, calls for resistance at trans-flag raising By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Perseverance, strength and power were on display last Thursday at Philadelphia City Hall, where the transgender flag was raised amid celebrations of trans triumphs and calls for continued resistance to oppression. The third-annual ceremony included remarks by city officials and organizers of the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference. Director of LGBT Affairs Amber Hikes read a city proclamation marking Thursday as Trans Flag-Raising Day and heralding the conference, now in its 16th year. Hikes noted that the event was begun by trans women of color and, in its first year, had five presenters and 70 attendees; last week’s event featured more than 250 workshops, drew 4,500 participants and was the largest conference of its kind in the world. Many attendees marched in unison to the ceremony from the conference. Avery Dickerson and Felicia Francois had just been at a panel on trans history. The North Carolina residents said they were impressed by the trans-friendliness of the city and were thinking of moving here. “I think people can bring back knowledge and information on how to affect their home areas,”Francois said about attending PTHC and the flag-raising ceremony, “especially in places like North Carolina.” PAGE 26 “People in the Bible Belt
A Philadelphia judge last month cleared the way for a December murder trial for C h a r l e s N . S a rg e n t , w h o stands accused of stabbing to death trans woman Diamond Williams, then dismembering her corpse with an ax. Williams’ murder occurred in July 2013, in the Strawberry Mansion section of the city. In addition to murder, Sargent is charged with possessing an instrument of crime, terroristic
Community mourns Edie Windsor, pioneer behind marriage equality By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
ELEVATING OUR YOUTH: Trans teen Gavin Grimm, who took his case against his school’s discriminatory bathroom policy to the U.S. Supreme Court, was among the speakers at the Sept. 7 raising of the trans flag outside Philadelphia City Hall. Grimm was in town for the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, which was lauded in a proclamation read by Office of LGBT Affairs Director Amber Hikes. The event also featured remarks by Mayor Jim Kenney and organizers of the conference, which drew more than 4,000 participants. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Judge clears way for trans murder trial By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com
Family Issue: Professionals and parents share tips, trends on LGBT family-building PAGES 12-25
threats, abuse of a corpse and related offenses. Sargent requested the dismissal of all charges, claiming his right to a speedy trial was violated. But last month, Common Pleas Court Judge Diana L. Anhalt rejected Sargent’s request, maintaining there were no unlawful delays in scheduling his trial. Defendants accused of murder who request a trial typically have one within a year of their arrest. Sargent was arrested in July 2013. But Sargent’s former attorney,
J. Michael Farrell, recently was incarcerated in a federal prison in New Jersey after being convicted of offenses relating to witness tampering and money laundering. Although Sargent will serve as his own attorney during his murder trial, he’ll have the assistance of standby attorney Benjamin Cooper — who requested additional time to become familiar with the case. Sargent’s jury trial is scheduled to begin 10 a.m. Dec. 11 in Room 807 of the Criminal Justice Center, 1315 PAGE 9
“If you’re going to quote anything, quote this: There is no such thing as same-sex marriage. There is marriage in this country.” Edie Windsor was emphatic about that point when PGN sat down with her last year in Washington, D.C., before she accepted another in a sea of national awards. Windsor rose to prominence in 2010, when she filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, the ban on marriage equality. Her suit was ultimately successful, and she is largely credited as one of the driving forces behind national marriage equality. The Philadelphia native died Tuesday at age 88. Windsor was born Edith Schlain on June 20, 1929, to Russian-Jewish immigrants. Her family weathered the Great Depression, losing their apartment and candy shop; she said she also faced anti-Semitism during her time in Philly schools. Despite the challenges, Windsor was committed to her studies and earned an undergraduate degree in 1950 from Temple University. She was married to a man, Saul Windsor, for a short time, but it ended after she acknowledged her lesbian identity. Shortly after graduation, Windsor moved to New York City and obtained a master’s degree in mathematics from New York University. Windsor went on to work for IBM for about 20 years, and was also active in New York’s LGBT movement. She was a cofounder of social-justice improv group Old Queers Acting Up, a board member of Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders and volunteered at a number of LGBT agencies. Windsor met Thea Spyer in the early 1960s, and the couple got
engaged in 1967, decades before marriage equality; they didn’t wear engagement rings so as not to face retribution from their employers. Spyer, a clinical psychologist, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1977, and Windsor eventually became her full-time caretaker as her health declined in later years. In 2007, 40 years after the proposal, Windsor and Spyer mar-
ried in Canada; the state of New York recognized their marriage the next year. Their relationship was the subject of a 2009 documentary, “Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement.” Spyer died Feb. 5, 2009. She left her estate to her wife, but Windsor was ordered to pay more than $360,000 in estate taxes, as Section 3 of DOMA barred samesex couples from the estate-tax exemption that was then available only to heterosexual married couples. Windsor’s suit wended its way through the court system, and prompted a milestone when the Obama administration announced in 2011 the Department of Justice would no longer defend DOMA’s Section 3. After a series of affirmative court decisions, an intervening legal group appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued its landPAGE 28