pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 41 No. 38 Sept. 22-28, 2017
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
• AIDS doctor wants day in court • Upper Dublin adopts nondiscrimination law
Family Portrait: Chris Balbi ties one on PAGE 19
Bi Visibility Day redux
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Allegations fly after Equality PA board member booted By Jen Colletta and Jeremy Rodriguez jen@epgn.com, jeremy@epgn.com Statewide LGBT-rights organization Equality Pennsylvania last week sought legal intervention after a board member it recently removed shared financial information about the organization online. Board removal
BIRTHDAY BONANZA: Supporters of Philly AIDS Thrift turned out for the store’s anniversary block party Sept. 16 in the 700 block of South Fifth Street. This year’s party was extra festive, as PAT recently surpassed the $2-million milestone in donations to local HIV/AIDS causes. The party featured a dunk tank where local leaders, including out state Rep. Brian Sims, took a dip to raise money, as well as games, resource tables and food trucks. Photo: Scott A. Drake
LGBT Commission considers Morris case By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Trans attorney Julie Chovanes gave an impassioned presentation at the Sept. 12 meeting of the Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs in Germantown, urging commissioners to support transparency in the Nizah Morris case. Morris was a trans woman of color found with a fatal head injury in 2002, shortly after accepting a “courtesy ride” from Philadelphia police. Her homicide remains unsolved. “I can’t feel safe in a city that’s covered up this case for 15 years,” Chovanes noted. Chovanes also questioned an assertion by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office that it has been investigating the Morris case for almost 15 years. She said such an assertion shouldn’t justify a lack of transparency in the case. Chovanes urged commissioners to support the release of “every single piece of paper the city has about the Morris case.” “We are in the middle of a war,” she added. “So many of us are casualties.
Nizah was a bloody casualty for something that wasn’t her fault.” The commissioners asked a few questions about the case and generally appeared sympathetic to Chovanes’ presentation. Chovanes and Office of LGBT Affairs Director Amber Hikes will remain in contact to ascertain what, if anything, the Kenney administration can do to help with transparency in the Morris case. Numerous Morris records in the city’s possession remain inaccessible to the public, including a 50-page police internal-affairs investigative file and interviews with Officer Kenneth Novak and his then-supervisor, Sgt. Michael Dougherty. Both were involved in the Morris incident but neither testified when the Police Advisory Commission held public hearings on the case in December 2006. In a related matter, PGN has a pending open-records request for 911 recordings pertaining to the Morris case at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. The next court proceeding will be held 9:30 a.m. Oct. 10 in Room 426 of City Hall, with Common Pleas Judge Abbe F. Fletman presiding. n
The boards of Equality PA and the Equality PA Education Fund voted Sept. 14 to revoke Sharron Cooks’ board membership and her position as vice president of advocacy, according to social-media posts by Cooks. Managing Director and Acting Chief Professional Officer John Dawe confirmed to PGN this week that Cooks was
voted off the board. A Sept. 15 letter Cooks posted online — which she said she received from law firm Ballard Spahr, which represents Equality PA — instructed her that her board membership was terminated after she “published a Facebook status and published a video in which you disparaged two of Equality PA’s partners, including the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Trans Health Conference; your subsequent failure to respond to messages from the board co-chairs and treasurer regarding the disparaging comments; and your refusal to participate in a recent executive committee.” In a series of social-media postings starting later that day, Cooks, a black trans woman, contended she was forced off the board because of white supremacy. Cooks PAGE 14 did not respond to a
Mazzoni staff votes to unionize By Jeremy Rodriguez jeremy@epgn.com Mazzoni Center staff members voted to form a union with SEIU Healthcare PA last Wednesday. “Today, a majority of eligible members of Mazzoni’s staff voted for a union to represent them,” Mazzoni Center Interim CEO Steve Glassman said in a statement Sept. 13. The vote was reportedly 51-34. Mazzoni Medical Case Manager Michelle Lindstrom told PGN she was “overjoyed.” “When we have brought our concerns to management, it’s usually treated as, ‘Well, this is a longstanding policy. There is nothing that can be done about it,’” Lindstrom said. “The union representing us means that our concerns will be addressed and hopefully [the center will] become a more patient-centered organization.” Prior to the decision, Glassman spoke to PGN about how the unionization would affect the relationship between management and staff. “The union [will act] on behalf of the staff,” he said. “The staff [will not be] coming into my office and working out a resolution to specific problems, which I have been doing since I’ve been here. We haven’t found one situation that I haven’t been able to resolve with the staff directly advocating
and negotiating for themselves with me personally. That won’t be able to happen.” Glassman added that he would “work cooperatively with them and work in good faith toward finding a collective bargaining agreement.” “I can’t speak for what happened prior to my tenure here but I can tell you that under my leadership, no one will ever be retaliated against,” he added. Prior to Glassman’s appointment in July, the Mazzoni Center became the target of scrutiny due to alleged sexual misconduct from former medical director Dr. Robert Winn, who resigned in April. CEO Nurit Shein departed her post weeks later after Mazzoni staffers hosted a walkout protesting that she allegedly covered up the Winn accusations. Forming the union Lindstrom said discussions about forming a union began shortly after Winn and Shein departed their posts. She said a core group of staff who organized the walkout began researching unions. “The representatives from SEIU were definitely familiar with Mazzoni Center,” Lindstrom said. “Our concerns were primarily about staff being placed on somewhat equal footing with leadership in decision-making proPAGE 6