Can’t give you anything but Love!
Family Portrait: Lauren Vidas
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Philly and NYC in the cross-hairs of new meningitis outbreak
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Oct. 12-18, 2012
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Vol. 36 No. 41
Transwoman shot in NoLibs
Rain holds off, OutFest shines By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com
Come rain or shine, last weekend proved that the local LGBT community was ready and excited for OutFest. Despite the dark skies and morning rain, nearly 25,000 people surfaced in the Gayborhood Oct. 7, about 15,000 less than last year. About 140 vendors were scheduled to attend the annual National Coming Out Day celebration, and 25 did not show up. Franny Price, president of Philly Pride Presents, which stages the event, said the average is 12 no-show vendors. “We still had organizations showing up that weren’t registered but wanted a table,” Price said. The only disappointPAGE 8
Josephs looks to ban conversion therapy
By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
LET FREEDOM RING: The Philadelphia Freedom Band was one of the sunny spots during Sunday’s overcast OutFest. Members of the marching band entertained the crowd over the hate-speeching of antigay protesters Repent America on several festival corners, including at the stage at 13th and Locust streets. Police asked the band to stop playing after the protesters asserted their free-speech rights were being infringed upon. More coverage, pages 8, 9. Photo: Scott A. Drake
By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com State Rep. Babette Josephs (D-182nd Dist.) last week introduced a bill that would prevent mental-health providers from offering so-called “conversion therapy” to minors. The bill, introduced Oct. 3 and listed as HB 2691, would ban providers from engaging in “sexual-orientation change efforts” with those under 18. Efforts have been underway nationally to prohibit such therapies, with California becoming the first state in the nation to adopt such a measure. A similar bill is also being worked on in New Jersey. “We’ve all known for a long time that being LGBT is not considered by any reputable psychiatric or psychological organization to be a disease or a condition that’s wrong or not normal,” Josephs told PGN. “However, this therapy PAGE 24
STANDING IN SOLIDARITY: About 200 trans people and allies marched down South Broad Street Oct. 6 for the second annual Philly Trans* March. The event was meant to celebrate diverse genders and identities and fight back against discrimination and violence directed at transgender, gender-variant and gender-nonconforming people. Before the march, activists gathered at Love Park for a rally that included speeches by the partner of Stacey Blahnik and the mother of Kyra Cordova. The murders of both transwomen remain unsolved. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Gay Gay History History Month Month Special Special Coverage Coverage
Ruth Ellis PAGE 14
A transgender woman remains in critical condition this week after a shooting that claimed her mother’s life. The incident took place Sunday night in Northern Liberties. The 41-year-old woman, whose name had not been released as of presstime, was shot in the face, and her 65-year-old mother, Stephanie Freeman, was shot in the chest. Police were called to the scene, in the 700 block of North Third Street, around 9:15 p.m. Oct. 7 for a report of a “fight on the highway,” according to police spokesperson Jillian Russell. Upon arrival, police found the transgender woman outside with a gunshot wound and her mother inside the doorway. Freeman was pronounced dead on the scene. Russell said police believe the motive was robbery. They have not disclosed if the victims were targeted or not. A suspect has not been identified, and police have only released that the shooter was a male. There was blood on all three floors of the house. Several witnesses were at the house at the time of the shooting and have been interviewed. The incident comes about one month after the fatal shooting of transwoman Kyra Cordova, although there does not appear to be any connection between the cases. Deputy Commissioner Stephen Johnson, the department’s LGBT liaison, cautioned residents to remain on guard. “You need to always be vigilant in terms of your surroundings and the people you deal with,” he said. “And whenever a dire incident like this happens, people need to give us the information we need to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.” ■
Barbra Casbar Siperstein
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