Vol. 34 No. 42
Honesty Integrity Professionalism
Oct. 15 - 21, 2010
OutFest celebrates 20th year on high note By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer The annual OutFest scored a perfect 10 this year — with tens of thousands converging on the Gayborhood for the world’s largest National Coming Out Day festivity, this year held on 10/10/10. About 40,000 people participated in the 20th annual celebration, which stretched from Walnut to Pine streets along 12th and 13th. The streets were filled with 147 vendors, selling rainbow-themed goods and crafts and offering information about community agencies, said Franny Price, executive director of Philly Pride Presents, which stages OutFest and June’s Pride festival. “It was a wonderful day,” she said. “The weather was great, the attendance was great and the participation was great. We had over 70 community groups who had tables, and lots of local businesses so it
OutFest by the hour
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was definitely a huge, huge networking day and we’re proud we were able to offer that to the community.” The stage, at 13th and Locust, offered a constant flow of entertainment, starting with the traditional singing of “It’s
th on e M rag y or ve 9 st o e 1 Hi C Pag y ial ind: Ga ec arl L Sp E
Philadelphia Gay News Blahnik house mother murdered By Jen Colletta
TEEN TRIBUTE: OutFest attendees put their hands together for a crowd of more than PGN Staff Writer 70 LGBT youth who assembled Sunday on stage. The youth recognition was meant to show solidarity with the teens in light of the number of recent suicides by LGBT youth A well-known local transgender woman who faced antigay harassment. The tribute took place during the 20th annual OutFest, who was a fixture in the ballroom commuwhich drew an estimated 40,000 people. Photo: Scott A. Drake nity was murdered in her home this week in
a Beautiful Day in the Gayborhood” by Michael Byrne, who was followed by such acts as magician Dale Varga, Cher impersonator Steve Andrade, Miss Philly Gay Pride 2010 Alexis Cartier, singers Ariel Aparicio and Juan Lords and several
South Philadelphia. area drag performers. The body of Stacey Blahnik, 31, was disCommunity members were invited on covered shortly after stage for the annual high-heel race and 9:30 p.m. Oct. 11 by a penis-shaped bagel-eating contest, and man reported to be her See OUTFEST, Page 22 partner in a secondstory bedroom of her rowhome. Police were called to the house, 1805 Manton St., and by one’s sexual orientation or gender iden- pronounced her dead tity, along with a series of other characteris- at 9:43 p.m. Police spokesperson Sgt. Ray Evers said tics, but such a stipulation was not explicit Blahnik, whose birth name is Michael Lee, in the anti-bullying policy. “We wanted to have language that men- was strangled with a pillowcase. The Medical Examiner’s Office classified tioned things like race, age, sexual orientation, gender identity specifically,” Irizarry the death a homicide Wednesday morning, said. “Even though the state doesn’t require with the cause of death listed as ligature that, we thought it was important to have it strangulation. Evers said investigators have not yet included in our version. It’s almost like, if it ain’t written, nobody’s going to think about determined a motive or suspects in the killing. it.” “The homicide squad is working on it, Irizarry noted that when the commission was previously looking into issues impact- so hopefully they will be able to shed some ing the African-American and Latino com- light on this once they go through the evimunities, they visited The Attic Youth dence and the interviews,” Evers said. Blahnik served as the Overall House Center and saw firsthand the effects antiMother for House of Blahnik. gay bullying can have on students. Local trans activist Jaci Adams said “One of the top issues that came up when we spoke to them was the bullying,” he said. rumors about Blahnik’s death began swirl“They told us lots of interesting stories that ing shortly after her body was found, but day, not only of what they experienced and urged the community to be patient until how they tried to deal with it, but also how more facts are uncovered. “The girls need to be safe, but we don’t they often tried to hide their identities just know the details yet,” Adams said. See SCHOOL BULLY, Page 21 Adams said Blahnik did not have any
School commission tightens bullying policies By Jen Colletta PGN Staff Writer The governing body of the Philadelphia School District last month approved new guidelines that seek to curb school bullying. The five-member School Reform Commission endorsed updates that lay down specific definitions of and procedures to deal with bullying and cyberbullying at its Sept. 22 meeting. The district has had an anti-bullying policy in place since December 2008, but SRC commissioner Johnny Irizarry said the new rules are much more effective. “It’s a lot more specific,” he said. “It has actual process in it, with the reporting, the investigations, the consequences. There’s a lot more clarity.” The policy is also much clearer on antiLGBT bullying. Irizarry said the district’s anti-harassment policy already spelled out in its definition that acts of harassment may be motivated
CONGRESSIONAL RECESS: U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) met with two-dozen students Oct. 8 at the Joseph Pennell Academics Plus School in Olney to discuss school bullying and his Safe Schools Improvement Act, which would require federally funded schools to create uniform LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying measures. The Philadelphia School Reform Commission recently adopted a policy explicitly prohibiting bullying motivated by sexual orientation or gender identity. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Federal judge blocks enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
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See MURDER, Page 22