PGN Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2011 edition by The Philadelphia Gay News

Sex is like pizza: Even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. Or not.

Family Portrait: Quynh-Mai Nguyen

PAGE 22

How to make the classroom safer for LGBT students

PAGE 27

PAGE 12

Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2011

��

Vol. 35 No. 42

AIDS orgs in for sea change Community collaborations at center of funding talks

AGENTS OF ACTION: Action AIDS’ first board president, Bob Schoenberg (from left); accepts his Friend for Life Award from current president Rich Lampkins and executive director Kevin Burns at the agency’s 25th anniversary celebration. About 250 supporters came together for the celebration, held Oct. 22 at Arts Ballroom, which also brought back an array of former staff members and volunteers, said Burns. “It went very well and was a lovely night.” Other Friend for Life Awards were presented to inaugural executive director Jim Littrell and first staffer Anna Forbes. Photo: Scott A. Drake

CHANGE ON THE HORIZON: Policymakers, agency leaders and the community discussed the effects of the new Affordable Care Act and the National AIDS Policy last Thursday at the University of Pennsylvania. Jeffrey Crowley, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, kicked off the discussion, along with moderator TJ Ghose (from left), assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice; panelists Don Blanchon, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Whitman-Walker Health; Janet Cleveland, CDC deputy division director for programs; Dr. Margarita Figuero-González, Health Resources and Services Administration director division of community-based programs; Paul A. Kawata, executive director of National Minority AIDS Council; Kathy McNamara, assistant director of clinical affairs for the National Association of Community Health Centers; Nurit Shein, executive director of Mazzoni Center; and Derrick Wilson, program analysis supervisor of AIDS Activities Coordinating Office. Photo: University of Pennsylvania Communication

By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Local and national HIV/AIDS experts, advocates and activists gathered at the University of Pennsylvania last week to share ideas and information about the shifts in store for the HIV funding landscape. “Sustaining the Community-Based Response to HIV” was the third in a series of recent public forums staged by the Office of National AIDS Policy to address the impacts of the implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the Affordable Care Act. “It’s pretty clear that things are changing,” said Kevin Burns, Action AIDS executive director. One major change covered in the discussion was the future of the Ryan White Care Act, which provides HIV-related services to those who are un- and under-insured. Beginning in 2014, the ACA will allow for many of those currently receiving treatment under Ryan White-funded programs

Trans health facility to launch By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com

The name Nizah Morris has long conjured feelings of frustration and anger from members of the LGBT community dismayed with the local transwoman’s unsolved murder. However, the name will soon also encourage ideas of health and hope, thanks to an innovative city initiative. The city’s Department of Behavioral to be insured under Medicaid or Medicare, Health and Intellectual Disability Services leaving the reauthorization of the Ryan is spearheading the creation of a residenWhite program up in the air. “That’s huge, politically, ideologically tial treatment facility, named Morris Home, and implementation-wise,” said Dr. TJ Ghose, assistant professor at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice and moderator of the panel discussion. “There is a sea change taking place in funding, probably the biggest changes since Ryan White Care was introduced.” With the possible loss of Ryan White funding, community-based HIV/AIDS agencies will be left to seek other outlets, By Mark Segal which could come in the form of organizaPGN publisher tional collaborations. Through the ACA, new funding will be Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) may likely available to Federally Qualified Health be the most studied and researched of the Centers — agencies that provide a continUnited States presidents. The first referuum of care, not specific to one population ence to him possibly being “homosexor one disease, regardless of a patient’s abilual” came from notable Lincoln expert ity to pay. Carl Sandburg in his 1926 biography, Both Mazzoni Center and Action AIDS “Abraham Lincoln: The War Years.” In were recently awarded grants to begin the describing the early relationship between PAGE 8 process of applying to

that will provide holistic, comprehensive services for transgender and gender-variant individuals. The facility could open in a temporary location as early as next month, as plans for its permanent site are finalized. Morris Home will be funded by the city and run by Resources for Human Development, a national nonprofit socialservice organization headquartered in Philadelphia. The venture will be the first of its kind in the nation, said Sade Ali, DBHIDS deputy commissioner. PAGE 8

Gay History Month Special Coverage

We Are America . . . ADDITIONAL COVERAGE PAGE 16

Lincoln: A life in the closet?

Lincoln and his close friend, Joshua Fry Speed, Sandburg wrote “a streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets.” This line got historians talking about an issue from which many had previously shied away. Still, the biography was written in the early 20th century, a time when such topics were only discussed in whispers. But by including the line, Sandburg felt the relationship deserved PAGE 19

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

LOCAL PGN

PAC seeks D.A.’s interviews with Morris officers By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Confidential interviews with three police officers and a sergeant involved in the Nizah Morris incident are among a batch of records the Police Advisory Commission is seeking from the District Attorney’s office. During an Oct. 5 visit to the D.A.’s office, a PAC delegation tagged key interviews with Sgt. Michael Dougherty and Officers Elizabeth Skala, Kenneth Novak and Thomas Berry for photocopying. Morris was a transwoman found with a fatal head wound shortly after receiving a courtesy ride from Skala during the earlymorning hours of Dec. 22, 2002. All three officers reportedly spoke to Dougherty about the incident, but the content of their conversations remains shrouded in secrecy. Morris died two days later from complications due to a fractured skull. The PAC also is seeking from the D.A.’s office copies of the Morris autopsy, containing toxicology and medical reports issued by the city’s Office of the Medical Examiner. Additionally, the PAC is seeking copies of interviews the D.A.’s office conducted with several civilian witnesses. In May, the PAC issued a subpoena for all Morris items in the D.A.’s possession

and a privilege log listing any items being withheld. The D.A.’s office declined to comply with the subpoena. Instead, a compromise was reached, permitting the PAC to view a file on Morris at the D.A.’s office. The D.A.’s office also created a fourpage privilege log of confidential Morris documents, and permitted the PAC to view — but not copy — all of the listed documents, except for internal staff memos. At their Oct. 17 meeting, PAC members said they won’t seek copies of the memos due to the work-product privilege and other privileges invoked by the D.A.’s office. PAC members also said they won’t release the confidential Morris records they obtain from the D.A.’s office “to any other entity or person.” PAC chair Mu’min Islam said that’s consistent with a 1993 executive order creating the PAC, which states that confidential police documents obtained by the PAC shall not be released to the public. But PAC members said they wish to retain the right to “cite, identify and quote from” all of the D.A.’s records on Morris they receive. PAC counsel Michael B. Hayes said he would convey that expectation to the D.A.’s office. Tasha Jamerson, a spokesperson for

D.A. Seth Williams, had no comment on whether the D.A.’s Morris records could be made public at some point for a fuller understanding of the incident. The police department’s Morris homicide file was lost in 2003, prompting a Philadelphia judge to order a reconstituted file. The judge also specified that PGN be granted access to the file. In 2008, the D.A.’s office contributed some of its Morris investigative reports to the reconstituted police file, but said it wasn’t subject to the judge’s order because it’s a state agency. Earlier this year, police located their lost Morris homicide file at the city Archives Unit. But the file appears to be missing several items, including 911 tapes of the incident. It’s rare for members of the public to gain access to investigative records such as those being sought by the PAC. State open-records laws across the country routinely exempt investigative records from the public domain. Administrative subpoenas for criminal records get mixed results, as prosecutors genderally take the position that their release would jeopardize an ongoing investigation. However, Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know law permits the release of 911 recordings if a court orders it.

PGN is involved in litigation with the D.A.’s office over the acquisition of a 911 transcript in the Morris case under the state’s Right-to-Know law. In a recent court filing, the D.A.’s office indicated that it has some form of the 911 transcript, but didn’t elaborate. A 911 transcript isn’t on the privilege log, nor was one shown to the PAC delegation. Other Morris items that remain unaccounted for include surveillance tapes near the crime scene and interviews with paramedics Stephen McCarthy and Teresa Height, who treated Morris at 16th and Walnut streets. The PAC oversees investigations of alleged police misconduct and issues recommendations for remedial action when appropriate. The 12 PAC members at the Oct. 17 meeting expressed hope that their inquiry into the Morris case will be concluded shortly. Kathleen R. Padilla, an LGBT activist, commended the PAC for its perseverance in the case. “The diligence and commitment of the PAC commissioners to obtain the release of information required to perform their oversight responsibilities give me hope for some truth and reconciliation,” Padilla told PGN. “Justice is another matter.” ■

��

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN

TRIBUTE TO A PIONEER: Gloria Casarez, the city’s director of LGBT affairs, recounted the achievements of late LGBT activist Frank Kameny during a memorial celebration Oct. 21. About 40 community members turned out to pay tribute to Kameny, who died Oct. 11. He was 86. The gathering was held at Sixth and Chestnut streets, near a historical marker commemorating gay-rights pickets of the 1960s that Kameny helped organize. Photo: Scott A. Drake

Contents NEWS

Crime Watch Local News Briefing

EDITORIAL/OP-ED

9 2 7

Creep of the Week Editorial Letters/Feedback Mark My Words Street Talk

10 10 11 11 11

Philadelphia Gay News 505 S. Fourth St. Philadelphia, PA 19147-1506

For advertising inquiries: advertising@epgn.com or 215-625-8501 ext. 218.

Phone: 215-625-8501 Fax: 215-925-6437 E-mail: pgn@epgn.com Web: www.epgn.com

Advertising Director Dan Calhoun (ext. 218) dan@epgn.com

Publisher

Mark Segal (ext. 204) mark@epgn.com Editor

Sarah Blazucki (ext. 206) sarah@epgn.com Staff Writers Jen Colletta (ext. 215) jen@epgn.com Larry Nichols (ext. 213) larry@epgn.com Writer-at-Large Timothy Cwiek (ext. 208) timothy@epgn.com

Advertising Manager Greg Dennis greg@epgn.com Advertising Sales Representatives Amy Mather amy@epgn.com Brooke Lutz brooke@epgn.com Prab Sandhu prab@epgn.com National Advertising Rivendell Media: 212-242-6863 Office Manager/ Classifieds Don Pignolet (ext. 200) don@epgn.com

Art Director/Photographer Scott A. Drake (ext. 210) scott@epgn.com Graphic Artist Sean Dorn (ext. 211) sean@epgn.com Executive Assistant/ Billing Manager Carol Giunta (ext. 202) carol@epgn.com Philadelphia Gay News is a member of: The Associated Press Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Suburban Newspapers of America Published by Masco Communications Inc. © 2011 Masco Communications Inc. ISSN-0742-5155 The views of PGN are expressed only in the unsigned “Editorial” column. Opinions expressed in bylined columns, stories and letters to the editor are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of PGN. The appearance of names or pictorial representations in PGN does not necessarily indicate the sexual orientation of that named or pictured person or persons.

LOCAL PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Activists blast A.C. casino owner for donations to antigay politicos By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Union leaders are criticizing the co-owner of an Atlantic City casino that recently launched an LGBT club for having a history of donating to antigay New York politicians. Resorts co-owner Morris Bailey and his family have donated more than $100,000 to a group of New York local and state lawmakers since 2004. This past summer, Resorts launched Prohibition, the first and only LGBT casino nightclub in Atlantic City. At the time of Prohibition’s opening, Resorts’ new director of LGBT marketing told PGN the club was the brainchild of the casino hotel’s co-owner and CEO Dennis Gomes. Bailey’s donations were brought to light by longtime LGBT activist Cleve Jones, a labor leader with Unite Here, whose Local 54 represents Atlantic City casino workers. Among the beneficiaries of donations from Bailey, his wife Paulette, daughter Ester Jerome and her husband Joseph Jerome are New York City Councilmembers Simcha Felder and Martin Golden and New York Sens. David Greenfield and Carl Kruger. “I think it’s glaringly hypocritical that these folks who have a clearly documented history of supporting candidates who are vehemently opposed to equality for LGBT people want to seek to profit from gay money,” Jones said. Bailey and Gomes did not return calls for comment. Kruger’s name was in the news in the past year after he was outed following his indictment on bribery and forgery charges. The Democrat voted against same-sex marriage in 2009 but, following last spring’s headlines, cast his vote in support of the state’s successful gay-marriage bill in June. Golden, a Republican, voted against the same-sex marriage bill this year and in 2009, and last year voted against a measure that would allow unmarried partners to adopt a child. Felder voted against a 2002 measure to allow New York City to recognize domestic partnerships, civil unions or same-sex marriages performed legally in other jurisdictions, as well as a 2007 resolution to urge Congress to pass the Uniting American Families Act, which would make immigration laws equitable for same-sex couples. Felder, who now serves as the city’s deputy comptroller, backed open lesbian Councilwoman Christine Quinn’s bid to become Council Speaker but left to visit the restroom when the vote was taking place,

PGN

with a spokesperson later saying he did not vote because of “religious reasons.” Felder also voted against a measure that would require city contractors to offer samesex domestic-partner benefits and a bill to include gender identity as a class protected from discrimination. Greenfield, who succeeded Felder, was the sole member of Council last summer to vote against a bill, proposed after the state Senate blocked the same-sex marriage measure, that required the New York City Clerk’s Office to offer information on which jurisdictions throughout the world offer same-sex marriage. Between 2005-10, Bailey donated $4,500 to Kruger and $5,000 each to Felder and Greenfield, while his wife contributed $37,500 between 2004-10: $18,750 to Felder, $5,000 to Greenfield, $7,500 to Kruger and $6,250 to Golden. Bailey’s daughter has contributed $6,250 to Golden and $5,000 to Greenfield since 2006, while her husband donated $25,500 to Kruger, $5,000 to Greenfield, $6,250 to Golden and $4,250 to Felder. Resorts is owned by Gomes Gaming Inc., of which Bailey has 25-percent ownership, and which owns Gomes Gaming NJ LLC. Gomes Gaming NJ LLC has a management agreement with DGMB Casino LLC, owned almost exclusively by DGMB Casino Holding LLC. The last company is 75-percent owned by JEMB Resorts LLC, of which Joseph Jerome is a 25-percent owner, and 30-percent ownership is also delegated to the Bailey Family 2010 Grandchildren’s Trust in Ester Jerome’s name. Unite Here holds favorable positions on an array of LGBT issues, including the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and marriage equality and offers domestic-partner benefits for staff. Jones said the organization has a history of advocating for LGBT equality — which he said is antithetical to the voting records of the politicos Bailey supported. “Unite Here is unequivocally committed for full equality for LGBT people. We’re putting in the hard work educating our members about these issues, marching in Pride celebrations and fighting for job protections in all of our contracts in states where it’s illegal to discriminate against LGBT people,” Jones said. “This is a fighting union, and we want to speak out to show support for all of our workers and families. And we want to let the owners of Resorts know that this is unacceptable.” Resorts came under fire earlier this year after it fired 16 female cocktail servers ages 40-60 because they didn’t meet new appearance standards, which included a new flapper-themed uniform. ■

Gay is our middle name.

COLOURS OF THE CITY: Robert Burns (from left), executive director of The Colours Organization Inc., welcomed guests to the 20th-anniversary celebration of the agency Oct. 21 at City Hall with program manager Lawrence Frazier, PROMISE coordinator Andrea Harrington and prevention specialist Dolicia Dobbs. About 75 people attended the event, which featured a performance by gospel choir A Voice 4 All People. Photo: Scott A. Drake

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

LOCAL PGN

LGBT lawyers group gets new leadership By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Philadelphia’s LGBT attorney group recently came under the direction of a new leader who is eager to bring new successes and growth to an organization with a 25year history of uniting out legal professionals around the area. The board of Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia earlier this month elected Angela Giampolo as president. Giampolo takes over for Brian Sims, who is launching his campaign for a Pennsylvania House seat and who held the presidency for the past three years. “Angela’s dynamic personality, integrity and dedication to advocacy for LGBT human rights will help bring the organization [forward],” Sims said. “Her voice in the community is exactly what GALLOP needs in its quest to define its identity.” Giampolo’s firm, Giampolo Law Group, specializes in LGBT law, handling cases that deal with everything from estateplanning to adoptions to employment discrimination, and Giampolo writes about LGBT-specific legal issues as a columnist for such publications as PGN and Philadelphia Business Journal. Giampolo joined GALLOP while attending law school at Temple University. “It was the only organization of its kind in the area that provided a space for LGBT law students and lawyers to come together and exchange ideas, socialize and network,” Giampolo said. Sims contacted Giampolo to inform her he was stepping down and, after discussing the organization’s development over the past few years and the agency’s track for the future, Giampolo said she welcomed the opportunity to take on the leadership role. The leadership shift has sparked a conversation among the board members about the need to “concretize” the overall vision and mission of the organization, Giampolo said. “We’ve discussed both the short-term and long-term goals as a board and all feel that in the short-term, we have to focus on the long-term,” she said. A main component of the plan includes enhanced outreach to previous members and board members of GALLOP, Giampolo

Check out PGN’s new business directory

said, to fuel organization growth. The organization currently has about 100 members. “We have an amazing pedigree of powerful and revered attorneys that have served GALLOP over the years, and it will be exciting to bring them together and hear their ideas for the future of the organization.” Among its current efforts, GALLOP offers outreach to law students, including opportunities for continuing legal education credits and social and networking outlets — initiatives that Giampolo said the organization structures so as not to overlap with the work of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Diversity Committee or Mazzoni Center’s legal clinic. GALLOP plans to collaborate with both agencies, as well as Lambda Legal and other LGBT groups, to continue to broaden the opportunities available to the LGBT legal community. Earlier this month, GALLOP hosted a social event for approximately 40 local guests to discuss the recent Lavender Law conference in Los Angeles, and the agency is also launching a monthly happy hour for LGBT law students and attorneys at 5:30 p.m. the second Thursday of the month at Stir. Giampolo said the combination of experiences and skill sets among the board members will also be beneficial to shaping the future course of the group. “I’ve always been dedicated to servicing the LGBT community’s legal needs and this is another facet in which I can do so,” she said. “I will also bring a ton of energy and new ideas to the organization and, along with our dedicated and passionate board, we’ll be able to build on the momentum led by Brian Sims to take the organization to the next level.” Sims will remain involved in GALLOP as an ex-officio board member. Larry Felzer will remain as treasurer of the board, and family-law attorney Megan Smith was brought on as the board’s secretary. Board members Cletus Lyman and Robert Tuerk are returning for another term, and the board has also brought on Ballard Spahr attorney Geoffrey D. Bruen, Rutgers University Law School faculty member Jason Cohen and Blank Rome attorney Alfred Zaher. ■

resOURce COMMUNITY

MARKETPLACE

www.epgn.com

LOCAL PGN

State College settles for $42K with lesbian employee in discrimination By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com The final portion of a settlement between the State College Area School District and a lesbian who sued for domestic-partner benefits was announced this week. The board of SCASD this week approved an agreement that will result in a payout of $42,500 to elementary school guidance counselor Kerry Wiessmann. Wiesmann sued the district earlier this year after she was prevented from adding her partner of 25 years, Beth Resko, to her insurance plan. The district allowed for coverage of opposite-sex domestic partners, but not same-sex partners. The federal lawsuit contended that the district violated Wiessmann’s constitutional rights to equal protection and intimate association, as well as the Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment based on a claim of sex discrimination. This past summer, the district agreed to extend its domestic-partner policy to samesex couples. As part of the settlement it also

amended its nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity, but the monetary claims were unresolved until this week. In addition to the damages paid to Wiessmann, the district also agreed to pay $47,000 for her attorney’s fees. The figures were determined in a mediation session earlier this month. Attorney Andrew Shubin, who represented Wiessmann along with Justine Andronici and representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and Pepper Hamilton, in a statement this week commended Wiessmann’s and Resko’s perseverance. “Pursuing a civil-rights lawsuit takes courage,” Shubin said. “As a result of this family’s efforts, the district now provides equal healthcare benefits to same-sex domestic partners. The plaintiffs in this case deserve our respect and appreciation for bringing this important issue into focus.” The district includes 13 elementary and high schools that are home to about 7,200 students. ■

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

News Briefing Trial set in Clementi case The former Rutgers University student accused of spying on Tyler Clementi before the latter committed suicide turned down a plea deal last week. Since Dharun Ravi rejected the agreement, which would have mandated a maximum sentence of no more than five years in prison, his case will proceed to trial, which Judge Glenn Berman set last Thursday for Feb. 21. Ravi faces invasion-of-privacy and bias charges for his alleged role in using a webcam last fall to broadcast Clementi’s sexual encounter with another man on the Internet. Clementi later jumped to his death. Also last week, Berman approved a defense request to reveal the name of the man with whom Clementi was engaged in

the encounter. Prosecutors have until Oct. 27 to appeal that ruling. Berman additionally rejected a request from the defense to recuse himself from the case. Defense attorney Steven Altman based his request on a recent New York Times piece on a new reality show that addresses Internet bullying. In the story, the show’s producer disclosed that she has a gay nephew and she is Berman’s cousin.

Night out in Fishtown Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., will host a joint benefit for Mazzoni Center and anti-domestic violence agency Project Safe at 8 p.m. Oct. 29. “Night of 1,000 Friends” will feature local musicians and DJs, including Go-Go’s tribute band and headliner Lust2Love — which includes two Mazzoni staffers — gay rapper DaQuan of Sgt. Sass, Lexi Starr, DJ Kit and performance artist Ethel Cee. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or in advance at www.kungfunecktie.com or at 215-291-4919. ■

o Electronic PGN: www.epgn.com

— Jen Colletta

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

AIDS ORGS., from page 1 become FQHCs. “We figured out a couple years ago that the federal government was moving in this direction so we started moving Mazzoni Center toward not just having the medical practice but becoming an FQHC,” said Mazzoni executive director Nurit Shein. “But my fear is for the smaller organizations that have relied mostly on Ryan White dollars. What’s going to happen to them?” Burns said local HIV/AIDS service organizations are going to be facing some “tough decisions” in the future, which are likely to change the face of the ASO community. “We have to look at how we can work together,” he said. “We may have to merge some organizations that would struggle more to stay in existence because of their size. We have to do some strategic thinking as ASOs about how we can protect the services we all offer, which is the bottom line — we need to be offering quality services. So we need to talk about partnerships and mergers in a civilized way that will serve our clients best.” One form of potential partnership is the “health home” structure. ACA authorized states to create networks of providers that will offer integrated services for Medicaid recipients. “The onus is on collaboration,” Ghose said. “Previously, with the Ryan White Care funding, agencies would compete for the same pot of money, but now it’s looking more like the organizations are going to have to go for the funding in a team. If Agency A is better set up for one piece and Agency B is better set up for another service, instead of competition they now need to move toward being collaborating partners. Basically, the need of the hour is to start the conversation in our community with Community Health Centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers to get into these networks and create teams that can utilize ACA funding for HIV care.” While last week’s panel discussion made the case for continued conversation on funding issues, it also raised numerous questions

LOCAL PGN

that will need to be considered as HIV care in the nation develops. For instance, Ghose noted that the integration of HIV-related care into mainstream facilities will require an evaluation of HIV/ AIDS education and awareness among mainstream providers. “Ryan White was created largely because health centers were not able to handle HIV care: There was homophobia, all kinds of biases and stigma, and many doctors just weren’t ready to address the psychosocial and medical needs of the patients,” Ghose said. “But now, HIV care is moving into the generalized health centers, so we have to ask the question of, is this stigma dealt with?” Another outstanding question includes the availability of health coverage for those who have been incarcerated. Currently, when someone becomes incarcerated, he or she is terminated from Medicare or Medicaid and faces an uphill battle to restore the coverage after release, Ghose said, which could be especially problematic for those with HIV/AIDS. “Incarceration contributes heavily to the HIV disparity rates between African Americans and whites,” he said. “So what will happen to these people? The federal government needs to come out with guidelines saying that incarceration will not delist you from Medicaid because otherwise there’s going to be an even larger segregation among people of color and those at risk for incarceration.” With ACA implementation just over two years away, Shein said HIV agencies need to mobilize to get answers to the myriad questions the new law is raising and organize for optimum outcomes. She said, “2014 is just around the corner. We really need to be advocates for the Ryan White dollars continuing to be there. We need to show the federal government the value of the Ryan White model and be really proactive in providing information through the systems that are now soliciting public comment so that all of our voices can be heard.” ■

MORRIS HOME, from page 1

Ali said she began planning for the facility about three years ago. “In my past clinical work, I came upon some transgender and gender-variant folks who were marginalized in care, and when I came to Philadelphia I met a very large group of transgender and gender-variant folks who told me stories of being maligned, abused, made to present as the gender they did not align with,” Ali said. “People are being made to fit into care rather than the care being tailored to meet their needs.” Morris Home will be an 18-bed facility that Ali cautioned does not function as a shelter, but rather as a true treatment facility with services for individuals experiencing an array of challenges. “There are some programs that only treat mental-health challenges like depression, but we’re going to also treat areas like trauma, which is prevalent in transgender and gender-variant populations, alcohol or drug challenges, and we’ll have a physical-health program connected as well,” Ali said, noting that Morris Home will be able to connect residents with safe hormone treatment and other treatments at federally qualified health centers. “We’re looking forward to offering a holistic program, like health reform is saying we should be doing. You shouldn’t offer behavioral-health services without the physical-health services as well and vice versa. And given the challenges people in this community have, we’re also going to be doing things related to employment and vocational services as well as some housing issues. We’re going to be extremely holistic in our approach.” Services will be provided both for and by trans community members, as Ali said Morris Home will enlist transgender professionals to helm many of the facility’s programs. The facility itself will offer private efficiencies with shared kitchens, bathrooms and other community spaces. The length of stay will be variable based on the needs of the individual, Ali said. “We’re not going to just move people through the system quickly to get them in and out but rather work with them on their own pace,” Ali said. “When they do transition to another level of care or out into the community, it’ll be with the full support of

the Morris Home.” Local trans activist Jaci Adams is among the community members who were brought to the table several years ago for the planning process. Adams said Morris Home is “gravely important” for the community, but noted that the facility will not be a “cakewalk” for those who use its services. “It’s not going to be the type of place where you’re just housed with yesterday’s issues,” she said. “If you don’t have your GED, you’ll work toward it. If you have a substance-abuse problem, you’ll work on that. The hope is to restore dignity in the transgender community. A lot of us in the trans community weren’t afforded the equal opportunities as everyone else, so this can let trans men and women know that they are able to work toward gainful employment and education and that there is a place that welcomes them and accepts them.” Trans activist Kathy Padilla agreed the services that will be offered are “desperately needed,” but said it’s unfortunate they have to be offered separately from mainstream services. “The reason this is segregated is because discrimination is rampant in city services,” Padilla said. “If the city is not enforcing its nondiscrimination law, there should be oversight and agencies that should have their contracts revoked. Right now we’re not seeing the integration we’d like to see.” The location of the proposed site has not yet been announced, but Ali said organizers have run into some pushback from neighbors in the area. “We’re having some challenges with the community because some people don’t understand who the group of folks are who will be taking advantage of the services at Morris Home,” Ali said. “But we are going to be working to educate the community so that the people who will be using these services will feel safe in the community.” Adams commended Ali for her perseverance in seeing the proposal through to nearfruition. “A lot of people have been working on this for years and ran into some snags and got discouraged, but Sade and the RHD staff really have had the backbone, passion and genuine spirit for the trans community to make this happen.” ■

CONGREGATION BETH AHAVAH

A GLBT synagogue welcoming people of all gender and sexual identities since 1975

JOIN US MONTHLY FOR SHABBAT SERVICES AT 8:00 PM

Coffee, cake & conversation at the oneg following services

Friday, October 21, 8:00 PM. Beth Ahavah Shabbat Services. Please join us for our monthly BA Shabbat Service followed by a sumptuous oneg (social hour). Dinner at a local restaurant at 6:00 PM precedes services. Please call or email for restaurant location and to RSVP. Saturday, October 29th, Halloween Tour at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Email jackrb1@verizon.net for details and to RSVP. Cost is $20 for a one-hour tour. Visit www.bethahavah.org for additional information, programming and directions 615 North Broad Street, Phila., PA 19123-2495 Phone: 215.923.2003 E-mail: BethAhavah@rodephshalom.org Free secure parking: Cross Spring Garden at 13th St., left at next light, Mt. Vernon St. Parking lot entrance on left.

PGN LOCAL

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Trans woman sentenced for boyfriend’s murder By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com A transgender woman from Philadelphia will face prison time for the stabbing death of her boyfriend. Asia Santana pleaded guilty in the spring to the 2010 murder of Eric Nevith, and Judge William Furber sentenced her last Friday to 14-28 years. Santana stabbed Nevith six times in a bedroom of a Norristown home belonging to a relative of Santana, where the couple

had been living for a few days before the murder. In a statement to the court Oct. 21, Santana, 41, disclosed that Nevith, 28, infected her with HIV, which she said led to frequent arguments, including the one that resulted in Nevith’s stabbing. Santana said during the Aug. 13 argument, Nevith struck her in the face, which she said caused her to black out. Santana said she does not remember stabbing Nevith but came to and saw him bleeding on the floor.

Gayborhood Crime Watch The following incidents in the Midtown Village and Washington Square West areas were reported to the Sixth Police District between Oct. 11-16. Information is courtesy of 6th District Capt. Brian Korn; Stacy Irving, senior director, Crime Prevention Service; Center City District; the Police Liaison Committee and Midtown Village Merchants Association. To report crime tips, visit www.phillypolice.com or call 215-686-TIPS (8477). INCIDENTS REPORTED — At 1 a.m. Oct. 8 (reported Oct. 11), a man was approached at 13th and Walnut streets by a male who punched him, knocking him down, and then took his cell phone and cash. The suspect was described as a black male, 6-foot-1, 210 pounds with a goatee, short hair and wearing a blue jersey and black Nike high-tops with a gold stripe. — At 9 a.m. Oct. 11 (reported 11:15 p.m.), a male was in the 300 block of South Juniper Street when two females, one armed with a knife, took his cell phone and cash. The suspects were described as black females, one was 20 years old, 5-foot-3, 130 pounds with a dark complexion and wearing a tan jacket; the other was 40 years old, 5-foot-2, 150 pounds with grey dreadlocks and wearing a red jacket. — At 4:42 a.m. Oct. 12, police responded to a call of an alarm at the Pizzeria, 1337 Locust St., and found the front door unlocked. The owner arrived and found that the cash register was missing. It contained no money. Central Detective Division processed the scene for evidence and fingerprints. — At 8:30 p.m. Oct. 12, an unsecured bicycle was stolen from outside 400 S. Ninth St. — At 9 a.m. Oct. 15, items, including a bicycle, were discovered missing from an apartment building common storage area, in the 1000 block of Clinton Street. There was no sign of forced entry. — Between 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Oct. 15, someone pried the door open to an apartment in the 1100 block of Spruce Street and

stole laptops and a cell phone. Sixth District Officer Thorton lifted fingerprints. — At 5:05 p.m. Oct. 16, a male was taken on a guided tour of the Plastic Club art gallery, 247 S. Camac St., when he abruptly left and a laptop was discovered missing. The suspect was described as a black male, 5-foot-3 with a medium build, a scar under his right eye and wearing a brown sweater and dark pants. NON-SUMMARY ARRESTS — At 5:50 p.m. Oct. 10, Jefferson University Hospital security arrested a male on the roof of the building, 111 S. 11th St., removing copper tubing and parts from the air-conditioning unit. The 26-year-old suspect with a homeless shelter address was charged with theft and related offenses. — At 8:50 p.m. Oct. 15, plainclothes officers assigned to the Washington Square West area were at 13th and Pine streets when a male walked up to a group of people and announced that he had weed for sale. The officers quickly stopped the male and found three bags of marijuana in his possession. The 26-year-old suspect with a Cherry Hill, N.J., address was charged with possession of marijuana. — At 9 p.m. Oct. 15, 6th District bicycle patrol Officers McQue and Keenan arrested a male wanted on a bench warrant for failure to appear for court outside 1323 Locust St. The 46-year-old suspect with a South Philadelphia address was charged with contempt of court. SUMMARY OFFENSE ARRESTS — Citation issued 5 p.m. Oct. 10, 233 S. 13th St. — Citations issued 7:20 p.m. Oct. 12, 200 S. 12th St., and 9:05 p.m. at 1121 Spruce St. — Citation issued 12:55 a.m. Oct. 13, 1243 Lombard St. — Citation issued 2:45 a.m. Oct. 14, 400 S. 12th St. — Citations issued 4:50 p.m. Oct. 15, 1200 St. James St.; 6:50 p.m., 1100 Pine St.; 8:50 p.m., 1300 Pine St.; and 11 p.m., 1221 Pine St. ■

Nevith was stabbed in the chest, back, arm and leg. Following the incident, Santana wrapped the body in a sheet and called her brother, who arrived with their mother, and Santana waited at the scene for the police. Santana said during her statement last week that she was “sick to [her] soul” without Nevith. The couple had been together for five years. Furber additionally sentenced Santana to nine-23 months to be served concurrently for possession of an instrument of crime.

Sentencing guidelines could have allowed for 22.5-45 years in prison. In exchange for her guilty plea on the third-degree murder charge in April, prosecutors dropped a firstdegree murder charge. Furber also ordered Santana to pay nearly $7,000 for Nevith’s funeral costs. According to her Facebook page, Santana is a 1988 graduate of Martin Luther King High School, studied communications at Community College of Philadelphia and worked in the jewelry department at Macy’s. ■

Look Better NAKED! Move Forward Fitness

13 Week Fitness Program! • Lose Fat! • Gain Muscle! • Speed Metabolism!

GUARANTEED RESULTS! 215-399-3541

MoveForwardFitness.com Call Today!

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

EDITORIAL PGN

Creep of the Week

D’Anne Witkowski

Linda Harvey

Editorial

Evolution of AIDS care Since the advent of AIDS 30 years ago, a parallel health-care system has evolved for people with HIV/AIDS. For the younger generation, there has always existed a Mazzoni Center, a Philadelphia FIGHT, an Action AIDS, an AIDS Law Project, this is the norm. But it wasn’t always so. For no other disease is there a separate infrastructure set up to serve a particular customer in such a comprehensive way. Sure, there are specialists, surgeons, therapists, dentists. But for the most part, care is accessed through a primary physician. Not so with AIDS care. Older generations undoubtedly know why; younger folks might not realize how and why this happened — primarily due to homophobia and AIDS-phobia. When the disease began to take hold, many health-care and insurance providers refused to treat or cover people with AIDS. The only way for people to receive care was to establish separate institutions and facilities. An entire movement sprung up, led by the LGBT community, to respond to these inequities. Gay activists pushed for attention, funding and research. Activists got politicians, the media and the public to pay attention to the epidemic and pass laws protecting people with HIV/AIDS from discrimination. Though community-based service organizations have grown exponentially, they all started from activist roots. None of them — the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office contracts with 50 in Philadelphia — is over 30 years old. Last year, the Obama administration released the first National HIV/AIDS Strategy and Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, both of which have the potential to radically change the way

AIDS service organizations operate, to recreate the landscape. For the NHAS, this is the first comprehensive, government-wide effort to combat and prevent the disease. It sets measurable goals in three areas: reducing new HIV infections; increasing access to care and improving health outcomes for people with HIV; and reducing HIV-related health disparities. NHAS places a high priority on intensifying HIV-prevention efforts in the communities “where HIV is the most heavily concentrated,” using evidencebased approaches. The impact of this is that agencies that do not provide prevention services may have more difficulty receiving federal funding. Additionally, there is concern the Ryan White Care Act may not be reauthorized in 2014. As part of the ACA, insurers can no longer deny coverage based on a pre-existing condition, including HIV/ AIDS, starting January 2014. The law also increases income levels for eligibility to Medicaid, which will include more poor people with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, insurers can no longer impose a lifetime dollar limit on essential benefits, nor annual spending caps. There will also be new health-care “homes,” with disparate health agencies partnering to provide coordinated care. One outcome of may be that HIV care may be rolled into general health care. As federal agencies begin implementing NHAS and ACA takes effect, the impact on AIDS service organizations may be significant. There will be benefits and unintended consequences. As it did 30 years ago, it will be up to the community to focus on problems and get them resolved. ■

Your son just fell off the monkey bars, shattering a kneecap and busting out some teeth. Your kid is screaming in pain, blood all over his face, and you’re trying to calm him down on the ambulance ride to the hospital saying, “It’s OK, you’re going to be OK,” while trying to keep terror out of your voice. When you get to the hospital, your son is whisked away on a stretcher to be seen by an ER doctor. Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it? No, not the your-child-getting-seriously-injured thing. I mean, come on, accidents happen, and in this fictitious scenario he’s going to be sore and on crutches for a little while and looking like a jack-o-lantern until his front adult teeth come in, but fine. No, the nightmare is the fact that the paramedics, X-ray technicians, nurses and doctors who cared for your son could be “known homosexuals.” A terrifying thought. Granted, a health-care provider’s sexual orientation probably isn’t the first thing on parents’ minds when their child is sick or injured. Thankfully, Linda Harvey of Mission America reminds us what’s important when it comes to child health and welfare. On her Oct. 18 radio show, Harvey warned parents about the dangers of gay and lesbian caretakers. “How do you feel about open homosexuals tending to your child in a health-care setting? Do you think these folks provide good role modeling at a time when your child is very vulnerable?” she asks, adding that her concern stems from the gay and lesbian employee group at Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Harvey was stunned to learn that the group had done some scandalous things. According to Harvey, “they participated in last June’s gay Pride parade [and] in a health expo on adolescent health this summer and that they’re concerned about samesex partner benefits. They’re also planning to be identified with rainbow lapel pins.” That’s right: rainbow lapel pins, which means “open homosexuals.” “Let’s say your 11-year-old has broken her leg rather badly and needs to be in the hospital a few days, which would you prefer: a nurse who’s proud of her lesbianism, who has rainbow identifiers on her work clothing, or a nurse who does not?” Harvey asks, knowing that any sane and loving par-

ent would rather take their chances at home with some pliers and duct tape than subject their child to a lesbianism-flaunting nurse. Harvey continues, “If you want your children to admire people who proclaim a homosexual lifestyle, their involvement with your child during a hospital stay is sure to be an influence.” That’s right, parents. One day you’re telling little Billy how dangerous and sinister homosexuals are and the next day he’s in traction and a nice lesbian is bringing him Popsicles and a gay doctor is responsible for the fact that he’ll walk again. That’s just not fair to Billy. Better that he never know kind, helpful, professional gay people exist at all. Not that Harvey is trying to denigrate gay and lesbian health professionals. “Let me be clear that folks involved in these behaviors can be certainly competent workers,” she says, “but they are tacking onto their workplace identity one that is highly offensive to many people and can be erroneously influential to children who won’t, or shouldn’t, see the whole picture of how this behavior really manifests itself.” Got it? If the lesbian nurse could just, say, show the child a video of herself having lesbian sex and going to hell, then children would get the full perspective. But Harvey would object to that too. Harvey’s advice to parents? “You may want to consider writing a letter that you file with your pediatrician that should your child ever be hospitalized, you do not want your child to be treated or cared for by [gay employees] except in the case of an emergency situation,” she says. If Harvey were really serious she’d drop the “emergency situation” exception. But then again, no decent parent could stand to watch a child suffer or let a child die in the name of shielding him or her from nefarious homosexual influence. And no decent doctor or nurse of any sexual orientation is going to let a child suffer or die just because he or she has antigay nuts for parents. ■ D’Anne Witkowski has been gay for pay since 2003. She’s a freelance writer and poet (believe it!). When she’s not taking on the creeps of the world, she reviews rock ’n’ roll shows in Detroit with her twin sister.

Correction: In “Two LGBT antibias laws in Pa. challenged,” Oct. 21-27, David M. Rosenblum’s employer and title was incorrect. Rosenblum is legal director for Mazzoni Center. PGN regrets the error.

OP-ED PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Pa.’s (vice) presidential predictions Since I’ve been on a successful streak would have to nominate a vice-presidential with my predictions of late, let me make a candidate from Pennsylvania who is well few more. known and proven to bring out the votes. There are three possible options if the presThere is an unwritten law among political pundits and political scientists that idential nominee chooses to look in this direction. in order to win the presidency, you must Their first choice would be current win two of these states: Florida, Ohio and Gov. Tom Corbett. He has the Pennsylvania. Republican credentials, and While the primary next week the influential Grover Norquist in Pennsylvania will be one — the guy who makes all of the lowest voter turnouts in Republicans sign the no-newrecent history, watch how the national pundits will try to use tax pledge — has tweeted that the low turnout in Philadelphia Corbett would make a fine VP as a sign that President Obama candidate. Having been govis in trouble in the Keystone ernor for less than a year now, State. Corbett hasn’t made too many enemies. He also is a former Far from it. As any good attorney general, so that brings political pundit should know, to the air of reform and putting win Pennsylvania and its rich criminals behind bars. His pubpool of electoral votes, all one lic standing in the state is good has to do is win Philadelphia’s and could only be enhanced five-county area and heavily sweeten it with Wilkes-Barre/ Mark Segal if he is on the ticket. And he doesn’t have to resign to run, so Scranton. Add a couple other if the Republicans lose, he just places such as Harrisburg and goes back to his day job. maybe even Allegheny County. Even with Second choice, Sen. Pat Toomey. A this economy, that scenario is still in play and looks great for Obama. (Although freshman senator, but one who landed a there is legislation pending in the state plum job in his first year: He was chosen as one of only 12 on the special Joint Senate to change the way the electoral Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. votes are awarded, it is unlikely to pass.) And again, he’s popular, conservative and Those areas are rich with Obama’s core doesn’t have to quit his day job. votes and, while Obama may (or may not) Third is former Gov. Tom Ridge. He have lived up to their expectations, they rose to national attention when President will rush to his side when attacked by the George Bush chose him to run the newly Republican candidate, whoever it is. The Republican candidate has a major problem created Department of Homeland Security. that the Republican candidate for presiBut he seems to be out of touch and from the old school — doubts could be raised dent hasn’t had before: In order to get the about him cashing in on his homeland party base out to vote, he or she will have to remain on the right. Not go to the politi- security gig. cal middle where all presidential candiYou’ll note one name is missing: former dates go and find victory. This is ever so Sen. Rick Santorum. For all the right reasons, he’s most likely not on anyone’s list. true for Mitt Romney who, no matter what When you lose Pennsylvania as big as he he does, cannot get above 30 percent in did to Sen. Bob Casey, it makes you a defihis own party. Will that other 70 percent just sit on their hands, stay home in their cit in any campaign. ■ Barcaloungers and not vote? Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the Of course the Republicans could toss a nation’s most-award-winning commentamonkey wrench into reelection plans of tor in LGBT media. He can be reached at President Obama, putting Pennsylvania mark@epgn.com. into play. To do that, the Republicans

Mark My Words

Letters and Feedback In response to “Benjamin Franklin: Writer, inventor, statesman and friend to gays,” Oct. 21-27: Thank you, Victoria, for this wonderful piece. My favorite Ben Franklin quote: “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that is the stuff life is made of.” Franklin did not waste time, hated stupidity, bigotry and prejudice. I think the fact that he was from Pennsylvania, which had a large Quaker population, aided in formulating his feelings. The Quakers were almost universally oppressed — so Philadelphia became a center for open-mindedness toward

oppressed groups like the Quakers, Jews and blacks. — Perry Brass In response to “New sick-leave bill awaits mayor,” Oct. 21-27: This city has enough restraints on businesses and adding one more will cause even more companies to stay away from Philadelphia, which will hurt the economy and jobs. If it passes there will be less jobs in the city and employees won’t have to worry about sick time; they will be unemployed. — DBILARD

Street Talk What do you do for Halloween? “Enjoy my housemate’s decorations. They’re sort of kitschy, with inflatable pumpkins. But they’re still neat. On Elizabeth Fuller Halloween, student I’m going to Washington Square dress up as a West troll doll, with long hair that sticks up, and a rhinestone jewel over my belly button.”

“Carve a pumpkin with an artsy face, maybe a cat or a spider. This year, I’ll put on a jailbird costume and go to a party Hannah Mack-Boll student with friends.” Lancaster

“I like music — spooky music like 'Monster Mash.’ And I love candy corn. I’ll make a cake with fake eyeballs and a red-icing mouth on top.”

“I celebrate with food. I don’t do parties, but I dress up. I make pumpkin rolls, the best in America. Joshua Ryans I don’t wear student anything South Philadelphia outlandish — nothing that will spoil my appetite. David Bowie was my most extreme.”

Sharon Marks homemaker West Philadelphia

Tell us what you think Send letters and opinion column submissions to: pgn@epgn.com; PGN, 505 S. Fourth St., Philadelphia, PA 19147; fax: 215-925-6437.

In response to “Swarthmore LGBT group presses district on Scouts,” Oct. 21-27: And maybe if all school districts with half a brain refuse to host the Scouts, maybe they will have to change their policies. If you want to discriminate, keep it off of public property. — JordanGwendolynDavis In response to “Josephs testifies for inheritance-tax bill,” Oct. 21-27: “[Rep. Kerry Benninghoff spokesperson Dan] Massing noted that, following all of

Please include a daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity, style and space considerations.

the testimony, a representative from the Department of Revenue testified about a number of the measures and asserted that HB 1828 may violate the constitutional uniformity clause.” If anybody knows what the uniformity clause is, it basically prevents PA and its municipalities within from having any form of progressive taxation, thus why all our social services are overburdened and our city has such an ass-backward tax scheme. The fact that they are trying to use an unjust tax clause to justify relationship rights is puke-a-licious. — JordanGwendolynDavis

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Safe schools: What can we do right now Even today, nearly 20 years removed from that moment, I can still hear the laughter. I can still feel the shame. I can still remember the confusion of being teased for being who I was. Throughout my adolescence I was told: “Just be yourself and people will like you.” Yet here I was doing just that, and not only did people not “like” me, they were actually laughing at me. I was in my fourth-grade English class, and our teacher, Ms. Douglas, opened the lesson by stating, “We are going to work on sentence fragments today, in teams — it will be the boys against the girls.” As soon as she reached the end of her sentence, my body tensed up and prepared for the inevitable jokes and teasing. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Before I could exhale, I heard, “So where is Louis going to go? The boys’ side or the girls’ side? There’s no Louie team for fags!” I kept my eyes closed and was committed to keeping them closed until the class finished laughing. It only took Ms. Douglas about a minute to regain control, but to me it felt like a day and a half. I am not sure what she said to quell the laughter, but I was thankful — even though the stu-

dent who incited the situation was not held accountable. During round two of the classroom competition, I was called to the board to win the “boys” team a point. I was so nervous, the piece of chalk felt like a brick in my hand. The room fell completely silent and all I could hear was Ms. Douglas saying, “Are you ready? Underline the verb. Circle the noun. Place two lines under the adjective ... ” Her voice faded out, and I attempted to do what she asked. I cannot remember what I did or did not do, but I could hear Ms. Douglas whispering “no.” Although I wasn’t facing her, I knew she was guiding me to the point. I quickly corrected what I had written, placed the chalk down and turned around. Holding my breath, I awaited the verdict. A. Ortiz Ms. Douglas stood up, walked over to the chalkboard, placed her arm around me and said, “Louis is the only one who has done this correctly. Maybe if you all weren’t too busy teasing him, you would learn the difference between your verbs and nouns.” I stood there, feeling relieved that I had earned the point for the “team” — but still

On Being Well

• Keys made • Glass and mirror cut to size • Lights rewired •Household cleaning supplies • Complete line of screws and anchoring systems •Large variety of lightbulbs Your neighborhood hardware store since 1913 is just a click away. Come choose from over 50,000 items online or visit our store at

615 E. Passyunk Ave. (just off South St.)

215-922-3493

unsafe because the word “fag” continued to ring in my ears. As I begin to work with teachers and administrators alike this school year, my fourth-grade experience stays with me, and reminds me to have compassion for teachers who may not know what to do when bullying occurs in their classroom. In my case, Ms. Douglas did what she knew best: She taught. Years later, I understand she did not have the tools to create and maintain safe spaces. I am sure that she felt responsible for what happened. I am sure that she was uncertain of how to hold an entire class accountable. I am sure if I were her, I would have probably struggled with these same things. That is precisely why the dialogue around bullying must continue. It is only through these conversations that we continue to raise awareness and provide teachers with the tools they need to create safe spaces for all students. In 2011, LGBTQ youth and youth who are perceived to be LGBTQ, continue to be harassed, teased, bullied and victimized in schools throughout the country. Often, I believe teachers really want to address the problem, but are not quite sure how. There is no magic answer or single solution, but simply acknowledging that bullying is taking place can be an important first step toward making a change in the classroom environment, and ultimately creating a bully-free space. Schools are expected to provide a safe and respectful learning environment that affirms and honors all students. Until this is instituted systematically in all schools, teachers can support this effort by taking steps to create these kinds of spaces in their classrooms. These steps include:

policy that serves as a guide and reminder for all students and staff. 3. Supporting students in understanding that creating a safe space is a shared responsibility. 4. Supporting efforts that promote antibullying, such as creating a gay/straight alliance, observing A Day of Silence, Ally Week, No Name Calling Week and LGBTQ History Month. 5. Implementing a curriculum that promotes inclusiveness and affirmation of all students. 6. Taking part in town-hall meetings and other citywide events that address the issue of safe schools. I recently had the opportunity to meet with Tom Perez, head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, at a forum held in Philadelphia and hosted by the group Asian Americans United. Perez had traveled to Philadelphia to engage in a dialogue about bias/harassment issues in schools. It was an excellent opportunity to meet with others who are tackling similar issues and challenges — and a reminder that bullying impacts not just LGBTQ students, but students of all kinds, from all groups and all neighborhoods. It simply underscores the fact that we all have an interest in creating safe schools for our youth.

1. Having courageous conversations with students around bullying and the impact it has on an entire school. 2. Adopting a comprehensive antibullying

Louie A. Ortiz is education manager and coordinator of the Ally Safe Schools Program at Mazzoni Center, the region’s only LGBT-specific health center.

JEFFREY E. GOLDMAN, ATTORNEY AT LAW SPECIALIZING IN PARTNERSHIP AND EMPLOYMENT LAW Proven track record of recovering millions of dollars for wrongfully treated employees!*

Triangle Medical

Experience litigating: • Partnership & business disputes • Non-competes • Executive compensation • Employment discrimination • Real Estate Litigation

General Practice Progressive HIV Care MARK T. WATKINS, DO JOHN DEL ROSSI, PA-C

(215) 829-0170

253 S. 10th St., 1st Floor Philadelphia

Until teaching tolerance and affirmation for LGBTQ youth becomes part of the school curriculum, we as adults must work to ensure that all the youth who come up and come out feel loved and honored. This has been proven to save lives. Special thanks to Ms. Douglas, who in her way, helped to remind me that when I thought I was standing alone, I was not. ■

Jeffrey E. Goldman, Esq. 100 S. Broad St. Suite 1330 Philadelphia, PA 19110

Also handle: • Wills, Living Wills, Trusts and Powers of Attorney

Jeff.Goldman@verizon.net

*Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

PGN

Put 18 years of experience to work for you!

Gay is our middle name.

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Bringing sexy back shoulder top or dress, then give old-fashioned overhand pull-ups a try. — Overhand pull-ups: Hands down, overhand-grip pull-ups are one of the best exercises for strengthening and toning the upper back. Primarily this exercise works the lats, but the rhomboids and shoulders are also activated. If your goal is just to have a sexy toned back, then do two or three sets of eight to 10 repetitions. If your goal is to add some mass, strap on some extra weight while doing pull-ups. If you’ve never done weighted pull-ups, start with 2-5 pounds and work up. If you opt for weighted overhand pull-ups, reduce your repetitions to six to eight reps per set. If you’re ready to up the ante, grab the bar a little wider than shoulder width for wide-grip pull-ups. — Lat pull-downs: If you’re Power up your posture not ready for wide grip pullIn addition to powering up ups, then try lat pull-downs. The proper way to execute the your posture, sporting a sexy toned back looks great and lat pull-down is to lean back makes your waist look smaller! slightly and bring the bar down in front of your body to about Who doesn’t want that? But, more than good looks, maintain- Kim Garrison the breastbone, while simultaneously pulling the shouling perfect posture can prevent or protect you from the ravages of diseases der blades down and together. Your feet such as osteoporosis or other debilitatshould maintain on the floor at all times, ing conditions. Standing tall and having a keep your abs contracted; avoid bounctoned back can erase years in an instant, ing or using momentum to bring the bar stop that nagging back pain and help you toward your chest. If you are using a lot of exude confidence every time you step into momentum, then the weight is likely too a room. All of this is achievable by correct- heavy for you and should be lowered to a ing your posture by toning up your back more manageable weight. with regular, carefully selected exercises. Similar to wide-grip pull-ups, lat pulldowns work the lats as well as the rhomBack major muscles boids and shoulder. For toning, use a weight you can perform 12-15 reps with, The back is comprised of five primary muscles: trapezius, rhomboids, latissimus and for building mass, shoot for a weight dorsi, teres major and erector spinae. you can perform with six to eight reps. The trapezius and rhomboids make up Now you have a plan. So let’s get busy the upper back; the latissimus dorsi is in and build a back you can be proud of. ■ the middle of the back. The teres major is a small muscle that attaches at the side of the Kim Garrison is a registered personal trainer at 12th Street Gym and spokesshoulder blade and, last but not least, the erector spinae runs vertically from the hips person for the Independence Blue Cross to the neck. “Healthy Steps” campaign. For more information, visit kimberlygarrison.com. If your goal is to rock that halter or one-

The back is perhaps the most neglected area of fitness. For whatever reasons, many people seem to focus most of their workout on the front of their bodies. Vanity and human nature being what they are — both men and women generally seem to have a preoccupation with the front of their bodies — what you see is what you tend to work on (even if everybody else sees a lot more!). Most notably are the abs, which hog all of the attention for slimming, toning and muscle building, while the poor back gets neglected. Don’t you want to look as good going as you do coming? Then read this and spend time working on your back. Ideally, try to train your back twice a week and include a variety of exercises that target all of the back muscles.

Work It Out

LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPIST

DREW WHARTON

(330)-550-9160 Weekdays/Weekends

-Center City location -Private studio -Therapeutic, sports, deep-tissue massage -Flexible hours, will travel

Arlington Cemetery Established 1895

Proudly serving all Faiths & All Communities

Advance Planning • • • • • • •

Mausoleums Lawn crypts Traditional Ground Burial Cremation Burial Vaults, Caskets & Urns Markers and Monuments Opening & Closing Cost

0% Financing available for 24 months

Monticello Mausoleum

Inside and Outside Mausoleum Crypts and Cremation Niches Available Reserve Today, Quantities are limited!

Please contact one of our Family Service Counselors Today and reference “PGN” for Special Discount!

www.arlingtoncemetery.us 610-259-5800

2900 State Road

Drexel Hill PA 19026

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN

NO COLOR

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

GAY HISTORY MONTH PGN — WE ARE AMERICA

George Washington: Gay-friendly father of our country By Victoria A. Brownworth Exclusively for PGN Tea Party leaders have taken a revisionist view of early American history, insisting that the Founding Fathers were not revolutionaries and radicals, but arch-conservatives. Delving into the Founding Fathers’ own papers indicates something altogether different. Some of the Founding Fathers leaned right, but the majority were anti-monarchists, Freemasons and atheists who held what modern historical language would term a secularist and globalist view. In some cases — like George Washington’s — this included a strong gay-friendly attitude. Among the Founding Fathers were definitive class biases. Most of these men, like Washington (1732-99) and Thomas Jefferson, were wealthy land- and slave-owners who led aristocratic lifestyles and were elitist toward the “lower” classes. Socialists these men were not. Yet some of their personal ethics and standards reveal that they were more open to what would be considered a “modern,” 21st-century perspective on life, love and sexuality than might be presumed in the stodgy, post-Puritan 18th-century colonies. This was particularly true of Washington, whose stance on homosexuality, which at the time was punishable by imprisonment, castration and even death throughout the colonies, was noticeably — even dramatically — relaxed in comparison to many of his cohorts. His personal correspondence and diaries bear this out. As his letters (over 17,000 have been collected) and diaries affirm, Washington was above all a pragmatist. This made him a superb military strategist.

Washington’s views on democracy, liberty and the codified “pursuit of happiness” that current U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy cited specifically in his ruling in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which overturned federal sodomy laws, were straightforward. Washington’s letters, diaries, military papers and conversations with friends and colleagues of his era were all succinct: He believed in freedom with discipline; he was left-leaning, but no anarchist. He looked the other way on matters that may have otherwise raised eyebrows when it was the pragmatic thing to do, as he would throughout his tenure as both military leader and leader of the nation. It’s impossible to overstate the impact Washington had on both the founding of the nation and, of course, the winning of the Revolutionary War. Part of Washington’s genius as a strategist was his ability to rally troops — literally. Documentation from the era states without equivocation that Washington inspired tremendous loyalty in all levels of his military. By all accounts a man’s man, Washington was superb at all kinds of sport. Considered the best horseman of his time and one of the strongest men any of his compatriots had ever met, his feats of strength were regularly recorded. Washington’s letters state that he was less than thrilled with marital life (“not much fire between the sheets”) and preferred the company of men — particularly the young Alexander Hamilton, whom he made his personal secretary — to that of women. His concern for his male colleagues clearly extended to their personal lives. This was especially true of Hamilton, whom he brought with him to Valley Forge, giving Hamilton a cabin to share with his then-lover, John Laurens,

to whom Hamilton had written passionate love letters that are still extant. Washington himself had married late for the time — at 28 — and to a wealthy widow, Martha Custis. They raised her two children from her first marriage, but had none of their own. Letters of Washington’s make clear that while he cared deeply for Martha and her children, there was no passion between them. Nor are there records of Washington’s dalliances with other women. Washington’s passion was reserved for his work and the men with whom he served closely, notably Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette. When Hamilton was a young soldier — later to be made Secretary of the Treasury by Washington and then president himself — he was engaged in relationships with other men, as love letters he sent during the Revolutionary War prove. Historians assert that passionate same-sex friendships were normative in the 18th century. At the same time, however, sodomy and open homosexuality were punishable by imprisonment, castration and even death, both in and out of the military. However, as historian Kai Wright notes in “Soldiers of Freedom,” the military was often far more advanced on social issues than civilian life and cites the desegregation of the military on race and gender as examples. Thus Washington’s laissez-faire attitude toward homosexuality at Valley Forge fits that construct. Washington was a gay-friendly pragmatist who put the importance of the revolutionary struggle above the concerns of civilian life. The most succinct evidence for this was Washington’s clear “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy when it came to same-sex coupling among his regiments at Valley Forge. Renowned gay historian Randy Shilts makes the case for Washington’s ever-pragmatic as well as compassionate approach to same-sex relationships in “Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military.” Shilts details how Washington merely signed the order for discharge of a soldier caught in fla-

grante with another soldier, and suggests that if Lt. Col. Aaron Burr had not forced the issue, the soldier might have remained at Valley Forge instead of being the first documented case of a discharge for homosexuality in the Continental Army on March 15, 1778 at Valley Forge. The soldier was court-martialed by Burr, but that was the extent of it. Washington did not flog him, imprison him or, as Jefferson had required as part of Virginia law as punishment for sodomy, have him castrated. Washington could also have had the soldier executed. He did none of these things. The soldier just walked away. What makes this so stunning as proof of Washington’s leniency on homosexuality in the military is the context. When Lt. Gotthold Frederick Enslin was drummed out of the corps (literally) for homosexuality, it seems that Washington signed the order for discharge more because the case involved fraternization below rank. According to military documents, Enslin was caught having sexual relations with Pvt. John Monhart by Ensign Anthony Maxwell. Enslin was court-martialed and found guilty of sodomy and perjury for lying. Monhart was neither court-martialed nor discharged. Whether he was underage — many privates in the Continental Army were 14, 15 and 16 — and this was the actual reason Enslin was discharged is unknown. That Washington looked the other way with same-sex couples is most obvious in his dealings with Maj. Gen. Frederich Wilhelm von Steuben, the Prussian military genius enlisted to strategize at Valley Forge. Von Steuben arrived at the encampment two weeks before Enslin’s discharge and with his young French assistant, Pierre Etienne Duponceau, who was presumed to be his lover, in tow, making Enslin’s subsequent discharge ironic and reinforcing the theory that it was Burr, not Washington, who compelled the action. Von Steuben is perhaps the best-known gay man in American military PAGE 18

��

Psychotherapist

��

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

HOME IMPROVEMENT DIRECTORY �� ~ Now Accepting New Patients ~

• General and Specialized Dentistry • Cosmetic Dentistry • Early Morning and Evening Hours • Education

Cornell University, B.S., 1986 U of P School of Dental Medicine, DMD, 1990 Temple University, Residency in Prosthodontics, 1992

Dr. Ira Sheres (center) with his life partner and their children

��

Reach Over 40,000 Readers Weekly For As Little As $25.00 A W ��

��

Reach Over 40,000 Readers Weekly For AsWeekly Little For As As $25.00 Week. 215-625-8501 Today! Reach Over 40,000 Readers LittleA As $25.00Call A Week.

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

GAY HISTORY MONTH PGN — WE ARE AMERICA

LEGAL & PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY ��

��

AMY F. STEERMAN Attorney at Law

��

Concentrating in Planning for Lesbian and Gay Couples • Probate • Wills • Living Wills • Powers of Attorney

215-735-1006

1900 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 www.amysteerman.com

��

Thomas E. Hora Attorney-at-Law ��

��

Reach Over 40,000 Readers Weekly For As Little As $25.00 A Week. Call 215-625-8501 Today!

WASHINGTON, from page 16 history. Although his sexual orientation is rarely mentioned and has been excised from standard history books, his role in winning the Revolutionary War was incomparable and second only to Washington’s own. As inspector general and major general of the Continental Army, he taught drills, tactics and maneuvers. He authored the “Revolutionary War Drill Manual,” which was used through the War of 1812, and his other maneuvers were used for more than 150 years. Von Steuben’s relationship with Washington was close and there were no conflicts with Washington over von Steuben’s sleeping arrangements at Valley Forge with his young Frenchman, Duponceau. What’s more, because von Steuben’s English was limited but his French was perfect, Washington assigned his own secretary and one of his aides-decamp to von Steuben. Who were the men? Lt. Cols. Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens, who shared a cabin at Valley Forge at Washington’s bequest. It’s not revisionist to assert that Washington’s pattern of ignoring same-sex relationships at Valley Forge was both indicative of his pragmatic nature (without von Steuben, Hamilton, Lafayette and others, America might still be a colony of the British) and of his seeming lack of concern over homosexuality. Washington obviously considered morale in what was inarguably the most horrific battle station in U.S. military history, the winter at Valley Forge, needed to be upheld. Allowing men their one solace — each other — made sense from a general’s point of view. The less miserable the soldiers, the better they would fight. If keeping each other warm in the bone-crushing cold and abject misery (2,500 soldiers died at Valley Forge from starvation, disease and exposure) made life somewhat more bearable, then Washington had no issue with ignoring homosexuality in his ranks. Over the decades of his military service, Washington spent his most emotional and life-altering timeS with other men. He certainly knew of the relationships between Hamilton and Laurens, von Steuben and Duponceau, and yet brought none of them up on charges. Washington didn’t just look the other way but specifically sought to help these gay soldiers. Washington didn’t think morale suffered with gay soldiers serving under him or even, in the case of von Steuben and Hamilton, being his key strategists. Rather, he saw these men for their value to him and to the nation — a fact that should be added to every American history textbook. ■ Victoria A. Brownworth is an awardwinning journalist, syndicated columnist and founder of Tiny Satchel Press. She is the author and editor of nearly 30 books, including “Too Queer: Essays from a Radical Life.”

GAY HISTORY MONTH PGN — WE ARE AMERICA LINCOLN, from page 1

acknowledgement. It wasn’t until 2005 when the first book was published on Lincoln’s relationships with men, C.A. Tripp’s “The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln.” Detractors of Lincoln’s possible homosexuality, such as historian David Herbert Donald, often say there is no new evidence on Lincoln. Yet historians continue to draw fresh conclusions from Lincoln’s letters. Those who attempt to refute Lincoln’s possible “homosexuality” usually focus on one particular incident — of the many — that supports the theory: his relationship with Speed. Yet history, like everything else, is open to interpretation and influenced by new findings. Bias also motivated the retelling of historical events. The best example of bias in American history is the story of Thomas Jefferson and his slave/concubine Sally Hemings, which was not accepted as a truthful account until 1998 — and only after DNA proof. AfricanAmerican citizens — not historians — led the effort to give Hemings her rightful place in history. Likewise with Lincoln, most historians have referred to isolated facts rather than the pattern of events in his life to tell his personal story. Will history once again prove historians wrong? THE POEM I will tell you a Joke about Jewel and Mary It is neither a Joke nor a Story For Rubin and Charles has married two girls But Billy has married a boy The girlies he had tried on every Side But none could he get to agree All was in vain he went home again And since that is married to Natty So Billy and Natty agreed very well And mama’s well pleased at the match The egg it is laid but Natty’s afraid The Shell is So Soft that it never will hatch But Betsy she said you Cursed bald head My Suitor you never Can be Beside your low crotch proclaims you a botch And that never Can answer for me This poem, about a boy marrying a boy, is thought to be the first reference to gay marriage in U.S. history. A 20-year-old man in rural Indiana wrote it 182 years ago. That young man was Abraham Lincoln. Most historians agree Lincoln wrote the poem as a joke or rebuttal to the lack of an invitation to a friend’s wedding, but how a backwoodsman conceives a boy-marries-boy poem in 1829 remains a question. The poem was included in the first major biography of Lincoln, written by his law partner, William Herndon. Revisionists omitted it in subsequent editions. It didn’t reappear in Herndon’s edition until the 1940s. BILLY GREENE In 1830, when Lincoln’s family moved to Coles County, Ill., he headed out on his own. At age 22, he settled in New Salem, Ill., where he met Billy Greene — and, as Greene told Herndon, the two “shared a narrow bed. When one turned over the other had to do likewise.” Greene was so close to Lincoln at that time that he could describe Lincoln’s physique.

However, Lincoln was poor at the time and it was not unusual for men in poverty to share a bed. JOSHUA FRY SPEED In 1837, Lincoln moved to Springfield, Ill., to practice law and enter politics. That’s where he met the two men who would be his greatest friends throughout his life. One, Joshua Fry Speed, became his bed partner for a while; the other was law partner Herndon. Beyond the revelation that Lincoln and Speed had an intimate friendship, little has been written about how diligently Speed worked for Lincoln’s legal and political career. Speed’s name popped up in many of Lincoln’s legal filings and on the Illinois Whig Party’s central committee. The two were almost inseparable. Most Lincoln historians agree this relationship was the strongest and most intimate of the president’s life. What they don’t agree on is why they slept in the same bed together for four years when they had the space and means to sleep separately, as was expected of men their age. They were no longer young and poor. And this was a house with ample room, unlike the hotels that accommodated Lincoln and his team on the road; then, it was common to sleep two or more in a bed. By 1840, both Lincoln and Speed — now 31 and 26— were considered well past the marrying age. Both bachelors reportedly were hesitant to tie the knot, but it was a de-facto requirement to have a wife if you wanted to move in political circles — or at least create the perception of interest in marriage. Both Speed and Lincoln dreaded this “requirement,” as evidenced by Lincoln’s letters. Speed takes the marriage plunge first and moves back to Kentucky, leaving Lincoln. At this precise time, Lincoln suffered a mental breakdown. Historians have been all over the map as to what caused the breakdown, but it was so intense that friends, including Herndon, worried he would take his own life. Lincoln only recovered after Speed invited him to visit him and his new wife in Kentucky. Lincoln’s most emotional and intimate writings were contained in his letters to Speed. From the time they lived together until shortly after Speed married and moved to Kentucky, Lincoln always signed his letters “forever yours” or “yours forever.” Lincoln wrote to Speed shortly before the latter’s Feb. 15, 1842 wedding: “When this shall reach you, you will have been Fanny’s

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

husband several days. You know my desire to befriend you is everlasting — that I will never cease, while I know how to do any thing. “But you will always hereafter, be on ground that I have never occupied, and consequently, if advice were needed, I might advise wrong. “ ... I am now fully convinced, that you love her as ardently as you are capable of loving ... If you went through the ceremony calmly, or even with sufficient composure not to excite alarm in any present, you are safe, beyond question, and in two or three months, to say the most, will be the happiest of men. “I hope with tolerable confidence, that this letter is a plaster for a place that is no longer sore. God grant it may be so. “I would desire you to give my particular respects to Fanny, but perhaps you will not wish her to know you have received this, lest she should desire to see it. Make her write me an answer to my last letter to her at any rate. I would set great value upon another letter from her. “P.S. I have been quite a man ever since you left.” The two exchanged letters regularly and, in October 1842, Lincoln observed the newlywed Speed was “happier now than you were the day you married her.” He continued: “Are you now, in feeling as well as judgment, glad you are married as you are? From any body but me, this would be an impudent question not to be tolerated; but I know you will pardon it in me. Please answer it quickly as I feel impatient to know.” The urgency in his letter is palpable: Lincoln married Mary Todd on Nov. 4, 1842, despite that he broke off their engagement two years earlier. Even after the Civil War broke out and Speed lived in Kentucky — a border state — Lincoln and Speed continued to write. On numerous occasions, Speed visited Lincoln at the White House; he even spent a night with Lincoln in the president’s cottage at the Soldier’s Home, 3 miles northwest of the White House. Throughout Lincoln’s political career, he urged Speed to accept a political appointment that would bring him to live in Washington, D.C. When that failed, he appointed Speed’s brother, James, U.S. attorney general in 1864. ELMER ELLSWORTH After Speed and Lincoln’s marriages, there were no traces of other men in Lincoln’s life until Elmer Ellsworth in 1860. According

to “The Abraham Lincoln Blog,” in 1859, Ellsworth formed the Chicago Zouaves, a precision military drill team based on the famous Zouave soldiers of the French Army based in northern Africa. The Chicago Zouaves, led by Ellsworth, toured the northern states in the months before the Civil War, with the so-called regiment performing acrobatic moves, marching and weapons displays. The regiment impressed the crowds — despite the fact that they’d never seen military action. Lincoln met Ellsworth through these displays and the two became friends. Lincoln invited Ellsworth, who had been a law clerk in Chicago, to move to Springfield to study law. Ellsworth became devoted to Lincoln and adored by the entire Lincoln family. One author wrote that it seemed Lincoln had a “schoolboy crush” on the much-younger Ellsworth. He first worked in Lincoln’s law practice, then moved on to his political career and eventual campaign for president. Once elected, Lincoln asked Ellsworth to accompany his family to Washington. At the beginning of the Civil War, Ellsworth asked Lincoln to assist in obtaining a position for him in the Union Army. In a letter dated April 15, 1861, Lincoln wrote: “I have been, and still am anxious for you to have the best position in the military which can be given you.” When a call for soldiers went out, Ellsworth headed to New York and rallied 1,000 men, then returned to Washington, D.C. When Virginia voted to secede on May 23, 1861, a hotel owner in Alexandria, Va., across the Potomac River, raised a Confederate flag — visible from Lincoln’s office. Early the next morning, Ellsworth and his men crossed the river and occupied the telegraph office to cut off communications. Seeing that the hotel was next door, Ellsworth entered it and took down the flag, then was fatally shot by the hotel’s proprietor. Ellsworth would be the first Union soldier killed in the war. After hearing of the tragedy, Lincoln wept openly and went with Mrs. Lincoln to view the soldier’s body. Lincoln arranged for Ellsworth to lay in state in the White House, followed by a funeral. The president was inconsolable for days. Lincoln wrote condolences to Ellsworth’s parents: “My acquaintance with him began less than two years ago; yet through the latter half of the intervening period, it was as intimate as the disparity of our ages, and my engrossing engagements, would permit ... What was conclusive of his good heart, he never forgot his parents.” As with Speed and his family, Lincoln appointed Ellsworth family members to positions in the government. DAVID DERICKSON In 1862, Lincoln met Capt. David Derickson, who served as his bodyguard, providing protection for the president when he commuted from the White House to his cottage at the Soldier’s Home. Lincoln spent about a quarter of his presidency at the cottage, which allowed him some escape from D.C.’s summers and from public interruptions at the White House. PAGE 20

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

LINCOLN, from page 19

Lincoln and his bodyguard became close, and historians Tripp and David Herbert Donald noted two recorded mentions that Lincoln and Derickson slept in the same bed: Derickson’s superior, Lt. Col. Thomas Chamberlain, and Tish Fox, the wife of Assistant Navy Secretary Gustavus Fox, both wrote about it. Tish wrote in her diary that Derickson was devoted to Lincoln and “when Mrs. Lincoln was away, they slept together.” But there were more than just two eyewitnesses to this relationship. After the war, Chamberlain published an account of the regiment called “History of the 150th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade.” Before it was published, many members of the company reviewed the manuscript and no one objected to the following: “[Lincoln] was not long in placing the officers in his two companies at their ease in his presence, and Capts. Derickson and Crozier were shortly on a footing of such marked friendship with him that they were often summoned to dinner or breakfast at the presidential board. Capt. Derickson, in particular, advanced so far in the president’s confidence and esteem that in Mrs. Lincoln’s absence he frequently spent the night at his cottage,

GAY HISTORY MONTH PGN — WE ARE AMERICA

sleeping in the same bed with him, and — it is said — making use of his excellency’s nightshirt! Thus began an intimacy which continued unbroken until the following spring ... ” The Bucktails witnessed the relationship between the president and his bodyguard, which was public enough that they knew Derickson kept him company when Mrs. Lincoln traveled, and wore his nightshirt. Historical interpretations aside, why would the president, then in his 50s, sleep with his bodyguard? DETRACTORS The most outspoken and respected of detractors is historian and Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald, arguably the most notable Lincoln observer since Sandburg. In his attempts to refute Lincoln’s possible homosexuality, Donald claims in his book “Lincoln’s Men” (2004) that while Speed and Lincoln slept together for four years in the same bed, they both were romancing women during two of those years. But the fact that he courted women doesn’t rule out the possibility that Lincoln may have preferred men. Donald also noted that no contemporaries of the two, including Herndon, claimed to have witnessed Speed and Lincoln having intimate

relations. But Donald ignored eyewitness accounts and misinterpreted other witnesses who hinted at it, such as the president’s own secretaries. The historian also brushed aside the emotion contained in the letters between Lincoln and Speed, in their own handwriting. Donald pointed out it was common for 19th-century young men to have emotional relationships and share a bed. But Speed and Lincoln weren’t considered “young” when they met. Doris Kearns Goodwin, in an interview on C-SPAN about her 2006 Lincoln biography “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” said, “Homosexuals didn’t exist before the word was coined in 1868 ... ” She most likely meant the term didn’t exist, but this clearly demonstrates a lack of sensitivity by non-gay historians. Goodwin has to be familiar with Lincoln contemporary Walt Whitman. While the words “homosexual” and “gay” were not coined at that point, Whitman now is considered to have been gay. Younger historians and Lincoln scholars seem to be more sensitive to the subject than Donald or Kerns were. For example, Jean H. Baker, a former student of Donald, conceded in her acclaimed 1987 book, “Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography,” that Lincoln’s distraction from his wife was likely due to more

than just his all-consuming work. Baker said, in a New York Times interview, “I previously thought [Lincoln] was detached because he was thinking great things about court cases ... now I see there is another explanation.” CONCLUSIONS Taken individually, accounts of Lincoln with other men may not offer enough proof that he was gay. But the pattern reveals a man who, in his sexual prime, slept exclusively with another man for four years — two of those years (according to Donald) without romancing someone of the opposite sex; who wrote a poem about a boy marrying a boy; and who, as president, slept with his bodyguard. From historical records, one can conclude that Lincoln enjoyed sleeping with men. He did so when it was acceptable in youth and poverty, and also when he was older and successful. While it is documented that Lincoln slept with several men, there is only one confirmed woman who shared his bed — Todd. ■

Mark Segal is founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News. Sometimes called the Dean of the Gay Press, the award-winning columnist is fascinated by history.

SERVICES & HOME IMPROVEMENT DIRECTORY ��

��

Reach Over 40,000 Readers Weekly For As Little As $25.00 A Week. Call 215-625-8501 Today!

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

SERVICES & HOME IMPROVEMENT DIRECTORY

��

Reach Over 40,000 Readers Weekly For As Little As $25.00 A Week. Call 215-625-8501 Today!

AC ul t ure 22

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

rts

PGN FEATURE

PAGE 30

Q Puzzle Family Portrait Bulletin Board Out & About Scene in Philly Worth Watching

Page Page Page Page Page Page

26 27 34 30 25 33

��

A GROUP THERAPY SESSION LED BY “BAD SEX” THERAPIST CHRISTOPHER DONAGHUE (FAR RIGHT)

Logo tackles ‘Bad Sex’ on new series By Larry Nichols larry@epgn.com

We’ve always viewed sex as a good thing — but we can’t be right all the time. In the new docu-reality series “Bad Sex,” noted sex specialist Christopher Donaghue helps people from all walks of life reclaim control of their sex lives through intense individual and group therapy sessions. The subjects’ sexual issues, ranging from extreme dysfunctional promiscuity and love addiction to sexual phobias, can have harmful and sometimes deadly consequences, and the show promises to offer a frank and shocking behind-the-scenes look at the process of healing those issues, both inside and outside the therapy room. PGN talked to Donaghue, a Philly native, about the new series and what he hopes to accomplish with it. PGN: What inspired you to specialize in sex therapy? CD: I guess the whole interest in sex

was born out of having trained in mental health, psychology and social anthropology. Sex was always the one topic that wasn’t talked about, or when it was, it was talked about in this Puritanical taboo sort of way. That sort of pushed me into an interest in that. Also a lot of schooling doesn’t even teach it and the more I moved into this field, I wanted to do something interesting and cutting edge. That propelled me into the sex field.

PGN: Why group people with such different sexual issues together? CD: What happens a lot of times is people come in wanting to do work on diverse issues. And a lot of times, regardless of what the topic is, when you collapse it

down and look at the real issue underneath, there’s a lot of commonality in that. When we’re working as a group, a lot of the issues we’re working on is self-esteem and shame about their sexual behavior, so that’s the commonality. Or just boundaries — whether or not they are OK with their use of sex and the role it plays in their lives and healthy relationships. They’re working on defining a healthy sex life for themselves. It’s more individualized, but as a group, we work on the common topics that we all have. PGN: Are there any added benefits or negative effects to conducting this kind of therapy in front of TV cameras?

CD: That was a concern I had going in because for me, it was always a project I had a real investment in. But it wasn’t [negative]. The clients we chose were so open to exploring the work and had a passion for what they were going to be doing that once we started doing the work and we started opening up the level of engagement, we had eclipsed any cameras or acknowledgement of that. Also for the production company, it was really important to them as well to make this an authentic process. They definitely stayed away as much as they could.

PGN: Is it difficult to balance the needs of the group with the expectations of a TV show? CD: For me, I had a platform. I had a mission. I had a message. The delivery of that was most important to me. The network was amazingly supportive and sensitive to all the things that come with putting together a package like this. I think from the get-go, there weren’t any concerns and

FEATURE PGN

I trusted that it was going to be done with a lot of integrity and it was. I think that the impact the show could possibly have would far outweigh any negative consequences that might happen. PGN: Were there any issues or individuals that were more at risk than others in the group? CD: Although everyone’s issue was important to them and impacted them in a multitude of ways, I think you’ll see that some people had higher stakes than other people. Not that they were any more or less invested because of that. Some people’s issues had a bigger magnitude where some of them, their sex life was impacting their relationships, their health, their careers. For others, it was just specific and isolated to them. It was a personal struggle. But again, all of them showed up because there was some way that the negative consequences were big enough that they wanted to work on themselves. It was an intense process. It was weekly therapy and group therapy, sometimes biweekly. So it wasn’t a simplistic process. PGN: Why include heterosexual individuals in the therapy group when the show is airing on a LGBT network? CD: Again, we’re working on a project and putting it together and developing it. We wanted to highlight the diversity that exists within sex and the commonality. I think that the beautiful thing about being on a gay network is starting to bridge the gay community and the straight community and highlighting the idea that, while there is vast diversity and differences, at the core there are a lot of similarities. And in a time with a lot of the bullying and homophobia — and with gay marriage on the table in a lot of states — I think that’s an important thing. PGN: What is the opinion of your professional peers of a show like this? CD: As the project was being developed, I definitely spoke to my peers and my colleagues just to get a sense of how something like this is perceived, and I think it’s very new to everyone. The specialist on television is more common these days, but I think thus far it’s been done in an integrity-based way. I think we’re still getting used to it. I went into it saying as long as I was comfortable with the work that was being done and the integrity of the show, I was open to dealing with any impact around that. But

I think that my colleagues and other professionals will be supportive. The work is good clinical work. The outcomes for the participants are pretty dramatic. Some of them have some setbacks. Not all of them walk away completely healed and better. But you definitely see a lot of movement and progress. I think that will speak for itself that work was done.

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Let’s talk about (kinky) sex By Larry Nichols larry@epgn.com

Speaking of bad sex ... Eva Christina, filmmaker and writer for TV shows such as “Las Vegas” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” as well as forPGN: Based on your experience, do you mer senior editor of Notorious magazine, is think LGBT individuals are more or less taking a humorous and enlightening look likely to seek out sexual therapy than het- into all things beyond the pale when it comes erosexuals? to sex in her recently released “The Book of CD: It depends on the area and the Kink: Sex Beyond the resources available. In Philadelphia, a Missionary.” place like the Mazzoni Center is highly In her first book, accessible and visible. So people know Christina compiled an that resources are available. If you’re livabridged, interesting ing in a smaller area, it depends on the summary/history of area. Heterosexual men are probably the kink, written as a series least therapy-supported population. Gay of definitions with men are more open. In my experience, I’ve descriptive paragraphs dealt with both on an equal playing field. rather than a linear forIn my experience they are both pretty mat — certainly not a open to it. It depends on the issue. Sex how-to book. in general is something people don’t For the vanilla really want to talk about or acknowl- r e a d e r, i t w i l l b e edge they have an issue with. So enlightening and inforthey usually come in with a secondmative. (In our society, ary issue; depression, anxiety, that’s likely someone drug and alcohol addiction. who hasn’t had access And within that work you to the Internet, cable realize there’s a sexual television, prime-time issue underneath. television, porn, dirty magazines, free-spirPGN: How much of the ited/exhibitionist/TMI-sharing friends or sexual issues you deal information about sex that dates past 1989. with are a result of the You know ... when “kinky” was still a go-to expectations society word to describe fetishes.) has on the individual as Now, we admit that we might be desenopposed to any internal sitized to the sexual information contained issues that person might in “The Book of Kink” (we think the phrase have? “Isn’t that quaint” crossed our lips at some CD: Society’s impact point), thanks largely to our own voracious is always there, period. academic pursuits, travels and numerous Even if the issue is misadventures. And we were disappointed something that is there was very little if anything we hadn’t accepted and normalheard of and, even worse, no pictures or ized, it’s always there. illustrations (damn it all!) in its pages. But We live in a culture — we the book does delve enough into historican’t not be impacted by it. cal facts to be academically interesting and Our culture, the American makes for a nice conversation piece on our culture, is one of the most coffee table. sex-negative and sex-phobic cultures there are. So PGN: So what inspired you to write “The that’s always going to be Book of Kink”? prevalent and a problem. EC: There was a point where the news That is why the show was just inundated with all the different is so important. The vampire shows: “True Blood,” “Vampire intent is to get dialog Diaries” and “Twilight.” I was wondering going and through what their appeal was. I enjoyed some of that dialog give them but not all of them. I realized a lot a voice to certain of it just had to do with kinky sex — vamconditions and pires, blood, biting, sexual activity. It was experiences and normalizing things that also around the same time I began noticing a lot of America would say “that’s not a lot of friends going to exercise classes at healthy.” It’s just getting people talking stripper pole-dance classes instead of going and comfortable hearing these words and to the gym. There are all these different things that seem very normal and I realconcepts. It’s targeting the heavy-handed ized how the standards of kinky sex had impact that culture has. ■ changed and how mainstream so much of kinky sex had become. So I just thought it “Bad Sex” premieres 9 p.m. Nov. 4 on would be interesting to take a look at what Logo.

has been kinky in the past and what people do today that is kinky and how sex always fascinates. PGN: With all the access people have to information, do you find that people are still often misinformed when it comes to sex? EC: Definitely. Sex is this taboo subject. As much as we see today — celebrities have sex tapes and people are fascinated by that — what people do behind closed doors are never told. If you knew that your kid’s teacher was into spanking someone every night, you’d have a different opinion of them. So that teacher is not going to say that’s what they do. It doesn’t make them a bad person. That’s something they do behind closed doors. What’s hard today is this generation has porn on their computers and they are not even mature enough sexually and they are seeing everything possible. There’s this disconnect from where they should be sexually. PGN: What do you think LGBT readers will take away from this book? EC: You can’t take anyone at face value. I definitely learned that I’m not shocked by anyone being into anything anymore. If something is out there, someone has got a kink for it. It’s a book that will hopefully open people’s eyes to the fact that there are plenty of people into so many things and that they aren’t alone in the things they are into, and that they can find compatible partners sexually out there who may be into what they are into. Also, no matter how odd or weird a kink is, there’s always going to be something more weird out there. PGN: What was the most surprising fact you found out while researching this book? EC: I found so many factoids about Japan and how kinky Japan is. They have so many things going on, like selling soiled schoolgirls’ underwear in vending machines. There are so many kinky fashions and people marrying pillows as sexual partners. When it comes to sex between couples and procreation, it’s just a very closed society, and yet extremely open about its kinkiness. It’s very ironic and strange how such openness and kinkiness doesn’t lead to people being more sexually active with each other. ■ “The Book of Kink: Sex Beyond the Missionary” is in stores now.

NIGHTLIFE PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Hell’s Bells! It’s Halloween weekend! The gay high hosted by one of Philly’s all-time favorite entertainers! holidays are finally here! And there’s so much going on, I had to ask for extra colShamBoo!: Shampoo Nightclub, 417 umn inches this week just to fit it all in! N. Eighth St., 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Simply Check it out — here’s a rundown of all the special parties being hosted by all our Christopher and DJ Andi’s annual local watering holes. If you plan it right, Halloween party; $5 admission and $4 you can actually start your night at one you-call-it drinks until 11 p.m. Costume place and trick-or-treat your contest with Casey of Wired way across the neighborhood 96.5 FM on the main floor. entering (and winning!) as many costume contests as you Saturday, Oct. 29 can. Creatures of the Night: I know someone who stitched Voyeur Nightclub, 1221 St. together a Lady Gaga bikini James St., 9 p.m.-6 a.m. out of raw flank steak, then hit Featuring “Scarey-oke” in the three contests and took home Ruby Dungeon until midnight a bundle last year! Which he and $3 drinks until 11 p.m. then had to spend on antibiotics Music by DJ Carl Michaels, because his costume gave him spinning classic tracks in the e. coli (just kidding — love you, lounge, DJ Tripp spinning hipPhil!). while Isaac Jordan and So plan your night carefully! Jim Kiley- hop, Chazz Rockwell take control on And make sure your costume Zufelt the main floor. isn’t carrying any potentially lethal pathogens, OK? Philadelphians MC Halloween Bar Crawl: Starting at 9 p.m. at the Westbury, Friday, Oct. 28 then moving to Tavern on Camac at 10 Dracula’s Ball: ICandy, 254 S. 12th p.m., Uncles at 11 p.m., finishing up at The St., reduced cover before 11 p.m. Drink Bike Stop at midnight. Costumes strongly specials, DJ Domenic Romeo and $1,000 encouraged (if you don’t wear one, they might dress you up with spare parts from worth of cash and prizes! (Not to be confused with the long-running goth-industrial their own costumes — you know how Dracula’s Ball held quarterly at Shampoo.) those guys like to get naked).

Barcrawlr

Halloween Burlesque: Sisters Nightclub, 1320 Chancellor St., 9 p.m.2 a.m. Featuring Keycifer Black, Holly Heartbreaker, Sonny Soleil, Reverend Mackenzie Molotov, Timaree, aerial acrobat Tiffany Holder and your MC The Notorious OMG. Doors open at 9, show starts at 11. Sandy Beach’s Haunted Halloween Show: Venture Inn, 255 S. Camac St., 11 p.m.-midnight. Don’t miss this show

Halloween Ho Down: Sisters Nightclub, 1320 Chancellor St., 9 p.m.-2 a.m. $1,000 in cash and prizes to the top three winners, must register by 11 p.m. Halloween Party: Westbury, 261 S. 13th St., 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Spooky-themed menu items, $3 drink specials, Jell-O shots and a portion of all craft tap beer sales to benefit MANNA, and a costume contest with over $200 in cash prizes (judging at the stroke of midnight).

Halloween Party: The New Woody’s, 10 p.m.-2 a.m., 202 S. 13th St. Annual costume contest hosted by Brittany Lynn, with $500 in cash and prizes.

believed! There will be a nine-category costume contest at the stroke of midnight. Tickets are $25 with costume or $75 without.

Hell Part I: ICandy, 254 S. 12th St., reduced cover before 11 p.m. Drink specials, DJ Domenic Romeo and $1,000 in cash and prizes. Yes, that’s $1,000 in cash and prizes every night!

Philadelphia Leather Pride Weekend The third annual leather community fundraiser kicks off on Nov. 4 with the Leather Blender social from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. at the William Way LGBT Community Center, followed by a Kinky Karnival hosted by Philadelphians MC at The Bike Stop from 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Then on Nov. 5, catch the three-hour bootblacking class at The Bike Stop from 1:30-4:30 p.m., followed by dinner at ICandy from 4:30-7:30 p.m. The main event, a live auction featuring entertainment by those award-winning sex gods also known as the Liberty City Kings, will be held at Woody’s on Nov. 5 from 7 p.m.-midnight. And don’t forget the afterparty at The Bike Stop from 11 p.m.-2 a.m. The weekend winds down on Nov. 6 with a series of special presentations at the William Way from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. All weekend there will be free exhibits at the William Way Center featuring items from the collections of the Carter/Johnson Library, the Leather Archives & Museum and the Graphic Accord art exhibit, plus classes and lectures given by community leaders. Weekend beneficiaries include the Leather Archives & Museum, the Women’s Leather History Project, the Carter/Johnson Leather Library, the William Way, the Mazzoni Center Food Bank, Hearing from the Heart and By the Grace of George. For more information and pricing, see www.plpn.org. ■

Keystone Boys of Leather Superheroes vs. Super Villains Bar Night: The Bike Stop, 206 S. Quince St., 10 p.m.-1 a.m. Drink specials, hot boys and spandex, spandex, spandex! Stimulus’ Mischief and Mayhem: Marathon Grill at 1818 Market St., 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Dance party and costume contest with cash and prizes. Admission is $7 in costume before midnight, otherwise $10. Sunday, Oct. 30 Trick or Treat: ICandy, 254 S. 12th St., reduced cover before 11 p.m. Wear a costume tonight and get a free shot! Drink specials, DJ Domenic Romeo and, yes, another $1,000 worth of cash and prizes! Monday, Oct. 31 Dracula’s Ball:Shampoo, 417 N. Eighth St., 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Long-running gothindustrial party celebrating all things vampire, with live bands and DJs. Hell Part II: ICandy, 254 S. 12th St., dance floor opens at 8 p.m. Drink specials, DJ Michael DeCero and, yes, $1,000 worth of cash and prizes! Henri David’s Halloween Ball: Sheraton City Center Hotel, 201 N. 17th St., 9 p.m.-2 a.m. This one-of-a-kind annual extravaganza must be seen to be

Questions, comments or news about upcoming events? Contact Jim at barcrawlr@gmail.com.

Repairs, Renovations and Remodeling

(215) 467-3335 Pa. HIC #026545 Phila. Lic. #17895

“Our” Family Plumber for over 30 years

PGN

Have an opinion? E-mail us a letter at pgn@epgn.com

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN

Q Puzzle Happy Daze Across

1. Threesome for Da Vinci 4. Where you can eat a heroes 9. People in the hole 14. ___ Tin Tin (TV dog of old) 15. Start of the answer by 19-Across 16. More of the answer 17. Band that recorded “Unbelievable” 18. Name on a bomber 19. Winkler, who was recently asked what he thinks of people who aren’t straight 20. More of the answer 23. Bistro menu 24. Bag opening? 25. Mustangs of the

NCAA 28. Swiss tourist center 31. Sex toys, e.g. 34. Place of the first fig-leaf codpiece 35. Wayside havens 38. Former governor Mario 39. More of the answer 42. Madonna, in “The Next Best Thing” 44. Skin softener 45. Asks from one’s knees 48. Nureyev’s genre 50. Lights a fire under 52. Cho’s “Pink as the Day ___ Was Born” 53. Areas for Dr. Callie Torres 56. Rex Reed, to movies 57. More of the answer

61. Tara name 64. Mothers, to Verlaine 65. Vegas drama 66. More of the answer 67. End of the answer 68. Barbie’s former beau 69. Travels with one’s first mate 70. Became erect 71. Puncture sound

Down

1. Cloying stuff, to Auden 2. Author Arthur 3. Like a law with teeth 4. Happy loser 5. Drag role for John Travolta 6. Fruit ___ (gay district) 7. Shoreline recess 8. Rubberneck 9. Roman emperor after Galba

10. “___ lilacs last in the door-yard bloom’d” (Whitman) 11. A as in Austria 12. Time off, in mil. slang 13. Where to see two bears at night 21. Tool 22. Lose oomph 25. Phallic factory features 26. Common tattoo 27. Club where you can dance with a sailor 29. Long of “If These Walls Could Talk 2” 30. Irish pop singer 32. Henri’s here 33. Booty burner on a nudist beach 36. Love, to Amelie Mauresmo 37. Load 40. Half of a Greta Garbo monogram

41. “Isn’t ___ bit like you and me?” (“Nowhere Man”) 42. Muscle Mary’s pride 43. Ebenezer’s exclamation 46. Says “About nine inches,” e.g. 47. Minor injuries 49. In addition 51. Kmart founder 54. Relative of the beguine 55. Gay rodeo target 57. Inland Asian sea 58. Just says no 59. Dixie Chicks, e.g. 60. Layers in the barnyard 61. Surprised cries 62. Mao’s successor 63. “What ___, chopped liver?” PAGE 31

The nation’s oldest, continuously operating LGBT bookstore.

Support your local independent bookstore!

Shop at Giovanni’s Room

10% off most hardbacks

3 million eBooks available at www.queerbooks.com email: giovannis_room@verizon.net 345 S. 12th St. Philadelphia, Pa 19107 215-923-2960 Mon-Sat 11:30 - 7, Sun 1 - 7

��

PGN Support the advertisers who support our community.

��

PROFILE PGN

Family Portrait

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Suzi Nash

Quynh-Mai Nguyen: Band geek, designer, ex-seamstress Quynh-Mai Nguyen is a gal with a hearty laugh and a twisted sense of humor. As an example, a banner on her new company website reads, “Our website is a work in progress and distractions like YouTube and the rapture don’t help, but we promise that we are still producing good work.” PGN spoke to the business owner and self-proclaimed band geek about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. PGN: So Q, where do you hail from? QMN: I grew up in Lancaster County,

which many people associate with Amish country, but it can be surprisingly urban in some places. My high school was predominantly black and Latino. So it’s not all Amish horse-and-buggy country. I came to Philadelphia to go to Moore College of Art and Design, and I’ve been here ever since. PGN: What do you do now? QMN: I’m a graphic designer. I’ve worked

in the advertising department at Pep Boys, was with a marketing and communications firm for four years and now I’m doing my own thing. I started a small design studio called Bold and Italic Designs. PGN: What did you do with Pep Boys and

did you get a discount on tires? QMN: [Laughs.] No, no discounts! It was a summer job during college. I was on the night shift and would resize all their circulars for newspapers all around the country. It was monotonous and boring but good experience. PGN: Family? QMN: I have a blood sister who’s 11

years older than me and a stepbrother and stepsister. My mom and stepdad are in Louisiana and my father is still in Lancaster. PGN: Bobby Jindal country! Where in

Louisiana are they?

QMN: About two hours west of Baton

Rouge in a small town called Abbeville. They moved down there when I was in 11th grade. His family owns a small shrimping company and they went down there for work. I wanted to finish school here so I didn’t go with them. My father wasn’t in a financial situation to take me in, so I actually stayed in Lancaster on my own. I stayed with one of my best friends and her family. They became a second family to me. PGN: So you could have gone down and

had [from “Forrest Gump”] “shrimpkabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan-fried, deep-fried, stir-fried shrimp. Pineapple shrimp, coconut shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad and shrimp burgers”?

QMN: [Laughs.] Oh yeah, pretty much! Every time my mother would come visit here on the East Coast, she and my stepdad would smell like fish because the van they drove up was filled with frozen shrimp! PGN: I hope you like shrimp! QMN: I love shrimp. But I actually have an

allergy to shrimp.

PGN: That’s just downright O’Henryish. QMN: No, if they’re fresh from the sea I

can eat them. It’s when you buy them from the store that there’s a problem. You know they dip them in chemicals when they have to ship them. PGN: Yuck. So you were kind of an only

child growing up.

QMN: Yeah, my older sister was never

around when I was young. She was already in college by the time I was a teen. PGN: [Laughs.] My older brother was just

visiting and I reminded him of how he used to torture me. What’s the worst thing your sister did? QMN: That’s funny! I don’t know ... my sister was always gone! I do remember some good things she did. PGN: Like ... QMN: Well, I grew up in a very conser-

vative Vietnamese household. I wasn’t allowed to do sleepovers, I wasn’t really allowed to do many school social activities, so I always had to lie to my parents and pretend I was doing school council or at band practice when I wanted to do anything non-academic. I remember my sister would come home from college and take me away for the weekend, which was always a nice break for me. She was really the only outlet I had in experiencing normal American life. I joke around and tell people that I was a “sweat-shop” child! PGN: Now that’s funny! QMN: But true! My parents coming to this

country didn’t know the language. They worked blue-collar factory jobs. To make ends meet we had a secret sewing shop in the basement. Every day after school I would have to go down and help cut thread and turn shirts inside out and I hated it. I didn’t have a childhood growing up. PGN: Can you sew now? QMN: Uh ... OK, yes, but I try not to admit

it! I try to block that part of my life out and always ask someone else if I need anything sewn. [Laughs.] So don’t tell anyone! PGN: It’s our little secret. So your mom’s

a shrimper, what does your dad do?

QMN: He’s retired now. He has a lot of

health problems, including diabetes, which

is a big problem in the Asian community. The up side of it is that he’s gotten in touch with his spiritual side in recent years. He shaved his head and goes away to retreats in Virginia to meditate at these temples. We call him the pre-monk!

answer that! But I did go to band camp and percussion camp. Because I was a mallet player, we were in the section they called the pit, so we got to be inside in the air conditioning while everyone else was outside sweating!

PGN: Was your family religious growing up? QMN: Actually, not at all. So my parents

PGN: What was a crazy band experience? QMN: Oh gosh, I can’t think of anything

PGN: So one time at band camp ... QMN: [Laughs.] Oh, I never know how to

PGN: A favorite project? QMN: I’m work-

separated when I was in my freshman year of high school, my dad went into a deep depression and coming out of that he gained his newfound spirituality. He’s very different than he was when I was growing up. I mean he does some things that are still like my dad, some things never change, but he’s really into Buddha now. Actually to the point that he’s starting to push it on me and I hate that.

from back then, but I currently play with the Philadelphia Freedom Band, which is a local LGBT community band. We do marching band in the summer and concert band in the winter and fall. This past OutFest was probably one of the best, craziest, most memorable band moments ever. Some friends of mine were running the Dyke March and the Liberty City Drag King table, and they had these antigay protesters standing on the corner barkPGN: What was your favorite thing to do ing out homophobic, antigay stuff all day growing up? long on megaphones. They were there QMN: It always had to do with music. for hours and everyone was getting sick of it. My friend said, “Quynh, can you Band especially. bring the band over and do something?” I was like, “Absolutely!” and gathered about 12 band members. We made an arched circle around the protesters and started playing Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” The whole crowd started cheering. It was the most glorious moment in my life. People were dancing and taking so many videos and pictures: I now know what it feels like to be filmed by paparazzi. The protesters went to another corner and we followed them. They moved three times and what was so memorable was that all we did was play music. We didn’t engage in any hateful speech, we didn’t confront them, nothing aggressive at all, just the power of music. It was a beautiful thing. The pizza shop guy across the street gave us all pizza on the house, another person walked by and gave us a $20 donation and said Photo: Suzi Nash “Thank you, thank you, PGN: When did you get into music? thank you, I had to listen to QMN: I picked up the violin in third grade that all day until you came along.” It was and dropped it. Picked it up again in sixth great. We’re still getting emails about it. grade and then switched to the xylophone. Once I got into high school, I dropped out PGN: A non-violins protest! So, how did of orchestra and focused solely on band. you get into graphic design? QMN: I had a graphic-design class in high I was in regular band, marching band and percussion ensemble. school, which led me to what I do now.

PAGE 33

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Food & Drink

You can now order online at makimanonline.

Center City Philadelphia (Walnut & Juniper) Open 7AM to 2:30AM Every Day Severing Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

THE ABBAYE EXCELLENT BELGIAN AND MICROBREW SELECTIONS

HAPPY HOUR Mon.-Fri. 4-6 pm $2 off all Drafts $5 glass of wine $2 select daily $3 Well Drinks domestic bottle New Happy Menu - Nothing over $5 DAILY LUNCH SPECIAL Mon-Fri. 11:30 -2:30pm $2 off all Sandwiches $1 off all Entrees (Eat-in Only) BRUNCH - Sat. & Sun. 10 am-3 pm QUIZZO - Every Thursday 10 pm KARAOKE - Every Sunday 10 pm

637 NORTH THIRD STREET PHILADELPHIA TEL: 215.627.6711 FAX: 215.627.6167 WWW.THEABBAYE.NET

��

215.790.9494 WWW.VALANNI.COM 1229 SPRUCE ST. EVENTS@VALANNI.COM

��

DINING PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Meritage wines and dines By Larry Nichols larry@epgn.com Meritage, 500 S. 20th St., definitely has the ambience, and the wine list, to facilitate a charming date, a classy girls’ night out or a quiet family dinner, judging from the diners we saw when we visited. Executive chef Anne Coll melds French techniques with Asian flavor profiles, drawing on her six years as executive chef at the now-defunct Susanna Foo on Walnut Street. At Meritage, Coll uses local produce from farms in Lancaster and Chester counties. She also frequently offers chef’s tasting menus: The most recent is a four-course lobster tasting menu that ends Oct. 28. Meritage’s menu is split into three categories: snacks, small plates and large plates. We had the good fortune to sample a decent amount of the snacks and small plates, with pleasing results overall. The snacks were surprisingly good. The potato and leek soup ($9) was hearty and comforting on a chilly night. The calamari with Korean chili sauce ($8) was very crisp, spicy and not your typical squid fare. Equally solid were the pork and shiitake dumplings ($5). The pickled vegetables ($3) were damn good — especially considering we aren’t easily impressed with vegetables that haven’t been finessed into something complicated. Some of Meritage’s small plates definitely upped the ante established by the snacks. The foie-gras ravioli, a special that evening, was wonderful, somehow restraining the richness of the duck-liver paté while retaining a nice crunchy texture. Equally satisfying was the crusted ahi tuna ($14), which had a flavor that was

both sweet and herby. The seared Cape May diver scallops with creamed leeks, mushrooms and black truffle sauce definitely brought out the best in all of those ingredients (which is saying something, considering how jaded we have become of late with scallops and truffles). We were especially impressed with red wine-braised escargot with garlic potato purée ($11): Those of us whose palates are well-versed in the way of the snail were enamored with the dish’s flavor and the tender loving care lavished on the cooking of the escargot. We loved the octopus ($12), served with crispy chickpeas, tapenade and tomato confit, but found the chickpeas were too hard for our liking. Our sole venture into the large-plates menu was the braised short rib ($22) with horseradish smashed potatoes, button mushrooms, baby carrots and turnips — the kind of dish a fall evening calls for. And while everything on the plate went well together and was cooked to perfection, it was the short rib itself that left us wanting. Though it was perfectly fallapart tender, we were looking around for the salt. But Meritage returned to fine form for dessert, which for us included white chocolate and brown sugar bread pudding ($9), easily seducing us with the welcome addition of salted caramel and vanilla ice cream, and the chocolate-covered peanut- butter bombe ($9), which reminded us that Halloween wasn’t far off and peanut butter cups will be flying about with abandon for our eating pleasure. Though it’s short notice, we’re looking forward to trying the lobster tasting menu. If we can’t make that one, perhaps we’ll plan better so we don’t miss the next one. ■

If you go Meritage Restaurant & Wine Bar 500 S. 20th St. 215-985-1922 www.meritagephiladelphia.com Open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday

Scott A. Drake Photography

267-736-6743

scottdrakephotos@gmail.com

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

OUT & ABOUT The week ahead Fri. 10/28 World Cafe 20th Anniversary Tribute Concert John Hiatt, Indigo Girls and The Little Willies perform 6 p.m. at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St.; 215-222-1400.

Burlesque Showcase: Halloween Edition Sisters Nightclub hosts the show/ dance party 9 p.m.-2 a.m., 1320 Chancellor St.; 215-735-0735.

Sat. 10/29

The Black Cat Cabaret featuring Karen Gross The singer performs 7:30 p.m. at Tin Angel, 20 N. Second St.; 215928-0770.

Chuck Palahniuk The out author hosts a reading of his new book “The Damned,” 2 p.m. at Central Library, 1901 Vine St.; 215567-4341.

Ace Frehley The former Kiss guitarist performs 8 p.m. at House of Blues, 801 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, N.J.; 609-343-4000.

World Cafe 20th Anniversary Tribute Concert Feist and Dawes perform 6 p.m. at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St.; 215-222-1400.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PGN LISTINGS

Duran Duran The pop-rock band performs 8 p.m. at the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa Event Center, 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City, N.J.; 609-3171000.

Stimulus’ Third Annual Mischief and Mayhem Stimulus gets its Halloween freak on 10 p.m.-2 a.m. at Marathon Grill, 1818 Market St.; 215-733-0311.

Dukie: A Halloween Tribute to Green Day The tribute to the hit punk band performs 9 p.m. at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St.; 215-222-1400.

Heavenly Creatures The horror film with lesbian protagonists is screened 2 p.m. at Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville; 610-917-0223.

Sugartown The Shondes, Rainbow Destroyer, Break It Up and Betty Iron Thumbs perform a Halloween edition of the monthly night of lady rockers and DJs, 9 p.m. at Tritone Bar, 1508 South St.; 215545-0475.

Sun. 10/30

La Fanciulla del West The Amici Opera Company presents Puccini’s opera fully staged, 3 p.m. at St. Nicholas Hall, 910 Pierce St.; 215224-0257. Wednesday 13 The horror-themed hard-rock band performs 7:30 p.m. at the Trocadero

BACK TO LIFE: Modern rockers Evanescence are touring behind their longawaited new self-titled album, blowing through the area 8 p.m. Oct. 30 at House of Blues, 801 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, N.J. For more information or tickets, call 609-3434000.

Theatre, 1003 Arch St.; 215-922-6888.

Mon. 10/31 Monday Jazz Jam at World Cafe Live 5:30-7 p.m. at 3025 Walnut St.; 215-222-1400. Groove Night Local musicians join forces to bring the R&B, soul, jazz and funk, 7 p.m. at World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del.; 215-222-1400. Chromeo The electro-funk duo performs 8 p.m. at The Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St.; 800-745-3000. Creepshow The horror film is screened 8 p.m. at the Trocadero Theatre, 1003 Arch St.; 215-922-6888.

starting 8 p.m., 6527 Roosevelt Blvd.; 215-5335888. It’s Never Too Late To Be What U Might Have Been: The Making of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds The documentary is screened for free 8:30 p.m. at the Trocadero Theatre, 1003 Arch St.; 215-922-6888.

Wed. 11/2 Girlyman The folk group featuring out members performs 7:30 p.m. at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St.; 215-222-1400.

Who’s Bad: The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band The music of the King of Pop is celebrated 9 p.m. at World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del.; 215-222-1400.

Fri. 11/4 Bob and Barbara’s Drag Show The outrageousness begins 11 p.m. at Bob and Barbara’s, 1509 South St.; 215-545-4511. Teresa Bevin The author of “Papaya Suite” hosts a reading 5:30 p.m. at Giovanni’s Room, 345 S. 12th St.; 215-923-2960. Tony Bennett The singer performs 8 p.m. at Kimmel’s Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St.; 215-7905800.

Jay-Z and Kanye West The hip-hop superstars perform 8 p.m. at Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St.; 215336-3600.

Henri David Halloween Ball The annual Halloween extravaganza kicks off 9 p.m. at Sheraton City Center Hotel, 17th and Race streets; 215-4482000.

Rasputina The cello-driven band performs 8 p.m. at World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del.; 215-222-1400.

Tue. 11/1

Matthew Sweet The rock singer and recording artist performs 8 p.m. at Sellersville Theater 1894, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville; 215257-5808.

TuesGAY Nights Lyrics Lounge and DJ June Rodrigues host a weekly night of music and performers for the LGBT community

Tom Orr The cabaret singer performs with Michael Ferreri 8 p.m. at Bob Egan’s New Hope, Ramada Inn, 6426 Lower York Road, New Hope; 215862-5225.

Thu. 11/3 DEBAUCHED IN DELAWARE: Instrumental rock band Los Straitjackets brings a “Rock ‘N’ Burlesque Spectacular” starring The World Famous Pontani Sisters & Friends (pictured) 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at World Cafe Live at the Queen, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del. For more information or tickets, call 215-222-1400.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PGN LISTINGS

Opening PHILADANCO The celebrated dance troupe performs Nov. 4-6 at Kimmel’s Perelman Theater, 260 S. Broad St.; 215-790-5847.

Continuing Beware the Lily Law Eastern State Penitentiary hosts a video installation on the experiences of trans prisoners, through November, 2027 Fairmount Ave.; 215-236-5111. Blowing on a Hairy Shoulder/Grief Hunters The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania presents an exhibition of works by 20 artists from Israel, Greece, Germany, Belgium, Britain and America that examine the relationships between originality and origin with video, photography, drawing and sculpture through Dec. 4, 118 S. 36th St.; 215-8987108. Chicago Media Theater presents the popular musical set in the prohibition era through Nov. 6, 104 E. State St., Media; 610-891-0100.

The Fat Cat Killers Flashpoint Theatre Company presents Adam Szymkowicz’s vicious comedy about the hapless victims of corporate cutbacks through Nov. 19, 2030 Sansom St.; 215-665-9720. Here and Now: Prints, Drawings and Photographs by 10 Philadelphia Artists Philadelphia Museum of Art presents the exhibition through Dec. 4, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215-763-8100. Let Me Tell You About A Dream I Had Philadelphia Art Alliance presents an exhibition by The Miss Rockaway Armada, a collective of artists, teachers, sailors, activists, composers and clowns, through Dec. 30 at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St.; 215-545-4302. Meanwhile ... Brat Productions presents a new genderbending play through Nov. 19 at Ruba Club Studios, 414-416 Green St.; www. brownpapertickets.com/event/195146. Our Class The Wilma Theater presents the U.S. premiere of the play chronicling the lives of 10 classmates from their childhood in the

LADIES FIRST: Swedish indie rock band The Sounds, fronted by out singer Maja Ivarsson, performs with English electro-pop singer Natalia Kills 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. For more information or tickets, call 212-232-2100.

The Diary of Anne Frank EgoPo Theater presents the classic play through Nov. 6 at The Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St.; 215-5699700. Q PUZZLE, from page 26

1920s to the new millennium, through Nov. 13, 265 S. Broad St.; 215-546-7824. The Philly Fan People’s Light & Theatre Company presents the one-man show where Tom McCarthy takes audiences on a journey through Philadelphia’s sports history of the last 50 years, through Nov. 20, 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern; 610-6443500.

Notices Send notices at least one week in advance to: Out & About Listings, PGN, 505 S. Fourth St., Philadelphia, PA 19147 fax: 215-925-6437; or e-mail: listings@epgn.com. Notices cannot be taken over the phone.

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Red Philadelphia Theatre Company presents the 2010 Tony Award winner through Nov. 6 at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St.; 215-985-0420. Tristin Lowe: Under the Influence Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition debuting works from the Philadelphia artist through Jan. 29, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215-763-8100. Turnarounds AxD Gallery hosts an exhibition of works by Annette Cords through Nov. 5, 265 S. 10th St.; 215-627-6250. Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion Philadelphia Museum of Art presents an exhibition of product designs by architect Hadid, who in 2004 became the first female recipient of the renowned Pritzker Architecture Prize, through March 25, 26th Street and the Parkway; 215-763-8100.

Closing August: Osage County Arden Theatre Company presents the Tony Award-winning comedy through Oct. 30 at F. Otto Hass Stage, 40 N. Second St.; 215-922-1122. Mistakes Were Made 1812 Productions presents a comedy about a Broadway producer seeking

TWO MANY COOKS: Famous chefs and TV food celebrities Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert (pictured) share an evening of storytelling, providing the audience with a provocative back-and-forth about what really goes on behind the kitchen doors, 8 p.m. Nov. 2 at Merriam Theatre, 250 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call 215-790-5800.

professional and personal redemption, through Oct. 30 at Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey St.; 215-5929560. ■

“I lingered in the shadows of my mind to hide from forces I believed would conjure greater torrents of pathos in my life, as if my fate was to live in perpetual sorrow, and barebacking indiscriminately would keep fate at bay.”

Millennial Poz Aaron Stella

After 30 years of HIV/AIDS, the epidemic is impacting the next generation: the Millennials. Written by Aaron Stella, Millennial Poz gives a new voice to people with HIV/AIDS. Online and in print every second Friday.

Only in

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN

‘Invisible’ black lesbian families made visible “Invisible Families: Gay Identities, and class. For example, while 1970s white Relationships and Motherhood Among lesbian-feminism caused many white middle-class lesbians to reject gendered Black Women,” by UCLA sociologist (butch-femme) presentations, it did not Mignon Moore, is arguably the most have the same impact on black lesbians, groundbreaking work on LGBT parenting who have now adopted their published in recent years. Moore own interpretations of that gives us one of the few in-depth legacy. Middle-class black leslooks at lesbians of color, showing how race and class influence bians, for example, often avoid their self-perceptions, relationa more masculine presentation, ships and family creation. because they feel it may interfere with efforts toward “assimHer work corrects the predominant impression from ilation into larger society.” On media and research that LGBT the other hand, she found that people are almost all white. working-class black lesbians It complements the recent may adopt nonfeminine presendemographic work by UCLA’s tations “to express feelings of Williams Institute that shows a difference from larger society high percentage of lesbian and based on the multiple marginDana Rudolph alized statuses.” gay people, including parents, are in fact people of color. Moore next digs more deeply Moore draws on three years of personal into how race, class and sexuality interact observations, interviews and surveys with to form a person’s identity. She perceptively delineates the difference between a over 100 gay black women in New York City to explore their “intersecting identities person’s individual identity, or self-conception, and her collective identity, where as black, as women and as gay people.” She first identifies the paths by which they she has “the strongest feelings of group belonging.” While most of the women in have come to accept a lesbian sexuality, her study participated in primarily black and explores how race, class and the black social environments, the extent to which lesbian social environment have affected gender and sexuality formed part of their when and how they do so. individual identities was also influenced by She then looks at gender presentation both class and gender presentation. and how this, too, is influenced by race

Mombian

Moore then turns to motherhood, noting that most previous studies of lesbian mothers have focused on women who became parents after coming out. Because a large percentage of black lesbians had children before coming out, however, such studies have excluded them — as they have excluded lesbian stepparents who come into these women’s lives. And because having children as a lesbian often involves costly insemination procedures, previous studies have also skewed toward middleand upper-class families. She addresses this imbalance with case studies of black lesbians of various classes who have become mothers in a variety of ways. For each of these families, she looks at how race, class and different paths to motherhood affect their sense of identity, approaches to child raising and relationships to larger communities. Moore also explores how families of different classes and structures negotiate their roles with respect to household chores, money management and child rearing. She finds that many black lesbian households do not necessarily follow the egalitarian principles associated with white feminism in dividing household tasks — but that management of household activities is often a source of power in lesbian relationships. This also sets these relationships apart from heterosexual ones, where higher

income, not household management, has been seen as the primary source of power. Finally, she looks at the relationships among black lesbians, their extended families and their racial and religious communities. Maintaining connections with the larger black community is important for them, she says, even when it does not fully accept them for being openly gay. One way women deal with this, she found, is to convey a certain middle-class “respectability” — an ideal that originally developed in response to negative post-Reconstruction stereotypes about black women. Displaying this “respectability” may mean downplaying their identities as gay people while in social situations, especially in church, which remains an important focus of black culture. At the same time, Moore says, these women “remain clear in their refusal to give up or deny their gay sexuality,” and are findings ways to negotiate between these two influences. Moore deftly explores the overlapping influences on black lesbians’ identities and families in a work that is both valuable in itself and should serve as a model for future studies that reflect the full diversity of LGBT families. ■ Dana Rudolph is the founder and publisher of Mombian (www.mombian.com), a blog and resource directory for LGBT parents.

FEATURES PGN from page 27

ing right now on a promotion for Philabundance, which is the region’s largest hunger-relief organization. They’re a high-profile client and it’s great to be able to do something fun for a great cause. I love working with them because they’ve given me freedom to be creative and are really enthusiastic about everything I do. It’s a real ego booster! I’ve had employers in the past who want to put you down, but then take all your work. PGN: Give me the career-day version of what you do. QMN: As a graphic designer, people come to me with a message or an idea and I help them make it creative and understandable for the general public. PGN: We all have multiple personalities; describe some of yours. QMN: I’m a perfectionist so I can be very critical — some might even say mean when I’m in my work mode! I can be hard on interns, but at the same time I can be very constructive. I’m just very cautious about anything that goes out that has my name attached to it. On the flip side, in my personal life, I’m very easygoing — very laid back and easy-go-lucky. I’m always happy. PGN: Since it’s almost Halloween, what was your scariest moment? QMN: Back in about ’02, I was driving with some friends on the 476 exit ramp getting on to 76. It was winter and there was black ice on the road. We started sliding and couldn’t stop or control the car. We slid until we hit the guardrail over a drop. If that guardrail wasn’t there, we would have gone down. That’s the scariest thing I can think of offhand. PGN: Someone you miss the most from your youth? QMN: Probably my first girlfriend. Not on a romantic level, but on a companionship level. We split on very good terms and we still talk now, but she’s in the Air Force in Texas. She taught me a lot and is in good part responsible for the way I am today. I used to have a lot of anger and was really short-tempered and she helped me learn to control that. I also came from a very sheltered background and wasn’t very open-minded, so she also helped me understand people better and taught me to put myself in someone else’s shoes.

those Japanese animation characters. You know, the ones that are cute and then they get really angry but they’re still cute. My friends always tell me I’m funny when I get mad. One of them recently jokingly called me “The Angry Panda.” PGN: A smell that makes you stop and reflect? QMN: Lemongrass and ginger always make me think of home. It’s used in a lot of the cooking, especially in broths for when you’re sick. It’s a very comforting smell.

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Worth Watching

HIS TWO DADS: The new animated series “Allen Gregory” follows the adventures of a precocious 7-yearold being raised by his father Richard and his husband Jeremy, and due to a recession, has been forced to attend elementary school. Catch the premiere 8:30 p.m. Oct. 30 on Fox.

PGN: What was your worst job? QMN: Telemarketing. I hated it and walked out after a week. Second-worst job was at a hot and cold Dairy Queen. It was awful. They were both high-school jobs. PGN: Hot and cold?

QMN: Yeah, they served hot and cold food. My best job was working at Toys “R” Us. It was the highest-paying high-school job. Most employees hated Christmastime but I loved it. I got to open and demo all the toys. I’m a big kid at heart.

UNCLE BARNEY: Barney (played by out actor Neil Patrick Harris) lives it up at the rooftop Halloween party on “How I Met Your Mother” 8 p.m. Oct. 31 on CBS. Photo: CBS/

PGN: What’s a toy you still have from your childhood? QMN: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures. I still have some of them in the original package from the ’80s! PGN: A favorite place you traveled? QMN: I went to Vietnam after college. I went by myself and it was the first time I’d ever traveled out of the country. I got a chance to meet my mom’s side of the family for the first time and I also went to Cambodia. It was interesting because I didn’t speak Khmer, but I knew people through family friends who spoke a little Vietnamese. It was a humbling experience and changed my perception about quite a few things in life, especially the way we live in America.

PGN: Where did all your anger come from? QMN: I think my family. We’re not very close: In fact, I haven’t spoken to my sister since last February, when we had a fight. I’m also resentful of the way I was raised, even though I now understand why my parents felt they did what they had to do.

PGN: So a last question about you. Being raised in a conservative family, how did you break loose? QMN: I ask myself that every single day! With all the arguments I had with my family, how was I able to open my mind and break away from what I was taught? I just don’t know. Maybe it’s the go-getter in me: That when I see something, I find a way to get it. Since I didn’t have many adult role models in my family, I looked outside the home to teachers and parents of friends. I learned to think for myself and make my own decisions. Sometimes that got me in trouble: When I was 18, I got my tongue pierced and my mother was so upset she refused to come to my graduation. They were very concerned about image. Me, not so much. I more concerned about finding out what makes me happy. So far, so good. ■

PGN: What cartoon character best represents your personality? QMN: Ha ha! It would probably be one of

To suggest a community member for “Family Portrait,” write to portraits05@aol.com.

Monty Brinton

WHAT’S YOUR SIGN?: Gay character Cameron takes a bet a little too far when his husband Mitchell and Crispin challenge him to get a hot girl’s (played by Leslie Mann) number at the bar, 9 p.m. Nov. 2 on a new episode of “Modern Family” on ABC. Photo: ABC/Peter Hopper

MESSIN’ WITH TEXAS: “Top Chef” takes its competition all over the state of Texas with a new season hosted by Gail Simmons, Padma Lakshmi Tom Colicchiom, which premieres 10 p.m. Nov. 2 on Bravo. Photo: Bravo/Scott McDermott

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Community Bulletin Board Community centers

■ The Attic Youth Center: For LGBT and questioning youth and their friends and allies. Groups meet and activities are held 4-8 p.m. MondayFriday; case management, HIV testing and smoking cessation are available Monday-Friday. See the Youth section for more events. 255 S. 16th St.; 215-545-4331 ■ Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center at the University of Pennsylvania 3907 Spruce St.; 215-898-5044; center@dolphin.upenn.edu, Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday.

and Allies Youth Center: 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays: Doylestown Planned Parenthood, The Atrium, Suite 2E, 301 S. Main St., Doylestown; 215-957-7981; rainbowroom@ppbucks.org

■ William Way Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center: 1315 Spruce St.; 215-732-2220; www.waygay.org. Hours: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Peer counseling: 6-9 p.m. Monday through Friday Library hours: 12-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 12-3 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Friday; 126 p.m. Saturday. Volunteers: New Orientation: First Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m.

■ Rainbow Room — Bucks County’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning

■ AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania: 215-587-9377

Key numbers

■ AIDS Law Project of Southern New Jersey: 856-933-9500 ext. 221

■ Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Peer Counseling Services: 215-732-TALK

■ AIDS Library: 215-985-4851

■ Mayor’s Director of LGBT Affairs: Gloria Casarez, 215-6862194; Gloria.Casarez@phila.gov; Fax: 215-686-2555

■ ACLU of Pennsylvania: 215592-1513 ■ AIDS Treatment Fact line: 1800-662-6080 ■ Barbara Gittings Gay and Lesbian Collection at the Independence Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library: 215-685-1633 ■ The COLOURS Organization Inc.: 112 N. Broad St., third floor; 215-496-0330 ■ Equality Pennsylvania: 215731-1447; www.equalitypa.org ■ Equality Forum: 215-732-3378

■ Mazzoni Center: 215-563-0652; www.mazzonicenter.org. Legal Services: 215-563-0657, 866-LGBTLAW; legalservices@mazzonicenter. org ■ Mazzoni Center Family & Community Medicine: 215-563-0658 ■ Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (Philadelphia): 215-572-1833

Health

AIDS Services In Asian Communities Provides HIV-related services to Asians and Pacific Islanders at 340 N. 12th St., Suite 205; 215-629-2300. www.asiac.org Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative Free, anonymous HIV testing from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 1207 Chestnut St., fifth floor; 12-6 p.m. Tuesdays at the Washington West Project, 1201 Locust St. 215851-1822 or 866-222-3871. www.galaei.org. Spanish/English HIV treatment Free HIV/AIDS diagnosis and treatment for Philadelphia residents are available from 9 a.m.-noon Mondays and 5-8 p.m. Thursdays at Health Center No. 2, 1720 S. Broad St.; 215-685-1803. HIV health insurance help Access to free medications and confidential HIV testing

■ Greater Philadelphia Professional Network Networking group for area business professionals, self-employed and business owners meets monthly in a different location throughout the city, invites speakers on various topics, partners with other nonprofits and maintains a Web site where everyone is invited to sign up for e-mail notices for activities and events.; www.gppn.org.

■ Philadelphia Police Department liaison — Deputy Commissioner Stephen Johnson: 215-683-2840 ■ Philadelphia Police Liaison Committee: 267-216-6606; ppd. lgbt@gmail.com ■ Philly Pride Presents: 215875-9288 ■ SPARC — Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition: 717-9209537 ■ Transgender Health Action Coalition: 215-732-1207 (staffed 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 6-9 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays)

■ Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations: 215-686-4670

Anonymous, free, conﬁdential HIV testing Spanish/English counselors offer testing 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at Congreso de Latinos Unidos, 3439 N. Hutchinson St..; 215-763-8870 ext. 6000.

■ Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia GALLOP holds board meetings at 6:30 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month at 100 S. Broad St., Suite 1810; GALLOP also provides a free referral service; (215) 6279090; www.galloplaw.org.

■ Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force: 215-772-2000

available by appointment at 13 S. MacDade Blvd., Suite 108, Collingdale; Medical Ofﬁce Building, 722 Church Lane, Yeadon; and 630 S. 60th St.; 610-5869077.

Mazzoni Center Free, anonymous HIV testing; HIV/AIDS care and treatment, case management and support groups; 21 S. 12th St., eighth ﬂoor; 215-563-0652. www.mazzonicenter.org. Mazzoni Center Family & Community Medicine Comprehensive primary health care, preventive health services, gynecology, sexual-health services and chronic-disease management, including comprehensive HIV care; 809 Locust St.; 215-563-0658. Washington West Project Free, anonymous HIV testing. Walk-ins welcome 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday except for 12-1 p.m. and 5-6 p.m. and 1-5 p.m. Saturday; 1201 Locust St.; 215-985-9206.

Professional groups ■ Independence Business Alliance Greater Philadelphia’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce, providing networking, business development, marketing, educational and advocacy opportunities for LGBT and LGBT-friendly businesses and professionals. Visit www.IndependenceBusinessAlliance.com for information about events, programs and membership; (215) 557-0190; 1717 Arch St., Suite 3370. ■ National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association The Philadelphia chapter of NLGJA, open to professionals

and students, meets for social and networking events; www.nlgjaphiladephia.org. ■ Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus A regional organization dedicated to promoting gay and lesbian tourism to the Greater Philadelphia Region, holds meetings every other month on the fourth Thursday (January, March, May, July, September and the third Thursday in November), open to the public; P.O. Box 58143, Philadelphia, PA 19102; www.philadelphiagaytourism.com. ■ Philly OutGoing Professionals Social group for gay, lesbian and bisexual professionals meets for social and cultural activities; (856) 857-9283; popnews19@yahoo. com.

Activism/Politics

ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) meets 6-9 p.m. every Monday at St. Luke and The Epiphany Church, 330 S. 13th St.; 215386-1981; www.actupphilly.org. Delaware Valley Chapter, Americans United for Separation of Church and State seeks activists and supporters of church-state separation. Holds monthly meetings and events; www.dvau.org. Equality Philadelphia holds a volunteer night the second Tuesday of the month at 5:30 p.m., 1211 Chestnut St., Suite 605; 215-731-1447; www.equalitypa.org. Green Party of Philadelphia holds general meetings the fourth Thursday of the month except December, 7 p.m.; 215-243-7103; www. gpop.org. Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club meets seasonally; www. libertycity.org.

Arts Library Book Club meets to discuss a new book 7 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month at the William Way Center. Open-mic night and amateur poetry, music and storytelling event sponsored by the Pride Center of New Jersey meets 8 p.m. every third Friday at Stage Stars, 13 S. 3rd Ave., Highland Park; 732-718-0134. Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus rehearses 7-10 p.m. Wednesdays; 215-731-9230; auditions@pgmc.org. Philadelphia Gay Men’s Opera Club meets to share and listen to recordings 6:30 p.m. the last Saturday of the month; 215-732-7898. Philadelphia Voices of Pride, Philadelphia’s first mixed GLBT chorus, rehearses 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays at the William Way Center; www.pvop.org. Queer Writer’s Collective workshop and discussion group meets 4-6 p.m. the fourth Saturday of the month at the William Way Center. Reading Queerly, a group open to all women and genderqueer/trans people, meets 6:45 p.m. the first Thursday of the month at Giovanni’s Room, 345 S. 12th St.

Recreation

Diversity Dancers ballroom dancers meet the first Sunday of the month for tea and lessons. Other events scheduled throughout the year; 215-922-2129; DiversityDancers@aol.com. Gay Bridge Club non-beginners group meets Monday afternoons at the William Way Center; reservations required. Call Ellis at 215732-2220. Gay-friendly Scrabble Club meets 6-11 p.m. in the P.I.C. Building, 42nd and Locust streets; 215-382-0789. Gay Opera Guys of Philly, a new group for opera appreciation, meets the last Sunday of the month at 2:30 p.m. in Roxborough/Andorra area; 215-483-1032. Humboldt Society: Lesbian and Gay Naturalists meets the second Thursday of the month at the William Way Center; 215-985-1456; www.humboldtsociety.org. Independence Squares LGBT square-dance club, modern Western square dancing. Monthly open house. Tuesday classes in the fall; Lutheran Church, 2111 Sansom St.; philadances@gmail.com; www. independencesquares.org. Male Oenophile Group forming to discuss, appreciate and taste various wines. Will meet once a month to investigate the nuances and glories of the fermented grape. Call 267-230-6750 for more information. Mornings OUT LGBT Senior Social activities for senior gay men are held every Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., at the William Way Center. PhilaVentures, Philadelphia’s LGBT outdoor group, meets for a hike in Wissahickon Valley Park on Sundays at 2 p.m. at 8701 Germantown Ave.; to RSVP, e-mail the hike leader at ABK121@hotmail.com. Rainbow Bridge Group congenial group meets for supper and to play bridge monthly on a Monday at 6:30 p.m. Members rotate as host. New players welcome. For information, call Gerry at 215-592-1174.

Sports

Brandywine Women’s Rugby Club meets for Tuesday and Thursday practice at Greene Field, Howell Street and Moore Road, West Chester; www.brandywinerugby.org. City of Brotherly Love Softball League serves the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Games are played Sundays, beginning in April, in Fairmount Park; 215-462-2575; www.cblsl.org. Frontrunners running club meets 9:30 a.m. Saturdays for a run and brunch. Lloyd Hall, No. 1 Boathouse Row; www.philadelphiafrontrunners.org. Philadelphia Falcons Soccer Club GLBT and allied; practices Mondays and Thursdays at Cruz Recreation Center (Fifth and Jefferson streets), 6 p.m., and Saturdays, 10:30 a.m., at Edgeley Fields in Fairmount Park; www.falcons-soccer.org. Philadelphia Fins Swim Team, male and female swimmers meets 7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays at Friends Select School or Kelly Pool in Fairmount Park; 610-564-6661; www.philadelphia-fins.org. Philadelphia Gay Bowling League meets 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays September-April at Brunswick Zone, 1328 Delsea Drive, Deptford, N.J.; 856-889-1434; www.philagaybowling.com. Greater Philadelphia Flag Football League seeks players; games played Saturdays, 10 a.m., at Columbus Square Park, 12th and Wharton streets; phillyflagfootball.com. Philadelphia Gryphons Rugby Football Club seeks players, all skill levels welcome; meets 6 p.m. Tuesdays at Columbus Field,12th and Wharton streets, and 7 p.m. Thursdays at George Pepper Middle School, 2901 S. 84th St.; 215-913-7531; phillygryphons.org; info@phillygryphons.org. Philadelphia Liberty Belles women’s semi-pro full-tackle football league holds fall tryouts; phillybelles.com. Philadelphia Liberty Tennis Association plays year-round, all skill levels welcome; philadelphialibertytennis.com. Philadelphia Firebirds women’s football team seeks players; www. philadelphiafirebirds.com. Philadelphia Women’s Baseball League seeks players, all skill levels and ages welcome. Practice is Thursdays, 7:30-9:30p.m., at Marian Anderson Recreation Center, 17th and Fitzwater streets, with games on Sundays; phillywomensbaseball.com; contact Narda Quigley, (day) 215-991-5995 or (evening) 301-919-1194.

Philly Gay Hockey Association Philadelphia Phury seeks players; 917-656-1936; phury@gayhockey.org. Philly QCycle LGBT bicycling club promotes organized recreational riding for all levels in the Greater Philadelphia region. Contact the organization via Facebook. Rainbow Riders of the Delaware Valley motorcycle club meets regularly; 215-836-0440; www.groups.yahoo.com/group/rainbowridersdv/. Rainbow Rollers gay and lesbian bowling league meets 7:45 p.m. Tuesdays at Boulevard Lanes in Northeast Philadelphia; rainbowrollers.com. South Jersey Gay Bowling League gay and lesbian bowling league meets 7 p.m. Fridays September-April at Laurel Lanes, 2825 Rte. 73 South, Maple Shade; 856-778-7467. Spartan Wrestling Club, the gay wresting team, meets 7-9 p.m. Mondays, 6:30-9 p.m. Mondays and 9:30 a.m.-noon Saturdays at the First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St.; 215-732-4545; www.phillyspartans.com. Suburban Gay Bowling League bowls at 8 p.m. Tuesdays from August-April at Facenda-Whitaker Lanes, 2912 Swede Road, Norristown; sgblbowl@gmail.com. Team Philadelphia, the umbrella group under which the various gay and lesbian sports teams and individual athletes in the Delaware Valley come together to provide a healthy outlet for all members of the community; teamphiladelphia.org.

Etc.

AIDS Law Project provides free legal assistance to people with HIV/AIDS and sponsors free monthly seminars on work and housing; 1211 Chestnut St., Suite 600; 215-587-9377; www. aidslawpa.org. Bisexual Social Support Group open to all bisexual, bi-curious and bi-friendly people, meets 7:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month at the Pride Center of New Jersey. BiUnity, Philadelphia-area social and support network for bisexuals, their family members and friends, meets the second Friday of every other month at the William Way Center; www.biunity.org. Delaware Valley Pink Pistols for LGBT people dedicated to legal, safe and responsible use of firearms for self-defense; meets 2 p.m. the third Saturday of the month at Classic Indoor Range, 1310 Industrial Blvd., Southhampton; 610-879-2364; www. pinkpistols.org. Delaware Pride holds planning meetings 7 p.m. the first Thursday of the month at the United Church of Christ, 300 Main St., Newark; 302-265-3020; delawarepride.org. Haverford College’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance holds open meetings 10-11 p.m. Mondays during the school year in the lounge in Jones Basement at Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave.; 610-896-4938. Long Yang Club Philadelphia social organization for gay Asians and their friends holds monthly socials; www.longyangclub. org/philadelphia. Our Night Out, a casual social networking party of LGBT professionals, allied communities, friends and colleagues, meets in a different Philadelphia hot spot each month. To receive monthly event invitations, send e-mail to OurNightOutPhilly@gmail.com; more information on Facebook. Philadelphia Bar Association Legal Advice offered 5-8 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month; 215-238-6333. Philadelphia Prime Timers Club for mature gay and bisexual men and their admirers meets regularly; primetimersofphiladelph ia@yahoo.com Philadelphians MC Club for leather men and women meets 7:30 p.m. first and third Monday of the month at The Pit at The Bike Stop, 201 S. Quince St.; philadelphiansmc.org. Rainbow Amateur Radio Association ARRL affiliated, private, weekly HF nets, monthly newsletter, e-mail server; 302-539-2392; www.rara.org. Rock ’n’ Roll Queer Bar Party for gay and lesbian rockers with host Psydde Delicious starts 10 p.m. every first Sunday at Fluid, 613 S. Fourth St.; www.RocknRollQueerBar.com. Silver Foxes social and educational group for gays and lesbians 50 and older meets 3-5 p.m. fourth Sunday of the month at the William Way Center.

Health

Alder Health Services provides LGBT health services on a sliding-fee scale; 100 N. Cameron St., Ste. 301 East, Harrisburg; 717-233-7190 or 800-867-1550; www.alderhealth.org. Anonymous, free, confidential HIV testing with Spanish/English counselors 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at Congreso de Latinos Unidos, 3439 N. Hutchinson St.; 215-763-8870 ext. 6000. AIDS Services In Asian Communities provides HIV-related services to Asians and Pacific Islanders at 340 N. 12th St., Suite 205; 215-536-2424. www.asiac.org. Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative provides free, anonymous HIV testing from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at 1207 Chestnut St., fifth floor; and noon-6 p.m. Tuesdays at the Washington West Project, 1201 Locust St.; 215-851-1822 or 866222-3871; www.galaei.org. Spanish/English. HIV treatment: Free HIV/AIDS diagnosis and treatment for Philadelphia residents available 9 a.m.-noon Mondays and 5-8 p.m. Thursdays at Health Center No. 2, 1720 S. Broad St.; 215685-1803. HIV health insurance help: Access to free medications and confidential HIV testing available at 17 MacDade Blvd., Suite 108, Collingdale; Medical Office Building, 722 Church Lane, Yeadon; and 630 S. 60th St.; 610-586-9077. Mazzoni Center: Free, anonymous HIV testing; HIV/AIDS care and treatment, case management and support groups; 21 S. 12th St.; 215-563-0652; www.mazzonicenter.org. Philadelphia FIGHT provides HIV primary care, on-site lab services, clinical trials, case management, mental-health services and support groups for people living with HIV regardless of insurance status or ability to pay; 1233 Locust St., fifth floor; 215-985-4448; www.fight.org. Washington West Project offers free, anonymous HIV testing. Walk-ins welcome 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday except for noon1 p.m. and 5-6 p.m., and 1-5 p.m. Saturday; 1201 Locust St.;

�

REALPGN ESTATE

Classifieds PGN does not accept advertising that is unlawful, false, misleading, harmful, threatening, abusive, invasive of another’s privacy, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful or racially or otherwise objectionable, including without limitation material of any kind or nature that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, provincial, national or international law or regulation, or encourage the use of controlled substances.

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

Home of the Week

Featured property: 1315 Irving St.

$1,050,000 This is a breathtaking, one-of-a-kind carriage originally designed by Frank Furness �home �� and completely renovated in 2006 to blend modern-day aesthetics and urban living with classic architecture. Amazing chef’s kitchen with custom cabinetry PAGEand 47 the ﬁnest appliances. Massive living room with towering solid cherry doors decorated with custom cast iron and sophisticated and rich ﬁnishes throughout. There are 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 2 dens with a two-tiered roof deck, one car garage and a tax abatement until 2018.

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

All real-estate advertising is subject to Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act), �� as amended. Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act), as amended, prohibits � � discrimination in the sale, rental and ﬁnancing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children Realtor: Travis Rodgers under the age of 18), and handicap (disability). PGN �� Prudential Fox Company: will not knowingly accept any real-estate advertising �� that is in violation of any applicable law.

��

�� REAL ESTATE ��

SALE

�� REAL ESTATE ��

SALE

��

E-mail us: pgn@epgn.com

�� . Furness Flats. Large 2 bed, 1 bath. last unit left in this highly desirable building. Close to all Center City Hospitals. Low fees and taxes ................................�� “George T. Sale Condo” Unique Garden level 1 bd, 1 ba. unit w/ private entrance.. Low fees & Tax Abatement. Lowest price 1 bd. in area ........................��. �� . New open style 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo with low taxes and condo fees. Great small pet friendly building. .........................................................................�� Old Swedes Court. New Listing Large 3 Bedroom 2.5 Bath with Garage, roof deck and hardwood ﬂoors. Low association fees in Queen Village ....................��

Direct: 215-790-5234 & Roach Realtor

Email: travis.rodgers@prufoxroach.com

Fax: 215-901-2154

REAL ESTATE

SALE

��

Open Houses Sunday Oct. 30, 2011 Noon-2:30PM 1812 Spruce St. “Snowden Residence Condo” Unit #2R Brand new condo conversion in the Heart of Rittenhouse Square. Grand Scale 1 bd. 1.5 baths w/ office area. Magnificent ceiling molding details, Marble spa like bath. Huge South facing walk-out Terrace. Deluxe Gourmet Kitchen. Deeded covered parking available. Low fees and taxes. ..........$450,000 1812 Spruce St. Unit #3R. Best value 2 bedroom, 1 bath in Rittenhouse Square. Fabulous new condo conversion 1 block off Rittenhouse Square. Marble bath, deluxe kitchen, huge walk-out terrace. A/C. Large attic area. Low fees and taxes..................................$395,000 1812 Spruce St. 3F. Large Bi-level townhouse style condo. Over 2,200 Square feet on two levels. 3 large bedrooms & 3 Marble baths. Deluxe Kitchen, S/S, walnut cabinets, Quartz counters Wood floors. Deeded parking available. Low taxes & fees ................................... .............................................................................................. Pre-construction price $775,000 1812 Spruce St. Unit 2F. Very large condo in Rittenhouse Square, 1 bed, 1 bath. High ceilings with great architectural details. Deluxe gourmet kitchen. Marble bath. Wood floors. Low fees and taxes. Deeded parking available. .........................................$425,000 540 Cypress St. Charming, totally restored historic colonial in Society Hill. 2 large bedrooms, 1.5 baths. 2 fireplaces, wood floors, a/c, exposed brick walls, etc. .....$399,900 Tobey Team NEW LISTING 250 S 13th St 14B, Incredible 3BR/2BA penthouse in The Lenox featuring a large landscaped terrace with extraordinary views...........................................................$899,000 Tobey Team RENTALS 635 Dupont St H Fabulous 3BR/3BA Townhome in “Wissahickon Walk”, just steps from Fairmount Park ....................................................................................................$2,300/mo 1344-48 Ellsworth St 1s Fl. Large 1BR/1.5BA apt for rent by the Avenue of the Arts ..$1,250/mo

Search all Philadelphia area listings @ www.thephillyrealtors.com Dan Tobey

The Curtis Center 1401 Walnut St. 8th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19102

215.546.2700 Business • 267.238.1061 Direct 215.432.7151 Cell • 215.546.7728 Fax dtobey@cbpref.com • www.cbpref.com

REAL ESTATE

SALE

BRAND NEW CONDO FORECLOSURE! Southwest Florida Coast! 3BR/2BA, Only $139,900! (Similar unit sold for $325K) Stainless, granite, storage, covered parking, close to golf. 5 minutes - downtown & Gulf! Special Final weekend for special incentives. Call now (877) 888-7601. _______________________________35-43 NY State Land Liquidation Sale ends this Month! *Large Acreage *Waterfront *Lots w/ Camps *TOP HUNTING LANDS !! Over 150 tracts. ALL BARGAINS ! Call 800-229-7843 Or visit www.LandandCamps.com _______________________________35-43 NY LAND SALE 33 acres on bass lake $39,900. 5 acres borders Sandy Creek Forest with Deer Creek $19,900. 40 New Properties! www.LandFirstNY.com Call: 1-888-683-2626. _______________________________35-43 Potter County - 17 Acres bordering state forest. Perc, electric, private road, access to snowmobile trails, 15 minutes to Coudersport. $72,900. Owner ﬁnancing. 800-668-8679. _______________________________35-43

ROOMMATES PGN WILL NOT PUBLISH RACIAL DISTINCTIONS IN ROOMMATE ADS. SUCH NOTATIONS WILL BE EDITED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. ___________________________________ GREATER NE PHILA. Have your own bedroom in a beautiful split level home with 2 gay men. House is 4 BR, 2 full baths, W/D, upper and lower decks, use of kitchen. Property is by Welsh & the Boulevard, 1 min. to 58 bus. We ask only that you be at least reasonably neat and employed. Rent is $600 + 1/3 utils. Contact Dave at 215-698-0215. _______________________________35-49 Independence Place. GM to share 1 BR furn. condo. $900 incl. utils. Call 267-519-0091. _______________________________35-48 Vicinity of 51st & City Ave., near St. Joseph’s Univ., quiet, non-smoking male, kit./laun. priv., utilities incl., furnished, half-bath $375/mo. 215-878-5182. _______________________________35-43

VACATION

RENTAL HILTON HEAD, SC 2br, 2ba Villa. Ocean-Tennis-Golf. Owner discount, renting monthly Jan-Feb-Mar-2012. Ideal for seniors. $1400 month includes utilities. 864-350-5567. _______________________________35-43

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN

��

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

REAL ESTATE

SALE

REAL ESTATE

SALE

REAL ESTATE

SALE

REAL ESTATE

SALE

Featured Property: 1315 Irving Street This is a Breathtaking and One- of- a- Kind carriage home originally designed by Frank Furness and completely renovated in 2006 to blend modern day aesthetics and urban living with classic architecture. Amazing chef’s kitchen with custom cabinetry and the finest appliances. Massive living room with towering solid cherry doors decorated with custom cast iron and sophisticated and rich finishes throughout. There are 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 2 dens with a two tiered roof deck, one car garage and a tax abatement until 2018.

$1,050,000

RENT

12TH & DICKINSON AREA Furnished Townhouse for rent: 3 levels. Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, 2 bedrooms, bath. Very Unique. 1500. mo plus util. (negotiable). Call 215 468-9166 after 6 pm. or 215 686 3431 daytime. _______________________________35-49 RITTENHOUSE SQUARE AREA Studios & 1 Bedrooms - Call for Availability (215) 735-8050. _______________________________36-03 815 SOUTH 4TH STREET 2 BR, ultra modern w/hdwd ﬂrs., W/D, C/A, red granite kitchen, SS appl. $1200. 215-687-8461, 267-687-7936. _______________________________35-43 17XX E. PASSYUNK AVE. 2 BR + den/ofﬁce, pvt. ent., W/D, refrig., G/D. $1400. Pets OK. 215-463-2028, 215768-5253. _______________________________35-43

JOB WANTED BUTLER/CHAUFFER/HOUSEMAN Retired butler seeking to reenter workforce. Best references. If interested, please call 215-237-2384. _______________________________35-43

210 W. Rittenhouse Sq., Phila., PA 19103 215.790.5234 Direct 215.546.0550 Office

FOR

SALE SAWMILLS From only $3997-MAKE MONEY & SAVE MONEY with your own bandmill-Cut lumber any dimension. In stock ready to ship. FREE info& DVD:www.NorwoodSawmills.com/300N 1-800-578-1363 Ext.300N. _______________________________35-43

FRIENDS

MEN

FRIENDS

MEN

FRIENDS

MEN

FRIENDS

MEN

FREAKY FRIDAY: PIN-XXX CELEBRATION

BARRONS URBAN WAREHOUSE PARTY

Friday, November 11th, 2011 TIME: 11pm-3:30am

Saturday, November 12th, 2011 TIME:11pm-6am

WHAT TO EXPECT: * DJ DUTCH * OPEN BAR * Men of Magnum Erotic Dancers * A Full House of Guys To Choose From & Soo Much More...

P.A.N.G. (Philadelphia Area Nudist Group) Sunday, November 20th, 2011 TIME: 3pm-6pm Boys will Be Boys- Awaken Your Spirit For More Information On Group: www.phillynakedguys.com/

- Always bringing in the Sexy Black & Latin Men For The NightMUST BE ON GUEST LIST TO GAIN ENTRANCE TO PARTY (PRIVATE EVENT: For More Information & to be put onto guest list email: badboi215@gmail.com) Party Nights Rooms go quickly and are on a 1st Come, 1st Served Basis. So Check In Early if you want a room...Check out our website for our HOT WEEKLY SPECIALS & JOIN OUR E-MAIL LIST to get the latest information on up coming events...

Don’t forget to visit the Adonis Cinema right next door!! 2026 Sansom St/ PH: 215-557-9319

And if you are in A.C., please check out:

10 South Mt. Vernon Avenue •Atlantic City, NJ 08401

OPEN DAILY! Sunday- Thursday 4pm to 4am Friday & Saturday 4pm to 6am www.brassrailac.com

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 54

�� PGN PGN

SERVICES $199 COMPLETE PA UNCONTESTED DIVORCE No travel to court/office. Visa/MC/Disc/PayPal, Serving all of PA. Primary office in Erie. Call 877-678-7049. Start now online www.MyPaDi�� vorceLawyer.com � _______________________________35-43 AIRLINES ARE HIRING Train for�� high paying Aviation Maintenance Career. FAA approved Financial Attractive GWM, warm,program. sensitive, caring, aid 48 ify.o. qualified Housinggymnast available. CALL Aviation with a -smooth build looking for Institute of Maintenance other GWM, 30-50, who is(888)834-9715. also in good shape. _______________________________35-43 I live in NE Phila. I’m looking for guys who are ATTEND COLLEGE ONLINE also sensitive, caring with a fun personality. If From Home.interesting *Medical, *Business, this sounds to you feel*Paralegal, free to call *Computers, *Criminal Justice. Job placement me, David, 215-698-0215. assistance. Computer available. Financial _______________________________33-28 Aid if qualified. Call 888-220-3984. www. CenturaOnline.com _______________________________35-43

��

Erotic Dungeon Master

6’, 165 lbs., 60 year old Master, greek active, french passive requires obedient slave for training, S&M, B/D, W/S, etc. Limits respected Custom Design & Tailoring and expanded. Master wanted. Call for Assistant Men & Women Dave at 215-729-6670, day or evening. Alterations _______________________________33-48 Eugene Xdress sex party. CDNaroditsky house orgy every Sat. NatalieISO Naroditsky nite. GWM couple GWMs 18-40 yrs. for 1 on 1 and group sex. Stockings, pantyhose, (215) 923 - 8081 etc. StartsMonday 9 PM Sat. Call Sat. - Friday 10 7-8 - 6 PM 856910-8303, askSaturday for Mark. 10 - 5 _______________________________33-24 242 South 17th7”Street GWM, Italian, top or bottom, cut. Also into Philadelphia PA 19103 assplay, toys & water sports. Bi, straight, out www.eugenestailorshop.com of towners welcome. Day or night. Call Jeff at eugenestailorshop@gmail.com 215-850-7900. _______________________________33-18

EUGENE’S TAILOR SHOP

ADOPTION

UNIQUE ADOPTIONS Let us help! Personalized Adoption Plans. Financial assistance, housing relocation and more. Giving the gift of life? You deserve the best. Call us ﬁrst! 1-888-637-8200 24-hours �� hotline. _______________________________35-43 � ADOPT A mom, dad, and two little sisters would love to provide happy nice home for your baby. WM 60, 5’7’ 155,abottom, looking, discreet, Expenses paid. Allison & Joe 877-253-8699, ﬁt, hot, seeks top men only for relationship in www.allisonjoe.com NE. 215-264-1058 LM. _______________________________35-43 _______________________________33-19 WM, NEWANTED Phila. If you’re looking TO for hot action, call 215-934-5309. No calls after 11 PM. _______________________________33-19 BUYING COINS �� Gold, Silver & ALL Coins, Stamps, Paper You: big equipment! Me: realworth nice white butt. Money, Entire Collections $5,000 or 215-732-2108, more. Travel to8-11 yourPM. home. CASH paid. Call _______________________________33-20 Marc 1-800-488-4175. _______________________________35-43

��

BUY

PETS FOR

Fantasy

ADOPTION

2 A.K.C REGISTERED ENGLISH BULLDOG PUPPIES FOR FREE (M/F), CONTACT robinpeter04@hotmail.com _______________________________35-43

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

’S

COMMUNITY �� MARKETPLACE ��

GWM seeks new friends. 610-352-1188. _______________________________33-21 �� Shuttle service within city limits, personal shopping, help with bags, companion service, lite cooking, dog walking & house sitting, any reasonable request. 215-205-5453. Refs. avail. Reasonable rates! _______________________________33-18 60 y.o., 5’7”, 160, 7” crossdresser looking for casual sex. Northern suburbs. 215-538-2040 ask for Zeta. _______________________________33-21

Island

Adult Books Listings for HELP WANTED �� everything �� you need. �� Click on the �� resource ��

Drivers- Pyle Transport needs OWNER OPERATORS & COMPANY DRIVERS! Regional Truckload Operations. HOME EVERY WEEKEND! O/O Average $1.84/ Mile. Steady, Year-Round Work. Requires CDL-A, 2 Years Experience. Call Charity: 888-301-5855. www. DriveForPyle.com _______________________________35-43 Driver-CDL-A: Experienced OTR Drivers. Regional Lanes. HOME MOST WEEKENDS! Up to $3000 BONUS. Up to $.50 Per Mile. 888-463-3962. 6mo.OTR exp. & CDL Req’d. www.usatruck.jobs _______________________________35-43 Driver $2000 Sign On Bonus! Start a New Career! 100% Paid CDL Training! No Experience Required. CRST EXPEDITED 800-326-2778 www.joinCRST.com _______________________________35-43 Attn: Exp. Reefer Drivers: GREAT PAY /Freight Lanes from Presque Isle, ME, Boston-Lehigh, PA. 800-277-0212 or primeinc.com _______________________________35-43 Run with A Leader! Dry Van and Flatbed Freight! Offering Top Miles, Excellent Equipment, Beneﬁts After 90 Days and Regular Hometime. CDL-A, 6mo. OTR. 888-801-5295. _______________________________35-43 Top Pay On Excellent Runs! Regional Runs, Steady Miles, Frequent Hometime, New Equipment. Automatic Detention Pay! CDL-A, 6mo. Experience required. EEOE/AAP 866-3224039 www.Drive4Marten.com _______________________________35-43 CDL-A DRIVERS NEEDED! WE HAVE THE MILES! OTR positions available! TEAMS NEEDED!! Class A CDL & Hazmat Req’d. 800-942-2104 Ext. 7307 or 7308 www. totalms.com _______________________________35-43

button on Online. Anytime. home WWW.EPGNthe .COM page to start shopping today!

Gay is our middle name.

��

MAY 1 - 7, 2009

FRIENDS

MASSAGE

MEN

LOOKING FOR ROMANCE Attractive GWM, warm, sensitive, caring, 48 y.o. with a smooth gymnast build looking for other GWM, 30-50, who is also in good shape. I live in NE Phila. I’m looking for guys who are also sensitive, caring with a fun personality. If this sounds interesting to you feel free to call me, David, 215-698-0215. ______________________________35-49 WM, NE Phila. If you’re looking for hot action, call 215-934-5309. No calls after 11 PM. ______________________________35-45 If you are horse hung and like to pound talk to me! WM, 6’1”, 215 lbs. 215-732-2108 8-11 PM. ______________________________35-44 I’m Philip, a Brazilian guy, 46 y.o., a children’s author. Live in NE Phila. and am looking for a serious person to be my boyfriend or husband. No smoke, drugs and not fat. Be between 28-45, black, white, Spanish or Brazilian. Need to have car. Email me: minotti2000@live.com _______________________________35-45 �� WM, 62, 5’8”, in shape, nice looking bottom seeks top masc men only for LTR. Leave �� message 215-264-1058. _______________________________35-45

��

Deep Tissue, Sensual and Erotic Massage by handsome athletic man

��

�� Ask about the After Midnight Special.

Call Mario anytime 24/7 B24 at 215-490-7353 Deep tissue/Erotic massage BDSM training CERTIFIED Body shaving in/out MASSAGE

�� www.kbmassage.com

Strong Hands MASSAGE Massage & More Man for Man Massage

Let my strong hands release all your tensions. FULLBODY • SENSUAL • EROTIC “Ask about my specials” Have car and will travel City/Suburbs/Jersey Shore/Hotels

G-01

� Electronic PGN: www.epgn.com

Handsome �� (215)465-2427 Certified �� Therapist PLAYGIRL 6’, 195 lbs, Muscle �� Centerfold Gives Sensual / �� is TherapeuticBack! Massage G-02

Tall, attractive, muscular Sensual/Erotic Massage I will tailor your massage to suit your needs...

G12 Incall/Outcall I am just off of I-95, not far from Center City, Lower Bucks, and South Jersey. �� I specialize in Outcalls to Phila area Hotels.

��

Call 215-432-6030 ��

B-7

��

215-313-1010

�� You Deserve It!

��

only on Advertising works. epgn.com PGN www.epgn.com ��

C91

Philadelphia Gay News www.epgn.com Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2011

PGN