It’s time again for the festival in the first person
Family Portrait: Sherrie Cohen
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With Sims, three other out candidates are running for Pennsylvania House seats
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Nov. 2-8, 2012
Vol. 36 No. 44
City, community hit by Sandy Where the The superstorm made landfall Monday evening and, while Philadelphia was spared the major flooding and damage that other areas saw, the city experienced hundreds of downed trees and widespread power outages. Many LGBT organizations and businesses shut down and a number of events were cancelled. The city began moving again on Halloween, with government, schools and public transportation reopening. By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
FIGHT launches new HIV-prevention project By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com HIV/AIDS has come a long way from being the death sentence it once was, and a local service organization is instating an innovative new program to bring the epidemic through another evolution. FIGHT’s Jonathan Lax Treatment Center and Youth-Health Empowerment Project are launching the city’s first Pre-Exposure PAGE 20 Prophylaxis Program, a
EARLY RETIREMENT: The rainbow flag that had been flying at City Hall since Oct. 5 came down sometime Monday during the height of Hurricane Sandy. Flown for the third year in recognition of LGBT History Month, the flag was scheduled to come down Oct. 31. See more photos of the hurricane’s impact on the city and the LGBT community, pages 28-29. Photo: Scott A. Drake
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Endorsements President Barack Obama U.S. Senate Bob Casey Attorney General Kathleen Kane Auditor General Eugene DePasquale Treasurer Rob McCord
U.S. Congress 1st: Bob Brady 2nd: Chaka Fattah 6th: Manan Trivedi 7th: George Badey 8th: Kathryn Boockvar 13th: Allyson Schwartz
111th: Jeff Dahlander 170th: Brendan Boyle 172nd: Kevin Boyle 175th: Mike O’Brien 177th: William Dunbar 182nd: Brian Sims 188th: James Roebuck
Pa. Senate 1st: Larry Farnese 17th: Daylin Leach
Del. Senate 6th: Andrew Staton
Pa. House 104th: Chris Dietz 105th: Kelly McEntee
Del. House 20th: Marie Mayor
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The largest hurricane to ever hit the midAtlantic brought Philadelphia, and the LGBT community, to a screeching halt this week. While the city was spared much of the flooding and destruction that was seen at places like the Jersey Shore and in New York City, Hurricane Sandy forced the shuttering of city government, schools and a sea of private businesses and nonprofits — including many that cater to the LGBT community — early in the week. Among the casualties of the storm was the groundbreaking event for the proposed LGBT-friendly senior residences, which was postponed until next month. A number of service organizations also closed their doors. William Way LGBT Community Center announced Sunday, as the storm inched closer to the coast, that it would be closed both Monday and Tuesday. “It’s very rare that we close,” said center executive director Chris PAGE 28
candidates stand By PGN Staff Philadelphia voters will head to the polls Nov. 6 for a general election that will not only decide the next president of the United States, but also a number of races in the local area. Voters will select the state’s next Attorney General and Auditor General, as well as members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and both chambers of the Pennsylvania legislature. Throughout the month of October, PGN reached out to all candidates in contested races on both sides of the aisle in these races. The candidates for state legislature were asked to complete a written survey on their LGBT positions, while the federal candidates were interviewed with the same set of questions via telephone or in person. AG candidate Kathleen Kane sat down with PGN for an in-person interview. Despite numerous requests, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey failed to respond for an interview. Below are summaries of the answers provided by the candidates.
PA ATTORNEY GENERAL Kathleen Kane (D)
Democratic candidate for Attorney General Kathleen Kane said she would work to protect the rights of all Pennsylvanians, including LGBTs, if elected. Kane said that she would decline to defend the state’s KANE Defense of Marriage Act in court as she considers it unconstitutional, the same reasoning behind the Obama administration’s move to stop defending the federal DOMA. She supports marriage equality, secondparent adoption and the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s nondiscrimination law. Kane said that, as PAGE 12