pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 42 No. 46 Nov. 16-22, 2018
Family Portrait: Judy Bridges PAGE 23
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
Trans issues are the focus for this publisher
ACLU pushes for trans awareness PAGE 5
OURSpace opens for transgender community
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Another Mazzoni CEO out — what’s next? By Kristen Demilio and Adriana Fraser
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER: A fundraiser for My Brother’s House, a nonprofit organization that works towards housing homeless LGBT veterans, was held Nov. 11 at Toasted Walnut. Veteran and LGBT liaison to the Sheriff’s Office Dante Austin (left), veteran and MBH board member Sherry Banks, MBH CEO Dr. Remolia Simpson, board member Eunika Kent and veteran Sasha Mala were among the attendees who enjoyed light fare and entertainment. Austin was recognized for his advocacy. For more, go to mbhouse.org. Photo: Scott A. Drake
GALAEI to host week of events for Trans Awareness Week By Adriana Fraser adriana@epgn.com In recognition of Trans Awareness Week, which begins on Nov. 15 and runs through Nov. 20, GALAEI’s Trans Equity Project will address issues plaguing the community including homelessness, poverty and the threat of violence and harm. “No matter where you go in the country, it’s the same script but a different cast when it comes to issues affecting the trans community,” said Milan Sherry, coordinator of the Trans Equity Project. “It seems like some people in the city may have become stagnant when it comes to certain trans causes because of how progressive Philadelphia is, but we should continually be aware of the fact that the work is far from done.” Trans Awareness Week is a weeklong celebration leading up to the Transgender
Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20. The week brings awareness to the challenges trans, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary people face in living their lives. GALAEI’s Trans Equity Project will host a week of events to “remind people what we’re still fighting for,” said Sherry. The Human Rights Campaign reported last year that at least 102 transgender people were victims of fatal violence. Eighty-seven of them were transgender people of color. In 2017, 28 trans murders were reported, making it the deadliest year recorded by HRC since it began tracking the death tolls in 2013. This year, at least 22 trans murders nationwide have been reported so far. The Trans Equity Project is a peerbased support program for trans-identified people ages 16 and older. The program — formally known as the Trans Health PAGE 12 Information Project
Yet another shakeup in the leadership of Mazzoni Center again raises questions about the organization’s future direction as it grapples with developing a new management model. On Monday, CEO Lydia Gonzalez Sciarrino announced her resignation after seven months. COO Ron Powers also resigned after more than 20 years in his position. He declined a request for comment. Gonzalez Sciarrino was hired after a five-month nationwide process involving an executive-search firm at the behest of the board of directors, now consisting of 12 members (at the time of Gonzalez Sciarrino’s hiring, there were 17 members.) She offered her resignation on Oct. 23. It was accepted by the board “after we heard her reasons for leaving,” Chris Pope, the head of the board of directors, told PGN. “She was clear with us that Mazzoni Center needed new leadership to be able to move forward,” he added. Gonzalez Sciarrino is the third CEO in under two years. At the time her hiring was announced in March, she was attacked on social media by Mazzoni Center employees and others demanding her resignation, at least partly due to her non-LGBT status. The co-founders of the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative (BBWC), who say they PAGE 18 represent nearly 400 workers in Philadelphia, told PGN in a statement
Appeals court hears arguments in grade school same-sex rape case By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Attorneys for a Philadelphia student who was raped inside a public elementary school urged a three-judge appellate panel this week to let the student’s case against the school district move forward even though his mother allegedly missed a deadline by nearly two years to file a complaint. The student, identified in court papers as N.B., was raped at the William C. Bryant Elementary School in West Philadelphia in October 2011. Prior to the rape, N.B. had been subjected to ongoing, pervasive bullying by some classmates who perceived him to be gender-nonconforming, according to court records. On Oct. 25, 2011, while N.B. was inside a restroom, two classmates held him while a third classmate penetrated him anally with his penis. The assailants threatened to kill N.B. if he told anyone about the incident. But N.B. eventually told his mother, who promptly withdrew him from the school, according to court records. On Jan. 7, 2014, N.B.’s mother filed an administrative complaint on behalf of N.B. with the Pennsylvania Human Relations
Commission. She alleged violations of the state Human Relations Act by school-district officials due to N.B.’s sex and race. However, the PHRC dismissed the complaint on the basis that PHRC complaints must be filed within 180 days of the last discriminatory act being alleged. N.B.’s mother didn’t file the PHRC complaint until 787 days after the last discriminatory act, according to court records. N.B.’s mother subsequently filed suit against the school district in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages along with attorneys’ fees and court costs. But on Aug. 27, 2017, Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson dismissed the suit, citing the missed PHRC deadline. N.B.’s mother filed an appeal with Commonwealth Court, which held oral arguments in Center City on Nov. 13. Commonwealth Court Judges Eileen Ceisler, Dan Pellegrini and Robert Simpson must decide whether to allow the civil lawsuit filed by N.B.’s mother to move forward despite her filing the earlier PHRC administrative complaint after the deadline. Bruce P. Merenstein, an attorney for the PAGE 2 school district, argued