pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 41 No. 47 Nov. 24-30, 2017
Family Portrait: Anna Crusis artistic director on making music and equality PAGE 23
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
LGBT youth residence to honor late local leader as namesake PAGE 5
Celtic tradition gets a 21st-century update in ‘Wolf-in-Skins’
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DA launches hotline for hate-crime reporting PA’s history-making school official talks election, trans visibility By Jeremy Rodriguez jeremy@epgn.com
Philadelphia citizens will be able to report hate crimes via a new hotline. District Attorney Kelley B. Hodge announced the launch of a hotline at a press conference last Thursday. A victim and witness services coordinator will staff the line, which is 215686-8931. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not have an LGBT-inclusive hate-crimes statute, though the city did adopt such a measure three years ago. The D.A.’s Office calls a hate crime a criminal act such as assault, murder, threats and vandalism that is motivated by prejudice or bias and is directed at people because of their real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender or disability. With this new initiative also comes an improved partnership
By Jeremy Rodriguez jeremy@epgn.com
with the Pennsylvania Attorney G e n e r a l ’s O ffi c e a n d t h e Philadelphia Human Relations Commission. PCHR Executive Director Rue Landau said the commission has tracked hate crimes and bias incidents in the city since November 2016. The agency has reported 104 separate incidents, with LGBT-related crimes being the second-largest
behind racially motivated crimes. Landau noted the need to expand the state’s hate-crimes law. “We need to amend our state Ethnic Intimidation Ordinance to include sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and sex, the categories that are currently missing that must be included in order for us to PAGE 12
Tyler Titus said he sometimes forgets that he’s trans — until someone reminds him. “It’s very apparent right now,” he laughed. The 33-year-old won the election for one of four school-board seats in Erie earlier this month, becoming the first openly transgender person to be elected in Pennsylvania. While Titus said he did not run for office because of his identity, he is aware of the history-making nature of his election. “The great thing about me being trans and being elected right now is because everyone is paying attention to, ‘Oh, hey look, Tyler is trans.’ But by doing that, they
are bringing a lot of attention to the Erie School District, which is exactly what I wanted to have happen,” he said. Titus said one of the things he wanted to bring attention to is the effort to “make the schools the focus again,” noting that Erie is a failing school district. “I realized that somebody had to do something and my mom always raised me to [think], You don’t come to the table with complaints. You come to the table with solutions,” Titus said. “I can stand back all day long and complain about it but, at the end of the day, I really needed to get in and make a difference.” Titus added that he wants to see the public conversation about the district evolve to, “Look at how we have failed PAGE 12
State lawmakers pass clean CHIP bill but some are ‘raging’ By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com In a unanimous vote this week, the state House of Representatives passed a funding-renewal bill for the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program that doesn’t ban funding for gender-confirmation surgery. “This is a major win, especially on Transgender Day of Remembrance,” said openly gay state Rep. Brian Sims (D) on his Facebook page. But Sims warned that some of his Republican colleagues are “raging” about the vote. Last month, in a 37-13 vote, the state Senate passed a CHIPrenewal bill that banned funding for gender-confirmation surgery. But on Nov. 20, the state House Rules Committee stripped anti-trans language from the bill,
before sending it to the House floor for a vote. The “clean” CHIP bill is expected to be approved by the state Senate next month and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf. A spokesperson for Wolf issued this statement: “We believe the [state] House has acted responsibly. For decades, CHIP reauthorization was done in a straightforward way because this program is so important to so many children and families. Gov. Wolf urges the General Assembly to get this clean reauthorization to his desk as soon as possible.” LGBT advocates hailed the Nov. 20 vote as a victory for trans rights, while remaining concerned about a separate antitrans health-care bill also under consideration is Harrisburg. H.B. 1933 would ban state
CHIP and Medicaid funding for gender-confirmation surgery and other trans-specific health services. The bill also would allow state officials to seek a federal waiver, if one was needed to enable the bill’s anti-trans agenda. On Nov. 20, the state House Health Committee approved H.B. 1933 in a 16-9 vote, with all Republicans on the committee supporting the bill and all Democrats in attendance opposing it. As of presstime, the bill hadn’t reached the House floor for a vote. H.B. 1933 was introduced by state Rep. Jesse Topper (R) from Bedford County. In an email, Topper explained his reasons for introducing the bill. “I know it’s a highly sensitive PAGE 12 and emotional
NOT ONE MORE: Trans community members and allies made a strong yet silent statement Monday night. The effort was part of the Not One More Rally and Silent March, which began outside the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and proceeded through Center City with a stop near Key West, where Nizah Morris was found. The initiative was organized by Trans Equity Project, a program of GALAEI, and held on Transgender Day of Remembrance, with the goal of urging justice for victims of anti-trans violence. Photo: Scott A. Drake