pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 40 No. 49 Dec. 2-8, 2016
Family Portrait: Michael Kelly-Cataldi’s super suburb supper club PAGE 31
#GivingTuesday sees record LGBT support PAGE 5
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM Give Out: Find out how to pay it forward this holiday season PAGE 29
Mazzoni gets $1.5 mil from state for site move By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com
MEETING OF THE MINDS: Several-dozen community members turned out for a discussion about racism in the LGBT nightlife scene hosted by Woody’s Nov. 22. Woody’s was one of several venues that recently came under fire after patrons complained of a discriminatory dress-code policy and other practices. G Philly editor Ernest Owens moderated the discussion with Woody’s co-owner Billy Weiss. Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations executive director Rue Landau and Office of LGBT Affairs director Nellie Fitzpatrick were among those in attendance. Photo: Patrick Hagerty
No arrest, motive yet in letterbombing incident By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Police continue to investigate who sent an explosive device to a local gay man last week. Jim Alden, 60, was seriously injured Nov. 22 when he opened a letter bomb in his apartment at 18th and Pine streets. A police spokesperson told PGN this week that no suspect or person of interest has been publicly identified. At a news conference last week, officials said Alden was targeted, and they were “not discounting” that the incident was a hate crime. “The investigation is not complete, therefore that same statement applies,” police spokesperson Lt. John Stanford told PGN about the hate-crime angle. “We are still investigating and won’t make a final determination regarding a motive at this time.”
Alden and his partner have a rainbow “Love Trumps Hate” sign displayed in their front window, prompting speculation that the incident was of an antigay nature. However, WPVI reported this weekend that investigators shifted their focus to a potential personal dispute, but Stanford did not elaborate on that information. Support has poured in for the victim in the past week, with more than $19,000 from more than 300 donors contributed PAGE 12 through an online fund-
Mazzoni Center announced this week its largest-ever one-time gift. The facility has been awarded $1.5 million through the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The funding will support the agency’s purchase of a building at Broad and Bainbridge streets where it plans to consolidate all of its services next summer. “We are thankful to Gov. Wolf for his support of this important project, and for understanding the impact it will have in addressing critical health disparities and establishing a first-class home for LGBTQ health and well-being in the heart of Philadelphia,” Mazzoni CEO Nurit Shein said in a state-
ment. Shein also thanked state Sen. Larry Farnese for championing the application for the RACP funding in the Senate and state Rep. Brian Sims for supporting the grant request and serving as the agency’s liaison in the House. The organization announced in early 2015 that it would move its medical practice, case-management and other services from the Gayborhood into one shared space, at 1328-38 Bainbridge St.; the Washington West Project will remain in the Gayborhood. Shein told PGN this week that Mazzoni submitted the selected RACP application in May 2015. Mazzoni recently undertook a major-gifts campaign to support the move; the RACP PAGE 14 grant brings its major-
Man in stable condition after Overbrook shooting By Jeremy Rodriguez Jeremy@epgn.com Philadelphia police are investigating the shooting of a man in Overbrook Sunday night. In a statement, Philadelphia police said two men followed the victim out of a Stop N Go at 66th Street and Lansdowne Avenue. The men approached the victim on the 1000 block of North 66th Street. Both were described as black and one, described as dark-complected with facial tattoos, fired several shots, with two of them striking the 21-year-old victim in the hip. The victim is being treated at Lankenau Medical Center and is in stable condition. “I am very grateful that this person is alive [and] that they are in one of our excellent hospitals in the city of Philadelphia,” said Nellie Fitzpatrick, director of the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs. “I’m glad the police are able to work to bring justice to this person who sustained this horrible attack. I wish him all the best and I know that there are excellent victim services out there for him and I have all the faith in the police and the prosecutors who will be assigned to the matter to make sure justice
is obtained.” Fitzpatrick noted that Directive 152, written guidelines for police officers to abide by when interacting with and identifying transgender individuals, aided in this case. “At the end of the day, one of the driving points of [Directive 152] is to treat all people with the courtesy and dignity, which is inherently due to every person, as a human being,” Fitzpatrick said. “With that comes listening to people and respecting who people are and how they identify themselves. I’m very glad to see that this directive has been followed to a T in assisting this man as he navigates being a victim of crime here in the city of Philadelphia.” There were several conflicting reports regarding the victim’s gender identity in the media. “Sometimes that is due to error and sometimes that is due to lack of capacity,” Fitzpatrick said about misgendering of crime victims. “I think we would all like to hope that it’s never done purposely or maliciously but ultimately the result is the same in that misgendering somebody is unto itself an act of dehumanizing them or victimizing them further. It is incumbent upon us that we respect someone’s gender identity.” n