Honorees set for 15th annual BlackTie GayBINGO!
Family Portrait: Mary Pitek, leading the takeover
PAGE 7
These queens of comedy are three of a kind PAGE 37
PAGE 41
Downingtown is PA’s 34th municipality to ban LGBT discrimination at the local level.
PAGE 5
March 28 - April 3, 2014
����������
��� ������������ �������� �����������������������������������������
Vol. 38 No. 13
PA treasurer enters marriage fray Treasurer Rob McCord filed an amicus curiae brief this week, thought to be the first of its kind in the country, supporting two women looking to have their out-of-state marriage recognized in Pennsylvania. By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com In what is believed to be a national first, Pennsylvania’s state treasurer this week submitted a friend-of-the-court filing in support of a same-sex couple seeking to overturn the state’s ban on marriage equality, arguing that the law has a detrimental financial effect on same-sex couples. Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord submitted the amicus curiae brief March 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania in Palladino v. Corbett. The case was filed last summer by Philadelphia residents Cara Palladino and Isabelle Barker, who are seeking to have their legal Massachusetts marriage recognized in the Keystone State. McCord’s 25-page brief outlines the myriad effects the state’s discriminatory law has on his department, which is tasked with managing a number of programs and benefits extending to married couples. The brief urges the court to grant the plaintiffs’ request for summary judgment and find that
the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. “There can be no doubt that Pennsylvania’s marriage law acts to disadvantage, as a separate class, same-sex couples by purposefully refusing them state recognition of their relationship and thus the derivative rights, presumptions and protections normally associated with the legal status of marriage,” McCord stated in the brief. McCord is the first elected state official in Pennsylvania to formally challenge the
discriminatory law in court. This is also believed to be the first time that a state treasurer has filed an amicus curiae in support of plaintiffs challenging a state’s ban on same-sex marriage. While McCord is not seeking to be a party in the case, the friend-of-the-court brief offers a uniquely informed position on PAGE 27 the issues at play for the
Two deaths in LGBT bathhouses
Suspected Venture Inn stabber in custody
By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com
By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Just a few hours after naming a suspect in last Thursday’s stabbing outside Venture Inn, police arrested the alleged attacker in the Gayborhood. Apprehended was William Johnson, 39, about 4:30 p.m. Friday. The suspect had been sleeping in bushes in the 1100 block of Pine Street. Johnson, of the 400 block of Morris Street, was transported to Hahnemann University Hospital for rib pain before being processed. Johnson is suspected of stabbing an off-duty police officer and a Venture Inn bartender. The bartender, Thomas Miguel Martinez, suffered a laceration to the chin and was treated with eight stitches PAGE 24
CAMPUS KEYNOTE: Laverne Cox took part in a press conference at University of Pennsylvania’s LGBT Center March 25 before delivering the keynote speech of QPenn Week to a sold-out crowd. Cox, pictured with QPenn Week co-organizer Michael Lewis, plays an inmate on Netflix hit “Orange is the New Black” and off-screen is a producer and transgender advocate. During the conference, Cox encouraged LGBT people to press their local prison systems to ensure they’re complying with new Prison Rape Elimination Act standards to improve conditions for transgender and gendernonconforming inmates. Cox is collaborating on the documentary “Free CeCe” about imprisoned trans woman CeCe McDonald. QPenn Week runs through Sunday. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Two separate deaths occurred at a pair of LGBT bathhouses in the city last week. Foul play is not suspected in either case. Police responded to a 911 call at Club Philadelphia, 1220 Chancellor St., for a report of a deceased patron around 2:20 a.m. March 15, according to Philadelphia Public Affairs Officer Leeloni Palmiero. The 61-year-old man was found in Room 205 in the club. The white male was lying naked and face-up on a bed. “They attempted to revive him but were unable to,” Palmiero said. “They believe he was dead for a while. There were no signs of trauma.” Club Philadelphia’s owner did not respond to calls from PGN by presstime. At 4:30 p.m. March 23, an officer responded to a call at Sansom
Street Gym, 2020 Sansom St. There, Palmiero said, police found a 41-year-old Hispanic male kneeling in a room, not breathing. Sansom Street Gym manager Aaron Moore told PGN the customer was a regular and usually checked out on time. “When a customer comes in, they have a certain amount of time to be in the bathhouse,” he said. “He was a good regular and for him to be overdue wasn’t like him. He was a pleasant guy. We don’t think he did drugs. There were no drugs found on him.” Moore said this is the first time such an incident occurred at Sansom Street Gym. Palmiero said both cases are under investigation and the Homicide Department was notified as a matter of procedure. Department of Health spokesperson Jeff Moran said autopsies were performed on both men, and results could take up to 10 weeks. ■
“Day in the Life Of” is a monthly feature that tells the unique, day-to-day stories of local LGBT community members. Meet this month’s subject: Ed Staudenmayer PAGE 14