Summer in the city PAGE 23
Thinking Queerly column debut: Shining a light on the mental health of the LGBT community PAGE 16
Family Portrait: Lorenzo Buffa is a man to watch PAGE 25
PA school nixes musical, sparking outcry PAGE 5 July 11-17, 2014
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Vol. 38 No. 28
Man alleges antigay Center City attack
Senate confirms Fletman to bench By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com Philadelphia now has a fourth openly LGBT Court of Common Pleas judge. The state Senate unanimously approved Abbe Fletman to the bench June 30. Fletman was approved among a host of other judicial nominees put forth by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously recommended Fletman for confirmation. She was originally notified of her nomination on June 19. Fletman will join Judges Dan Anders, Ann Butchart and Barbara McDermott as openly LGBT Common Pleas judges. Anders told PGN that Fletman, who declined to comment, is highly qualified for the position. “I’ve known Abbe since I started working in Philly as a lawyer. She is well-regarded as a talented commercial litigator, practicing in intellectual property, and she has also fought for equality,” Anders said. “She is someone that litigators have recognized as a super lawyer in Pennsylvania. She has won several awards for her professional talent and her legal skills.” Fletman is one of the first female cochairs of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia. Anders said although it is important to have diversity among all facets of government, having qualified members of the judiciary is also integral, which Fletman is, he said. “Abbe is extremely qualified, and it adds to the legitimacy of government when the individuals who represent the citizens of Philadelphia reflect the full and rich diversity of its population,” he said. Fletman recently won The Legal Intelligencer’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also served as co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Legal Rights of Lesbians and Gay Men Committee and helped launch the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section’s LGBT Litigator Committee. Fletman worked as a newspaper reporter before pursuing a career in law. She will serve on the bench until 2015, when she will be up for reelection. ■
By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com
RISING BLOOD PRESSURE: The National Gay Blood Drive comes to Pennsylvania this Friday, and local organizers staged a kick-off fundraising event July 8 at 12th Street Gym. The effort encourages gay and bisexual men, who are banned from donating blood, to bring allies to donate blood in their place. Local organizers, including Máire Moriarty, Ben Beduhn, Melissa Moriarty and Kyle Diaz, distributed information about the drive at the event, where supporters had the chance to take home baked goods and prizes. The National Gay Blood Drive will be staged at the Philadelphia Red Cross Donor Center, 700 Spring Garden St., from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. July 11. Photo: Scott A. Drake
A Center City man says he was attacked on the Fourth of July by a group of men who hurled antigay epithets. Khalif Samad Parker, 22, said the incident took place outside the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad St., shortly after midnight July 4. There were up to three attackers, he said. Parker was at a friend’s apartment at 13th and Ellsworth streets and was heading to Woody’s before returning to his Center City home. Parker was walking north by himself on Broad when he passed a group of up to three white males. “I was walking up Broad Street and I soon realized there were people talking behind me, and usually when I have my PAGE 22 headphones in I can’t
‘Gay porn twin’ talks life post-prison By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com This is the second in a two-part series. “Money injects you with stupidity. I felt like it was never gonna end.” But Taleon Goffney’s crime spree did end, on Feb. 19, 2008, a night that he says changed the trajectory of his life. An end to the spree In the weeks leading up to the burglary of Moon’s Beauty Shop and the adjoining Wings and More in South Philadelphia, Goffney and his twin brother, Keyontyli, had begun targeting businesses that could net them a bigger payout. Goffney’s girlfriend at the time was pregnant, and he said he was looking for larger-scale, more sophisticated burglaries to plan for the future. “She was pregnant so I was trying to think realistic. I had to get out of that super-criminal mindstate,” Goffney said.
“So I told Keyon we had to slow it down and go for the bigger jobs. Check-cashing places; they got big money — 20, 30 grand — and we needed six figures to take us outta the game because we were spending it so fast.” Goffney did his usual casing of the adjoining businesses, located at Ninth Street and Washington Avenue, a few weeks prior. Then, the night of the burglary, he dropped his car off in a parking garage at Juniper and Wharton streets and rode to the shop with his brother. The twins were equipped with twoway radios, and Keyontyli waited in the car while Goffney mounted the roof and cut his way into the two adjoining businesses. Within about an hour, he said, he had breached both ATMs and was getting ready to head back out. “I had maybe about 12 grand on me — it wasn’t as much as I expected — and I was like, ‘Keyon, I’m coming up,’ and I hear the chirp from the radio and just heard him say, ‘Run, they got me.’ I get up to PAGE 20 the roof and I can see
MAZEL TOV!: PGN publisher Mark Segal (right) and new husband Jason Villemez performed the Jewish glass-breaking wedding tradition after tying the knot Saturday night. The couple has been together for 10 years. Read more about their wedding on page 9. Photo: Scott A. Drake