pgn Philadelphia Gay News LGBT NEWS SINCE 1976
Vol. 41 No. 48 Dec. 1-7, 2017
Gay basher’s cop father gets PAGE 6 promotion
Family Portrait: Jason Evans is a cheerleader for Philly AIDS PAGE 43 Thrift
HONESTY • INTEGRITY • PROFESSIONALISM
World AIDS Day Supplement PAGES 21-28
High court upholds Dawn Segal’s removal as a judge By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com
AT YOUR SERVICE: Donald “Donnie” Settle (left), Yvonne Owen and Jay Pastore were ready to serve up an early Thanksgiving dinner for patrons of U Bar on Nov. 22. Settle has been hosting a pre-Thanksgiving party at the bar for about 10 years. Some 40 people participated in the feast and festivities this year. Photo: Scott A. Drake
D.A.’s Morris affidavits under scrutiny By Timothy Cwiek timothy@epgn.com Between 2013-15, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office submitted seven affidavits relating to the Nizah Morris case under penalty of perjury that appear to contain inaccuracies. The affidavits were submitted in response to PGN’s open-records requests for computer-aided dispatch records in the D.A.’s files for a traffic stop initiated by Officer Elizabeth Skala. The officer initiated the traffic stop in December 2002, shortly after she gave a Center City “courtesy ride” to Morris, a trans woman of color who was intoxicated. When Skala initiated the traffic stop, she was still assigned to Morris, who was in critical condition and urgently needed transportation to a hospital. In 2009 and 2013, PGN gave the D.A.’s Office computer-aided dispatch records for Skala’s traffic stop that the paper received from the city’s Police Advisory Commission. The 2013 record is in a slightly different
format than the 2009 record. The D.A.’s Office submitted two affidavits in September 2013 claiming the agency had no responsive records in its files. But, four years later, the agency belatedly admitted the 2009 record from PGN was in its files at the time. In March 2014, PGN requested an evidentiary hearing in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court to probe whether the D.A.’s Office conducted a comprehensive search, in response to PGN’s open-records requests. But the D.A.’s Office opposed an evidentiary hearing, maintaining the office conducted a good-faith search. A Philadelphia judge sided with the D.A.’s Office and no evidentiary hearing was held. Five subsequent affidavits claim the only responsive record in D.A. files was the 2013 record from PGN — despite the agency’s belated admission in October 2017 that the 2009 record also was in its files. An August 2014 affidavit asserts the office’s “understanding” that a computer-aided dispatch record “does not have different formats, configurations or prePAGE 15 sentations but instead
In a 5-1 decision issued Nov. 22, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that permanently bars Dawn A. Segal from holding judicial office. Segal, an open lesbian, served as a municipal-court judge in Philadelphia for about six years until she was suspended without pay last year due to improper conversations with another judge. The state Supreme Court justices who ruled against Segal are Max Baer, Sallie U. Mundy, Thomas G. Saylor, Debra M. Todd and David N. Wecht. The majority’s 23-page opinion states that Segal’s actions were “an affront to the administration of justice and diminish confidence in the judiciary at large.” In a dissenting opinion, Justice Christine Donahue recommended that the case be remanded to the Court of Judicial Discipline for further review to ensure consistent discipline for problematic judges. Justice Kevin M. Dougherty, a Democrat
from Philadelphia, didn’t participate. In court papers, Segal acknowledged engaging in improper conversations with Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr. between 2011-12 but said none of the conversations influenced her judicial rulings. Last year, the Court of Judicial Discipline ordered S eg a l ’s p e r m a nent removal after holding a sanctions hearing, during which Segal gave an impassioned plea for her return to the bench. In May, oral arguments were held in Harrisburg before the state Supreme Court. The arguments focused on whether the Court of Judicial Discipline was consistent in its approach to disciplining problematic PAGE 15 judges.
Hahnemann launches fellowship for care of trans patients By Jeremy Rodriguez jeremy@epgn.com A local hospital last month launched a training program focused on medical and surgical procedures for transgender patients. Hahnemann University Hospital’s new one-year Transgender Fellowship Training Program will provide candidates with training and education in major reconstructive cases, including pre- and post-operative care. Hahnemann’s program is the first of its kind in the city and the second in the nation; Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York City announced the country’s first transgender surgery and psychiatric medical fellowships this summer. “Hahnemann University Hospital prides itself on being a pioneer in medical research and advancement,” Hahnemann CEO Michael P. Halter said in a state-
ment. “Creating a Transgender Fellowship Training Program is the next chapter in continuing a legacy of excellence.” Under the direction of Dr. Kathy L. Rumer, Hahnemann’s Transgender Surgery Program director, fellows will learn about an assortment of male-to-female and female-to-male gender-affirming surgeries. Additionally, they will learn about facial surgeries, breast augmentation, chest masculinization and body-contouring, Rumer said. Rumer said she hopes to train fellows to not only perform surgical procedures but to also relate to patients in pre- and post-operative care. This includes working with patients’ primary-care doctors. “This is a patient population that has, for years, been ignored by the medical community and, just recently, the medical community is beginning to embrace it, so we want to make sure we PAGE 15