Family Portrait:
Marriage: Auditor General talks money PAGE 22 Beyond love to legalities PAGE 50
Mimi Imfurst, before she hits the Pride stage PAGE 83
A wedding wish and dream come true PAGE 8
The Village People are here! PAGE 67
June 6-12, 2014
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Vol. 38 No. 23
Pride to celebrate progress in PA
Two years later, no leads in Fox murder
By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com
By Angela Thomas angela@epgn.com Nearly two years ago, Michael Fox, an openly gay man, was murdered in his South Philadelphia apartment, and his parents are still searching for justice. Fox, 30, was found June 22, 2012, in his apartment at Eighth and Christian streets. He died of blunt-force trauma to the head. “It is hard,” said Fox’s mother, Diane. “I think the first year, you are in a cloud, so in shock that this happened. We really would like an answer now.” Philadelphia Police Lt. Norman Davenport said there are no suspects, but investigators believe Fox knew his killer. “We haven’t gotten one tip, so clearly this is someone who was known to the victim. It happened inside the home, where there were no witnesses,” Davenport said. “There didn’t appear to be forced entry. The victim was beaten pretty badly, and the place was left in a condition where there was a robbery done afterwards.” Diane said her family has been working to keep the case alive. “On Michael’s birthday in October, my husband and I walked from Michael’s apartment to Center City and hung up 3040 posters to keep his story out there,” she said. The city and Citizens Crime Commission are offering a $21,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Fox’s killer. Diane said investigators have kept in touch with the family. “We wish we had an answer but I think we knew after the first few months it would be longer than we wanted it to be,” she said. “We do believe they are working hard on the case and one day they will get PAGE 38 a break.”
FASHION-FORWARD: Drag star Brittany Lynn (from left) and designers Terese Sydonna, Leah Delfiner and Sherrill Mosee welcomed guests to a celebration of the late famed designer Patrick Kelly at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Perelman Building May 30. The event was held in conjunction with “Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love” at the museum, which features a wealth of Kelly’s creations on display through the end of November. Kelly, who was openly gay, died of complications from AIDS in 1990. Photo: Scott A. Drake
Philly Archdiocese only one in nation to sponsor antigay D.C. event By Jen Colletta jen@epgn.com Local Catholics are heading to Washington, D.C., later this month to mobilize against marriage equality. The National Organization for Marriage is hosting its second annual March for Marriage on June 19, and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia remains the only listed archdiocesan sponsor in the country. The event was conceived last year and held on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in California’s Proposition 8 case. Earlier this week, the archdiocese was not initially listed as a sponsor on the march website; after calls to NOM from PGN, the organization said the sponsorship omission was a mistake. “That was simply an oversight,” said NOM director of communi-
cations Joseph Grabowski. The archdiocese’s logo was listed on the march website’s sponsor list later in the week. No other diocese or archdiocese in the nation is listed. The archdiocese is running five buses to D.C., as it did last year, one leaving from a church in each of the local five counties. The buses were contracted through a $5,000 private donation, said Ken Gavin, director of the archdiocese’s Office for Communications. Gavin said he expects about 200 local Catholics to participate, on par with last year’s numbers. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference was also listed as a sponsor last year, but Grabowski noted that the sponsorship system had been restructured to denote organizations that are supporting monetarily and those, like the archdiocese, that are running buses to the PAGE 38
Organizers of Philadelphia Pride are expecting this weekend’s festivities to draw up to 15,000 people, the biggest in its history. The parade will kick off at noon June 8 at 13th and Locust streets, and the festival at Penn’s Landing will run until 6 p.m. An expected highlight of the celebration will be the wedding of 10 same-sex couples in front of Independence Hall during the parade, an effort planned after Pennsylvania legalized marriage equality last month. “It is exciting and something I didn’t think was going to happen for years in Pennsylvania,” said Philly Pride Presents executive director Franny Price. The Hon. Dan Anders, the city’s first openly gay male judge, will
officiate. So far, 65 groups are set to march in the parade, including newcomers like the Republican Party of Philadelphia. About 100 volunteers are signed up to keep the parade and festival organized and flowing. Vendor spaces are sold out, with 130 spots taken. But, as long as a vendor arrives that day with a cash or check, Price said she will find them a spot. Philly Pride Presents senior advisor Chuck Volz said this year the organizers decided to maximize the usage of the area at Penn’s Landing by including new features such as a climbing obstacle and a wrecking ball. Volz said nine food vendors have also been added. The stage will be a focal point of the festival, with The Village People headPAGE 27
MARCHING ORDERS: Philly Pride Presents senior advisor Chuck Volz (standing, left) and executive director Franny Price delegated duties to about 75 volunteers who turned out for a Pride orientation June 2 at Penn’s Landing. The volunteers help keep the parade on time and orderly, assist vendors in finding and setting up their spaces at the festival, work the admission line and direct traffic within the festival. The parade kicks off at noon June 8 at 13th and Locust streets and proceeds through the Gayborhood down to Seventh Street, over to Market and on to Penn’s Landing, where the festival runs until 6 p.m. Photo: Scott A. Drake