Results tagged “lgbt”

Hail hail the queers are all here: PW celebrates Equality Forum with a Queer Issue.

In most parts of Pennsylvania, it is still perfectly legal for an employer to fire someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Likewise, a person can be evicted or denied housing. This denial of basic civil rights needs to end, and thankfully, a bill (House Bill 300) was introduced on March 4th in the House of Representatives which would add sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to the list of protected classes under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. The Act currently protects against discrimination based on race, color, religion, ancestry, age, national origin, handicap or disability, education, and the use of a guide dog. The bill was proposed by Dan Frankel (D), a representative from Allegheny County, and has a whopping 79 co-sponsors, from both parties and from all across the state.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

        

Barack Obama's presidential win was somewhat bittersweet for the GLBT community, since punitive ballot measures like Proposition 8, which denies same-sex couples the right to marry, passed in California. But this weekend, people in cities all over the country (including Philadelphia, where the marcher tally reached almost 5000) resiliently rallied and joined together in protest. People of all ethnicities, ages and backgrounds chanted, sang, held hands, prayed, and gathered peacefully to demand their rights.

Philly, we are so proud of you.

               

Pictures from this past weekend's events, all by Karen Cornell.

         

The William Way LGBT Community Center (1315 Spruce Street) held its 2008 Indigo Ball on Friday, October 10th at the Grand Ballroom at the Bellevue Park Hyatt in Philadelphia. The event was sponsored by Wachovia and included a cocktail reception, silent auction, dinner, and dancing. The William Way Community Center seeks to encourage, support, and advocate for the well-being and acceptance of sexual and gender minorities through service, recreational, educational, and cultural programming.

             

This past Friday, Citibank hosted a wine tasting social for the members of the Independence Business Alliance Networking group at the bank’s midtown location. The wine tasting was conducted by The Wine School of Philadelphia. The IBA is the new Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Chamber of Commerce for the Greater Philadelphia region.

It will never cease to amaze us that there are still people out there who feel this way.

Happy birthday Mulder, uh, we mean David!

Oh, Gayborhood... how this Phillyist will miss you when she moves out of her old apartment this weekend!

Let me just begin this review by saying, simply, that there are only five performances of Azuka Theatre's production of John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig and the Angry Inch left, and that you should make sure you're at one of them.

HIV and AIDS aren't in the news so much these days. With the creation of "the cocktail," it sometimes seems as if the media has downgraded the gravity of these diseases to something akin to Hepatitis: take care of yourself, take your pills, and use condoms – and you, too, can live a healthy life. We don't really hear about it anymore. For those whose lives haven't been touched by HIV or the AIDS virus, it's not at the forefront of our sexual consciousness anymore.

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist is really sick of that taco promo. And, while they're proud of John Williams, Bostonist is still trying to figure out Williams' "Very Special Arrangement" of the "Star Spangled Banner."

Today marks Elite -ist's first official Friday as a working stiff. Which means, for the first time in Elite -ist's life, we can say "TGIF" without any sense of irony whatsoever. Rock on.

• Pat Robertson calling for his death notwithstanding, Hugo Chavez is showing generosity to Philadelphians by shipping five million gallons of heating oil for distribution to area low-income families, and it will be available at a 40% discount. Mayoral hopeful and current U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah brokered the deal. Chavez, President of Venezuela, recently called President George W. Bush a "genocidal madman".
• In a really stupid move, Pennsylvania lawmakers are mulling over the idea of taxing gym memberships. Granted, Men's Fitness magazine says we've improved since last year - we're the 25th fattest city in America instead of the second fattest city in the U.S. - but we're fairly certain it's not the best idea ever had to penalize people for trying to be healthy. The legislation being considered would also levy a tax on advertising services, campground fees, laundry services, candy, tanning, management consulting, and concert tickets. Yeah, because the Ticketmaster fees don't already make going to a concert annoyingly expensive.
• In sort of related news, people all over town are abuzz with the gossip that 12th Street Gym owner Robert Guzzardi is a big contributor to Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. 12th Street Gym is smack dab in the middle of the Gayborhood and heavily utilized by the Philadelphia gay community. Santorum is not exactly a friend to the LGBT community.
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