Honoring LGBT History Month

October opens Human Relations Month in Philadelphia as well as commemorates LGBT History Month. PCHR Executive Director Rue Landau was at City Hall to honor both, along with Mayor Michael A. Nutter, LGBT Affairs Director Gloria Casarez and a host of LGBT advocates and activists. City Council members Maria Quiñones-Sanchez, Dennis O’Brien, Mark Squilla and David Oh also were among those on hand for the 5th annual rainbow flag raising.

The work of groups such as the Mazzoni Center, GALAEI, Philadelphia Gay Black Pride and the Greater Philadelphia Flag Football League was praised at the ceremony. The Rev. Jeffrey H. Jordan-Pickett of Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia provided words of encouragement — and reminders.

While there have been a host of wins in the past year — from the city’s historic and landmark policies for LGBT employees to marriage equality — the vicious Sept. 11 attack on a gay couple in Center City underscores that more work lies ahead.

Those sentiments were echoed throughout the event, which concluded with an impassioned plea from Mayor Nutter that a major election is just a month away, and “change comes when you change the people making the policies.”

As the assembled reflected on the past and set their sights on the future, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus led the crowd in a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner as the rainbow flag was hoisted, to cheers.

(l-r) PCHR Executive Director Rue Landau and LGBT Affairs Director Gloria Casarez open LGBT History Month at City Hall.

Mayor Michael A. Nutter speaks to the importance of valuing and embracing all cultures and all Americans — regardless of color, creed, heritage, ethnicity or orientation.

Check out a snippet of joyous sounds offered by the renowned Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus. 

Helping Philadelphians navigate marriage equality, legally

The Whitewood v. Wolf decision got corks popping and wedding bells ringing, but it’s also raised a series of questions now that same-sex marriage is the law in Pennsylvania – from joint tax filing to estate planning.

Marriage equality: What Does It Mean for You addressed those concerns and offered counsel on others Wednesday night.  The two-hour joint town hall meeting at the William Way LGBT Community Center tackled topics such as the how-to’s of getting married – or divorced – and thornier issues of adoption, wills and the relative benefits of sticking with a life partnership or civil union.

An assortment of legal minds gathered at the William Way LGBT Community Center to discuss a post-Whitewood world. (l-r):
R. Barrett Marshall, the Mazzoni Center; Rebecca Levin, Philadelphia Bar Association’s LGBT Rights Committee; Mary Catherine Roper, ACLU of Pennsylvania; Margaret Klaw, Berner Klaw & Watson; Reynelle Brown Staley, PCHR; David Cohen, Drexel University; and Helen Casale, Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller.

An all-star panel of law professors and attorneys, including PCHR Deputy Director Reynelle Brown Staley, reviewed a swath of topics– from a recap of the decision to the rights and responsibilities of marriage to adoption and parenting concerns to divorce. A meaty Q&A followed.

Staley also discussed the status of the city’s life partnership program, which will stay in place unless and until City Council takes action to change it.

Since 1998, PCHR has administered the program, geared toward same-sex couples wishing to demonstrate their commitment to each other for purposes of securing some of the legal and financial protections married couples enjoy. To date, some 900 couples have registered with the program.

Still, with the advent of marriage equality, the policy is now under review and may be adjusted, Staley said.

There is some relative security that marriage equality is here to stay. The threat of reversal on appeal is largely gone, since Gov. Tom Corbett said he would not pursue the matter further, and marriage equality cases have mostly been found in the affirmative in courts across the United States, said David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University.

There is a chance, though seemingly remote today, that a future U.S. Supreme Court case would reverse the progress underway in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The greater likelihood is that the justices will pass on taking up a definitive case since so many states are moving forward on the issue, Cohen said.

PCHR Deputy Director Reynelle Brown Staley discusses life partnerships during the town hall Q&A.

Despite the romance, marriage is a matter of contracts, so it’s best to go into a situation with eyes wide open and plenty of contingency planning, the panelists agreed. For more details on how much marriage can impact day-to-day dealings, the Mazzoni Center and Dechert LLP also released and distributed How Marriage Counts: 572 Ways Marriage Counts in Pennsylvania.

The upside: a lot of commonly assumed perks of marriage now will be extended to same-sex couples, from legal name changes to making medical decisions for a spouse.

Bottom line: personalized legal help still will go a long way to alleviating headaches down the road. For those with lesser means, the Mazzoni Center and the AIDS Law Project are among the places to get help for free or on a sliding scale, said R. Barrett Marshall of Mazzoni.

Some may need to secure those services sooner than others. While U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III’s ruling opened the door to marriage licenses and recognition of marriages that took place elsewhere, those holding licenses from Montgomery County remain in limbo.

There’s still some wrangling as to whether that paperwork is legally sound, so prior to securing marriage-related benefits such as insurance policies, legal help is highly recommended, said Mary Catherine Roper of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, a lead attorney in Whitewood.

More than 60 people attended the town hall. The ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Mazzoni Center, the Philadelphia Bar Association and PCHR sponsored the event.

Three champions of justice

The Mazzoni Center’s legal services department celebrated its five-year anniversary on Tuesday at the annual Justice in Action. This year, EEOC Commissioner Chai R. Feldblum received the Justice in Action award, provided her insights on LGBT civil rights, and celebrated with a host of supporters — including PCHR’s Rue Landau and Reynelle Brown Staley.

(l-r) PCHR’s Rue Landau, EEOC Commissioner Chai R. Feldblum and PCHR’s Reynelle Brown Staley swap perspectives during the annual Justice in Action Awards. Photo credit: Tara Beth Photography