Brian Sims Touts Bipartisanship in Anti-Bullying Bill: “No Longer a Wedge Issue”
Rep. Sims speaks in favor of the PASS Act Last week, it was reported that state Rep. Brian Sims (D-Philadelphia), the first openly-gay-elected member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, had been urging his fellow House members to support House Bill 156, anti-bullying legislation known as the Pennsylvania Safe Schools (PASS) Act. “As many of you can...
Continue ReadingWith Paid Sick Leave on Tap in Council, Restaurant Workers Get Free Flu Shots at Jefferson
Calvin Okunoye has worked in the restaurant industry for the last 12 years and says he’s had every sort of job in the business he can think of. Most recently, after studying classical French culinary arts, he’s worked as a sous chef, executive chef and pastry chef. About a year ago, he got sick with a stomach virus just as he was beginning a new job. He was...
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Q&A: Michael Shelton’s ‘Family Pride,’ a New Book on LGBT Families
With today’s re-inauguration of the first president ever to endorse gay marriage, the cultural winds seem unmistakeable: America will continue along the path toward full equal rights for LGBT citizens. With that in mind, Michael Shelton, director of sexual minority treatment services at Equilibria Psychological Consultants in Philadelphia, wrote the new...
Continue ReadingMummers Are Willing to Talk Rationally About Blackface, So We Should Too
You know it’s going to be a good year when, on Jan. 2, you wake up the subject of a Stu Bykofsky column. Byko’s beef was my Storify post on New Year’s Day rounding up Twitter reaction to three skits in Philadelphia’s annual Mummers Parade that offended a number of people. To quickly recap: One of those performances, with a Rastafarian theme, featured...
Continue ReadingConservative Congressman Calls Republicans ‘Disgraceful’ Over Sandy Relief
Victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere were set to get some relief as the 112th Congress ended its own path of destruction Monday night, in the form of a $60.4 billion aid package for the victims. But after taking their sweet time carving out a deal on the fiscal cliff earlier this week, Republican leaders in the U.S. House adjourned...
Continue Reading2013: It’s Time To Talk About Mummers in Blackface
From the outside looking in, you’d think every Philadelphian was a proud supporter of the glittered and feathered pageant known as the New Year’s Day Mummer’s Parade. But you’d be wrong. Mummers in blackface has a complicated history in a racially complicated city within a racially complicated country. That said, today’s parade...
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Condoms in Philly Schools—What Took So Long?
When students at 22 Philadelphia high schools return to class after winter break, they’ll find something that will likely make former presidential candidate Rick Santorum shed a single tear, or at least write a World Net Daily column: Free condom dispensers inside the nurse’s office. “The reality is: Many of our teenagers, regardless of what adults think,...
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State Sen. Larry Farnese to Introduce Assault Weapon Ban
Image: State Sen. Larry Farnese State Sen. Larry Farnese (D-Philadelphia) recently announced that he’ll be introducing an assault weapons ban during the upcoming legislative session that will begin in January. “Last week’s massacre, and the similarly horrible tragedies that have occurred over the last few years, have been happening more and more frequently...
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Now Sen. Casey Will Support Tougher Gun Laws
In Pennsylvania, if you want to come off as “moderate,” and you’re a Democrat, you’ve got to know where to draw the line. For Sen. Bob Casey, his chalk has sketched out two such boundaries: abortion and guns. Ever since his 2006 campaign, the just-reelected U.S. senator has taken the conservative position on both. He even campaigned in 2012 on his “record...
Continue ReadingFood Stamp Challenge, Day 7: On End Times
Hunger and stress don’t mix too well. The last three days have evidenced that. I spent Friday night packing my belongings in cardboard boxes and Rubbermade totes after a long week of eating on $5 per day, as per my food stamp challenge, to get ready for a Saturday/Sunday move of residency. I stayed in on Friday night, ate pasta with butter, got sort of full,...
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