Summit for LGBT rights
The LGBT and ally community is invited to the first-ever Pennsylvania Equality Summit next weekend in State College to discuss strategies for expanding LGBT rights in the state.
The daylong event, held from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, 780 Waupenlani Drive Extension, is organized by the Value All Families Coalition, Equality Advocates Pennsylvania and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.
The summit will provide training to guide activists through the lobbying process and enhance their knowledge of specific issues affecting the state’s LGBT communities. The event will also feature regional working groups, which will allow activists who live in common areas to gather for planning sessions, as well as the screening of “Out in the Silence,” with a question-and-answer session with filmmaker Joe Wilson.
Lunch will be provided.
Attendance is free, but participants must RSVP at paequalitysummit.eventbrite.com.
Transgender woman files complaint
A transgender bicyclist filed a complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations last month, charging that a Philadelphia police officer discriminated against her.
Dawn Dalpe Cypress was riding her bicycle down Delaware Avenue around 6:30 p.m. Aug. 29 as part of a Critical Mass demonstration, a monthly ride that is meant to draw attention to the need for motorists to respect the rights of cyclists.
Cypress said she was called out of the ride by an officer who drove up in his patrol car behind her and asked to speak with her, saying she was obstructing traffic, although Cypress noted that it was difficult to stay in the bike lane within the large crowd of riders.
“He got out and came up to me and said, ‘Are you on drugs?’ and I told him no, and then he told me to get up against the car,” Cypress said.
Cypress said she told the officer that she identifies as a woman and requested a female officer’s assistance, which the officer denied. Cypress added she reached for her wallet to prove to the officer that she was legally a woman, but the officer “choked me and brought me around and put me on the hood of the car.”
Cypress said the officer “slammed my bike onto the ground,” handcuffed her and asked if she was “post-op or pre-op,” saying that “I don’t look like a female.” Cypress, a swimmer, said she was dressed like an athletic woman.
The officer did not arrest Cypress, but she said she felt obligated to follow through with the complaint to stem the tide of aggression toward transgender individuals at the hands of police.
“I want to see this stopped,” she said. “That officer disrespected my rights as a female and as a trans woman. It’s absolutely devastating to have to live through something like this, especially when I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
COLOURS talks relationships
The COLOURS Organization’s monthly community forum will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 28 and will focus on the relationships within the LGBT people-of-color community.
The “Beyond the Bedroom” town-hall-style meeting will feature speakers who will address how community members can maintain healthy relationships.
The event will be held at COLOURS, 112 N. Broad St., in the first-floor conference room.
For more information, call Lawrence Frazier at (215) 496-0330.
Mix and mingle with other professionals
The Greater Philadelphia Professional Network will host a mixer for LGBT professionals from 6-8:30 p.m. Sept. 28 at The Vault, in the lower level of Del Frisco’s, 1426 Chestnut St.
There is a $5 cover charge, and guests can enjoy drink specials, appetizers, a cash bar and door prizes. Representatives of Equality Forum and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association will be on hand for a preview of LGBT History Month events.
Members of the Independence Business Alliance receive free admission to the mixer.
For more information or to RSVP, visit www.gppn.org.
— Jen Colletta