Giovanni’s Room vandalized
Two basement windows on the Pine Street side of LGBT bookstore Giovanni’s Room were smashed this week.
Employees at the store discovered the broken windows at about 11 a.m. Tuesday. Store owner Ed Hermance said he left the shop at 9 p.m. Monday and didn’t notice the windows, but said it was possible it could’ve happened before Monday night.
“I don’t know of any circumstances of how or why it happened, but it looked like they were kicked in pretty badly,” he said.
The glass was shattered and the wire embedded into the windows — installed after a similar incident more than 10 years ago — was torn away.
Hermance said it did not appear anyone had gained access to the store, as there were items piled against the windows that were undisturbed, and nothing in the building was missing.
He filed a police report Tuesday afternoon.
Acrobatic gay-porn twin sentenced
Taleon Goffney, half of the infamous twin brothers who’ve appeared in online gay porn and who were arrested for burglary last year, was sentenced to three years in prison this week in a New Jersey court.
Goffney came before a Camden County judge Monday and pleaded guilty to burglary and resisting arrest charges stemming from two separate incidents in New Jersey. In 2006, police arrested him in Clementon on drug charges, but he smashed open the police-car window with his head and swam, handcuffed, across a pond away from police. In January 2007, he broke through the roof of a Pennsauken liquor store, and when police spotted him, he jumped 30 feet from the roof and then dove into and swam across the Cooper River, but was apprehended on the other side.
As part of his plea deal, Goffney must pay $1,400 for damages to the police cruiser and $10,800 to the liquor store.
Goffney, along with his twin Keyontyli and his mother, was arrested in February 2008 in Philadelphia after breaking in through the roof of a South Philly beauty shop. A Philadelphia judge sentenced him to three to eight years in prison last summer for charges related to that arrest. Keyontyli, who served as a witness, pleaded guilty in September and was sentenced to two days in prison, which he already served.
The Camden County judge gave Goffney credit for the more than 600 days he’s already served. Goffney’s attorney, Jeffrey Zucker, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his client is likely to not serve any of the New Jersey sentence once he is released from prison in Pennsylvania, as he would be eligible for parole in New Jersey after 11 months served.
Discussion on black men’s health
The Smoke, Lilies and Jade Arts Initiative, a local social-change dance troupe, in conjunction with the University of the Arts will present Dance & Discussion 2010: Black Men’s Health Part II: Let’s Focus on the Youth!
The event, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 9, will feature dance performances that illustrate the struggles youth of color face and which SLJ founder Zane Booker says will “stir a person’s emotional connection to the issues.”
The performances will be followed by a panel discussion with HIV counselor Troy Love, WDAS-FM radio personality Tiffany Bacon, The Attic Youth Center’s Jay Grant and art therapist Terrence Gore, who will join facilitator Tony Daniels to talk about the progression of the youth of color community.
For more information, visit www.liliesandjade.org.
Call for Lax applicants
Grantmaking organization Bread and Roses Community Fund is calling for applicants for the agency’s 2010 Jonathan Lax Scholarship.
The scholarship program, which provides up to $20,000 to gay men who are from or attending schools within the five-county Philadelphia region, honors the late local HIV/AIDS and LGBT activist.
Applications are due by Jan. 15. For more information or to apply for the scholarship, visit www.breadrosesfund.org.
Point launches 2009-10 scholarships
The nation’s largest LGBT scholarship organization has opened up the application process for next year’s grant opportunities.
The Point Foundation offers several multi-year scholarships that average between $25,000-$33,000 annually for each recipient. New to this year’s slate of offerings is the Rand Skolnick Point Scholarship, created in honor of a New Hope businessman and philanthropist who died last summer.
For all of its scholarships, Point considers academic excellence, leadership skills, community involvement and financial need, with particular attention given to those students who’ve lost financial or social support because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
For more information or to access an application, visit www.pointfoundation.org.
Stimulus party raises funds for MANNA
Local LGBT party Stimulus is getting in the holiday spirit this month.
Ten percent of all proceeds from the Dec. 18 Winter Stimulus will be donated to the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutritional Alliance, which provides nutritional meals to those with life-threatening illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS.
The party will kick off at 10 p.m. at The Loft above Marathon Grill, 929 Walnut St., with DJs Glitz and Sparkles spinning hip-hop, Top 40, bhangara and dance hits.
Filmmmaker Kelly Burkhardt will be at the event to shoot a commercial for Stimulus that will be distributed online.
There is a $5 cover charge for the party.
For more information, visit the Stimulus Philly Facebook page. — Jen Colletta