ICandy clarifies dress code
Timberland boots are “absolutely permitted” at ICandy, general manager Jeff Sheehan told PGN.
He said a miscommunication between management and a member of the door staff led some patrons to believe the boots were against the nightclub’s dress code. The staff has been informed that the boots are allowed, Sheehan said.
“As we enter our busy spring and summer season, we’re re-emphasizing the existing dress code,” he wrote in an email to PGN. “… No changes to the substance of the original dress code have been made.”
Sheehan noted the dress code is clean, neat and casual. Prohibitions include no sweatpants after dark, no dirty or worn work boots and no “wife beater”-style tank tops.
“There are no brand-specific bans at all,” Sheehan wrote, noting Timberland boots are allowed as long as they are clean and neat.
Mr. Drag King slated for next weekend
Five first-time drag kings will perform for the title of Mr. Philadelphia Drag King at the 21st-annual competition May 7. The show starts at 7 p.m. at William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St.
The winner gets $200 and performs on a float at the Pride parade in June.
“This year we really wanted to focus on making sure it’s an amateur competition to take it back to the roots of the Dyke March,” said Tiffany Thompson, planning committee co-chair.
The competition is the biggest fundraiser for the Philadelphia Dyke March, an annual collection of queer women from the region. This year’s event takes place at 3 p.m. June 11 at Kahn Park, 11th and Pine streets.
Tickets for the drag show cost $20 for VIP reserved seats or $10 for general admission in advance. They are $15 at the door. The money supports the fees associated with renting Kahn Park. It also helps cover the cost of audio-visual equipment and the stage at the march.
Competitors in Mr. Philadelphia Drag King perform in three categories: the introduction of their personas, lip-synching a song and formal wear with a question-and-answer session.
“It really brings out the genderqueer and dyke communities to have an event that’s by and for them,” Thompson said.
Between each contender’s performance, previous winners of Mr. Philadelphia Drag King will take the stage, including Rough RydeHer, Rasta Boi Punany, Manny Tucker Lovett and Jimmy Two Fingas.
For tickets, visit bit.ly/mrpdk21.
Lesbian’s case against Cosby to move forward
The Pennsylvania Superior Court denied the appeals of comedy icon Bill Cosby April 25, allowing the case against him, stemming from allegations of sexual assault of a lesbian, to proceed.
“We did not believe that the defense had a right to appeal at this stage and we are gratified that the court came to the same conclusion,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said in a statement. “We can now hold a preliminary hearing.”
The preliminary hearing, set for May 24, will determine if there is enough evidence to take the case to trial.
Cosby was scheduled to appear in court March 8, but the proceeding was delayed while his defense filed appeals after a two-day special hearing in February led a judge to rule that an oral agreement from 2005 not to prosecute Cosby did not hold up.
Cosby, 78, is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a lesbian former employee of Temple University, at his Cheltenham Township home in 2004.
Steele charged Cosby in December, just days before the 12-year statute of limitations on the incident was set to expire. He based his decision in part on Cosby’s deposition from Constand’s civil case against the comedian. The deposition was unsealed over the summer.
Cosby is free after posting 10 percent of his $1 million bail. Constand now lives in Toronto, Canada, near where she grew up.
— Paige Cooperstein
Court date set in sex case
Charles L. Cohen, a Center City musician charged with multiple sex offenses, is scheduled for a June court appearance.
Cohen was arrested Sept. 28 after traveling to a shopping complex in Upper Providence Township, where he allegedly intended to meet a 14-year-old boy for oral sex. Upon his arrival, Cohen was arrested by law-enforcement authorities engaged in a sting operation.
Cohen, 70, is charged with unlawful contact with a minor, criminal attempt of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and criminal use of a communication facility. He posted $100,000 cash bail on Oct. 28, and he’s been free since then.
Cohen is scheduled to appear before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Gail A. Weilheimer at 9 a.m. June 15 in Courtroom 3 of the Montgomery County Court House in Norristown.
“[Cohen] has the option of pleading guilty that day or having it scheduled for trial,” said prosecutor Sophia G. Polites.
Scott A. Harper, an attorney for Cohen, blasted his client’s arrest and prosecution.
“It’s terrible that the police had to entrap my client and take advantage of a weak senior citizen that was having issues with his Parkinson’s medications,” Harper told PGN. “There are many ways to con seniors by using the Internet to lure them into a trap and the police managed to do just that. They are the ones that should be ashamed of their conduct. Tricking and conning seniors inflicted with the complications of Parkinson’s Disease and the medications that go along with it is despicable and shocks the conscious of a reasonable and rational observer.”
Gay inmate claims retaliation
Kenneth J. Houck Jr., an openly gay federal inmate, says prison officials are retaliating against him for filing a personal-injury lawsuit by placing him in solitary confinement.
In 2011, Houck’s leg was fractured in multiple places due to an assault by other inmates at the federal center in Philadelphia. He’s seeking $1.8 million in damages.
In a recent letter, Houck said he’s in solitary confinement at the federal prison in Marion, Ill., which limits his access to the facility’s law library. As a result, he’s having difficulty litigating his case.
A prison spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
As of presstime, Houck’s lawsuit remained pending with U.S Magistrate Judge Kathleen M. Tafoya.
In 2011, Houck, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of transporting child pornography. His scheduled release date is June 11, 2018.
Alleged killer of trans woman awaits competency evaluation
Charles N. Sargent continues to await a mental-competency evaluation prior to standing trial for the brutal murder of local transgender woman Diamond Williams.
Sargent allegedly stabbed to death Williams in July 2013, after a sexual encounter in Sargent’s Strawberry Mansion home. Then, Sargent allegedly dismembered Williams’ body with an ax and deposited her body parts in a nearby vacant lot.
According to court records, Sargent retains permission to serve as his own attorney, pending the outcome of a competency evaluation. His multiple requests to be released from jail remain pending.
The next hearing for Sargent is scheduled for 10 a.m. May 19 in Courtroom 807 of the Criminal Justice Center, 1315 Filbert St.
Sargent, 46, remains incarcerated at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Northeast Philadelphia.
— Timothy Cwiek