New Hope council president charged in harassment incident
Adapted from reporting by PGN staff
After a two-week investigation, New Hope Borough Council President D. Joseph Balderston was charged with harassment in relation to a gay man being shoved into the Delaware River Canal from the towpath.
The charge came with a $300 fine or up to 90 days in jail. It’s unclear which sentence Balderston received.
The incident occurred June 12, 1976, and was followed by a July 26 council meeting, which was recorded. The video was provided to the Bucks County district attorney as evidence in the investigation.
District Attorney Kenneth Biehn made a four-page report to the New Hope council. Despite local rumors that the harassment was part of a plan to “clean up” the towpath by harassing gay men who met there, Biehn wrote a single charge was justified. The report said investigators found no “long-term pattern of organized vigilante action against homosexuals by any one group.”
Biehn said investigators found several other gay men who said they were attacked on the towpath, including one from Allentown and one from Reading. But they did not want to press charges.
Balderston said he was on the towpath June 12 to find a stray dog that had bitten him. He said he wanted to avoid a rabies shot.
Gay men’s clinic set to open
Adapted from reporting by Timothy Brady
A venereal-disease clinic for gay men in Philadelphia was announced in August 1976. Called the Magnus Hirschfeld Center in honor of the German sex researcher and early promoter of gay rights, the clinic served patients free of charge.
It was set to open Sept. 11 at the Club Baths of Philadelphia, 120 S. 13th St. The Club Baths, Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Philadelphia Biologics Center collaborated on the project.
PGN publisher Mark Segal tried to arrange the clinic in 1975, but the venture stalled for lack of funding.
The city health department agreed to staff the clinic and provide all materials necessary for STI tests. The clinic provided oral, anal and genital swab tests for syphilis and gonorrhea, as well as blood tests for hepatitis and herpes.
At least one gay doctor would be hired for the clinic, said Robert Levenson of the health department.
People who got tested could remain anonymous. They did not have to provide names, only some preferred identification for their tested samples. It was up to the person being tested to call the clinic for results. If an STI test showed a positive result, the sample owner would be referred to an appropriate doctor or treatment program.