New Attitude

As City Council’s committee on law and government heard witness after witness Wednesday testifying on behalf of a bill to add gender identity to the city’s anti-discrimination laws, Councilman Angel Ortiz mused, “This shows how far we have come in this city. Ten years ago, probably, the cardinal would be here … protesting this legislation.”

That's not to assume the transgender-rights bill had the support of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, a man whose response to the Catholic Church pedophilia scandal was to brag about Philadelphia's longstanding policy of screening out gay candidates from the local seminary. But Ortiz did have a point. After all, Mayor John Street, hardly the darling of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community, sent his Human Relations Commission director Lazar Kleit to testify for the bill. This from a politician who opposed extending domestic-partner benefits to city workers and who's never distanced himself from a 1997 statement that the homosexual "lifestyle [is] not anything I think is appropriate."

According to administration spokesman Frank Keel, the mayor, a devout Seventh-day Adventist who opposes homosexuality on religious grounds, has come to draw a distinction between his religious views and what he sees as good city policy. "Whatever personal beliefs he may have, he understands that in his role as mayor he has to look at the totality of an issue and what's in the best interest of the citizens of this city," says Keel. "The overarching issue here is one of discrimination. Looking at these issues through that prism has opened his eyes."

Early in his administration, Street created an advisory board on LGBT issues. Michael Williams, an African-American Democrat who opposed Street in the 2000 election when he served as chairman of Gays and Lesbians for Sam Katz, now sits on that board. According to Williams, Street has turned over a new leaf. Williams admits that he used to think the mayor was "just a bad man [who] doesn't like gay people" but, in retrospect, admits, "I was wrong. He has shown by his deeds that he is indeed a progressive person."

Councilman Frank DiCicco, who sponsored the measure, says he was pleased but not surprised to get the administration's support. DiCicco says Street was "iffy" on LGBT issues when he was a councilman but now "he's a little less iffy. Now that he's mayor, he has to represent all the people of the city."

Still, for all of Street's progress, Philadelphia lags behind Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown, Erie and even York, which already have anti-discrimination laws protecting transgender individuals on the books.

The bill is scheduled for a vote in full council session this week. DiCicco says he is "confident it will pass unanimously."

Fallen Angel

For years, 19th Ward leader Carlos Matos and state Rep. Angel Cruz have been close. According to the state attorney general, they were even partners in crime -- conspiring to buy the votes that got Cruz elected to the statehouse in 1998. Their trial ended with a hung jury. But now, according to a number of Democratic committee people from the 33rd Ward, including Carol Devine, the relationship appears to be on the rocks. But don’t tell them that.

Matos says, "Me and Angel Cruz have had a failing out? I don't have anything to say [about that]."

Cruz was vacationing in Florida and couldn't be reached for comment, but his chief of staff, Joseph Evangelista, says, "As far as I know there isn't any real break with Matos except that Angel's backing Rendell and Matos is backing Casey."

But the local committee people say there is a split, and it’s not over the governor’s race. Devine and others say that Matos is attempting to unseat Cruz-supported ward leader Donna Aument with racially charged us (Latinos) vs. them (whites) rhetoric. Aument leads the 33rd Ward, a racially mixed neighborhood that includes Kensington and Juniata Park. Though Matos lives in the heavily Hispanic 19th Ward, an individual can represent more than one ward and there are no residency requirement for ward leaders.

Aument calls the political battle alternately a "tragedy," a "disgrace" and a "war."

But Matos denies that he is even running for leader in the nearby 33rd Ward and says it is Aument who is “trying to divide the community” along racial lines.

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