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Stephen Glassman, the longtime head of the state’s Human Relations Commission, is coming to Pittsburgh. And as he heads out the door, his old foes at the American Family Association of Pennsylvania have a final kick in the ass for him.
The AFA is one of those “family values” conservative groups. You know the kind: When some legislator in Oklahoma denounces Pittsburgh as a veritable Sodom-on-the-Mon, the AFA is the first to agree. You might think they’d be ecstatic over the news that Glassman will be heading up the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, where he’ll take over from the departing Ann-Marie Lubenau.
But the AFA is taking this one last chance to urge Corbett to fire him.
Glassman is gay — and in fact proudly claims to be Pennsylvania’s first openly gay state official. The AFA contends that he has been “using the force of law to demand that all Pennsylvanians celebrate the homosexual lifestyle.” That no doubt explains why it’s now mandatory for Pennsylvanians to attend at least one Liza Minelli concert a year.
In any case, the AFA worries that the announcement of Glassman’s new post “offered no indication that he was leaving his position as Chairman of the PHRC.” So they decided to force the issue:
Ever since Governor Rendell ‘promoted’ Glassman from commissioner to the chairman of the Commission he has used that position to push his agenda — but what do you expect when you appoint a homosexual activist? We are asking Governor Corbett to do the right thing for Pennsylvania and choose a Chairman that better reflects the majority of Pennsylvanians.”
I’m not sure why the AFA felt obliged to put “promoted” in quotes … does it not count as a real promotion when gay people are involved or something? But this is one time where the AFA may actually be happy with something reported in City Paper: Glassman is, in fact, leaving his state post.
“What’s so humorous about [the AFA statement] is I’ve already resigned,” Glassman said when I reached him by phone. “I guess they haven’t spotted it. But I’ve submitted my resignation, only because I’ve accepted this very exciting position in Pittsburgh. And in order to take it, I can’t do the job of being chair of the commission.”
Glassman’s resignation is effective June 30, he says — a date he chose to give Corbett time to settle on a replacement.
Glassman looks back with pride on the eight years he spent at the head of the commission. In that time, he says, municipalities all across the state have created their own human-rights ordinances, and empanelled commissions to help enforce those rules. Among other accomplishments, the state commission also helped shepherd through an anti-bullying policy in Philadelphia schools, and played a significant role in the notorious Valley Swim Club case, in which black children were ousted from a private swimming club in suburban Philadelphia.
Rendell, says Glassman, “was so supportive of every initiative I wanted to do — and I did a lot of out-of-the-box things.” And he admits that the move to Pittsburgh was prompted in part by Corbett’s victory in last year’s election. “The change of administration had a great deal to do with my [departure]. I don’t feel I’m going to be supported in the work I was doing there. So maybe it’s time for somebody else to take the reins who is in the same party.”
Glassman says it’s too early to lay out a vision for what he hopes to accomplish at the Design Center, which advocates for and assists good design throughout the built environment. But he’s clearly a big-picture guy.
Glassman is moving into a new loft in East Liberty’s Penn Circle area — “East Liberty is an exciting place to be — I come from not only an architectural background, but also the civil-rights movement. And I didn’t want to be somewhere that was isolated from minority populations.”
I noted that East Liberty’s redevelopment had already raised inevitable concerns about gentrification, and asked whether such issues could be addressed in his new position.
“Just before you called,” he said, “I was on the phone with a city official talking about legislation that would help protect local residents from being priced out of the market.” Such a proposal would work by keeping property taxes stable while a resident remained in the home — and when the property was sold, a portion of the proceeds would revert back to the city, with interest.
“That way, the city isn’t out any money from lost revenue,” Glassman says. “I think there are all kinds of public-policy things you can do to address these problems.”
And who knows? Since he’s techincally retaining his HRC chairmanship for another few weeks, maybe Glassman could make a phone call to another city official, Rev. Ricky Burgess. Who, once again, is a no-show in the official PrideFest magazine. If you take a look on page 7 of the guide to this summer’s gay-pride activities, you’ll see that Pittsburgh City Council members are welcoming the LGBT festivities. With one notable exception.
Yes, Burgess, the city’s District 9 councilor, is missing from the roll call of councilors listed on the ad.
No surprise here: Blogger Sue Kerr pointed out Burgess’ disappearance from the same ad last year, and more recently she’s noted his somewhat equivocal position on a resolution to urge state officials to ban discrimination against LGBT Pennsylvanians. And back in 2008, not only was Burgess the lone opponent of a domestic-partner registry, but he tried to conceal himself in a photo taken of council members with officers from the Delta Foundation, which organizes PrideFest.
I’d take Burgess over the folks at the American Family Association, of course. But even so, looks like Glassman may find one or two familiar things in his new surroundings.
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2011.
Great. Not only have we banned drilling and cracked down on guns, we’re getting gayer. When they find out we’re building a solar and geothermal-powered skyscraper, this present State government will really kick us all over the ball field. I hope it gets better.
I asked Burgess a short while ago why he doesn’t appear in the Pride guide. He answered basically, “Have you LOOKED at that magazine?” He described it as something too much like a celebration of sex, promiscuity and carnality (he’s used to appearing near the FRONT of your altweekly, for example) and that oh by the way, he is a Reverend. He also complained absently that nobody ever asks him these things.
I should point out I had my blogging notebook out, and we were interviewing. This wasn’t water-cooler banter.
“That no doubt explains why it’s now mandatory for Pennsylvanians to attend at least one Liza Minelli concert a year.”
Ugh. The city paper continues do to a pathetic job at being snarky…
“I asked Burgess a short while ago why he doesn’t appear in the Pride guide. He answered basically, ‘Have you LOOKED at that magazine?’ He described it as something too much like a celebration of sex, promiscuity and carnality”
>>> Wow. Assuming this is a faithful account of his views — and you had your blogger notebook out, so I won’t question it — that … is a remarkable assertion.
Look, I don’t think it’s any big secret that Burgess is a minister. And in fact, if I thought his omission was at all unexpected, I’d have reported it out more. (I didn’t even give this a blog post on its own.) Fault me for that if you wish.
But … I HAVE looked at the magazine. In fact, I am going to recount the contents of every single one of its 112 pages below, just so no one else has to.
Is there advertising or content that is racy? Yep. Maybe about a dozen or so of ads are for bars or events that I’m sure the Reverend wouldn’t be caught dead in. (Though even most of these are remarkably restrained. None of them are any more revealing than an Abercrombie & Fitch ad.) No doubt he’d steer clear of events like the drag contests, and the Big Freedia event.
But compare that stuff to the pages and pages of ads taken out by some of the most mainstream employers in our region — banks and insurers and law firms and hospitals. I mean, in THIS roster of advertisers, City Paper itself is probably among the more disreputable sponsors. (Though it’s sort of nice to end up in the back of someone ELSE’s publication for a change.)
Check out the content concerning bullying, gay adoption, the workshops concerned with protecting legal rights for same-sex couples. I just find it real hard to square that stuff with a celebration of promiscuity and carnality.
(One could argue that the guide is whitewashing the bacchanal of Pridefest itself. But apparently the concern is not with the events, but with the message being sent by the publication. )
I mean, they’ve even made a surprising amount of space for churches in this publication. And that’s what seems sad about this to me … it would have required a much smaller part of Burgess’ heart to appear in the guide himself.
It just seems sad.
Cover: Photo of Patti Labelle
Page 2: Ad for the “Dignity and Respect Campaign”
Page 3: Ad for PNC Bank
Page 4: Coors ad, features two same-sex couples
Page 5: Ad for Rivers Casino
Page 6: Letters of greeting from Dan Onorato and Luke Ravenstahl
Page 7: Aforementioned City council ad
Page 8: Table of contents, letter from Gary Van Horn, summing up state of LGBT rights today
Page 9: Ad from Highmark
Page 10: “Thank you” to sponsors
Page 11: Ad by attorney Kathryn G. Schneider
Page 12: Events listings — including a couple drag shows, along with performances by Renaissance city choir, interfaith service, gay picnic, exhibit at Warhol, performance by Big Freedia
Page 13: Ad by Alcoa
Page 14: More events listings — including town hall session on LGBT issues, legal seminar on LGBT rights, movie screening, pub crawl, and what I’m sure are some saucy nighttime events
Page 15: Ad by Omni Hotels
Page 16: More events listings, including Patti Labelle concert, Pride march, book signing, anti-bullying performance art
Page 17: Ad by local radio stations
Page 18: Light-hearted wrap-up of LGBT-related developments in other cities.
Page 19: Club Pittsburgh ad
Page 20: More wrap-up material, ad for Three Rivers Arts Fest
Page 21: Tourism ad for Baltimore, featuring Divine/John Waters tie-in
Page 22: Delta Foundation spot, touting involvement in global equality struggle
Page 23: Ad for 5801 video lounge
Page 24: Piece about same-sex adoption
Page 25: Ad from Coldwell Banker
Page 26: More on same-sex adoption
Page 27: Ad by Shiloh Grille/Harris Grille
Page 28: Write-up about local eateries
Page 29: Ad for gay travel packages
Page 30: More on local eateries, ad for Buchanan Ingersoll
Page 31: Ad by Mac Outfitters
Page 32: Still more on local eateries, Ad for Downtown WIFI
Page 33: Ad for Cirque du Soleil
Page 34: Article about recycling at the festival/green awareness
Page 35: Ad by Square Cafe
Page 36: More about recycling/ad from Southside Works
Page 37: Ad for Pittsburgh Broadway Series
Page 38: Article on gay bullying
Page 39: Ad from Pgh AIDS Task Force
Page 40: More on bullying, ad by East Liberty PResbyterian Church
Page 41: Ad for Cue magazine, a gay publication
Page 42: List of gay social-service groups, ad by The Priory
Page 43: Ad for Barefoot Wine
Page 44: City map, with pride events noted
Page 45: Ad for Downtown gay clubs, promising “shotboys”
Page 46: Write up of Pride Rally
Page 47: Ad for August Wilson Center
Page 48: Preview of “Lez Date” event
Page 49: Preview of upcoming shows at Stage AE
Page 50: Preview of Transpride event
Page 51: Ad by Cattivo, a gay bar
Page 52: Preview of Splash, a gay party being held as part of Pridefest
Page 53: Ad for “Manhunt,” which is apparently some sort of gay-dating website.
Page 54: Map with pubcrawl events labeled on it
Page 55: Ad by Pegasus, There lounge
Page 56 and 57: Preview of Pride in the Street event, with Patti Labelle!
Page 58: Preview of Pride Awareness March
Page 59: Bio of parade grand mashall, ad for renaissance city choirs
Page 60: List of pridefest participants
Page 61: Ad for gay publishing company
Page 62: Profile of Patti Labelle
Page 63: Ad for GLCC, a social-service organization
Page 64: More on Patti Labelle
Page 65: Ad for Pittsburgh Opera
Page 66: Story about UPMC’s inclusivity/ad for Warhol
Page 67: Ad for Edward Jones, a financial firm.
Page 68: Bio of speaker Zach Wallis, who had two mommies
Page 69: Ad for Whirl magazine
Page 70: Ad for Google, more on Zach Wallis
Page 71: Ad for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Page 72: Story on status of gay rights/ad for UPMC
Page 73: More on gay rights/ad for PNC Pops concert series
Page 74; More on gay rights/ad for AIDS task force
Page 75: Ad for Comcast
Page 76: Story on Highmark’s inclusivity
Page 77: Ad for Giant eagle
Page 78: More on Highmark/ ad by humane society
Page 79: Ad by state Sen. Jim Ferlo
Page 80: Story on gay website/ad for Carnegie Museums
Page 81: Ad by Columbia Gas
Page 82: More on gay website/ad for Blue Moon bar
Page 83: Ad by Persad Center, gay social-service organization
Page 84: More on gay website/ad for Alphabet City development
Page 85: Ad for Crazy Mocha
Page 86: Whimsical article about facebook/ad for P-Town bar
Page 87: Ad for local bar
Page 88: Ad for Brewers bar/more on facebook
Page 89: More on facebook/ad for Art Institute
Page 90: Article on drag life/ad for drag club
Page 91: more drag article/saucy ad for gay chat-line
Page 92: Story on social mores at pride fest/ad for Spin Bartini
Page 93: Ad for Trib Total Media, Citizen Police review board
Page 94: More on PRide etiquette, ad for Warhol
Page 95: More on Pridefest etiquette, in-house ad for pridefest event button, ad for Donny’s Place
Page 96: Sue Kerr article about champion leather fetishist/ad for STD testing
Page 97: More Sue Kerr — and ad for City Paper (finally)
Page 98-99: Index of advocacy organizations/CPAs/attorneys/etc./ad for Fuze drink, Stonewall Steel City Dems, Planned Parenthood, and a consulting firm.
Page 100-101: Location index for bars and churches, Eyetiqe, Allegheny General Hospital, Animal Rescue League, local blogger Thomas Waters.
Pages 102-103: More church locations, some advertiser index stuff, ads for Mattress Factory, upcomign Paula Poundstone performance, Gay-Lesbian Film Society, summer camp for queer youth
Pages 104-105: Index to gay-service groups, hotels, health/medical services, ads for Pgh Commission on Human Relations, Riverset Credit Union, a gay networking group, and a Pittsburgh living website.
Pages 106-107: Index of restaurant/bakeries, retailers, travel organizations. Ads for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bistro 19, a lawfirm, a diversity group, and Shepherd Wellness.
Pages 108-109: Ads for the US Steelworkers, Tessaro’s, Big Gay Picnic, ACLU, consulting firm Deloitte.
Page 110: Ads for “Spark” party, Dunkin Donutes, AIDS advocacy, a “drag king” contest
Page 111: Saucy Images ad with “top” and “bottom.”
Page 112: Booze ad.
Bram, defend your boy on this one. You have tried to stick up for him before on these very same issues.
DEFEND HIM NOW. Once again Burgess is the only one out of 9 to not participate in an ad for Pride Week.