News and Opinion Philadelphia Weekly

Savage Love

By Dan Savage — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:00:00 PDT

Twenty-one-year-old female here. When we were both 14, my boyfriend took advantage of me. I wanted to explore my sexuality a little, but things went further than I wanted. One day, we were kissing, with him on top of me. We were both fully clothed, and he started rubbing up against me. I...

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Letters to the Editor

By PW Readers — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:13:28 PDT

Endless Love for Neil In response to Kyle Cassidy’s Q&A with Neil Gaiman, whose “Make Good Art” commencement speech at UArts last year has just been published in hardcover: Excellent interview. Kyle Cassidy’s sincere interest in people comes through in his questions, as...

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Q&A: "Dirty Wars" Author Jeremy Scahill

By Randy LoBasso — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:26:46 PDT

Author Jeremy Scahill, national security correspondent for The Nation magazine, told Philadelphia Weekly that he thinks the Obama administration’s foreign policy is actually worse than that of his predecessor, President George W. Bush. Scahill’s speaking at the Free Library’s...

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Neil Gaiman Talks With Kyle Cassidy About 'Make Good Art'

By Kyle Cassidy — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:27:22 PDT

Last time author Neil Gaiman philosophized in Philadelphia, his wisdom—in the form of the 2012 UArts commencement speech, exhorting grads to craft art from their lives—went viral. A year later, that speech has just been published in hardcover as the year’s most anticipated new...

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Savage Love

By Dan Savage — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:00:00 PDT

I have a mentally disabled cousin who I haven’t figured out how to help. He’s lived for more than 40 years in the same nursing home in a small, conservative town. His mental age is about 8, and he has some physical problems. He is now in his late 60s. He has always enjoyed dressing up...

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Letters to the Editor

By PW Readers — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:05:06 PDT

Change Makers In response to Tara Murtha’s article about the Dyketactics, a group of lesbian activists whose 1975 City Hall protest set the stage for gay-rights progress in Philly: Often, roots of movements are overshadowed by current events. Kudos to those assertive and brave activists back...

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Motherhood, Interrupted: How a 1960s Debutante Lost Her Daughter for 44 Years

By Julie Mannix von Zerneck and Kathy Hatfield — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:57:24 PDT

Before Julie Mannix von Zerneck grew up and became a TV actress, she was a scared, pregnant Bryn Mawr teenager whose parents had her institutionalized till the baby could go away. Four decades later, that baby, Kathy Hatfield, would finally find her. Now the two women have co-written Secret Storms,...

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Savage Love

By Dan Savage — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:00:00 PDT

I’m a 24-year-old straight, married female. I have been religiously reading your column since I was 16. Thank you for helping me clear the hurdles of adolescence! I turn to you now for advice. Five months ago, I married the man of my dreams. He was driven, hardworking,...

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Letters to the Editor

By PW Readers — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:14:16 PDT

History in the Making In response to Tara Murtha’s article about the Dyketactics, a group of lesbian activists whose 1975 City Hall protest set the stage for gay-rights progress in Philly: Thank you, Tara. As a member of the Hera Collective and Dyketactics by close association, I am proud...

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Savage Love

By Dan Savage — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:00:00 PDT

I am a 23-year-old straight male. My ex-girlfriend and I started dating in high school and continued dating until I broke up with her the summer after our freshman year in college because things felt too serious. We continued to have sex, but I blocked out all my feelings for her while she was open...

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Equality Forum: Q&A With Openly Gay Rabbi Denise Eger

By Randy LoBasso — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:08:44 PDT

The United States’ Jewish community is well-known as one of the most progressive in the world. But that Leviticus quote anti-gay activists like to throw around: It’s totally from the Old Testament. With that in mind, we got in touch with Rabbi Denise Eger, an openly gay Jewish leader...

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Steve Berman's Lethe Press Connects Queer Adolescence with Science Fiction

By Bill Chenevert — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:00:18 PDT

Steve Berman knew, like many of us do, that he was different from other boys way before he was willing to admit it to the world, especially when “the world” meant the other kids at his high school. Not only was he gay, his gayness came inextricably with passionate geekdom: a love of...

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The Lesbian Activists Who Set the Stage for Gay-Rights Progress in Philly

By Tara Murtha — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:50:17 PDT

In City Council chambers, four stories high inside City Hall, the atmosphere was jubilant as several dozen advocates, activists and citizens heard testimony for Councilman James Kenney’s historic LGBT equality bill. Kenney beamed proudly as Philadelphia, long regarded as one of the...

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Equality Forum: 10 Can't-Miss Events

By Michael Brady — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:43:25 PDT

14th Annual Gay and Lesbian Art Exhibit Vuth Lyno, this year’s featured artist, is a force gaining momentum out of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is one of the founding six members of Stiev Selapak, (Art Rebels) a supportive art collective formed in 2007, which has opened the Sa Sa Art Projects, a...

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Equality Forum: Q&A With the Very Rev. Gary Hall, Dean of the National Cathedral

By Randy LoBasso — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:33:24 PDT

Equality Forum is the world’s largest annual LGBT civil rights summit, featuring discussions on topics ranging from politics to art and from youth culture to business. This year, its religious colloquy brings together several of the nation’s leading clergy to talk about same-sex...

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Letters to the Editor

By PW Readers — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:48:00 PDT

The Iron Lady In response to Randy LoBasso’s blog about state Rep. Brendan Boyle voting against the Pennsylvania legislature’s move to honor the late Margaret Thatcher: Why are Pennsylvania legislators even wasting time and taxpayer money debating such a ridiculous resolution...

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The Gosnell Case Shows Abortion Isn't a Red or Blue Issue—It's Pink

By Tara Murtha — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:33:25 PDT

While reproductive healthcare is embraced as a religious issue on the right and ignored by too many men on the left, actual women—particularly poor ones—get hurt in the shuffle. The story of Kermit Gosnell has been unfolding in Philadelphia since 2010—yet some national writers who missed...

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Savage Love

By Dan Savage — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:00:00 PDT

DEAR READERS: Last week was made of problems. The bombing of the Boston Marathon, the explosion that leveled a small town in Texas, the rising tide of antigay violence in France, the North Koreans being North Korean. And when I sat down to write this week’s column—while the manhunt was...

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Letters to the Editor

By PW Readers — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:57:19 PDT

Worried Sick In response to Randy LoBasso’s blog about City Council’s failure to overturn Mayor Nutter’s veto of the sick-leave bill: Do Mayor Nutter and Council think that every piece of food they eat is given to them by healthy people? If those restaurant workers can’t get...

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Savage Love

By Dan Savage — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:00:00 PDT

I am uncircumcised, and the opening at the end of my foreskin is not large enough for the head of my penis to pass through. This means my foreskin doesn’t pull back when I get an erection. The Internet says this is a condition called “phimosis,” and a lot of medical websites...

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