➤ GMAD WOES, from p.29
that the contract had ended at the
start of June. The agency laid off
six people at the close of that contract
and now has a staff of fi ve.
Taylor-Akutagawa said that
GMAD is four months behind on
its rent. During an interview in
GMAD’s offi ces, the agency’s chief
fi nancial offi cer said that the audit
of the 2018 books was not yet complete
so he could not say if GMAD
has other outstanding debts. Gay
City News found a single 2018 lien
fi led in Brooklyn court against
GMAD by an alarm company, but
Taylor-Akutagawa said that unpaid
bill resulted from a dispute over the
quality of the work. That lien was
for just over $9,600.
GMAD has struggled with funding
since 2010. Roughly 88 percent
of its $1.3 million in revenue that
year was from government sources.
It lost an HIV testing contract with
the city health department in 2011
because it was not testing enough
people and other contracts were cut.
Its revenue fell signifi cantly over
time. GMAD’s Form 990 for 2016,
the latest year available, shows that
its revenues went from $902,000 in
2012 to $419,000 in 2016. It ended
2016 with a $220,000 defi cit.
While other agencies serve African
American gay and bisexual
men, GMAD is the only agency
with that singular focus though
other activists, notably Gary English,
who once headed People of
Color in Crisis, have been trying to
rebuild infrastructure to serve that
demographic.
That capability is important because
the Plan to End AIDS, which
uses PrEP and treatment as prevention
among other interventions,
aims to reduce new HIV infections
in New York to 750 annually by
2020. Since most of the new HIV
infections in New York occur in New
York City, the city has pledged to reduce
new HIV infections in the fi ve
boroughs to 600 annually. While
new HIV infections among many
demographics, including white gay
men, have been cut substantially,
the rates among African-American
and Latino gay and bisexual men
remain stubbornly high. Neither
the city nor the state will reach
their goals if new HIV infections in
those two groups are not reduced.
➤ ABEL CEDENO TRIAL, from p.39
his friend McCree said, “I threw it
but I didn’t mean to hit you.” He
said that Cedeno said, “Get up! I
want to fi ght!” Cedeno has said in
interviews that McCree said, “I did
it. What’s up?,” that last phrase
code for wanting to fi ght.
LaBoy said he grabbed McCree’s
arm, “but he pushed off me.” After
McCree came from the back of
the room to confront Cedeno, he
saw McCree “holding his chest.”
LaBoy said he did not see a knife
in Cedeno’s hand or McCree’s. The
video shows LaBoy charging and
punching Cedeno as well before
getting stabbed himself.
Feldman in cross-examination
embarked on an attempt to establish
LaBoy’s gang connections,
drug use, and poor school record
— all questions that were objected
to by the prosecution and
sustained by Gross who — when
LaBoy was out of the courtroom —
severely admonished Feldman for
the aggressiveness and “harassing”
tone of his questions to the 18-
year old victim. The judge termed
the question “inappropriate” and
“not an effective technique in order
to develop evidence,” noting it especially
wasn’t going to work with
him in this bench trial where he is
the sole arbiter of the facts. Gross
will decide whether Cedeno, who
faces up to 25 years on each count
of manslaughter and assault, is
guilty or not. It was a low point for
the defense.
Subsequently, Lynn took over
cross-examination.
Gross on July 1 barred the defense
and prosecution from discussing
the case with the press.
Defense had been holding regular
press briefi ngs. While the prosecutors
never speak with the press,
they regularly consult with Rubenstein
who represents McCree’s
mother in a civil suit and holds
press conferences several times
a day on the case. On July 2, out
gay attorney Tom Shanahan, who
represents Cedeno and his family
in a suit against the city, began attending
the trial and offering comments
to the press corps.
Rubenstein said that the defense
of “justifi cation,” or self-defense,
cannot be used in a case where
non-lethal violence is met with lethal
violence or retaliation.
But Shanahan said, “Abel was
not the aggressor, Matthew and
Ariane were. Abel will testify about
their propensity for violence” and
how that could lead “a reasonable
person” to defend him or herself
with a knife.
Both Shanahan and Rubenstein
agree that the fact that this all
happened in a school is “unacceptable”
from the inability to maintain
order to the lack of enforcement of
the anti-bullying regulations and
the lack of metal detectors (something
most students object to as
treating them all like criminals).
Rubenstein brought representatives
from Black Lives Matter to
argue for metal detectors and “restorative
justice” and “empathy”
programs. Shanahan said he was
for all those things, but “you can’t
teach empathy to a gang member.”
Late last week, Dr. Eric Goldsmith,
a psychiatrist who evaluated
Cedeno for the defense, testifi ed
that “at the time of the incident,
Abel was in a highly traumatized
state” and dealing with a “fi ght or
fl ight” syndrome governed by hormones
leading to involuntary actions.
As Feldman said, “If he didn’t
fi ght, he might have been killed.”
More prosecution witnesses
were slated for July 3. The defense
says that Cedeno will be the last
witness in the trial.
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