COMMUNITY
1 Wedding, 2 Gay City Alum Sightings
Phil Velez places a ring on the fi nger of his new husband Joe Craven on September 26, as City Councilmember
Jimmy Van Bramer, their offi ciant, looked on.
On a still-summerish Saturday, September
26, Phil Velez and Joe Craven, who met
fi ve years ago at the Nowhere Bar on East
14th Street, took to the rooftop terrace
of their Manhattan apartment building to
exchange wedding vows. Velez’s wedding
caught our attention not only because he is
a longtime LGBTQ activist and former chair
of Latino Gay Men of New York — and a
terrifi cally nice guy — but also because
two decades ago he was a contributor to
Lesbian and Gay New York (LGNY), the
predecessor title to Gay City News.
It also happens that the offi ciant at the
COURTESY OF JIMMY VAN BRAMER
wedding was Queens City Councilmember
Jimmy Van Bramer, also a contributor to
LGNY during that same era.
In fact, Velez and Van Bramer have been
fast friends ever since meeting at an LGNY
holiday party back in a day when Donald
Trump was still scrambling to work his way
out of one casino bankruptcy or another.
As for the day’s other groom — Craven
— he works as a hardwood fl ooring
purchasing agent. He never wrote for LGNY
or Gay City News, but we are working hard
to win him over, at least, as a reader! —
Paul Schindler
➤ ROCKAWAY MURDER, from p.13
perceptions sparked this deadly
attack,” Katz said in a written statement.
“Violence is never an acceptable
option, but violence spurred
by hate and prejudice is uniquely
abhorrent and will always be prosecuted
by this offi ce to the fullest
extent of the law.”
Williams was charged with two
counts of second-degree murder
— including one as a hate crime —
as well as criminal possession of
a weapon in the third and fourth
degrees and tampering with evidence.
The tampering charge came
after Williams allegedly concealed
his knife and shirt after the attack.
The Daily News reported that
Williams told detectives he tossed
the knife across a fence into a construction
site.
The tragic incident unfolded
when Berkley was in Far Rockaway
to help take care of his cousin’s
sick mother.
“Massiah was a sweetheart,”
Berkley’s mother, Kim Berkley, said
in a written statement provided by
AVP. “He helped everybody. That’s
why he was in Far Rockaway, so he
could help his cousin take care
of her mother, because her mother
was in a nursing home. That’s what
he did, he helped everybody. But
nobody was there to help him.”
Berkley was remembered as a
mural artist, and one mural he
helped create remains on display
on the wall of a vacant building located
at the corner of Pitkin Avenue
and Strauss Street in Brownsville,
Brooklyn. Berkley is listed online
as a participant on that project,
which was led by Groundswell,
an NYC-based organization that
unites artists, youth, and community
organizations to create art for
social change.
Mayor Bill de Blasio reacted to
the news on Twitter after the indictment
was announced.
“This horrifi c crime deserves
severe justice,” de Blasio wrote. “I
commend @QueensDAKatz and
her team for calling this what it
is, and sending the clear message
that hate has no home in our city.”
Williams appeared before
Queens Supreme Court Justice
Richard Buchter on September 29.
He faces up to 25 years to life in
prison if convicted of the charges.
GET THE MEDICAL CARE
YOU NEED.
“
Now is the time for you and your family to get
the medical care you need and may have put
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Commissioner
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
—
GayCityNews.com | October 8 - October 22, 2020 23
/GayCityNews.com
