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Friday, March 09, 2012

Blade's Kameny Lawsuit Story Omission:
Paper's Lawyer Reps Plaintiff

(Icon Dr. Franklin E. Kameny. Credit: Washingtonian, Simon Bruty.)

[UPDATE: The Blade has posted the following to its story: Editor’s note: The law firm Ackerman Brown PLCC, of which Glen Ackerman is managing partner, represents the Washington Blade.]

What a disappointment it is to read in the Washington Blade today that my late friend Frank Kameny's heir has filed suit against several of the gay pioneers friends, over his estate. Lou Chibarro writes:

The man named by the late gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny as the main beneficiary of his estate has filed separate lawsuits against four of Kameny’s longtime friends and fellow activists, charging that they “wrongfully” removed property from Kameny’s house shortly after his death last October.

The lawsuits, which were filed in D.C. Superior Court on March 3 and March 5, came days after one of the men now named as a defendant, Bob Witeck, announced that a March 3 ceremony for the interment of Kameny’s ashes at Congressional Cemetery had been postponed in “deference” to Kameny’s estate.

“Timothy Lamont Clark, the Personal Representative of the Estate of Dr. Franklin E. Kameny, filed Complaints for Writ of Replevin against Dr. Marvin Carter, Charles Francis, Richard Rosendall, and Robert ‘Bob’ Witeck in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia Civil Division,” says a statement released by attorney Glen Ackerman, who is representing Clark and the Kameny estate.

Since I'd never heard of this lawyer Glen Ackerman and wondered if he had a track-record in other community matters, I Googled him, to discover he's legal counsel for the Blade, a fact omitted by Chibarro and the paper. What's up with that?

Check out this story from Metro Weekly by Will O'Bryan that ran on February 16:

A longtime fixture of the local LGBT community, photographer Patsy Lynch reports that she found resolution Tuesday evening in a deal with the Washington Blade, following a months-long impasse regarding a photo Lynch shot decades ago . . .

Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 14, Glen H. Ackerman, managing partner of Ackerman Brown PLLC, who represents the Blade's parent company, Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia Inc., released a statement from both parties that they ''have authorized me to report that they have resolved their dispute to their mutual satisfaction. … Brown Naff Pitts respects the rights of artists including, but not limited to, photojournalists like Ms. Lynch.''

Hey, Lou, please amend the online version of your report this morning to include the fact that the plaintiff's lawyer also represents the Blade, and mention that fact in future coverage of this story.

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