Sue

Sue is the founder of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents blog, established in 2005.. She has an MSW from the University in Pittsburgh and a BA in Political Science from Marymount University. Her undergraduate claim to fame is a six month stint as an intern with then Congressman Rick Santorum in 1991. Born and raised in West Mifflin, Sue attended college in Washington DC, then graduate school in Louisiana and ended up in Kentucky doing social service ministry. She returned to Pittsburgh in 1997. She now lives on Pittsburgh’s Northside with her wife, Laura. She was among the first out LGBTQ people named to Pittsburgh’s 40 Under 40 in 2004 and is a graduate of Leadership Development Initiative Class VII. After being fully and permanently disabled in 2010, Sue has continued to serve the community. She founded the Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project to address hunger and environmental issues. In 2015, she launched the #AMPLIFY LGBTQ archive in conjunction with a two-year artist in residence stint with Most Wanted Fine Art. Sue and her wife have fostered over 25 kittens through Pittsburgh CAT and Homeless Cat Management Team, and now manage multiple community cat colonies in their neighborhood. In 2020, Sue cofounded the Pittsburgh MasQUe ProjecT to support the queer and trans community during the pandemic, distributing tens of thousands of face masks and other supplies throughout the region. In 2021, Sue created the #PghCatFolx projects to support neighbors working with community cats. Under that heading came the Dr. John P. Ruffing DVM Pet Food Projects, memorializing one of her very best friends who died in 2007. In 2021, Sue worked with community leaders to develop and establish a 501c3 nonprofit organization, Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities (PLC) where she currently serves as Board President. PLC absorbed the #PghCatFolx projects. Also in 2021, Sue was the first person in history appointed to the City of Pittsburgh LGBTQIA+ Commission and was unanimously elected as one of three inaugural co-chairs. Her blogging has garnered numerous awards Favorite GLBT Media Publication - 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 (Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter Reader’s Poll) Favorite GLBT Social Media - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 (Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter Reader’s Poll) Best Local Blogger - 2016, 2019 (Pittsburgh City Paper Reader’s Poll) LGBTQIA Pittsburgh’s Best Blogger - 2020 (SisTersPgh, People’s Pride of Pittsburgh) Outstanding Blog - 2019, 2022 (GLAAD Media Awards) Sue has also personally been honored Person of the Year - The Advocate Magazine, 2022 15 Lesbian Icons - LGBTQ Nation, 2023 LGBTQIA Pittsburgh’s Best Lesbian Activist - SisTersPgh, People’s Pride of Pittsburgh 2022 Sue believes in identifying and filling gaps in supports & services rather than recreating the wheel. She uses both her undergraduate and graduate degrees on a regular basis as a blogger and activist and regularly circulates her 1991 internship photo just to shake things up on her social media feeds. Her own experiences with cPTSD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and other health challenges have fueled her health blogging and activism. She also writes extensively about her family history, drawing on her amateur genealogy hobby. The blog regularly reviews arts and cultural events as well as exploring restaurants, soap opera storylines, and hyper-local news. Sue and her wife Laura have been together since 2003. They were married on a very cold February 2, 2021 in their backyard at a very small ceremony co-officiated by their pagan priestess friend, Anne, and then-Mayor Bill Peduto. They have six niblings, four in Pittsburgh and two in Philadelphia.

Posts by Sue:

The Arts

Trying New Things

February 2, 2019 by
Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

I’ve stretched myself out of my comfort zone twice thus far in 2019. Surprisingly, I feel pretty good about this even though it appears neither leap will pan out in ways we might consider successful. First, I applied to The Creative Nonfiction Writers Fellowship – a ten-part intensive workshop series for ten experienced nonfiction writers. […]

Health

Self-care moments

February 1, 2019 by
Self-care moments

Today, I was supposed to set up my table at the Keystone Progress Summit with a colleague. They told me this AM that they have strep throat. Ugghh, that’s awful. I was planning to still go, but found myself dawdling. I didn’t feel too socially anxious, but something was holding me back mentally. I figured […]

Health

Feeling Cozy

January 31, 2019 by

First I had a cold. Then Pittsburgh was very cold. Together, it adds up to my spending about three weeks mostly at home, eating a lot of soup. I can’t remember having such a terrible cold, just a cold but uggghhh. Feeling very grateful it didn’t migrate into bronchitis for which I credit the soup. […]

ActivismPolitics

Here’s Why I Think PA State Senator Daylin Leach is a Lying Jagoff

January 30, 2019 by

Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach is under pressure to resign given multiples allegations of sexual misconduct, including one claim that he coerced a then-17-year-old young woman into performing oral sex. He was 30 at the time. Cara Taylor alleges Leach coerced her to perform oral sex in 1991 when she was 17 and he was […]

Q&AThe Arts

Q&A with Ali Hoefnagel About Gender Chaos, Queer Art, and Their Show ‘You Can Call Me Al’

January 30, 2019 by
Ali Hoefnagel

Next week, the Community Supported Art series presents You Can Call Me Al at the New Hazlett Theater on the Northside. I asked storytelling and artist Ali Hoefnagel to talk with us about their performance. You Can Call Me Al is a long-form story about growing up, getting gay, coming out, living with mental illness, and uncovering family […]

Family

This Winter’s Night

January 30, 2019 by

It is 12:10 am and I should be asleep. But Ledcat had to go into work from 11 pm until 1 am tonight. She has to interview someone in one of her cases and has to meet them while they are on shift. She’s too fair to shirk work even in frigid temps. She would […]

HistoryQ&AThe Arts

Q&A with Susan Stein, Playwright Offering Another Glimpse into the Holocaust Through the Diaries of Etty Hillesum

January 29, 2019 by
Etty The Play

Intersectionality is how to understand Etty Hillesum. She insists on not being defined by her circumstances (the Holocaust, yet unnamed), by her gender, by her religion, race, age, class, sexual orientation, political leanings. And yet she identifies herself as a woman, as a Jew, as a 28 year old middle class Dutch student. She is a truth seeker and digs deeply into her own self to work herself out. – See Etty the Play at Carnegie Stage February 7-10, 2019.

Activism

Gearing Up For a Cold Week in Pittsburgh

January 27, 2019 by

According the meteorology folks, we are heading into the coldest ‘snap’ in twenty years. temperatures Tuesday will drop from a high in the lower 30s to a low of zero at night, with wind chills forecast to be 10 below zero. Wednesday and Thursday will be more of the same, with highs forecast to be […]

Pets

Formerly Homeless Kitties Endure Winter Conditions On The Inside

January 26, 2019 by
Activism

We’ve Been Named a Finalist for ‘OUTstanding Blog’ in 30th #GLAADAwards

January 25, 2019 by
GLAAD Media Awards OUTstanding Blog

So pleased to share that Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents has been selected a finalist in the category of #Oustanding Blog by GLAAD for their 30th GLAAD Media Awards. It is our second nomination. I get a lot of credit (and blame) for what we’ve accomplished here, but there is a literal village of people who make […]