Attached below, there is a copy you can print out and take with you to the polls on Tuesday.

VOTE NOVEMBER 3rd 2009!!!

It is critical that progressive people get out and vote this year!!!

Statewide Judicial races dominate this year's elections.

We all have seen in California, Massachusetts, & Vermont state courts play a critical role in upholding the constitutional rights of LGBT to receive equal treatment under the law.

The candidates who ultimately win on November 3rd 2009 will shape Pennsylvania for the next decade!

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Steel-City Stonewall Democrats Endorsements for the November 3^rd 2009 General Election.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court:

Jack A. Panella www.votejackpanella.com/index.php 

  

Pennsylvania Superior Court:

Robert Colville www.judgecolville.com

Anne Lazarus www.lazarusforsuperiorcourt.org

Kevin McCarthy www.mccarthyforsuperiorcourt.com/

Teresa Sarmina www.sarminaforsuperiorcourt.com

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court:

Barbara Behrend Ernsberger www.ernsbergerforjudge.com

Linda S. Judson www.lindajudsonforjudge.com/

 

(ALL of the above judicial candidates will face HARD-RIGHT social conservatives in this year’s General Election.)

Allegheny Court of Common Pleas:

Susan DiLucente

Arnie Klein

Don Walko

Joe Williams

Allegheny County Sherriff:

Bill Mullen

Allegheny County Council District 1:

Thomas R. Michalow

 

(Thomas Michalow is challenging incumbent Matt Drozd.  Matt Drozd is one of the Allegheny County Council Members who voted against the Allegheny County Non-Discrimination Ordinance.  Thomas Michalow supports the Ordinance & has taken outstanding positions on LGBT issues.   You can find more info athttp://tommichalow.com)

Allegheny County Council District 3:

Jim Burn

Allegheny County Council District 13:

Amanda Green

Pittsburgh City Council District 4:

Natalia Rudiak

Pittsburgh City Council District 8:

Bill Peduto

 

 

ALL of the above candidates have filled out & signed questionnaires detailing their beliefs & support for LGBT equality.   You can read their completed questionnaires in the news archive of our web page: www.steel-city.org. 

Steel-City Stonewall Democrats recommends Retention for Kate Ford Elliot on the Pennsylvania Superior Court & we also recommend Retention for Dante Robert Pellegrini on the Pennsylvnia Commonwealth Court 

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SPECIAL NOTE on the 2009 Pittsburgh Mayoral Race:  Because the Steel-City endorsement process is member driven and new Independent candidates came forward for the Pittsburgh Mayoral race after we had completed our member endorsement vote, the board is not endorsing a specific candidate for the race.  We are, however, endorsing an informed electorate and encourage all to review the responses to key questions which the board received from candidates Kevin Acklin, Doc Harris and Luke Ravenstahl.   The questionnaires are posted on our website and can be easily located by clicking here: http://stonewalldemocrats.org/steel-city/node/922   We hope you find the information the responses provide both interesting and helpful to your decision about the Mayor's race.

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Wow, this is incredible news.  The remaining fixture of Pittsburgh's gay nightclub scene is closing on December 6, 2009.

"But now there is much greater acceptance of the (gay and lesbian) lifestyle. People can pretty much go where they want and be who they want to be without worry. So, in a sense, we're victims of the progress that has occurred," said Noxon of McKees Rocks, who owns two other clubs in the city.

On Friday, Noxon announced that the Liberty Avenue club will close on Dec. 6 after 29 years in business.

The article in the Trib goes on to describe the nearly 30 years Pegasus has been serving the community with regard to everything from safe haven to HIV testing.  In recent years, the club has become a popular scene for young men and women, but they don't purchase the alcohol necessary to keep the bills paid.

Noxon makes good points.  Conversations with my friends about their nighttime activities centers more around LGBT-friendly activities.  Inclusivity is reducing demand for exclusive spaces.  Mayoral candidate, Dok Harris, hangs out at 5801 and did so far before he launched his campaign.  The "queer events" list and calendar have a multitude of events that are identified as "not specifically queer" or driven by queer groups/organizers, but open to the larger community as well. 

Pittsburgh has been known, even lauded, for preserving cultural heritages.  As a child, I remember Slovak and German and Italian clubs, parades and Kennywood days.  That certainly continues, but my Dad was able to join many of those clubs and he's not a bit Slovakian.  LOL.  We've also never successfully sustained a lesbian nightlight scene.  Rather than a lesbian bar, we have one floor of a gay owned club and one floor of a straight owned club that has a thriving neighborhood pizza scene. 

What I am noticing are groups of reconfigured community members gathering around common interests.  Dykes on Bikes.  The Dyke March.  The Queer Women's Dinner and Book Club.  Even the terminology of "dyke" and "queer" changes the traditional L/G/B/T divide and creates new opportunities to interact and engage within and beyond our community.

Still, it is sad to see Pegasus close.  There are other gay bars and I'm sure they will evolve and continue to survive.  But not flourish.  And, as Noxon points out, that's how progress works.

Today's Post-Gazette reprints a New York Times article on the banning of ROTC from campuses such as Harvard in response to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy which in effect bans openly gay men and women from serving in the military. 

President Faust of Harvard, a historian, says that as much as she admires the military ­-- and during her June commissioning speech, she went out of her way to mention an interest she and General Petraeus shared in Ulysses S. Grant -- she cannot have a student group on campus that is closed to one part of the student body. The student handbook says that the federal law is "inconsistent with Harvard's values as stated in its policy on discrimination."

"Harvard commits itself to training leaders of all kinds, and we should be training leaders for the military," Dr. Faust said in an interview. "We want to have students in R.O.T.C. I am the president of Harvard and I am their president and Harvard is their university. But we also have gay and lesbian students and I am their president and Harvard is their university."

The article goes on to explore contradictions in the University policy such as fundraising from military graduates, special education programs set up for military leaders and so forth.  President Faust admits it is contradictory, but as the opening sentence of the post states ... the solution likes with POTUS and the Congress to repeal the ban.

My college roommate, Amy Besterfeldt,  was in ROTC.  I remember early risings, early bedtimes and lots of boot polish.  She went on to a military career, met her husband and became a recruiter.  We lost touch after that.  Still, I remember that it was very important to her development into the career she wanted. I'd like to talk with her to determine where she stands on DADT.

My impression is that active duty members are in favor of repealing the ban because they are quite aware they are serving alongside gay men and women who are competent, as well as aware that they boogeyman arguments about the predatory nature of LGBT men and women are ridiculous.  My experience with veterans is the opposite --- they still talk about sharing sleeping quarters and showers.  I guess the rhetoric from the early 90's was successfully pounded in.

Nonetheless, the dilly dallying on repealing DADT is tiresome.  It discriminates against American citizens and it denies our entire country the service of talented men and women who meet every other enlistment criteria.  It hurts America and not just because a few Harvard students are inconvenienced.  It hurts America because we are a little bit less safe without the very best and brightest at the helm of our national defense.  It continues to hurt America to legally impose "separate, but equal" rules on our society.

Pat Downey of Squirrel Hill calls a bigot power move like she sees it. 

That the Vatican is bending "sacred rules" to welcome these bigots is more evidence of the stubborn ignorance of church leaders.

The good news is that change is happening regardless of a hierarchy that is too rigid, too divisive and too contentious.

Eighty percent of the laity, who largely ignore papal dictates, have come to understand that they are the church.

I'm kind of bored with the hair splitting analysis of mainstream Christian denominations.  I know we are supposed to reclaim our churches, but it just seems like a bunch of wasted energy tonight as I reread the original story in the PG. 

On the one hand, it is important to see the impact the bigotry "light" has on the community.  They do a lot of damage.  But doesn't the PG get tired of the Luthern-Episcopal-Catholic round robin?  I do. 

Thanks for writing, Pat.

I downloaed IE 8.0 and highly suggest you do NOT do the same.  Arrrgggg.  I cannot cut and paste.  How is a blogger supposed to maintain without cut and pasteability? 

The intensity of this week is off the charts.  Ledcat is imposing a mandatory stay home and watch television rule tonight to slow things down a bit, but I suspect Halloween episodes of Ghost Whisperer and Medium aren't going to be soothing.  LOL. 

My former supervisor is leaving his job.  I contemplate the question of whether I would return for about 30 seconds and laugh.  I may be exhausted and overwhelmed that I'll let someone down, but there are so many bright spots to lighten the intense moments ... someone gave me a Christmas card today and there's something really timely about the message of "Peace to You" that seems appropriate for this Halloween. I need some peace. 

I read online that The Advocate is being gutted and may cease as an independent publication.  Great.  I'm sending my subscription $$ as a donation to Bitch. 

Sunday's SisterShout promises to be interesting.  Are you a fan of the amusing graphic on 2 Political Junkies?  Their very own graphic designer Maria will be giving away a poster size version of your favorite graphic, with autograph, to one of our lucky Facebook/Twitter fans and followers.  Next week, two tickets to the Lambda Bash dance portion will be up for grabs.  The good stuff keeps coming from Lesbian Central. 

Ah well ... I gotta try to figure out this cut-n-paste thing.