What’s so funny about being transgender?

Is there anything funny about being transgender? No: There are lots and lots of things funny about being transgender. I keep my breasts in a dresser drawer. My wife gives me her underwear that no longer fits. We have trouble sorting laundry sometimes in our house: “Is this your bra or mine?” How are those […]

Toys For Tots Pittsburgh Distribution 2013

Play It Forward and Toys for Tots are open & welcoming to LGBTQ families. If you have an experience that reflects otherwise, please let me know so I can pass it along.  LGBTQ families can also approach the GLCC for some outerwear items, but no toys or gifts at this time. Note: Play It Forward […]

WTF, indeed

In the wake of Sue’s post about “Mike and Molly,” I have been trying to write something nuanced and thoughtful about another negative depiction of transgender people, and I am failing miserably. I am failing because the bile just keeps coming up in my throat and I keep getting angry. Here’s what happened: I am […]

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Wednesday, November 20 is the Transgender Day of Remembrance.   The Transgender Day of Remembrance is held in November each year to memorializ   e those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgender, each was a victim of violence based […]

CBS Program “Mike and Molly” Says F*ck You To LGBT Community

Last season, the hit CBS sitcom “Mike and Molly” went astray with two jokes about transgender women, specifically using the slur “shemale.” That very same weekend, a movie starring Melissa McCarthy used another slur, “tranny.” Trish provided some brilliant insight into exactly why these terms are slurs and not fodder for humor, especially on CBS […]

Let’s Remember Teens Can Be Lonely at The Holidays, Too

When I worked for a foster care agency, it used to break my heart that the teens were often lost in the system. And as the person who organized the holiday projects, it fell to me to figure out how to solicit donations appropriate for their age group. This is not easy. Most programs are […]

Sometimes, You Holiday In a Restaurant

Sometimes we celebrated Thanksgiving at home – just me, little brother and my parents. My Mum is not a great cook, but she pulled this meal off pretty well. Sometimes, we went to my aunt’s house a few miles away. That was more “special” but also strange because there were so many people and different […]

Luke Spencer. No Apologies.

The Prompt: Who is your favourite character of all time? So this is tricky because “all time” means of all the time and I’m not good with commitment. I also have a penchant for disillusionment – am I alone in finding Little Women disappointing as an adult? I mean – the domestic goddess Meg scenes […]

Everyone Claims To Be Middle Class

Being ‘out’ in hostile places

(Update from Trish: I’ve received permission from my friend to share her story. I should have asked in the first place, but my thought process sometimes is like a bunch of suitcases falling down the stairs!) — As LGBTQ people, do we have any moral obligation to be out in places that are hostile to […]