Q&A with Sara Innamorato, Candidate for PA State House District 21

I’ve known Sara for about a year, mostly through Facebook and shared interests in organizing. I know that she worked with New Voices Pittsburgh, a venerable progressive organization, and had co-founded She Runs to bring electoral tools to women in the region. Then I read about her decision to challenge Dom Costa and her partnership […]

Q&A with Summer Lee, Candidate for PA State House District 34

Summer Lee for PA

The first encounter I had with Summer Lee was when she reached out to me in 2017, asking to meet with me to discuss LGBTQ issues that were on her radar. I learned she is an attorney and children’s advocate, she’s been deeply involved in the efforts to push back against police and staff brutality against students in […]

LGBT Activists Say Amazon Should Avoid Pennsylvania For Lack of Statewide Protections

When I first heard about this effort a few months ago, I was intrigued – holding Amazon accountable to its own policy of affirming LGBT rights by choosing a new location (HQ2) in a state that has statewide nondiscrimination policies. Pennsylvania does not. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia do, but the state does not. “Employees, their families, […]

Updated: Metcalfe Doesn’t Like Male Colleagues Touching Him

He doesn’t want to be touched by other men. He is a married heterosexual and he had no qualms announcing so during debate on a land use bill by the PA House Committee on State Government. That’s our Daryl Metcalfe.  And he’s officially heterosexual. Representative Matt Bradford, the ranking Democrat on the committee, was seated […]

52 Trans Stories from Western Pennsylvania Honor the Lost Voices on this #TDOR

November 20 is the Trans Day of Remembrance.  If you read our blog regularly, you know that we try very hard to honor the lives and acknowledge the deaths of our trans neighbors who have been lost to violence. We encourage you to participate in local TDOR events. This is the list of neighbors lost […]

AMPLIFYING is most used word in Pennsylvania*

Our friend Vannevar shared this image with us today. Read it closely. We’ll accept this acknowledgement in the spirit with which it was intended. 

Rest In Power, Dakota James

Dakota James Missing Person

I read with mixed emotions the news that the body of 23-year-old Dakota James had been found in the Ohio River near Neville Island. Dakota has been missing since January 25, 2017. There’s no appropriate comment, nothing I can think of that would bring comfort to the exhausted family who lost a 23-year-old adult child […]

Honored to Receive Ten Nominations in the Readers Choice Awards 2017

Reader's Choice Awards

We are honored to be semi-finalists in the Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter Reader’s Choice Awards 2017. You can cast your vote through March 15, 2017 in this round. There are many, many awesome nominations and I’m excited to see some new names in many of the categories. We received ten nominations and we are very […]

Carlisle Approves Non-Discrimination Ordinance, 37th Pennsylvania Municipality to Do So

Non-Discrimination Pennsylvania

On Thursday December 8, Carlisle Borough in Eastern Pennsylvania voted 5-2 to approve a local non-discrimination ordinance that includes sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as protected classes. Carlisle is the 37 municipality to take action to protect LGBTQ residents while the PA General Assembly remains unable to move forward on similar statewide legislation […]

Amplifying Trans Voices in Western Pennsylvania in Honor of the Trans Day of Remembrance

Trans Day of Remembrance 2016

Sunday, November 20 is the Trans Day of Remembrance.  If you read our blog regularly, you know that we try very hard to honor the lives and acknowledge the deaths of our trans neighbors who have been lost to violence. We encourage you to participate in local TDOR events. You can find our previous posts: […]