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Tag Archives: Sue Kerr
Pittsburgh Lesbian Blog, Blogger Honored for Contributions to the Community
PITTSBURGH– Local blogger Sue Kerr, editor and founder of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, the longest running LGBT blog in Southwestern Pennsylvania is honored to be named the 2012 recipient of the “Stacey Walker Memorial Award” by Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter. 
The award was established to honor the spirit of columnist and Greensburgbased drag king performer Stacey Walker. Stacy passed away in February 2009.
“Stacy always was helping people and she stood for the best things of our community,” explained John DeBartola, President. “Each year we choose a recipient who shows the very best to the community and advocates for them and that [is] Sue. [She is] always trying to help raise awareness and change the community for the best so we felt [she] deserved the award.”
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents was also named “Favorite GLBT Media Publication” after two rounds of voting by members and readers of the newsletter. The vote was open to individuals throughoutPennsylvania,West VirginiaandOhio. This is the first year a blog has been honored for media work. Kerr was previously named “Lesbian of the Year” in 2010.
“This is a very humbling honor – to receive both the support of the community for our blogging efforts and to be recognized as an advocate in the spirit of Stacey Walker,“ says Kerr.
A complete list of 2012 honorees can be found here.
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents was founded in 2005 as the first lesbian led blog focusing on Pittsburghand the region. The blog is recognized regionally for its contributions to the political dialogue as well as advocacy on a range of issues that are not highlighted by mainstream media. Kerr is a contributor to the national blogging team at The Bilerico Project and has been published on Pam’s House Blend, BlogHer, and DailyKos. She is also a frequently sought out commentator on LGBTQ news in thePittsburgh region. Kerr mostly recently participated in the successful effort to recruit the Pittsburgh Pirates to make a video for the “It Gets Better” project.
The mission of the Keystone Alliance/Gaylife Newsletter as a population of different people and perspectives, is to aspire to promote the growth of all people in their lives. GLBT members of the community and their allies join together to create an organization where people exchange ideas, listen to one another with consideration and respect, and are committed to fostering civility. As members of the GLBT community and others, the organization strives to achieve the following individual commitments: 1. To strengthen the community; 2. To foster an environment for personal growth, to be helpful to others and respect their rights. We will discourage intolerance, hatred, and injustice, and promote constructive resolution of conflict; 3. To contribute to the future of the betterment of the community: ourselves, the community, the nation, and the world. We believe in freedom of the mind and spirit and promote the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons to reach their potential.
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My Debute on Bilerico … Sue and Rick Santorum: Yep, I’m the Lesbian Who Got Away
My official internship photo from 1991, Capitol Hill.
Today my first contribution to The Bilerico Project has been published. Thanks, Rick. And thanks to Bil and team for welcoming me on board.
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Happy 6th Blogoversary to Us!
Here we are again … celebrating another year of blogging lesbian Pittsburgh. Yeah, I don’t really know what that means but it seems catchy.
I was pondering the impact of my most recent year of blogging. I haven’t been consistent, but I’ve been paying attention even when its been a little silent around here.
Here are a few posts that seemed popular.
Blog for Equality Pgh 2011. 21 bloggers spoke out about marriage equality. Fortunately, the “marriage protection amendment” hasn’t made it out of committee. Yet. Heartening how each year the number of bloggers participating in this little project of mine has grown.
Our post about The Advocate’s tongue in cheek ranking of Pittsburgh as the 5th Gayest City in the nation continues to be very popular. Yeah, I didn’t realize it was tongue in cheek either until the “math” didn’t add up and I contacted the publisher. They very nicely told me it was intended to be all in good fun and there was no actual science or method to the rankings. I was just relieved that the “Pride Theater Festival” isn’t real. (They assured me it wasn’t.) Pgh’s LGBT community has gained a lot of mileage out of this. I’m not sure everyone has caught on to the joke.
Another frequently visited post was our take on Lucille Prater-Holliday’s campaign to unseat City Councilor Ricky Burgess. BTW, he didn’t support PrideFest this year either. Yeah. I’m pretty sure his team gets the joke about Pittsburgh being gay friendly.
My wandering thoughts on the emerging lesbian social “scene” makes the list.
Where are all of these folks coming from?
Facebook. Infinonymous. And google.
Interesting. NetworkedBlogs autopublishes my posts to the PghLesbian Facebook page and I occasionally post a link here and there, but it generates more visitors than any other source. The blog Infinonymous is a close second (I was “listed”) and Google ranks third.
Three other local blogs drive traffic to my site – 2 Political Junkies, Angry Drunk Bureaucrat and The Pittsburgh Comet. The Post Gazette’s “Early Returns” blog also generates many of our hits (we are on their blogroll.)
Lesbian blogging is inherently political even when I’m discussing potlucks and gay cyberbullying?
What are they seeking?
The top 20 searches are some twist on the search for lesbians in Pittsburgh. Then a slew of inquiries about Pittsburgh “celebrities” who may or may not be gay, Pittsburgh community folks who are in fact LGBTQ and a lot of interesting questions about me.
“How to get rid of bed bugs” drove more people to my site than “Adam Ravenstahl.” What could that mean?
None of that is particularly deep or meaningful. What resonates the most with me continues to be the fact that the act of blogging itself - as a lesbian – is political. My existence, my identity, my thoughts and my opinions are political because any voice from the second class citizen ranks threatens the status quo. That’s a lot of power.
I also find the role of social media forms beyond blogging to be interesting. I use Facebook A LOT to toss out ideas, stories and links I might otherwise highlight and explore on my blog. So while my blogging decreased, my social media presence was amplified as I explored Google+, YouTube, Chime.In and beyond. I just joined Pinterest this week, in fact.
Our biggest change this year was our migration from Blogware to WordPress. I’m enjoying the new layout and still learning my way around the widgets and plugins. I haven’t crashed the site yet!
All in all, six years is an interesting juncture. We aren’t the oldest LGBT blog (Jason Cable has that honor) in this region, but we’ve certainly carved out a unique little niche.
Thanks for reading!
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