Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Last week, the spokesperson for Allegheny County posted a reel on Instagram in which she said

“today, Colin Dunlap said we’re all soft, we’re overreacting, our forefathers used to be outside in the smog and smoke a pack on top of it. And to that I say, You’re right. Colin. You should go outside and smoke a pack. On a bridge. And then jump off. Have a great weekend, everyone.”

This was in response to the never-ending barrage of insults and disparaging comments Colin Dunlap heaps on the Sara Innamorato Administration and ACE Sara Innamorato herself. His latest was a dismissive approach to the public health hazards the region experienced last week when smoke from wild fires lingered here for a few days. He’s also made inappropriate comments about her body.

Colin Dunlap is a terrible person. He’s part of the KDKA radio host lineup and uses that podium to promote misinformation, disinformation, and so forth. Does he believe them? I don’t know. Does it generate ratings? Most likely. What is he like in real life? I don’t know and have no desire to meet him.

I have no illusion that Colin Dunlap would not mock me for being queer, fat, disabled, poor, etc. Like it or not, that’s his job. KDKA radio and other stations that host this virulent dehumanizing rhetoric are profiting at the expense of vulnerable people. Dunlap and his employer make money by sowing harm and discord into a community already galvanized by other disconnections. My life is more difficult because of Colin Dunlap.

Still, I’m not going to use a taunt that promotes death by suicide as a means to silence him. I’m not sparing his feelings, I’m recognizing that language ripples outward, that words have intent and impact that may not line up. Truth be told, I don’t know if he has any personal history with suicide, but I do know the power of that language to open those wounds.

Abigail Gardner is a communications professional. I am quite confident she is current on best practices, especially in areas connected to her job. Her job includes communicating on behalf of the County Department of Human Services that supports many, many folx with mental health disabilities, suicide survivors, the loved ones of those who died by suicide, and a generally vulnerable population who rely on the County to support them.

She put on a shirt with the County logo, posting on her personal Instagram, and used a suicide reference to taunt a member of the media because he is mean to her boss. Colin Dunlap is an undesirable so she used a suicide taunt to dismiss him. What is the impact of that decision? She hurt the people who need support, not Dunlap.

Does Abigail Gardner’s communication choices reflect the culture within County government or does she actually shape that culture due to her powerful position? Or both?

Does the County institutional process around mental health and treatment for suicidality in particular meet the best practices standards? Is it a good, effective system or is it the only system we have? I’d say the process around developing and implementing a mandatory Assisted Outpatient Treatment indicates that the County Department of Human Services is far from that gold standard. I’d go so far as to say this specific policy puts Innamorato more in line with Trump than most of us would like. Trump goes a lot further, of course. But the institutional breakdown surrounding this specific policy gives me pause about Gardner’s comments.

I’m not sure I believe Gardner, Innamorato, and the County government do prioritize mental health and suicide reduction. A lot of that is based on my own experiences with that system. The Innamarato Administration has not been concerned about the impact of their policies that detained me by UPMC while the locks on my house were changed, then left me homeless for six months.

More recently, I’ve tried to connect with the County about a problem with a private-equity owned communication app often required in Family Court. I got nowhere.

I’m not on the side of Colin Dunlap. I’m on the side of Rylie Autumn Heart, a local transwoman who jumped from the Homestead Grays Bridge earlier this year. The people who loved her should not have to hear Abigail Gardner use that taunt as part of a political thrust and parry. The trauma her family experienced while dealing with City and County in the wake of her death is yet another example of how the institutional commitment to mental health competency has not spread throughout the system.

You don’t know her story or the stories of other loved ones who have to navigate absurd governmental bureacracy while grieving. That’s because the mainstream media does not cover these stories. Did you ever think about what happens to the vehicles of people who drive to a bridge with this intent? Those cars are impounded to the tune of thousands of dollars that families have to pay just to be in the physical space their loved one occupied before their final decision, to retrieve personal belongings? That’s something the County (and City) could address. I wonder if anyone at DHS or in the ACE office even knows about this?

Abigail Gardner made a choice to taunt a media foe with a suicide reference. She was placed on Administrative Leave pending an internal investigation. This was her post-accountability comment:

“I made a tasteless comment out of frustration, and I apologize for my lapse in judgement. Suicide should not be a topic that is joked about or used to insult others. My comments were out of line, and I especially apologize to the employees of Allegheny County that I did not hold myself to a higher standard while representing the County,” Gardner said in the statement.

Was it a lapse in judgement? I suspect it is more accurately a reflection of the culture within the County than a poor choice of words. It wasn’t a joke, it was a taunt. It reinforces the concerns around AOT and other County programs involving people at higher risk for suicidal ideations. It should give all of us pause about that culture.

Flippancy would be losing her cool at a press conference or when the mike is still live somewhere. Putting on your work shirt, making a video, then posting that video is not flippant. It is calculated. It might be a deliberate thrust to provoke the trolls for some reason.

Still, this is the support network we’ve got. I would think twice about referring anyone to this County Department of Human Services (or any department.) But there are already few options.

Let me close with this quote from a Public Source essay published in December 2025, written by suicide survivor Jeremy Carter about his experiences looking for support from Allegheny County government

Allegheny County knows our suicide rates are stubbornly higher than national averages and the rates have not dipped below the rates from 23 years ago. There are, on average, three or four people dying of suicide every week in the county. The data says we need new strategies. And yet, when someone survives a suicide attempt here, there is no designated peer group to help them rebuild connection, meaning or safety.

There’s a gap we pretend isn’t there.

But people feel it. I felt it every day.

Jeremy, Autum’s family, and thousands of others living with the consequences of death by suicide are the ones who deserve an apology.