For nearly ten years, I’ve been interviewing local folx for political Q&A’s. I eventually focused specifically on candidates for office anywhere in Pennsylvania.
I’m sitting this year out.
I know it is the mid-terms and we have to win control and all of the things Democrats often say to chastise and shame people into a moderate alliance.
If you need to blame me for the fall of democracy, so be it.
Tired of the things I hear, so bad at what I do
My reasons for stepping away from this series are:
- I spend hours creating individualized Q&A’s and more hours formatting the responses for publication. It is a huge investment of my time.
- Countless candidates agree to participate, then just don’t. No follow up, no response, no answers. It is as if transparency is not a value. No one apologizes. They rationalize and take a tone with me when I push back.
- I spent more hours chasing grown-ass adults to keep their word to their constituents.
- The person at fault for the failure to respond is the campaign manager. They rotate between candidates and I’m not interested in chasing those folx any more than the candidates.
- Far too many candidates for municipal office will tell me that they were advised not to affiliate themselves with a LGBTQ+ blog.
- In 2025, both candidates in the Mayoral primary missed multiple deadlines. That is literally the ultima kiss off for a Pittsburgh political blog. To make matters worse, they both did an interview a local gay white man and one interviewed with a national LGBTQ magazine.
- Neither the candidates or the campaign managers have ever followed up with me beyond a tepid apology. They don’t support this blog, my readers, or me. Lots of elected officials do both publicly and behind the scenes. If you don’t support this blog – run by a middle-aged cisgender white lesbian – are you going to show up for more marginalized members of our community? No. you will not. except when it benefits you. That is unacceptable.
- I don’t want to go back to 2005 when I began blogging and was repeatedly snubbed. I can be snubbed anywhere without this much effort on my part. Puh-lenty of people like to snub me for kicks.
- This is not absolutely universal. There are elected officials like Summer Lee and Emily Kinkead who ALWAYS agree. If our member of Congress can make time, so can candidates for Mayor, Chief Executive, Governor, etc.
- Perspective is everything.
This is not good for Pittsburgh. My Q&A’s are lengthy in-depth dives into the candidates record, values, and LGBTQ+ fluency. I ask about the environment, reproductive justice, school issues, taxes, legacy political dynasties, and their district. I try to craft questions to educate readers about complicated issues like “Are the courts County or State entities?” or “What is a Controller?”
Still, this is not the only LGBTQ+ resource. The Steel City Stonewall Democrats endorsement is important. Interviews with queer media like QBurgh are important. Showing up in its many forms is important. The Victory Fund is another resource. Google. Q&A’s and endorsements from progressive organizations are important to consult.
So I’m not leaving you in the lurch, my good voting readers. I’m pointing you in different directions to get the information you need to make informed decisions.
How come I am trying to recapture your attention
It is exhausting making these decisions. I feel guilty, then ridiculous, then momentarily inspired, then guilty again. I deserve a break, I should do anything to win the election, I’m exhausted by the damage moderate aka weak Democrats have inflicted on our community, I’m lacking in confidence to make a decision because I AM SO FUCKING EXHAUSTED.
We have ignored the truthsayers who have been educating us on the realities of capitalism, white supremacy, and christian nationalism since the birth of this nation. We chose to ignore the truth and in so doing, we denied ourselves the capacity to resist. We have to resist our own selves, our ways of coping/surviving, our comforts and comfort zones, our beliefs, our hopes, and our privileges.
The truthsayers, in case you’ve missed that, are Black, Brown, AAPI, APIDA, Indigenous, Native, disabled, poor, queer and trans voices. They are people who have experienced this brutal, racist, greed-driven oppression since forever. Yes, they have some privilege individually and collectively, but they also get the short end of the stick nonetheless.
That’s who you should follow on social media and in real time. That’s who can guide you.
Don’t get me wrong – I do believe it will be local elections, local politics, local activism that will save us. It really REALLY matters whom you elect for school board and dog catcher. But in spite of all evidence we still hope palatable white Christian men will save us – see Texas where State Senator James Talarico is challenging Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett for the open US Senate seat. Sigh. Who in their left mind thinks Jasmine Crockett should not be the nominee? Racists, apologists, misogynists, white folx, etc. I guess. She’s won in Texas on the national level and Texan Democrats think she should take a back seat to a white dude who is buddies with Stephen Colbert? WTF?
Pennsylvania isn’t Texas, but not for lack of trying.
I accept the moment you somehow forgot to mention
So I need to try something else now. I am angry that the Mayoral candidates disrespected me and never made amends, that’s true – it is personal. But I also realize that no one had my (or my readers backs) in that moment. And that renders me ineffective, renders this Q&A series ineffective at this moment in time.
I don’t want to invest time promoting mediocre moderate Democrats who are the least likely to offend. I don’t want to waste my time on someone who thinks it is okay to skip a Q&A with a lesbian blog for the optics – indeed, I want to expose them as cowards. I want to figuratively punch them in the face and remind them about the queer people they represent. I want to be a haven for anti-fascism, not people who think boycotting Target is radical. Or optional.
I don’t want to be part of that system. My Q&A series is part of that system.
The truth is I don’t believe their are good cops, just ones who aren’t quite so bad. I don’t think most white cisgender heterosexual men care about DEI or anyone who isn’t in their immediate circle. I think we have at least a four party government – MAGA extremists, moderate capitalist Republicans, progressive Democrats, and moderate Democrats. Plus Green Party, Libertarians, socialists, Independents, etc. I don’t trust any system. I don’t have confidence in my inalienable rights.
And I think we now have the government we deserve.
We will be saved by Minneapolis, mutual aid, and the multitudes of decent people who are responding, but not to politicians. Or responding to bloggers. They are responding to their neighbors.
So I’m going to do that, too. Something different from what hasn’t proved to be very effective. Let’s do that now.
