Sunday, June 21, 2009 the Indigo Girls are back in Pittsburgh and the Lambda Foundation has just announced an exclusive "meet and greet" backstage with Emily and Amy.  Tickets for the meet and greet are $35.00 and will include the opportunity to have a photo of your family taken by a professional photographer.  Tickets for the concert are $30 and $40. 

Lambda Foundation Executive Director Anne Bowman comments that "the Indigo Girls have been very gracious" to add this to the previously scheduled concert date. 

Founded in 1983, the Lambda Foundation is Pittsburgh's oldest LGBTQ foundation and recently celebrated 25 years of supporting our community.  From Persad to PFLAG, Lambda has been part of almost every significant LGBTQ focused project or service in Pittsburgh.  Every year the community gathers to celebrate and honor community leaders in style at the Lambda Ball.

Now this is great news for Pittsburgh's Pride month festivities.  We can attend a great concert, get the opportunity to meet LGBTQ icons and help raise money for an important community organization.

Mayor Ravenstahl is getting some heat for supporting Anthony Coghill in the District 4 City Council race.  Coghill did not receive the endorsement of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee.

Huh.  I've heard rumblings that the Mayor is "disappointed" he did not receive the endorsement of the Steel City Stonewall Democrats.  Other rumblings suggest that there is concern about fallout after the primary.  It has come from multiple directions so this latest news about the Mayor is interesting. 

Let's hope he shows some consistency by respecting Democratic groups that don't adhere to the ACDC endorsement.  Just like he isn't.  Fair is fair, right?

I don't think Steel City should endorse the Mayor in the general election because there is no membership vote for that endorsement.  Pressure to do otherwise is undemocratic and would make me suspect of the value of the process.  Damage control is not in the best interests of the members. 

Let's hope the organization stays true to the vote.

The other usual "thuggery" is alive and well in Pittsburgh politics. Sigh.  These family feuds to get their proteges into office are just ridiculous.  The machine needs a good ass kickin at the ballot box.

Grove City suspended 21 year old John Gechter for his gay porn career which he used to finance his college education. Gechter was due to graduate this year and begin graduate school in the fall.  Gechter is appealing the decision, claiming that his work in the porn industry under an alias is not the school's concern. 

Grove City feels otherwise, citing the school's Christian based policies on student conduct.  Students are required to abstain from sexual activity.  Grove City says that Gechter's sexual orientation was not a factor in their decision.  Gecheter identifies as bisexual.

Oh my.  I'm not sure I believe Grove City and here's why:

But on April 23, a fellow student found Mr. Gechter's ample body of work on the Internet and forwarded evidence of his secret identity to friends. By the next day, Mr. Gechter estimated that the e-mail had reached two-thirds of the student population -- and he'd landed in a meeting with administrators.

Two-thirds of the student population are viewing pornography and Grove City seemingly takes no action.  Why was the student who discovered the offending video surfing for pornorgraphy in the first place?  Don't tell me he just happened to find it. If he took such offense, why not discreetly share this information with the school administrators out of Christian love and compassion? Isn't the intent to ridicule and mock Gechter a problem?

Then there is this.

 He says he's received nearly 200 "hate mail" e-mails from other students and has even been pelted with fruit salad in the cafeteria.

Ah, more Christian conduct on the part of other students.  That code of conduct doesn't seem to have quite caught on with the Grove City student body. 

The code of conduct can be found here.  Here's the relevant portions.