Pittsburgh's LGBTQ Blog ... out'n proud in the Burghosphere.

Bookmark and Share
Loading
Year Archive
View Article  Doyle, Casey and Specter on Inclusive ENDA

Remember the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)? 

Earlier in the week, I checked Facebook and discovered I had been invited to join a new group to push for an inclusive ENDA.  Inclusive means sexual orientation and gender identity (and expression but whose counting?).  Not the palatable, baby steps, throw out the scary genderqueer folks version.  The one that protects all people.  So we can work and be productive members of society.  Earn our keep.   Etc.

The group asked people to call their federal legislators and get the 411 on their positions.  Here's what I learned with three calls to DC.

Congressman Mike Doyle (D) 

Supports a fully inclusive bill.  Staffer didn't hesitate and knew exactly what ENDA was.

Senator Bob Casey (D)                                                                                                       

He has told his staff in conversation he supports anti-discrimination measures that include sexual orientation. They do not know about gender identity. The staffer will ask him, but told me to wait for the issue to become public to learn his position with that regard. He wouldn't commit to "maybe" but only yes on sexual orientation, period. Took me a few minutes to get the staff to understand what I was asking about.

Senator Arlen Specter (D)  

The first person who answered the phone said he had no public position, then transferred me three times. I ended up in a voice mail and asked for a call back. I'm still not sure they understood the question.

Sorry for the strange fonts.  It happens.

So ... now what?  Well, the Facebook group plans to tabulate and create a strategic plan to reach out to the folks like Casey who need some work. 

We have work to do here in Pennsylvania.  Join the FB group and stay on top of this issue.  Be vigilant, my friends.

View Article  I went to a meeting and New Hampshire got marriage equality

Big night.

First, how about New Hampshire?  Now six states offer marriage equality to their residents. 

Second, the Humane Society recycling fiasco gets increasingly snarled.  Matted, perhaps?  Read the article and tell me if you share my outrage that the local organizations are upset MORE about their lost profits than by the toxic destruction being committed in their name?  They are going to sue this man over their lost thousands, but no one is talking about the electronics and who is responsible for disposing of them safely.  Sad.  I guess dogs and cats living near the dumps in China aren't worth rescuing, especially when they glow in the dark.

Either way, this gives me pause:

Oklahoma records show that Mr. Nixon, who was employed by Allegheny County in the administrative services division from 1998 to 2002, established his recycling business under the banner EarthEcycle in January 2008.

Before that, however, court records in Allegheny County show Mr. Nixon left behind a checkered life when he moved from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma in 2003.

Mr. Nixon, who filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2000, pleaded guilty to a number of charges in the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court in 2001.

The charges include two counts of simple assault, making terroristic threats, harassment and possession of an instrument of crime. He served one year of probation for each charge. Court records show charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing were withdrawn.

When Mr. Nixon implied I was an industrial spy and threatened to draw me into a lawsuit, I was merely taken aback.  Now I can see all those little red flags were waving like mad for good reason.  Wow.  I just cannot get over how many people were duped by this man.   Rest assured, he had help from someone with inside connections to multiple local animal welfare organizations.  Or don't rest assured because there are many tons of your materials floating around out there and no one seems to care.

I want my shredder and my electric heater back!  I will GLADLY pay a reputable company to dispose of them.  Maybe a lot of folks are comfortable with the "oh well, how could we have known?" approach, but I feel incredibly bad that I didn't take action sooner.  Visions of the 60 Minutes segment haunt me.

 

 
Most of all, I feel awful that I was right. I have been bashed in the dog world, in the queer world, ignored by friends in the media and just trounced by volunteers for these different organizations.  I wish they were all right and I was just an overly sensitive jerk.  There is no satisfaction in being right.  No feeling of accomplishment.  None of the usual underdog standing up to the man sensations.

I feel like crap and I'm probably going to cry in a few minutes because I keep thinking that I should have started waving my hands back in February when I first smelled a rat.  Instead, I let someone bully me into a corner.  Now I'm backing down when people are saying "Oh, these organizations couldn't have known" to get me to stop complaining about their culpability.
 
Bullshit. If I walked into the Humane Society of Podunkville and said "Here's a too-good-to-be-true fundraiser that will generate $10,000" they would ask some questions.  Especially if my company was 365 days old! 

So the unanswered question now is what these organizations are going to do about it?  I wish someone would put the screws to them on this particular issue -- how do they undo the damage and dispose of the electronics?
 
View Article  General Round Up

Not a lot to report on the local front.  The dueling marriage equality bills are not generating the outpouring of letters to the editor we experienced in 2006 and 2008.  Maybe you could write one? 

New Hampshire votes on marriage equality today.

Check out the comments section to see (for once!) a constructive outcome to disagreement.  Outrage is coming to Pittsburgh, the Film Society wants to support the film and people have good suggestions on a potential panel discussion.  Now that's how blogging should be all the time!

Blogging for LGBT Families drew over 100 blog participants. I also discovered a new PA blog ... Philadelphia Gay Parenting Examiner.  Check it out.

Everyone and their brother wants to be involved in the G-20 summit. There's really no gay angle, however.  Unless the County Council ...finally ... passes the non-discrimination ordinance and we can join 14 other Pennsylvania municipalities in the economic forefront.  We have no real LGBTQ economic hook here in Pittsburgh.  We do have, however, the opportunity to take a closer look at LGBTQ global issues.  What's life look like for the average homo in the G-20 nations?  More to come on that ...  

DC wants to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.  A group of pastor-bigots wants to block that legislation. Another group of pastors think otherwise:

"I personally don't support the notion that it should be put to a referendum," Dennis Wiley said, "because I think the point is very clear that the rights of a minority should never be subject to a vote of the majority."

Chime in if anything floats your boat.

Follow PghLesbian24 on Twitter

The Correspondents