Dreams of Hope Youth Video Supports #TakeTheHighRoad

Dreams of Hope #TakeTheHighRoad

Flannel is not the enemy. The youth in Pittsburgh based queer performing arts group Dreams of Hope took our #TakeTheHighRoad message of support to McGuffey High LGBTQA students a few steps further – producing this lovely video with their own unique messages. What can I add? You might still want to post your own photo […]

Book Drive at Perry Traditional Academy Because #WeNeedDiverseBooks

Perry Traditional Academy

  Perry Traditional Academy is the only high school on the North Side of Pittsburgh. The library staff and community supporters have set up a book drive through Amazon to bolster the school library. As I live on the North Side, it caught my attention so I interviewed Sheila, one of the librarians. I encourage […]

#TakeTheHighRoad – Support LGBTQA Students at McGuffey

Students at McGuffey High School in Claysville, Washington County, Pennsylvania experienced backlash to their ‘Day of Silence’ – a group of classmates organized their own “Anti-Gay” day creating an atmosphere of fear and discomfort for LGBTQA students and allies. One tactic of the students was to wear flannel shirts and ink the phrase “anti-gay” as […]

Washington County High School Students Stage ‘Anti-Gay’ Protests

anti-gay day

Students in a Washington County school are attempting to harass and intimidate their LGBTQ peers with what seems to be a coordinated “anti-gay” activities, including wearing coordinated clothing and targeting the lockers of LGBTQ students. A group of students allegedly spread the news that if they were “anti-gay,” they were to wear a flannel shirt […]

Can I Bring My Gay Friend to the GLCC Youth Programs?

Earlier this week, I represented Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ Community Center (the GLCC) at an event for teen girls in a program called GirlGov . My assigned task was to describe advocacy opportunities with the GLCC. But as so often is the case, my actual reason for being there was something entirely different. The set-up was like speed […]

Donate Back To School Supplies for LGBTQ Youth

School supplies

Backpacks or similar bags are de rigueur for school students, no matter what grade. There are always trends in terms of what’s a cool bag, but for many youth – a durable bag that functions is pretty much what they want. So I have this blue backpack that I purchased in August 1998 for grad […]

Mock: Define yourself before other people do it for you

Define yourself, Janet Mock said Tuesday night, because if you don’t, other people will define you—and they will “chew you up and spit you out.” In a wide-ranging discussion with about 200 students, faculty and community members at Carnegie Mellon University, Mock said her strong sense of self has helped her endure her time in […]

Stryker: Trans issues at ‘a historical moment’

We’re at a “historical moment in the media” for trans people, says Susan Stryker, historian, author, filmmaker, activist and director of the Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona. Stryker delivered the annual Margaret Morrison Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University on Monday. Part of CMU’s celebration of Women’s History Month, the lecture is […]

Bisexuality In The News, New Group Forms in Pittsburgh

Bisexual Umbrella

  March is Bisexual Health Awareness Month. There have been several important media pieces lately that might interest you. Chronologically: New York Times piece “The Scientific Quest to Prove Bisexuality Exists” which has some troubling elements A response piece on Autostraddle which delves into those elements “The Journalistic Quest to Write an Accurate Story About […]

The journalist and the inventor

If you haven’t heard, the “Dr. V” case is burning up the Internet tubes, especially LGBTQ blogs and journalism websites. A writer for Grantland—a sports and pop-culture website owned by ESPN, which is in turn owned by The Walt Disney Co.—was assigned to investigate a miraculous new golf club and its inventor, Dr. Essay Anne […]