Q&A Election 2020: staci backauskas Founder, The Haiku Ninja Collective

Allegheny Bisexual

This is a new limited-Q&A series focusing on Election Day. I’ve approached an array of regional folks to ask them the same seven questions about the election. This election is complicated in ways we never thought possible, but there are paths forward. Listening to what our neighbors are prioritizing and how they are framing the […]

82 Bi+ Stories From Western Pennsylvania to Honor Bisexual Visibility Day

Bisexual Pittsburgh

Since 1999 we have honored and acknowledged the bi+ community. Bisexual+ Awareness Week seeks to accelerate acceptance of the bi+ (pansexual, fluid, no label, queer, etc.) community. #BiWeek draws attention to the experiences, while also celebrating the resiliency of, the bisexual+ community. Throughout #BiWeek, allies and bi+ people learn about the history, culture, community, and […]

Q&A Election 2020: Terrance McGeorge of Project Matters

Terrance McGeorge Pittsburgh

This is a new limited-Q&A series focusing on Election Day. I’ve approached an array of regional folks to ask them the same seven questions about the election. This election is complicated in ways we never thought possible, but there are paths forward. Listening to what our neighbors are prioritizing and how they are framing the […]

23 year old Black Trans Woman Elie Che Found Dead in New York City

August 31, 2020 we lost another trans neighbor, a 23-year-old Black woman from Harlem. Her body was found in the Bronx. Her name was Elie. Police found the woman unconscious and unresponsive in the sand near Orchard Beach Road and Park Drive at approximately 6:09 a.m. EMS responders arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced her dead. […]

Q&A with Blogger Mark S. King about Awards, HIV Storytelling, and Finding Hope in a Pandemic

Mark S. King GLAAD Award

As the reigning GLAAD OUTstanding LGBTQ Blog from 2019, it has been my duty to to pass the title and tiara to the 2020 winner, Mark S. King from My Fabulous Disease. While he’s been getting a lot of mileage from his Susan Lucci status as ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride’ these past years, […]

Read This –> Op-Ed: Cleveland is an Epicenter for America’s Trans Murder Crisis

Transgender Murder Cleveland

It is both an honor and horrifying to be cited in an essay like this one, exploring the realities of the pandemic of violence Transgender American experience. I have only been documenting through my ‘In Memoriam’ series since 2013, but you can find much more data and personal details on the TDOR website, going back […]

For Your Consideration: The Case to Appoint Sue Kerr to Pittsburgh LGBTQIA+ Commission

Pittsburgh LGBTQIA Commission

In July 2020, Pittsburgh City Council unanimously approved the formation of a new commission focused on the LGBTQ community to replace the current Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee established in 2008 by Mayor Ravenstahl. Commissions serve the City residents, not just advising the Mayor. This is a change I first proposed in July 2019. From TheTrib: […]

Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears of Portland is latest Black Trans Woman Violently Killed

Her name was Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears. She was 34 years old when she was stabbed to death while attending a vigil in Portland on Tuesday, July 28, 2020. From Out.com According to police, Rhone-Spears was in attendance at the vigil near the 15800 block of Southeast Division which later moved to a home in the […]

32-Year-Old Black Trans Woman Tiffany Harris Fatally Stabbed in New York City

She was 32-years-old, a Bronx resident, and a Black trans woman who became the latest victim of the epidemic of violence the trans community experiences. She was stabbed multiple times in the chest about 1:35 a.m. Sunday during a confrontation inside the third-floor hallway of an apartment building on Jerome Ave. near W. 192nd St. […]

22-Year-Old Black Trans Woman Queasha D. Hardy Shot to Death in Baton Rouge

Queasha D. Hardy

Her name was Queasha Hardy. She was a 24-year-old Black trans woman who became the latest fatality in the epidemic of transphobic violence. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she appears to have many friends and loved ones who are grieving her death.  Her Instagram feed is filled with images of women whose hair […]