Derricka Banner, 26, is the 20th Trans Person Murdered in 2017

She was 26 years old, a black trans woman living in Lenoir, North Carolina. Originally from New York City, she had studied at Caldwell Community College. She previously worked for Wal-Mart and was working most recently with Tyson Foods. She was known to some friends as Ms Bow Wow and sometimes Derricka Lashae. According to […]

Transgender Bigotry in Sharon, Butler Reinforce Need for NonDiscrimination Protections

Pittsburgh Transgender

Content Note: misgendering, deadnaming, lies, transphobia. On Sunday, the Sharon Herald printed a newspaper article updating the community on the status of a civil lawsuit against the Sharon Police Department involving the shooting death of 23 year-old Sean Hake. Sean was a transgender man. The Sharon Herald first reported that he was a trans woman, […]

Six Reasons Bisexual & Pansexual Folks Should Get #AMPLIFYed

Bisexual Umbrella

Visibility matters.  In late September, the nation will be recognizing the bi community via Bisexual Awareness Week. Last year, we compiled a list of the bi and pan folks who had contributed to the AMPLIFY project by that point in time. We had 27 particpants at that point in time. We plan to publish another […]

Kashmire Redd, 28, is 19th Trans Person Killed in 2017

Kashmire Redd

I just read this on TransGriot where Monica Roberts reports that a 28 year old black trans man, Kashmire Redd, was stabbed multiple times by his partner and succumbed to those injuries. This happened in Gates, New York, a suburb of Rochester. Kashmire is the 19th trans person killed this year. 40 year old Doris Carrasquillo […]

Help Us Honor LGBTQ History Month in October

AMPLIFY MLK Day

October is LGBTQ History Month, something we take very seriously on the PghLesbian blog and via the #AMPLIFY project. To help us honor our history, we are planning to publish guest post from LGBTQ neighbors and allies describing the local and regional history they believe we should remember. This will be part of a permanent […]

Morgan, 31, is a Black, Bisexual, Queer, Polyamorous Woman & Mother #AMPLIFY

Pittsburgh polyamorous bisexual queer

Name: Morgan Age: 31 County of Residence:  Allegheny Pronouns: She/her How do you describe your identity? I am a black, bisexual, queer, polyamorous woman and mother. Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I came out to the “general public” in a long Facebook post after the Orlando tragedy in 2016. […]

Kiwi Herring, 30, is the 18th Trans Person Killed in 2017 #SayHerName

Kiwi Herring

Kiwi Herring was a Black trans woman from St. Louis. She died after being shot by police at 8 AM on Tuesday, August 22 outside an apartment complex. Police were responding to a domestic call. According to police, Kiwi had a knife when they entered the apartment in response to the call. She allegedly slashed […]

Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ Community Center Renamed Pgh Equality Center

Big news in Pittsburgh – the organization we all know as the GLCC or the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Pittsburgh has officially changed its name to the Pittsburgh Equality Center. “When we looked at rebranding with a new name and logo, we were particularly mindful of the long history and the work of […]

Update on the Memorial for Gwynevere River Song Including Link to Donate

Nell from TransPride Initiative has shared a few updates with me. Gwyn’s friends and mother have confirmed that Gwyn mostly used ‘she/her’ pronouns, but was fine with ‘they/them.’  Gwyn’s Facebook profile showed ‘they’ as their preference, but that may have been dated information. The memorial for Gwyn is set for Monday, August 21, 2 PM […]

Gwynevere River Song is 17th Trans Person Murdered in US in 2017

Gwynevere River Song

Their name was Gwynevere River Song. They were a 26-year-old trans person from Texas. They identified as femandrogyne, used they pronouns and identified as part of the bisexual community. Gwynevere was a 2015 graduate of the University of Texas. They were a vegetarian and lived in Waxahachie, a suburb of Dallas. Just past 5 pm […]