Day Five of COVID-19 Quarantine: How to not kill your domestic partner

Working from home with pets

So we’ve been home since the weekend. Okay, technically I have been home since 2010. Laura has been working from home since Tuesday. Random observations The load on our wi-fi (FIOS) is significant. We are being careful to turn off devices to minimize lag time. That’s slightly annoying. We are also keeping devices, especially our […]

New #ThingsToDo – A Project for Kids to Help Each Other During the COVID-19 Pandemic

New Things To Do Project

We have a new project. Today, we heard from our friends with kids, our family with kids, and neighbors with kids – all struggling to juggle keeping kids engaged and safe while taking care of other tasks as well. Some are working from home, some are without work, all are feeling the anxiety of these […]

SisTers PGH Statement on COVID-19

SisTers PGH

I’ve reached out to several local LGBTQ organizations, requesting an update on how they are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include: Pittsburgh Center for Equality, Persad Center, PFLAG Pittsburgh, TransPride Pittsburgh, Proud Haven, OUTrageous Bingo, Shepherd Wellness Community, SisTers Pgh, and True T Pittsburgh. As I receive their responses, I will publish. Some of […]

Guest Blog Post: Fever sale? How COVID-19 is affecting this particular arts-based small business.

Small Business COVID-19 Coronavirus

I’m coping by trying to focus on practical, actionable, data-driven preventative measures we can take to assist the most at-risk people in our families and communities. The following is a post I wrote last Thursday, March 12, on the Facebook page for my business, Etna Print Circus. I chose to share it with a couple […]

Q&A With Lissa Geiger Shulman, Candidate for PA State House 30

Lissa for PA

As a woman, I do bring a still under-represented perspective as only 26% of the General Assembly is women. However, I also have a privileged perspective due to my race, sexual orientation, and gender identity. I acknowledge that this limits my perspective, and will work to listen to and elevate more diverse voices as a […]

Q&A with Emily Kinkead, Candidate for PA State House District 20

Emily Kinkead

I make a concerted effort to inform myself about the LGBTQIA+-related issues in my district and in our community and the events that I can attend to demonstrate my support. This spans everything from talking to my queer-identifying friends and activists about their experiences to attending the Trans Day of Remembrance and the protest at […]

The Time a Lesbian Democrat Shamed Me for Being a Disabled Person With Cats

Kittens Instagram

A few days ago, a person whom I know only through social media and a few mutual friends decided to leave a comment on an Instagram post I had shared – a photo of some of our resident cats and foster kittens eating dinner together. Her comment was a disproportionate reaction to  few cat hashtags. […]

Proof that Allegheny County Democratic Committee Members Support Trump

Allegheny County Democrats

Content Note: racism, misogyny, misogynoir, ableism, sexism, homophobia, pro-Trump content, xenophobia, sexualizing young girls, Democrats, politicians Recently, several local media outlets have disclosed social media content posted, mainly on Facebook, by a ward chair of the Allegheny County Democrat Committee, Jeff ‘Bean’ Anesin. While a few of the posts suggest that Anesin is a Trump […]

Patrouious Achatz, 25, Compares LGBTQ+ Resources in Allegheny, Westmoreland, and McKean counties #AMPLIFYupdate

A Heteroromantic Demisexual Man with Trans Experience

At the request of our contributors, we are creating space for people to submit updates. We know that for some folks, life has changed so we are offering an opportunity to post an update to earlier responses. We will NOT be modifying that content, but we will create a link to this new post. This […]

That Time When the Social Security Administration Took Away My Disability Benefits Without Telling Me Why: Part One

SSDI Benefits Stopped

A week ago Friday, I put the final touches on an essay for PublicSource and gave it my blessing to be published the following Monday. The topic was social security and I had a teeny twinge about triggering an unwarranted review by someone who sees all the words I create, but doesn’t read them enough […]