This Year In Pennsylvania, These Openly LGBTQ Candidates Won Office

A list of openly LGBTQ people who won elected office in Pennsylvania in 2023. Each time I create a post like this, I am humbled to think of how much has changed since I began blogging in December 2005. At that point, an openly gay man won office on Wilkinsburg Council in the 90s, but […]

Elijah Reviews New Disney Movie ‘Wish’

Disney Wish Movie

Elijah has been handling reviews for awhile here. What’s more, I’m switching to embedding Tiktok videos because of the captions. And then, we were invited to review the new Disney flick ‘Wish.’ I sent the Disney enthusiasts. Still, Elijah’s review focuses on what he saw/heard in the movie as “homage” to the legacy of Disney. […]

How Discovering My Superpowers Gave Me True Courage

I’ve been watching a lot of superhero/fantasy tv with my nephew, leading me to consider my preferred superpowers. Yes, superpowers. I have two well-worn responses to that query. First, I have excellent peripheral vision because my eyes protrude, known as exothalmia. One of those eyes is lazy and wasn’t properly treated in childhood so I […]

The Murder of Trans Man Jean Thomas Butchart

Jean Thomas Buchart

The Crime As has been noted, a 26 year old white trans man, Jean Thomas Butchart was fatally shot in a Belleville, Michigan mobile home park on August 4, 2023. According to the Macomb Daily: Matthew Torrey Tiggs,22, is charged in a crime spree that began in the Van Buren Estates mobile home park. He […]

GLAAD Published My Essay for the Trans Day of Remembrance

I was asked to write this piece for GLAAD in honor of the Trans Day of Remembrance – Sue For ten years, I have been documenting violence against the trans community by writing memorial posts on my blog, Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents. While my work overlaps with the work of Transgender Day of Remembrance volunteers, I am […]

How to Save This Blog: Support This Blog

Save the Blog

Recent events have made it clear that this 18 year old blog could be in peril. That would mean the loss of thousands of blog posts chronicling LGBTQ narratives from Pittsburgh, Western PA, and beyond. This includes over 300 stories in the #AMPLIFY project, 350 memorial posts honoring our trans neighbors, and hundreds of posts […]

Honoring the Dead: Trans Day of Remembrance Events in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania

According to GLAAD and Remember Our Dead, TDOR started in San Francisco in 1999, when trans advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith held a vigil honoring the memory of Rita Hester, a trans woman who was killed in her home two days before her 35th birthday. Ever since, TDOR has taken place on November 20th. Attendees honor Rita and her […]

How Do We Cope When Two Black Trans And GNC Young Adults Are Shot to Death in Ohio?

The Crime Gun violence in Toledo claimed the lives of a Black trans woman and a gender nonconforming gay Black man, both age 21. They were best friends, killed by gunfire in the same incident. Two adults were taken to the hospital in critical condition after a shooting around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. A press release […]

We Just Learned that the Name of a Black Trans Woman Shot to Death in April is LaKendra Andrews

The Crime Recently, we learned of the shooting death of 26 year old Black trans woman LaKendra Andrews in Dallas in April 2023 from Nu Trans Movement. Previously, reporting on her death had misgendered her and used her deadname, leaving her off these lists for over six months. At around 8:35 a.m. April 29, police […]

How this Delaware County School District is Affirming the Privacy of Transgender Students through New Policies

Penn-Delco School District transgender

We recently learned that Penn-Delco School District leaders are working on a draft of a policy addressing nondiscrimination needs of the students. This includes transgender students. Penn-Delco is a suburban public school school district in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Some transgender students are not openly so at home for reasons such as safety concerns or lack […]