Leo, 24, Fears the Erasure of Nonbinary/Bisexual/Pansexual/Asexual/Demi Narratives in the Queer Community #AMPLIFY

  Nonbinary people are starting to have a voice here but the amount of times I’ve had the pronouns are important conversation with a cis gay man who tells me “well that just wasn’t in my time, you were either gay or you weren’t and there wasn’t in between” is too many times. Name: Leo Age: 24 […]

Review: A Christmas Carol at Carnegie Stage Gets Dickens Right

Spoiler – this adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic gets everything right about the systemic and institutional issues Dickens addressed without the sentimental Christmas washing we are usually handed. The playwrights here understand, as I like to say, that it wasn’t so much that Scrooge’s change of heart saved Tiny Tim as that fair wages, […]

That One Time When Murphy Brown’s Frank Fontana and Avery Brown Were Assaulted in Altoona, PA Because They Are Journalists

Just in case you don’t know – Murphy Brown is a fictional character as are her friend Frank Fontana and her son Avery Brown. They work for fictional networks, Murphy and Frank for CNC hosting ‘Murphy in the Morning’ and Avery for the Wolf Network. They are not actual journalists. They use the sitcom format […]

Ashley, 18, is a Bisexual/Queer Woman Attending College in Allegheny County #AMPLIFY

Pittsburgh Bisexual Woman

I had developed personal relationships with everyone in my workplace. It hurt me to know that they liked me when I didn’t talk about being queer, but when I did, I was met with backlash or side comments. Name: Ashley Age:  18 County of Residence: Allegheny County. I have not lived in other regions of PA, but I […]

Pipeline: A Review (Yes, On Closing Day Because It Matters That Much)

Pipeline Pittsburgh

Yesterday, Ledcat and I went to the final performance of Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau at City Theatre. Earlier this month, I published a Q&A with local performer Brittney Chantelle about her work with 1 Hood Media Academy composing the soundtrack for this show. But circumstances kept us from actually seeing the production until today. To my pleasure, […]

My (Most Recent) Trauma Timeline and Losing My Voice

My (Most Recent) Trauma Timeline and Losing My Voice

In the spring, I was assigned to a new therapist who practices “trauma informed” therapy. It was time to work on some of the deep, dark stuff that I had been dancing around for years and began to really acknowledge just in the six months prior. I was still recovering from the hysterectomy and hadn’t […]

Jodi Hirsh: “I started this fundraiser as a response to the terrible actions of the federal government. And people stepped up in a massive way.”

On October 21, 2018, a friend of mine named Jodi Hirsh decided to use the Facebook birthday fundraiser tool to resist the announcement by the Federal Government that they plan to roll back acknowledgements of gender identity. She chose the Transgender Law Center as the recipient. She wrote “I wasn’t going to do one of […]

Q&A With Emily Skopov, Candidate for PA State House District 28

Your Name: Emily Skopov Your Pronouns: She/her Your District: 28  How do you describe your identity? I identify as a woman, a mother, and member of the Jewish community. Tell us about the first LGBTQ person you met and what impact they had on your life? The first openly gay person I met was named Ronnie. He […]

Q&A With James Craig, Candidate for PA State Senate District 46

I learned about the James Craig campaign via Facebook. His district includes portions of Beaver and Washington counties as well as all of Greene County. His personal story is rather compelling. He’s the first candidate to respond to this round of Q&A’s. I hope you will give his response your consideration. We began this Political […]

72 Bisexual Folx from Western PA Share Their Stories Through The #AMPLIFY Project

Bisexual Pittsburgh

Today is Bisexual Visibility Day, designated to raise awareness and honor the members of our community who identify as bisexual. Through the #AMPLIFY project, we have been able to publish Q&A’s with 70 individuals who identify as bisexual. Please note that this list may not be comprehensive based on how people respond to questions like […]