UPDATED: Placing 2nd in the Best of Pittsburgh Local Blog Category

The results are in in (print) and this blog was voted 2nd place by the readers voting in the City Paper Best of Pittsburgh poll for 2021. That’s not shabby. I was debating posting about it because I wanted to give the City Paper a shout-out for being an important media source especially on queer […]

2014 – In Memoriam

Trans lives

Our list from 2014 June 3rd :  the body of Kandy Hall was discovered in a field in northeast Baltimore in what local police believe to be a homicide. June 12th: Zoraida Reyes’s body was discovered behind a Dairy Queen in Anaheim, California. Her death has been ruled suspicious by investigators because it is believed her body was moved to […]

In Memoriam

In Memoriam

This page is an index to the In Memoriam posts honoring the lives and mourning the deaths of our transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming neighbors, what I describe as an epidemic and others as a campaign of terror. This reality has disproportionately impacted trans women of color, especially Black trans women. The most recent example […]

Asking People About Their Vaccination Status Makes Me Anxious

Social Media Face Mask Shares

Recently, a local elected official posted photos on social media – without masks – attending a social event outside. And then supported legislation requiring masks at outdoor spaces. Now that’s a little bit of a head spin, but more importantly to me is the failure to qualify the original posts. Are the people in the […]

They value me more when I am literally diminished or why I’m not talking about my unexplained weight loss

Sue Kerr

t I’ve been keeping something from you and most people. I’m struggling with ongoing symptoms related to a potential GI disorder. That’s not the piece I held back – I’ve written about those experiences. The part I haven’t mentioned is that I’ve lost 25 pounds since the spring. <waits to see what you say> <– […]

The Opposite of Abandonment

It was an early fall evening when the light lingered in the promise of chilly weather. My brother and I escaped the schoolbus and ran down the hill to our family home as fast as we could. I was in 3rd grade so 7 years old. My 5-year-old brother was in 1st grade. The house […]

Little Pridefests Everywhere

The world has changed, as it inevitably does, and we are challenged with moving into a “new normal” rather than clinging to delusions about yesteryear. No, I’m not talking about COVID-19. I’m talking about Pridefest in Pittsburgh. Once upon a time, activist and wise man Jim Fischerkeller shared with me his belief that Pride moves […]

Q&A with Giuseppe Rosselli, Candidate for the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas

[W]e do not acknowledge poverty and lack of opportunity as a significant  contributing cause worthy of diversion. I believe that poverty and lack of  opportunity are the greatest contributing causes to criminal behavior. Our  diversion programs need to be expanded to include individuals who are affected  by these significant underlying contributing causes. This is the […]

My 2x Great Grandmas Speak To Me On Mother’s Day

Irish American Pittsburgh

While I can say they had their moments, it is more accurate to state that my mother and grandmothers were not cut out to have or raise children. Mostly, this is not their fault but the consequence of being surrounded by traumatized, abusive men and cold parents of their own. Mother’s Day like too many […]

Q&A with Sabrina Korbel, Judge, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas

Presently, on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, only 30% of judges are women;  only  four  judges  are people of  color;  only  one  judge  is  a  woman  of  color  and  only  two  judges openly identify at LGBTQ.  With nine open seats, we are at a moment in time where  we can change how the […]