The Mayor’s GLBT Advisory Council

The Mayor’s GLBT Advisory Council

I left tonight's meeting with some unanswered questions that I have submitted to his staff, so I'm going to give you a brief overview of the proceedings and save my analysis for a later date. There 25 people in attendance, plus two folks from the media (City Paper and Rustbelt Radio).  They are accepting nominations through […]

Pgh City Council Votes to Update Trans Non-Discrimination Protections

  Something very interesting took place in Pittsburgh City Council today – they directly addressed a matter of transgender municipal equality for the first time in history. The issue is non-discrimination which Pittsburgh City Council first took up as far back as the late 1980’s. In 1990, the City amended the Human Relations Ordinance to […]

Updated: This is Why It’s Okay to Ask Mayor Peduto Questions

If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed that I’ve been asking around to determine if the Peduto Administration has hired any openly LGBTQ people into a supervisory/leadership role or appointed to a commission/task force. Radio silence. No one will comment on the record. I’ve had quite a few off the record […]

City of Pittsburgh Honors Life and Death of Trans Trailblazer Wendi Miller (July 14, 1947 – April 6, 2023)

Saturday, April 8, 2023 Declared “Wendi Miller Day” Coming out in the late 1990s brought me into the orbit of some of the iconic community leaders whose courage and prescience during the 1980s and 1990s laid the groundwork for the rights and privileges LGBTQ+ folx enjoy today in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. I didn’t know them […]

For Your Consideration: The Case to Appoint Sue Kerr to Pittsburgh LGBTQIA+ Commission

Pittsburgh LGBTQIA Commission

In July 2020, Pittsburgh City Council unanimously approved the formation of a new commission focused on the LGBTQ community to replace the current Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee established in 2008 by Mayor Ravenstahl. Commissions serve the City residents, not just advising the Mayor. This is a change I first proposed in July 2019. From TheTrib: […]

Q&A With Nina Ahmad, Candidate for PA Auditor General

We are revisiting our Political Q&A series for the upcoming elections of 2020. We’ve reached out to candidates who are pro-choice and pro-LGBTQ, asking them a series of questions about their campaigns. We’ve sent out about a dozen Q&A’s to folks and encourage you to suggest others. Candidates can be anywhere in Pennsylvania running for […]

A History of My Friendship With Mayor Bill Peduto

One of the longest running relationships has been with Mayor Bill Peduto. Our friendship is a very loose use of the word; we aren’t personal friends and have rarely had a lot of face-to-face contact. What we’ve shared has been our investment in LGBTQ and other progressive issues, even though we haven’t always been on the exact same side every time.

Gender Identity Imploded Local Queer Women’s Community in 2007 #LGBTHistoryMonth

In honor of LGBT History Month (October), we will be exploring some of our historical content and sharing historical perspectives from readers. If you’d like to contribute, please email us pghlesbian at gmail dot com. In 2007, we covered a significant story  – the decision by a lesbian-centric fundraiser, Celebrate the Night, to ban a […]

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, […]

Minion Wants To Talk About What It Means to be a Queer, Black, Futch Leathergirl #AMPLIFY

Leather Community Pittsburgh

  Name: Minion Age: 32 County of Residence: Allegheny, formerly Westmoreland Preferred Pronouns:  she/her How do you describe your identity? Black; cis-gendered; futch; pansexual and panromantic; pagan/afro-spiritual; polyamorous; sapiosexual; leather slave and leather babygirl Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I came out to my mother the spring before I […]