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[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 […]
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 […]
LGBTQ folx are everywhere, and we’re not going away. By taking office, we can push not just legislation to ensure our legal rights are protected, but also push for normalizing what are seen as LGBTQ+ issues until your LGBTQ+ identity is as unremarkable as your hair color. I want to make it clear that […]
This has the potential to be a change election for our county. Nearly 25% of the court’s seats are open and up for election. It is clear that criminal justice reform is the order of the day and nearly all of the candidates in this race are astute enough to be able to speak the […]
I’ve been working on developing a glossary to be used across Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services, the Courts, and DHS-contracted service providers. The glossary is nearing completion and had been developed utilizing gender inclusive and gender neutral language throughout the glossary. It is critically important for judges to recognize the importance of word choice […]
But from that experience comes a perspective that can only benefit those that might come before me as Magistrate: I’ll approach each person as more than their worst day or worst choice or most shameful story. I know first hand that we are all more than any one of those things and we deserve a […]
Content Note: sexual violence, mental illness, family violence I was born on October 22, 1970. By mid-July 1971, my mother was pregnant again with my brother. Somewhere during that time, she was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit. I was left with my paternal grandparents. By my third birthday, we were all reunited under the same […]
(TW: transphobia, rape) I’m trying to figure out what’s motivating J.K. Rowling to defecate on her trans and queer fans from a great height, and I’m failing miserably. I’m also at a loss to figure out why the U.K. and Ireland seem to be a nexus for trans-exclusionary bullshit. I have some theories centering around […]
It is never easy coming out, be it for the first time or the hundredth time, and that little bit of fear is still there after having some people in my life no longer wish to be a part of my life. But I feel it is important to be out, and visible, and that […]
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, […]
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