Barbra Streisand Might Want You To Read This Blog Post

Tom Lenk

This was a very exciting opportunity – the chance to interview Tom Lenk. Yes, he’s the gay guy from Buffy who grew up to bring Barbra Streisand to Pittsburgh. Read on for details on the performance and some Q&A with Tom himself. Pittsburgh Public Theater’s 40th anniversary Season of Legends concludes with the Pittsburgh premiere […]

Sleater-Kinney and 2.5 Wave Feminism

Sleater-Kinney

  Last night, I saw my first riot grrrl concert when Sleater-Kinney took the stage in Pittsburgh for the first time in 19 years. The show was sold-out. It was good. My ears hurt. I recognized about half the songs after marathon listening sessions in the prior weeks. I didn’t care when I didn’t recognize […]

AMPLIFY! LGBTQ

Western Pennsylvania

  Beginning in 2015, I am working as an Artist in Residence with Most Wanted Fine Art, a gallery based in Garfield. My project is titled “AMPLIFY! LGBTQ” and will feature a series of Q&A blog posts with LGBTQ neighbors throughout Western Pennsylvania. The concept is straightforward. Use the Q&A format to amplify the lived […]

Here’s a Video of Our Door

Most Wanted Fine Art Contracting

I can’t think of anything to blog about today. My mind is reeling between topics including the #BlackLivesMatter protests and the disclosure about Rolling Stone’s botched story on sexual assault. I’m also coping with some minor home renovations and – toughest of all – the looming surgery my 13 year old dog will have on […]

Blogging Pittsburgh Opera

The Pittsburgh Opera Building

I pretty much always assumed that I would hate opera. I did not like many musicals – very much disliked Cats for example. I preferred dialogue to singing and I’m not a fan of the higher octaves as I was exposed to them at local Catholic churches in painful ways for most of my young […]

The Time I Volunteered On Election Day

Kerry Edwards Rainbow Button

Way, way back in 2004, I was an active member of Steel City Stonewall Democrats and I was drafted to help out on Election Day in November. Based on my (ahem) vast social service experience (& lack of experience with poll data), I was put in charge of volunteers. I dutifully began recruiting people to […]

NWLC, here’s how you tell transgender jokes

I saw two examples this week of satirists using transgender themes to address important issues. One failed miserably — and I, and many other people, were disappointed, since it came from the National Women’s Law Center, traditionally an ally of LGBT causes. The other satire was a funny and — surprisingly — nuanced take from […]

Pittsburgh Dad Makes First Reference to Gay Neighbors

I like Pittsburgh Dad. He rings true to me – this strange amalgam of adult men in my family and my friend’s fathers. Yep, he’s corny. Yep, he’s sometimes tries too hard. Yep, he’s a little too loose and easy with the insults of others. That’s what I mean – he sounds real to me. […]

Can I Bring My Gay Friend to the GLCC Youth Programs?

Earlier this week, I represented Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ Community Center (the GLCC) at an event for teen girls in a program called GirlGov . My assigned task was to describe advocacy opportunities with the GLCC. But as so often is the case, my actual reason for being there was something entirely different. The set-up was like speed […]

ENDA, Religious Exemptions, and Why Non-Discrimination Matters

Repent Amarillo

Most people do not believe this so let me open with a statement of fact – in most of the United States (and Pennsylvania) it is legal to fire someone or deny them a rental unit or service because they are LGBTQ.  It is legal. It doesn’t have anything to do with “right to work” […]