Proudly powered by WordPress.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Designed & built by Avenue Design Studios.
Last weekend, I tried to get accommodation for my disability at a local movie theater, The Manor Theater in Squirrel Hill. Most of the other theaters I’ve approached have been fine – they just put up a handwritten “reserved” sign on two aisle seats and ask me to be there 15 minutes ahead […]
This morning, Allegheny County announced plans to revise their deadline for the termination of domestic partner benefits from July 31, 2014 to June 30, 2015. “Now that same sex marriage is legal in Pennsylvania, I believe that it is important to continue to keep our employees on equal footing and that means requiring proof of […]
I’ve obtained a copy of the email the County apparently sent to 11 employees accessing domestic partner benefits on Tuesday June 24. I’ve noticed a few concerning issues The email uses this language “effective immediately” with no reference to July 31 or a cutoff date. Media reports added that clarification. Effective immediately is a little […]
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Allegheny County notified employees about the discontinuation of domestic partner benefits via email. Eileen’s partner (a County employee accessing domestic partner benefits) did not receive this notification. I don’t know what the notice said or how it was worded, but I do hope one element was included – information on […]
I am scheduled for a total knee replacement 8/2014. I also need to have a hysterectomy as I have tested positive for precancerous cells and have a family history. Eileen Halloran and her partner have been together for nearly ten years. They have 3 adult children and 2 grandchildren. Five years ago, Eileen’s partner took […]
When I was a child, I kept coming across passages in books about olden times that described how Independence Day was celebrated. It was nothing like my own experience in the 1970s’ and 1980’s Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin. Here’s an excerpt from a particularly vivid memory – Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder From […]
This has been a tough month, no doubt about it. From Repent Amarillo targeting teenaged girls to the Pittsburgh Dyke Trans March being TERFd (and possibly secretly recorded), it has been an exhausting month. But the worst has happened – a fourth trans woman of color has been found murdered, this time in Walnut Hills, […]
In response to the conversation about domestic partner benefits from PA municipal employers such as Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh, some have raised concerns that same-sex couples will be receiving “special gay privileges” which is unfair to unmarried heterosexual employees. It is probably fair to look back into history at the civil rights movement and […]
For 8 years, I have watched and participated in the growth of Pittsburgh’s Dyke and Trans March (formerly known as the Dyke March), an effort led by the steady and dedicated investment of Eli Kuti, a local feminist trans man. I am not an event organizer. I did not shape the mission statement and I […]
(Published with permission from Joy KMT a featured speaker at the Pittsburgh Dyke Trans March. This may not be reprinted in any form without the explicit permission of Joy KMT.) Yesterday when I was coming back to Pittsburgh I cried. My girl asked me what was wrong, I said I didn’t want to be here. […]
