Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Last week, friends set up a meal train for us to help me with my struggle to eat. It has been a lovely resource and quite effective. Dinner is handled most nights giving Laura a bit of breathing room with all the home stuff she has to manage in addition to her job and all […]

Grief, Anger, Fear, and Guilt: Comments from a Friend of Kathryn Newhouse at Her Candlelight Vigil

Kathryn Newhouse

On Saturday March 19, 2022, a 19-year-old Asian-American autistic trans woman living with mental illness issues was murdered by her father (filicide) in their family home. Her father then died by suicide using the same gun. Her name was Kathryn (Katie) Newhouse. Yesterday, friends and neighbors organized a candlelight vigil to honor her life and acknowledge […]

What I Learned About Gender From Running Track in High School

Among my many facts that shock people is one that I don’t often discuss – the letter I earned in my junior year in high school on the women’s track team. This was at West Mifflin Area High School in 1987. I was never an athlete. I played softball recreationally, but my horrible depth perception […]

Black Trans Woman Kesha Webster, 24, Found Dead in Jackson, Mississippi

Kesha Webster

Kesha Webster was found dead on Charleston Drive in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday, March 26, 2022. Her death is under investigation with family telling the media it was a ‘robbery-homicide’ but no further information from local law enforcement. I haven’t been able to find any media reports of the incident itself. Kesha’s mother wants to […]

Annual Dr. John P. Ruffing DVM Memorial Pet Food Drive

Dr. John Ruffing

Did you know Dr. Ruffing? He started as a vet assistant in the 1980s and practiced as a veterinarian until disability forced him to stop in the mid 2000s. He passed in 2007. John’s legacy was embedded in his intimate bonds with his clients. He was a “get on the floor” vet who soothed scared […]

Candlelight Vigil April 4 for Kathryn Newhouse, Trans Teen Murdered by Her Father in Georgia

Kathryn Vigil

Friends and neighbors have responded with outrage to news of the murder of 19-year-old autistic Asian-American trans woman, Kathryn Newhouse, at the hands of her father. The LGBTQ media has barely responded, leaving the media narrative skewed by Kathryn’s brother. That’s rarely good when it comes to violence targeting trans folx. I’ve spent the better […]

PA House Republicans Advance Anti-Trans Legislation That Will Do Nothing to Help Working Families

On its face, the legislation is absolute rubbish. Trans women and trans girl and nonbinary folx are incredibly underrepresented in academic athletic programs. All this fuss and bother to pass these bills in Republican controlled states is such an obvious attempt to delude voters into thinking they are protecting children while actually not attending to […]

Show Your Community Cat Pride with this Unique Yard Sign

Proud Community Cat Folx

Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities (PLC) created these yard signs to highlight the many wonderful cat folx throughout the region – pet owners, rescuers, colony caretakers, veterinary professionals, and others. We love our yard signs in this region! And ’tis the season for other yard signs to spring up everywhere. Let’s add cats to that mix. Your […]

Q&A with Emily Kinkead, Candidate for PA State House District 20

Emily Kinkead Pennsylvania

if re-elected, I intend to leverage my new relationships (if the Democrats don’t manage to take the majority) to get some traction on one of my most important, if possibly least sexy, pieces of legislation – a bill that would establish a state insurance program (like mine subsidence insurance) for people impacted by landslides. State […]

OUTrageous Bingo is Back, Yinz.

OUTrageous Bingo Coronavirus

One of my absolute favorite parts of the regional LGBTQ community is OUTrageous Bingo – a monthly gathering of about 500 people, queer and allies, in a synagogue social hall. I first went to bingo in the late 1990s when it was in the Strip District, crammed into a warehouse. Even growing up next to […]