Q&A with Erica Rocchi Brusselars, Candidate for Allegheny County Treasurer

Erica Brusselars

The makeup of that [Retirement] board speaks to the fact that our government still doesn’t look like us. It also speaks to the fact of what happens when leaders, the electorate, or voting groups aren’t intentional about looking for, promoting, and supporting diversity and folks with different experiences and backgrounds. This is the next post […]

My Blog Turns 18 Today

18 candles

Jesus, it has been a year. The nonprofit I helped to found, Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities, was in business and hit the ground running in January. My mother died in February. I received my second national #GLAADaward as Outstanding Blog in May. I threw out the first pitch during the Pittsburgh Pirates Pride Night at PNC […]

No Crib For a Bed

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don’t really care for music, do you? I’ve always known that my family moved to West Mifflin when I was a preschooler so while I can lay claim to that corner of the blue collar world as […]

Latina Trans Woman Caelee Love-Light Killed in Phoenix

Caelee Love-Light

Last week, 27-year-old Caelee Love-Light was found dead at the scene of a car incident in Phoenix, Arizona. The Latina transwoman succumbed to gunshot injuries she sustained while involved in some sort of altercation with the male occupant of the car. He was stabbed several times and later died of his injuries at a nearby […]

Black Trans Man Mar’Quis ‘MJ’ Jackson, 33, Killed in Philadelphia

Mar’Quis Jackson, known as MJ, turned 33 years old on December 12, 2022. He didn’t come home that night. Two days later, the Black trans man was found dead in the backyard of a residence in Nicetown, a Philadelphia neighborhood. The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating the death of a man found with trauma to […]

My Holiday Decoration Scheme

Or Jesus, Cats, and Trans Kids My neighborhood of Manchester on Pittsburgh’s Northside is having a holiday decorating contest. We have a lovely row house, built in 1872, but no outdoor electrical outlets so our decorating has always been limited. Putting things inside the windows is risky business with cats. And the windows are tall […]

There is a Wrong Way to Celebrate Thanksgiving

This year, Thanksgiving is an empty space. Usually there is family. But several members of my extended family blame me for unrest and there is a very large gulf. So holidays are diced into rotating portions of time and energy. Sometimes there is good food, my favorite meal of the year. But I am rarely […]

Why do we need a campaign to Protect Trans Kids?

Protect Trans Kids

In mid-October, I received several reports of a disturbing new advertisement on local radio stations. The ads claimed that President Biden and other Democrats were supporting policies that forced children to transition. The reality is that the ad itself used lies and unscientific claims to terrorize transgender children and their families. It repeated conservative arguments […]

Review: the Women of Wakanda, Forever

Women of Wakanda

As always keep in mind that we are not professional reviewers. We are just lesbians with opinions. Contains plot spoilers. Wakanda Forever is a lush, lengthy tribute to the contributions of Black women to the magic of the kingdom. of Wakanda and all kingdoms. From Queen to General and guardians, from the African women in […]

Fazing my therapist

My childhood sucked. I knew it then, I know it now. I’ve been working with my current therapist for over four years. She specializes in trauma processing and we’ve spoken at length about some of the atrocities in my life. But with all of her experience, it is hard to faze her. Until this week. […]