Reflections on 30 Year Anniversary of March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, Bi Equal Rights and Liberation on April 25, 1993

America’s Civil Rights Agenda Stalled as Attacks on LGBTQIA People Expand Almost thirty years ago, on April 25, 1993, nearly 1,000,000 people marched onto the nation’s capitol in the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. This is a guest blog post by Pittsburgh based queer activist Billy Hileman. Billy was […]

Guest Blog Post: When Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ Community Tried to Warn of Rick Santorum’s Bigoted Politics in the early 1990’s

Santorum Gay Community

Guest Blog Post by Billy Hileman. Santorum’s pathetic white supremacist rant that erased the archaeological evidence that 50-60 million people lived on the two continents that white people later named N and S America, was surely harmful. CNN should fire Santorum and promise that they will not employ other white supremacists. We knew Santorum was […]

Laura, 56, is a Lesbian Who Wants to Shine a Spotlight on LGBTQ History, Issues #AMPLIFY

Lesbian Mercer County

Name: Laura Age: 56 Pronouns: She/her County of Residence: Allegheny, formerly Mercer County and Centre County. How do you describe your identity? Lesbian/gay Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? A friend at college suggested that I might be gay when she noticed I wasn’t “scoping out” the […]

Pride is in the Person, not the Parade: A Guest Blog Post by Billy Hileman

A guest post from longtime LGBTQ activist and former Pride committee member, Billy Hileman. This is in response to decisions by the Delta Foundation that excluded Richard Parsakian’s participation as curator of dance performances at the festival, and separately left him no choice but to withdraw the historic rainbow pride flag. For the first time in […]

WARNING! Pittsburgh Magazine is Dangerous to your Queer Health

Pittsburgh Pridefest

A guest post from longtime LGBTQ activist and former Pride committee member, Billy Hileman, in response to a newly published long form piece in Pittsburgh Magazine about the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh. Note that I was quoted in the magazine article and am cited in Billy’s post. He originally wrote this as a Facebook status […]

Jazmine, 46, Has Advice for LGB Allies to the Trans Community #AMPLIFY

Trans Allegheny County

Name: Jazmine Age: 46 County of Residence: Allegheny Preferred Pronouns: She, her, woman, female, Queen! How do you describe your identity? I was adopted so don’t know my ethnic background. I am a heterosexual female. HIV + Trans woman who often regrets transitioning now that I’m older. Seems things such as relationships would be easier and life less lonely had […]

Pittsburgh Pridefest – Part Three

I’m going to share my thoughts in a four-part series, built around four distinct events – a face-to-face meeting with Pridefest organizers, a community town hall meeting organized by Roots Pride organizers, the protests at Pride in the Streets on Saturday evening and, finally, Pridefest itself on Sunday. These are events I personally attended/witnessed as […]

Pittsburgh Pridefest – Part Two

Pittsburgh Roots Pride

I’m going to share my thoughts in a four-part series, built around four distinct events – a face-to-face meeting with Pridefest organizers, a community town hall meeting organized by Roots Pride organizers, the protests at Pride in the Streets on Saturday evening and, finally, Pridefest itself on Sunday. These are events I personally attended/witnessed as […]

UPDATED Pittsburgh Designates Zones for LGBTQ Community To Protest , Gives 24 Hour Notice to Community Groups

Pittsburgh Pridefest

UPDATE Saturday: Since I wrote this at 11:30 PM Friday, the City has changed the policy about free speech zones and will not require people to use them. More here. I think Mayor Bill Peduto made a significant error in judgment this week regarding Pridefest by failing to disclose plans for “designated areas for protestors” […]

Billy Hileman on Pridefest Controversy: ‘I Stand With The Protestors’

Diversity Pittsburgh Pridefest

Late last week, longtime LGBTQ activist Billy Hileman began posting images on Facebook calling out the Delta Foundation around their decision to invite Iggy Azalea to perform at Pittsburgh Pridefest. Hileman coordinated Pridefest organizing in the 1990’s. He agreed to answer a few questions for me. “Defending Iggy doesn’t work. Iggy Azalea has no business […]