Pgh Northside Cat Ladies and Friends Feral Cat Supplies – Donate!

Fundraiser for homeless cats

The Pgh Northside Cat Ladies and Friends are working with Homeless Cat Management Team to create a cat trapping “lending library” on the Northside for convenience and efficiency. This project is eligible for a 100% match so any bit you can donate will get twice as close to our end goal. Our goal is two […]

How much would you pay to hear Ed Pinto’s queer life story? #AMPLIFY

Ed Pinto Pittsburgh

This is Ed Pinto aka Eduardo Pienta aka Eddie the Jagoff. I met Ed in January 2017 at a fundraiser organized by Viva Valezz to support the ACLU. His body was covered in ink, the ‘script’ of a performance spoken word piece. I was impressed that he could do a backbend and had very pretty […]

Help Replace the Laptop of the GLAAD LGBTQ Outstanding Blog for 2019 #GLAADAwards

GLAAD Outstanding Blog Award

  Soooo … this is a tale of irony and frustration. In early May, I had the honor being named Outstanding Blog through the GLAAD Awards. It was so great to have the hard work of 14 years plus dozens of contributing bloggers and AMPLIFYers acknwoledge on a national platform. We decided to celebrate by […]

How and Why to Invest in This Blog: Pride Edition

Every so often, I put up a post to encourage you to invest in this blog and our assorted projects. Winning a national award for this blog from GLAADseems like a good moment to consider what resources it takes to produce and how you can help. As you can probably see, we’ve recently joined the […]

One Blog, Two Fundraisers

We are currently working simultaneously on two very different crowdfunds. First, we teamed up with the Homeless Cat Management Team and CARMAA to organize a cat food drive to specifically benefit caretakers of homeless cat colonies (feral cat colonies) in Pittsburgh. This is a good way to put resources in the hands of people doing […]

Pittsburgh Roots Pride Organizers Need & Deserve Community Support

These are my own thoughts, I cannot speak for Joy and Michael. In 2015, they stepped up to lead a resistance against corporatized, corrupt Pride defined by Iggy Azalea but grounded in much deeper problems in the regional LGBTQ community. Beyond resisting, they created a three year project, Roots Pride, celebrating and centering those typically […]

Please Donate to #AMPLIFY LGBTQ Voices on #GivingTuesday

GivingTuesday LGBTQ Pittsburgh

  We are in the midst of several ‘giving’ projects, including supporting our LGBTQ community groups for the holidays. We need gift cards, socks, backpacks, board games, cookies, volunteers, and more. These are important projects. That being said, #AMPLIFY is also an important project. I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on the unexpected deaths of […]

Amplify LGBTQ Voices from Pittsburgh’s Northside Because We Believe In Our Back Yards

We have a very special opportunity right now to receive a 100% match from the Buhl Foundation for a one-time hyperlocal AMPLIFY blitz. This is an extension of the One Northside project. A few weeks ago, I was asked to identify LGBTQ resources on the Northside – from any or all of the 18 neighborhoods. […]

Do You Know Your Neighbors’ Names? A Crowdfund in Memory of Henry Dougherty

Recently, my neighbor died unexpectedly. We were out of town at the time of his death and only learned about it nearly a week later during conversation with another neighbor. I was horrified. He was a genuinely nice guy who always said hello and waved. He would run across the street to help with packages […]

Please Support the Four Children of Kala Thomas #SayHerName

I blogged yesterday about the devastating murder of a 25 year-old local mother of four, Kala Thomas. She leaves behind two sets of twins, 8 years old and 3 months old. Her family has established two sources for donations to support the children. If you can donate, please do so. The children lost their mother. […]