De, 49, Is Concerned About LGBTQ Youth in Rural Western PA #AMPLIFY

Lesbian Beaver County

Name: De Age: 49 County of Residence: Beaver Preferred Pronouns: Her/She How do you describe your identity? Black lesbian woman Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I came our late in life age 35, i had a few gay male friends that supported me. Since I didn’t have any lesbian friends […]

Being Unfriended on Facebook Without Drama. It Can Happen.

Facebook Unfriending

Earlier this fall, I was poking around Facebook when I realized that I had not read any status updates from a certain person whom I’ll refer to as Glenn. We aren’t tight or really actual friends who hang out in real life – friendly colleagues is a fair description. I respect their work, their values […]

Casey, 38, Honors One Year Since Coming Out As a Gay Woman #AMPLIFY

Pittsburgh Queer Women

Name: Casey Age: 38 County of Residence: Allegheny. I spent some time up in Erie when I was about four or so, and I lived in Philly area for about 7 years right before I moved to Pittsburgh in 2008. But I grew up mostly in the Maryland (Baltimore-DC corridor) area. Preferred Pronouns: her, she…for now How do you describe […]

Mair, 55, Came Out the Same Week As Ellen DeGeneres #AMPLIFY

Lesbian Pittsburgh

Name: Mair Age: 55 County of Residence:  Allegheny, previously Westmoreland Preferred Pronouns: Lesbian How do you describe your identity? Tomboy, butch Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I didn’t know I was gay until I was 33 (1993) and met a women I fell for. Actually, she wrote me […]

Raven Has Not Told Anyone That She’s Pansexual Because She’s Afraid #AMPLIFY

Washington County

Name:  Raven Age: 24 County of Residence: Washington Preferred Pronouns: she/her How do you describe your identity? I am pansexual. Once I did more reading into bisexuality, I realized I am attracted to everyone, every gender, every sex. Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I have only come out as […]

DJ Scott Is a Gay Black Man Full of Positive Vibes #AMPLIFY

Gay Black Pittsburgh

Read the entire AMPLIFY LGBTQ Q&A archive. AMPLIFY LGBTQ is a new occasional series of blog posts designed to give a “signal boost” to the voices of our LGBTQ neighbors throughout Western Pennsylvania. We are using a Q&A format and will minimize editing their responses. The questions, however, may change as we ask each participant to […]

Sent to Facebook Jail for Anti-Racist Stance But I’ll Be Back

CN – quotes of racial slurs I woke up really late this morning. Ledcat is on vacation this week so built-in alarm clock is not working. 9 AM is too late for my comfort and I had a bad feeling as I rolled out of bed to face the day. Little did I know. I […]

I Just Found My (non) Imaginary Childhood Friend on Facebook

Today’s blogging prompt is a challenge to describe what your imaginary childhood friend’s life would be like now. I didn’t have an imaginary friend, but there was one childhood friend who moved away in second grade. I never saw her again. So for no particular reason, I googled her and up popped a Facebook profile […]

Drag Performers Parody Video “That’s Not My Name”

Facebook Name Policy

I love the Ting Tings so this definitely caught my attention. The Legendary Children of Atlanta and Brigitte Bidet released a parody of a Ting Ting hit retitled “WTF Zuck” in response to the Facebook enforcement of the “real names policy.”  And there’s no such thing as too much parody in the world. Especially parody with […]

Why This Lesbian Won’t Leave Facebook

Facebook Name Policy

If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed that I’ve been investigating/poking around the Facebook names policy crackdown – it hit my radar after two Pittsburgh drag performers mentioned being caught up in the thick of it. I smelled a conspiracy and it turns out I was a bit right. As it […]