Six Summer Personal Care Items You Never Thought To Donate

Pittsburgh Pride

While it is not technically summer, the 84 degree weather has me thinking about things like finding my flip-flops, setting out the deck furniture and maybe even planting stuff that grows. I might get ambitious and carry my winter coats to the attic this weekend. Just another ritual in the day to day change of […]

“How Can I Help?” Are The Sweetest Words

Pittsburgh Pride

There’s plenty of good news to report from Cathy’s Closet We’ve raised nearly $700 through Crowdrise, a private donation and the proceeds from an iCandy event in April. We have 12 collections scheduled, starting last month actually. Cathy was honored with a posthumous award by the editors of Keystone Alliance/Gaylife Newsletter which will be accepted […]

If You Can’t Afford Tampons, What Do You Do?

Cathy's Closet Sister Supplies

This is a problem that I never thought about until I was 25 years old. While my family had financial struggles, I never lacked the items most women take for granted – pads and tampons. At 25, I met Shirley who gently educated me on the impact of poverty on our womanly ways. I learned […]

10 Things You Can’t Buy With Food Stamps

Food Stamps

My latest piece published on Huffington Post in the “Gay Voices” section …

I’d Rather Remember My 39th Birthday

Do you still feel pressure of conform? If no, what age did it stop? Also, Write a post inspired by your sixteenth birthday. Oh, my dear question generator, you are obviously not part of a subculture or a subculture within a subculture. The “pressure to conform” to being straight is all around you. Open the newspaper […]

When Helpers Need Help: Reflection on Life As An Activist

Cathy Cairns

Cathy is 61 years old. Her professional career has spanned nearly four decades in a rural community just outside of Pittsburgh. As she faces her final days with a diagnosis of end stage pancreatic cancer, she finds herself without the financial means to pay for her final expenses – a funeral, gravesite and a headstone. […]

Who Do Our Allies Really Welcome to the Table?

Tonight, I have no tact, I’m paranoid and I don’t understand how collaboration works. So the gatekeeper decides that I do not get access to my elected official unless I explain myself to him first. This is why I hate that so many elected officials have gmail accounts that are screened by staff anyway. What’s […]

City Council to Consider Changes to Domestic Partner Registry

Today I got word that City Councilor Bruce Kraus is introducing legislation to amend the City Code around the Domestic Partner Registry:   Bill No. 2013-1772  Ordinance amending the Pittsburgh Code, Title One, Administrative, Article XI: Personnel, Chapter 186: Domestic Partnership and Common Law Spouse Benefits, by adding language in Section 186.04: Requirements for Mutual Commitment Registry. […]

Five Ways To Make Labor Day More Meaningful to the Average Person

Labor Day was officially established by Congress in 1894.  I’ve been thinking about its relevancy in today’s world – how does the FOP and the SEIU and Wal-Mart and UPMC tie together? So here are my thoughts on how Labor itself can help me understand.   First, educate us. I’d love to attend a Labor […]

Bullies With Buggies – How Register Rage Blinds Otherwise Reasonable People to The Facts

I never really understood why or how people manage to monitor the grocery shopping habits of other people in their line.  Yes, I might glance in someone’s cart while waiting my turn in line, but I tend to look away – sort of good manners dictating that I not stare at what people are purchasing. […]