US Senate to Vote on Respect for Marriage Act – Call Today

lesbian wedding

Today, the United States Senate may hold a procedural vote to forward the process of passing the ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ – federal recognition of marriage equality. The Respect for Marriage Act, abbreviated as RFMA (H.R. 8404, S. 4556), is a bill in the United States Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and require the U.S. federal government to recognize the validity […]

Gay Respectability and How Our Families Reacted to Our Wedding

lesbian wedding

Today marks our two week wedding anniversary. We had originally planned to celebrate with Mexican food and a Henry Louis Gates marathon, but the frigid temps make it patently unfair to ask any human being to go out into the weather to deliver food. So it is soup from the pantry and HLG marathon. Married […]

Keith, 48, is a Gay, White Man Using Marriage Equality for Teachable Moments in North Carolina #AMPLIFY

Gay Man Allegheny

Editor’s Note: It seems appropriate to share that Keith is the first openly LGBTQ person that I knew; we grew up together. He was the second person that I came out to myself. And even having that history – and decades of friendship – his answers took me by suprise, in a good way. ~ […]

Kyle Discusses Privilege & Perception of Gay, White, Cisgender Men #AMPLIFY

gay bisexual cis man Allegheny County

How would you describe yourself NOW in terms of “being out”?

I am 100% viewed by most as being out as a gay man, which is funny since I have spent most of my adulthood as bi- or pan-sexual (I adopted the pan-sexual identity after first hearing about it). But, I am a cis-gender man who is married to a cis-gender man. Since most people just assume that means I am gay, that is what I am generally seen as. So, I suppose I am “out,” just not everyone knows the full story.

AMPLIFY! Bob Is First Openly Gay Government Official in Northwestern PA

Bob Langley Crawford County

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 mostly avoid editing their responses. The questions, however, may change as we ask each participant to tell us what we’ve missed […]

The 44 Year Old Bridesmaid

Same Sex Marriage Pennsylvania

I’ve never been a bridesmaid. I’ve been the lector (the person who reads during a Catholic Mass) many times over, but never a bridesmaid. Don’t get me wrong, this has its advantages. I can wear whatever dress I want, I often was included in the pre-wedding festivities and my outlay of cash was minimal. But […]

Allegheny County Email To Domestic Partners

Pennsylvania Equality

I’ve obtained a copy of the email the County apparently sent to 11 employees accessing domestic partner benefits on Tuesday June 24. I’ve noticed a few concerning issues The email uses this language “effective immediately” with no reference to July 31 or a cutoff date. Media reports added that clarification. Effective immediately is a little […]

Review: The Fosters from ABC Family

ABC Family The Fosters

May be spoilerish. You’ve been warned. I’ve been hearing many good things about this show from my friend Dana at Mombian. The story focuses on a lesbian couple that happens to be biracial, Stef and Lena, who are raising a blended family. Their children include Stef’s biological son from her first marriage, Brandon, as well […]

Governor Corbett Compares Same Sex Marriage to Incest

Corbett Pennsylvania

So yesterday we learn that a County Commissioner from Lehigh County compared domestic partners (and same sex married people) to pets. Today, Governor Corbett lowered the bar back to comparing our relationships to incest. The context?  He was taking responsibility for the inappropriate comparison of same sex marriage to child marriage, claiming that “a brother […]

Would a Domestic Partnership Interfere with a Civil Marriage?

So I continue to wait for someone to remedy the situation with the City of Pittsburgh, I had an interesting thought. FTR, we are now up to three members of Council, a staffer with the Mayor’s office, the ACLU and the Women’s Law Project all trying to find out what happened to the affidavits. Your […]