Democrats Want to Know Why Conor Lamb Is Tied to Daylin Leach? #MeToo

I wasn’t going to write this post. Yet. After I received commitments from all three Democratic candidates for Senate to complete my Q&A, I told myself that was valuable for readers and the larger LGBTQ community. I needed to be fair even if my opinions are seeping in here and there. I’m not trying strive […]

On Being a Woman

When I was a teenager and young adult, I struggled with the simple concept that I was a woman. I wasn’t questioning my gender identity; I was questioning my validity. Anytime I had to say something like “I’m a woman” in any context, I was self-conscious and awkward and keenly aware that I felt ‘othered.” […]

PYC Statement on Former LGBTQ Nonprofit Leader John Dawe’s Sentencing for Sexual Abuse

I am glad to see the Pennsylvania Youth Congress coming forward with a clear, concise record of their efforts to hold sexual predator John Dawe and the LGBTQ adults who enabled him accountable for sexual violence inflicted on our youth. This has been known for years. These organizations are no better than the Catholic Church […]

Let the record show that I spoke up for Susan Kerr and said that what she endured was not okay

Sue Kerr

Content note: trauma, child abuse, generational dysfunction, childhood sexual violence So I’m not attaching or bonding with my parents, I’m developing a ridiculously unhealthy dependency on a horrific abuser. And no one talks about any of this because they don’t have the skills to do so. Welcome to 1972. “How much do you love me?” […]

I’m sorry I put my trust in Mike Fuoco

Mike Fuoco Sexual Harassment

I’ve written several blog posts commending a journalist who has recently been revealed to be a serial sexual harasser, to put it mildly. He has stepped down from his leadership role in his union and quit the newspaper he called home for many years. His name is Mike Fuoco. I’m shocked, but not surprised. I’m […]

On Day 194, I’m Edgy

Content Note: sexual violence That’s an understatement. On Monday, I’m planning to use EMDR tools to begin working on some new information. The world is on fire, but I’m sticking with the plan. The new information isn’t actually new – I have attachment challenges, not the least was due to bonding with a substitute caretaker […]

My First Doll

Content Note: sexual violence, assault, intergenerational trauma, child abuse I still have my very first baby doll, a rag doll named Mary. She sleeps in a cradle that was originally a wooden planter. She lived on a relatives dresser for many years and I finally inherited her when that person moved. I’ve written before about […]

A mother’s love

Content Note: sexual violence, mental illness, family violence I was born on October 22, 1970. By mid-July 1971, my mother was pregnant again with my brother. Somewhere during that time, she was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit. I was left with my paternal grandparents. By my third birthday, we were all reunited under the same […]

It’s not about sex. It is about violence, sexual violence an adult inflicted on a kid.

Sexual Assault

Content Note: sexual assault, child abuse, When news broke that yet another famous entitled man was engaged in sexually violating a child, in this case a 13-year-old girl, I felt nothing. Just empty resignation and quiet despair. Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez on Tuesday admitted to police that he attempted to have sex with a 13-year-old […]

I Need Something Human

Foster Kittens

This week has been intense and I’m struggling to figure out what comes next for me. Not in some big grand mysterious plan sort of way, but in an introspective “Am I the person I want to be?” sort of way. On the ‘yes’ side of that question – I trapped five homeless kittens at […]