Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Let’s see what’s been happening with local print media coverage of LGBTQ issues

Ally Audrey Glickman has a terrific Letter to the Editor in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I must comment that we need to get past being mired in social and civil rights matters while the economy, ecology and democracy need attention

The Post-Gazette missed a terrific opportunity to explore Western PA Democrats’ social conservatism by briefly mentioning the Democrat’s platform but only focusing on marriage equality. The platform also includes specific support to protect us from workplace discrimination vis a vis an inclusive ENDA. This is very salient issue for our region – Pennsylvania has limited local protections and when Democrats who are allegedly pro-labor like Mark Critz skip the Convention … well it says something to those of us with limited job protections.  They made the same mistake when covering the Chick-fil-A story. The Post-Gazette really needs to brush up  on these issues to avoid continuously falling into the “marriage equality is THE issue” trap – that’s the sexy approach, but its neither fair nor accurate.

The Cutting Edge continues to overlook local critique in favor of what New York has to say with regard to Chick-fil-A. Again, he missed the issue hitting close to home – it is just frustrating that we are lumped in with “hinterlands” and that point isn’t spelled out. Sigh.

Chairwoman of Pittsburgh’s Gay and Lesbian Community Center Lyndsey Sickler wrote a lovely piece about collaboration to promote inclusion.

The Tribune Review prints an AP piece about the abduction/child custody case trial of Kenneth Miller, accused of helping Lisa Miller abduct her daughter and leave the country to avoid court ordered custodial arrangements with Lisa Miller’s former partner.

The Trib also blows coverage on Chick-fil-A by inaccurately focusing on marriage equality. I’m not going to bother to link because its ridiculous.

They did print a piece from Chicago about 5 Eagle Scouts returning their badges and medals in protests of the Boy Scouts continued ban on LGBT inclusion in their ranks.

The Beaver County Times ran a nice piece from the AP on the lack of visibility of LGBTQ athletes among Olympians.

The Times also ran a piece on HIV prevention.

Overall, we continue to see a trend at the Post-Gazette of focusing most of their coverage on the issue of marriage equality. This tunnelvision reporting is a disservice to Western PA – there’s a myriad of issues related to the LGBTQ community that deserve some attention and are salient in the larger discussions, especially as we draw closer to election day.  The Trib continues its historical trend of being completely erratic. LOL. And the Times seems to pull its weight by covering issues outside of the marriage meme — HIV prevention is a good example.

I have no problem with the two larger papers providing equal space for opposing points of view both in terms of columns and letters to the editor. My concern is that The Post-Gazette is simply defaulting to the sexy issue with little grasp of the bigger picture, the anti-thesis of what a major media outlet should be doing.

As always, our best response is “more speech” so please consider submitting your letter to the editor today.