Statement from the City of Pittsburgh LGBTQIA+ Commission regarding
the bigoted anti-transgender radio advertisement airing on certain local
radio stations: Not in Our Town.

Disclosure: I am a member of this Commission and currently serve as a co-chair. I also helped to draft this statement. I am available for comment. ~ Sue

Commissioners: Kathi Boyle • Nekia Burton Tucker • Denise DeSimone • Jam Hammond • Billy Hileman • Sue Kerr • Bruce Kraus • Maria Montaño
Lenny Orbovich • Richard Parsakian • Chauntey Porter • Christopher Robinson • Marcus Robinson • Sarah Rosso • Rev. Deryck Tines • Guillermo Velazquez

At least five Pittsburgh area radio stations — by choice — are airing a vicious anti-transgender
ad produced and paid for by Stephen Miller’s America First Legal Foundation.

At the release time of this statement, the ad was being aired by KDKA 1020, WISH 99.7,
WDVE 102.5, X 105.9, and WDSY 108. Other stations that were airing the ad have stopped,
apparently because of community outcry. Radio stations that profit in this manner are not good
citizens in a city and region that strives to respect diversity and be a safe place for all persons.

Our Commission calls on elected and other public officials, corporate, non-profit, and religious
leaders, and all citizens of good will to speak out against these radio ads directly to the stations
that are airing them.

This ad is part of a nation-wide campaign to scapegoat the LGBTQIA+ community and in
particular terrorize transgender, nonbinary, and intersex persons. The ad ridicules life-saving
gender-affirming care1. This ad promotes the false idea that transgender youth are a threat,
when the facts are trans youth, in particular POC, are at the highest risk of violence, bullying,
depression, self-harm, and suicide because of the bigoted climate in which they live2, 3.

In the coming months and years, when candidates approach our community for endorsements,
when corporations color their logos in rainbow hues and join our LGBTQIA+ Pride
celebrations, when houses of worship open their doors and welcome us, we will ask, “What did
you do when local radio stations repeatedly aired a despicable, lie-filled radio ad attacking the
Pittsburgh area’s transgender children and their families?”

We cannot simply observe what is happening and shake our heads while members of the
Pittsburgh community are threatened and attacked by people who know nothing about the
lives of transgender persons or what they endure because of indifference, ignorance, and hate.

Now is the time to Protect Trans Kids by loudly proclaiming, “Not in Our Town.”

#

1 Diana M. Tordoff, MPH. “Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming
Care.” JAMA Network Open, JAMA Network, 25 Feb. 2022,
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2789423.
2 “Facts about LGBTQ Youth Suicide.” The Trevor Project, 22 June 2022,
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/.
3 Austin, A., Craig, L.S., D’Souza, S., McInroy, L.B. “Suicidality among Transgender Youth: Elucidating the Role of
Interpersonal Risk Factors.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence, U.S. National Library of Medicine,
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32345113/.