Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Our Trans Day of Visibility effort to get #ProtectTransKids signs into the hands of communities where they are underrepresented is going well. Donate here if you are already convinced.

We’ve funded 50 signs for Butler County and they will be heading to Totalus Creamery, a new Boba cafe in Butler. Then we funded 50 signs for the Fox Chapel School District parents – they will be distributed by community members.

Right now, we are focused on a group of parents in the North Hills near McCandless and also working with a Brookline business, Antonio’s Pizzeria, in the South Hills.

Behind them we have the Washington County GSA and a cafe in Greensburg.

That’s a lot of signs.

Then I got a call from a young college student in Carnegie. They live with their parents and had displayed one of our #ProtectTransKids signs in their yard. A few days ago, the family received an anonymous letter in the mail.

The family doesn’t have any known issues in this regard so the family called Carnegie Borough and that’s when they learned there had been previous complaints to the municipality about the family’s yard. The thing is – the borough drove by and found no violations. So the family had no idea this was happening until the letter arrived.

What the family’s yard does have is a #ProtectTransKids yard sign. On their own property. The sign has been up for months. A few times, the student found it on the ground. But otherwise, no problems. The Borough mentioned the sign in this context. Who would think to use made up lawn maintenance violations to suppress free speech?

We discussed options. I told them if they felt any threat or concern, take down the sign without any hesitation. They do not feel threatened. We talked through other options.

And that’s when I realized that there are not many yard signs in Carnegie. So we are adding that community to our list and our student friend found us a local partner, Carnegie Coffee Company. This is a motivated member of our community.

I have concerns about how the Borough officials handled this and we’ll pursue that line of inquiry. But for now, if you are angry that someone is trying to use false “overgrown lawn” regulations to harass a family who believes in protecting trans kids … well, that’s a reason to chip in, correct?

This is a family doing it right – supporting their kids, their neighbors, willing to take a stand, even planning to put a Trans Pride Flag up, raising a young adult who is already three steps ahead of the curve in terms of developing a resistance plan that involves calling the Mayor and notifying local businesses. Don’t they deserve our support?

If you know folks in Carnegie, ask them to request a sign lickety split.

Request a sign AND stickers bit.ly/ProtectsTransKidsSigns

• GoFundMe bit.ly/YardSignsFund 
• FB Crowdfund https://www.facebook.com/donate/3372079013039790/
• Venmo @PittsburghLGBTQ
• Paypal bit.ly/PayPalPLC
• Facebook.com/PittsburghLGBTQ – Click on Donation
• Checks made payable to ‘Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities’ and mailed to 1439 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15233.