Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Members of Pittsburgh's Leather community aren't pleased to be stereotyped and the Pittsburgh Dish has the scoop (courtesy of Pittsburgh's OUT).

All chuckles aside, the complaintant – one Colin Morgan – seems to be upset that individuals in the leather community are civic-minded individuals, not just solely focused on sex.  There's tolerance for ya.  I've always had a very positive impression of our leather community, first for that very civic minded responsibility so many clubbing fliggergibits seems to disdain and second, for the their willingness to be out and proud about who they are.  The two go hand in hand in breaking down stereotypes. 

In fact, I would venture a say that a lot of “groups” in Pittsburgh's community are more civic minded than one would normally assume.  Gay bowlers have been staffing the OUTrageous Bingo concession stand for years and donate the proceeds.  All sorts of segments of the community volunteer to serve meals at Shepherd Wellness Center.  Members of the leather club provide security at PrideFest to keep things orderly.  On the Queer Events list, hardly a day goes by without someone posting about fundraisers, both large and small, to benefit LGBTQ individuals or organizations.  And for individuals who don't bowl and aren't into leather or just want to try something new, there are plenty of opportunities available through GLENDA.

That being said , 'tis true we are a cliquey subset, a quality more reflective of our Pittsburghishness than our queerness IMHO.  We fall into self-defined lifestyle groups just like any other folk — the lesbian mommies, the hip/queerster vegetarians, the partiers, the softball -n- riverboat cruisers, the schenley oval set, the second wave womyn born womyn lesbians, the former board members of the GLCC, the cat lovers, the DIYyers, and so forth.  I guess there's a new category of “lesbian bloggers,” huh?

While I can appreciate Colin's disappointment b/c he didn't get what he expected, shame on him for carrying the stereotype into the bar with him.  My empathy is tampered by the wretched experiences of trying to break into the local lesbian scene via the most cliquish potlucks in herstory.  Now that's worth a post or two someday …