Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

For transparency sake, I want to explain that I have turned down a request by a candidate for Magistrate here on the Northside. Her name is Leah Williams Duncan.

Dear Ms. Williams Duncan,

I have received your request to complete a Q&A for my blog, Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents. I must decline.

In 2013 while serving on the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, your body reviewed the blocking of my site by the City webservers. According to the official minutes, you described my content as pornography (untrue) and described our identities as lifestyles (offenseive and inaccurate.) When I voiced concerns, you did not respond. 

This Q&A is for allies and supporters of the LGBTQIA+ community. You do not meet that criteria. Further, your mischaracterization of my content is defamatory and could have done damage to my reputation as a blogger. Until you set the record right, I am unwilling to use my blog to promote your campaign.

Sincerely,
Sue Kerr

While I’ve had candidates turn me down before, I’ve never refused a candidate the opportunity to participate. However, this is a clear exception. You cannot describe LGBTQIA+ folx identities in 2013 or 2021 as ‘lifestyles’. It is offensive, disrespectful, and biased. Describing my blog content as pornographic shows a clear misunderstanding of pornography (“I know it when I see it” aka Justice Potter of SCOTUS?) or my content. I’m not offended to be tied to sex work however inaccurately, but I am offended that our lives are reduced to sex and that by affilation, sex workers are also demeaned and diminished.

Had I been able to find any sense of growth or expansion of her understanding of the LGBTQIA+ community had she apologized for her words perhaps I would have considered it. But while I found a lot of content about her faith community and their stance against “homosexuality” – I found nothing about her.

In eight years.

As it stands now, I do not think you should vote for this woman.