Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents was established in December 2005 as an outgrowth from various radio appearances founder Sue Kerr made as Pittsburgh’s “unofficial lesbian correspondent.”  Her original intent was to promote the positive things happening in Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community – this was a community organizing tool reflecting Kerr’s social work background.

She quickly became one of the city’s most well-known political bloggers for her rigorous exposure of LGBTQ issues. She attributes being labeled as a political blogger to the fact that simply living as an openly LGBTQ person, especially in socially conservative Southwestern Pennsylvania, is a political act. Saying something about it is an entirely new level of political.

Sue was born and raised in Pittsburgh, spending her early years in the South Hills and her school years in West Mifflin, a Mon Valley blue collar suburb. . She received her BA in Political Science from Marymount University and an MSW from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a fierce believer in the intersection of social justice and LGBTQ advocacy.

She has the distinction of providing the first “live blog” of a Pittsburgh City Council hearing as well as partnering with another local blogger to “live tweet” the Allegheny County Council’s hearing on a non-discrimination ordinance. She’s creative in using social media even when historic buildings and limited Internet access stand in the way of transparency.

Sue has contributed to PublicSource, the now-defunct Pittsburgh Current, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Bilerico Project, and Huffington Post. Sue has also been a guest discussing LGBT issues on local talk radio programs as well as sought out for background information and comment by local print media. She has written for the Pittsburgh PrideGuide and was the host of Pittsburgh’s first lesbian podcast, Sister Shout.

In 2004, Sue was named one of Pittsburgh’s 40 Under 40 young leaders. In 2010, she was the first lesbian to be named to the “Listed” by local blogger Infinonymous along with openly gay City Councilman, Bruce Kraus.  In 2011, Sue was also a finalist for a “Locker-Room Leadership” award for her social justice work as well as a nominee for the “Women Greening Pittsburgh” award. In 2010, she was named “Lesbian of The Year” by the Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter. In 2012, the blog was voted “Favorite GLBT Media Publication” by newsletter readers while Sue was honored as the recipient of the “Stacey Walker Memorial Award” by the editorial team.

She’s tempted to remove all of this older “about me” content to update from the past nine years, but feels nostalgic about this time period. So a really long section we will have.

This blog has helped to change the world simply by carving out a space for a queer disabled woman to speak her mind and be ultimately accountable to herself and her conscience. The site has hosted numerous contributing bloggers and guest bloggers. It is the home of the #AMPLIFY LGBTQ archive. It is the longest running LGBTQ blog in Pennsylvania. The blog was honored by readers of the Pittsburgh City Paper as ‘Best Local Blog’ twice (2016 and 2019). We also were honored on a national level as ‘Outstanding Blog’ in 2019 and 2022 by GLAAD.  In 2021, we were honored as Pittsburgh’s Best Blog by the People’s Pride and SisTers Pgh. And in November 2022, Sue was named to The Advocate Magazine’s ’12 People of the Year’ list.

In the spring of 2023, she was named a Lesbian Icon by the LGBTQ Advocate.

Sue and the blog have been featured in publications including GLAAD, the Los Angeles Times, the Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh City Paper, Washington Post, the Philly Gay News, and the Washington Blade.

Sue lives on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Socials:

• Twitter @PghLesbian24
• Facebook Pghlesbian
• Instagram and Threads Pghlesbian
• TikTok @Pghlesbian and Pghlesbianblog
• Pinterest @Pghlesbian
• Mastodon @Pghlesbian
• Email: pghlesbian at gmail dot com

If you would like to join the Correspondents team, please email or tweet at us.

All rights reserved.