Sue

Sue is the founder of Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents blog, established in 2005.. She has an MSW from the University in Pittsburgh and a BA in Political Science from Marymount University. Her undergraduate claim to fame is a six month stint as an intern with then Congressman Rick Santorum in 1991. Born and raised in West Mifflin, Sue attended college in Washington DC, then graduate school in Louisiana and ended up in Kentucky doing social service ministry. She returned to Pittsburgh in 1997. She now lives on Pittsburgh’s Northside with her wife, Laura. She was among the first out LGBTQ people named to Pittsburgh’s 40 Under 40 in 2004 and is a graduate of Leadership Development Initiative Class VII. After being fully and permanently disabled in 2010, Sue has continued to serve the community. She founded the Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project to address hunger and environmental issues. In 2015, she launched the #AMPLIFY LGBTQ archive in conjunction with a two-year artist in residence stint with Most Wanted Fine Art. Sue and her wife have fostered over 25 kittens through Pittsburgh CAT and Homeless Cat Management Team, and now manage multiple community cat colonies in their neighborhood. In 2020, Sue cofounded the Pittsburgh MasQUe ProjecT to support the queer and trans community during the pandemic, distributing tens of thousands of face masks and other supplies throughout the region. In 2021, Sue created the #PghCatFolx projects to support neighbors working with community cats. Under that heading came the Dr. John P. Ruffing DVM Pet Food Projects, memorializing one of her very best friends who died in 2007. In 2021, Sue worked with community leaders to develop and establish a 501c3 nonprofit organization, Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities (PLC) where she currently serves as Board President. PLC absorbed the #PghCatFolx projects. Also in 2021, Sue was the first person in history appointed to the City of Pittsburgh LGBTQIA+ Commission and was unanimously elected as one of three inaugural co-chairs. Her blogging has garnered numerous awards Favorite GLBT Media Publication - 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 (Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter Reader’s Poll) Favorite GLBT Social Media - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 (Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter Reader’s Poll) Best Local Blogger - 2016, 2019 (Pittsburgh City Paper Reader’s Poll) LGBTQIA Pittsburgh’s Best Blogger - 2020 (SisTersPgh, People’s Pride of Pittsburgh) Outstanding Blog - 2019, 2022 (GLAAD Media Awards) Sue has also personally been honored Person of the Year - The Advocate Magazine, 2022 15 Lesbian Icons - LGBTQ Nation, 2023 LGBTQIA Pittsburgh’s Best Lesbian Activist - SisTersPgh, People’s Pride of Pittsburgh 2022 Sue believes in identifying and filling gaps in supports & services rather than recreating the wheel. She uses both her undergraduate and graduate degrees on a regular basis as a blogger and activist and regularly circulates her 1991 internship photo just to shake things up on her social media feeds. Her own experiences with cPTSD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and other health challenges have fueled her health blogging and activism. She also writes extensively about her family history, drawing on her amateur genealogy hobby. The blog regularly reviews arts and cultural events as well as exploring restaurants, soap opera storylines, and hyper-local news. Sue and her wife Laura have been together since 2003. They were married on a very cold February 2, 2021 in their backyard at a very small ceremony co-officiated by their pagan priestess friend, Anne, and then-Mayor Bill Peduto. They have six niblings, four in Pittsburgh and two in Philadelphia.

Posts by Sue:

Faith and ReligionMain Page

More on Brent Dugan: Clergy, KDKA meet to agree neither is homophobic

March 1, 2007 by

The City Paper covers the recent meeting of the minds of the Christian Associates of Southwestern Pennsylvania and KDKA head honchos in which they determined well, really not much of anything other than to mutually continue beating their own drums of “we did nothing wrong.” That's a complete load of hooey and Brent Dugan is […]

Entertainment and MediaMain PageRandom Thoughts

My Wish List for PrideFest Entertainment 2007

February 28, 2007 by

 Pittsburgh is fortunate to have a talented pool of queer and queer-friendly performance artists, some of whom I have met over the past year.  They include singer-songwriters, spoken word artists, comedians, poets, rappers, puppeteers, and so forth.  PrideFest is the annual community celebration of all things queer (or gay) and includes a chunk of stage […]

Main Page

Temporary New Location for OUTrageous Bingo

February 28, 2007 by

Just an FYI that the April and May editions of OUTrageous Bingo, sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center and Shepherd Wellness Center, will be held at CCAC Boyce Campus in Monroeville.  This is apparently due to some planned renovations at the regular site, Goodwill Industries, on the Southside.  According to my best sources, […]

Entertainment and MediaMain Page

Meliss and Tammy at the Oscars

February 26, 2007 by

Ellen was funny. Too bad we had to sit through 750 tribute and homage videos, not to mention a sound effects choir.  B-O-R-I-N-G.  I would rather listen to all the flaming fashion critics screech their way through the entire red carpet line, including the men, than sit through that again.  Word of advice — let […]

HealthMain PageSports

The Trib Weighs in on Gay Sheep and Tim Hardaway

February 25, 2007 by

Local opinion seems to be that our own con-alternative paper, the Tribune Review, is pretty anti-gay.  The fact, however, is that most of their gay coverage has been consistent with mainstream thought on gays — we aren't so bad after all, its not such a big deal, don't we have better things to worry about […]

Faith and ReligionMain Page

PG Takes a Look at the Pgh Episcopal Role in Larger Debate

February 25, 2007 by

For months, our attention here in Pittsburgh has been given to one of the nation's most outspoken mongerers of Christo-intolerance, Episcopal Bishop Duncan.  Even as Pittsburgh's Episcopal diocese moves increasingly to the conservative right with a threat to leave the Episcopal body and seek refuge in the worldwide Anglican union, there are voices in the […]

Main PageRandom Thoughts

Beaver County Man – Society Sissified by Affirmative Action

February 24, 2007 by

What with all the weather and all, I missed this little gem of a letter in the Beaver County Times that was penned by Paul Kisiday of Freedom (ironic, no?).  Paul decries the sissification of contemporary society as exemplified by complaints over Super Bowl ads.  It seems that all the furor over distraught robots, homoerotic […]

Faith and ReligionMain PagePolitics

The Slippery Slope of Intolerance and Second-Class Status Leads to Death of 72 Year Old Gay Bashing Victim

February 24, 2007 by

Andrew Anthos, a 72 year old Michigan gay man who was viciously beaten with a pipe outside his apartment, has died from his injuries.  He survived for several days, paralyzed and barely able to breathe.  Here's my post on the original attack. This man was riding home from the public library on a public bus.  […]

Faith and ReligionMain PageYouth

Local queer youth explore issues of faith through drama troupe

February 24, 2007 by

The Post-Gazette has a thoughtful piece on Dreams of Hope, a local drama troupe for LGBTQ teens and their allies.  Their performance theme this year is “Gay Youth in Good Faith.” “One of the biggest themes is the personal issue of sin, of how something that is so natural and doesn't seem like a bad […]

Main PagePolitics

Will Luke Ravenstahl attend Steel City Stonewall (Gay) Democrats Pgh Candidates Forum

February 23, 2007 by

Maybe its just me, but isn't the mayoral race important to the region, too?  Luke Ravenstahl isn't exactly Mr. Progressive per 2 Political Junkies on issues like choice, contraception, free speech, open government, blah, blah, blah.  I know the muckety muck rich Riccardi loving homos embrace these Social Conservative Democrats for all they are worth, but […]