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:

Political Q&APolitics

A little update on the Political Q&A series on my blog

April 20, 2022 by
Political Q&A

So a little update on the Political Q&A series on my blog. We are willing to interview progressive candidates across the Commonwealth who 1) support fully LGBTQIA+ equality 2) are pro-choice, and 3) acknowledge that Joe Biden did win the Presidential Election in 2020. Candidates in Philly or the Poconos or the Wilds or anywhere […]

BisexualPolitical Q&APolitics

Q&A With Jessica Benham, Incumbent Candidate for PA House District 36

April 20, 2022 by
Jessica Benham

As a member of the minority party, it’s incredibly difficult to get legislative priorities to move in Harrisburg. In fact, so far, no bill prime sponsored by a House Democrat has been signed into law this legislative session. I have used the amendment process to still advocate and fight. State Representative Jessica Benham This is […]

BooksReview

Book Review: The Maisie Dobbs Mysteries

April 20, 2022 by

This is hands down one of my all-time favorite series of books. In fact, it was in response to a review of Book 1 in the series on NPR that I actually BOUGHT the book. I bought a hardcover book. That was huge for me. I looked up the review and it is online if […]

LesbianPolitical Q&APoliticsRacial Justice

Q&A With La’Tasha Mayes, Candidate for PA House District 24

April 18, 2022 by

As a voting rights advocate and integrated voter engagement organizer, there is a frame for voting justice called “electoral justice” coined by Jessica Byrd, Rukia Lumumba, JD and Kayla Reed of the Movement for Black Lives. It represents the idea posed in your questions created by Black women and femmes working at the intersection of […]

FamilyFundraisers and FriendraisersIn MemoriamPets

My Best Friend’s Funeral: I’m Still Crying 15 Years Later

April 17, 2022 by
Dr. John Ruffing Veterinarian

Today, my friend John would be 56 years old. Even in whatever heaven for terrific people might look like, he is cringing about that. But in some sort of heaven is a certainty for John. No doubt. I don’t even really believe in heaven or maybe I do, a little. But I know that a […]

ActivismMediaRacial JusticeTrans

Black Trans Activist Raquel Willis Talks with The Sunday Show on MSNBC About Murders of Trans Neighbors, Ties to White Supremacy and Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Nationwide

April 17, 2022 by
MSNBC Covers Murder of Trans Women

I was so pleased with this segment – that Jonathan Capehart scheduled it and with the points Raquel Willis brought up, especially firmly connecting the dots between the anti-LGBTQ legislation (“Don’t Say Gay”, criminalizing transition, etc) and the epidemic of violent terror systemically murdering trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming neighbors – especially Black trans women […]

Political Q&APolitics

Q&A With John Fetterman, Candidate for US Senate

April 16, 2022 by
John Fetterman for Senate

I learned a great deal from the tour, and it helped build my understanding and knowledge of how a legal recreational marijuana system, which I have long strongly supported, could work in Pennsylvania. And some of what I heard on that tour helped change my opinion on a few issues relating to legal weed.  Lt. […]

EnvironmentPetsPLC

Honor Earth Day By Cleaning Up A Neighborhood Hosting a Northside Cat Colony

April 14, 2022 by

My dear cat folx, the time is here – Earth Day is almost upon us and the clean-up events are rolling out across social media. I didn’t want to be left out in the shade, so I proposed to Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities (PLC) that we organize a little event to clean up the Fort Faulsey […]

In MemoriamTrans

White Trans Woman Fern Feather, 29, Murdered in Vermont

April 13, 2022 by

The body of 29-year-old Fern Feather, a white trans woman was discovered on Tuesday morning on the side of Duhamel Road near Cadys Falls Road in Morristown, Vermont. The autopsy determined the cause of death was a stab wound to the chest, and the manner of death was homicide. She is the 12th US victim […]

ActivismFamily

Don’t Crash Into Me

April 13, 2022 by
No Means No

Growing up in emotional, financial, and physical chaos, I learned early on that my saying “no” was at worst, dangerous, and at best, ineffectual. I did not learn the social skills of setting healthy boundaries for myself because almost no one around me modeled that behavior. I grew up in a time when boundaries were […]