The Post-Gazette reports that local gay business owner and community advocate, Jay Bernard, has passed away.  Jay and his business partner Bill Stanhope owned Jay Design in Lawrenceville.  Jay was the founder of the Boys of Lawrenceville "a benevolent organization of gay men" and the author of a monthly column about pet adoption.  I've heard of Jay, but did not have the opportunity to meet him.  Jay's company donated some items to an event I am hosting tonight for my day-job.  I will be thinking of him when we raffle off those items.  God speed. 

The Presbyterian debate over gay marriage continues.  From the PG:

A regional Presbyterian court's decision yesterday upheld Pittsburgh Presbytery's ban on gay marriage ceremonies, and reiterated the national church's stance that ordination requires chastity in singleness or fidelity in heterosexual marriage.

But the language was such that both sides of the local debate regarding the ban on actively gay clergy in the Presbyterian Church (USA) found aspects of the ruling acceptable.

Several Middle Eastern governments have filters in place to prevent their citizens from accessing gay and lesbian sites. 

Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen had the strictest social-filtering practices, blocking pornography, gambling and gay and lesbian sites.

That's interesting.  I usually have at least one IP address a day based in those very countries that visits my site, usually with a keyword search for "hot lesbians" or "lesbian photos" or "naked lesbians."  Once it was "nudie lesbians."  I chalk that up to a translation issue.  Someone is getting through that filter.  

The Post-Gazette on Jerry Falwell's legacy:

Intolerance today comes clothed in piety.

Meanwhile, today's Trib runs this nice little affirmation of Falwell from the self-described "mean girl" Ann Coulter:

Let me be the first to say: I ALWAYS agreed with the Rev. Falwell.

Coulter sets the record "straight" on Tinky Winky's sexual orientation and explains why he didn't go far enough identifying who was responsible for 9/11 (hint:  he's a Kennedy). 

Meanwhile, South African churches get the go ahead to perform same-sex marriages.

Reports say that 5,000 people turned out for the Warsaw gay rights parade in spite of government sponsored crackdowns.  Anti-gay crusaders want to ban gay propaganda in the schools.  Does that sound familiar?

And, closer to home, Kent State has installed a "gender neutral" bathroom to accomodate transgender male and female students.  Nearby Oberlin has a residence hall specifically for transgender students.  The times they are a changin'.

h/t to Page One Q and Pam's House Blend

OK, this just strikes me as weird.  The Tribune-Review sent a reporter to OUTrageous Bingo to do a story on the lack of a lesbian scene in Pittsburgh.  "Lesbian scene" should always be read as "no lesbians bars," but we'll get to that in a moment.

OUTrageous Bingo is a mixed event - gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered men and women, old people, young people, etc.  Why not send a reporter to an actual lesbian event (or a queer women's event) where it more likely you'll find a diverse group of people who are a little plugged in and can say with some authority what's missing? 

Anyway, I personally get really tired of people moaning that there is no lesbian bar in Pittsburgh.  Good grief.  Of all the types of lesbian-friendly places I can conceive, one covered in smoke soot and encouraging women to consume alcohol is not high on my list of lesbian friendly ideals.  I could take us on a little trip down the wonderful world of lesbian health to see the disproportionate impacts of alchol abuse and nicotine addiction in the lesbian community, but I'll restrain myself. It always strikes me as ironic that women who so enthusiastically support the ESTHER project, a lesbian health project, are the ones complaining about the bar situation. 

Now that I got that off my chest, I have to say that the women profiled in the story made some excellent points about many projects and events being dominated by gay men, the small group of the same people who show up for everything, etc.  And it is interesting how the younger women are picking up the mantle to get new kinds of things with an old twist organized.  Sarah Claire, for example, organizes dance parties at the smoke free Ava Lounge in East Liberty.  Cool.  Ehrrin Keenan organizes lesbian book club and game nights.  Very cool.  Kat and Rowan got the potluck up and running smoothly.  Awesome.  We need to keep that kind of initiative flowing.

Now see Ledcat and I would do all of those things.  Except we haven't.  Because life gets in the way.  Maybe part of the issue is that women have pretty full plates so a once a month or once every other month outing to a lesbian-centric event is enough.  Maybe we've integrated as lesbians into society enough that our social needs can be filled outside of a lesbian bar.  

Maybe its no longer about retreating to a lesbian-centric space as claiming our own spaces as lesbian-centric.  Isn't that what we've been struggling for all these years?  I'm not saying we don't need lesbian oriented places.  But maybe they aren't bars.  Maybe it's the fact that I can walk into Cafe Beleza on teh Northside, holding Ledcat's hand and call her honey without thinking twice about it.  Or maybe that we can go out to dinner at the Square Cafe, staffed mainly by lesbians, and do the same thing.  Or fly a rainbow windsock on my porch on a street with one other gay couple.  Or that I have her picture on my desk at work.

Maybe this is an opportunity to generate a new sense of space and community.

To be fair, the article missed some pretty big things, namely the Dyke March and Celebrate the Night.  It missed the queer performance events and the queer arts scene almost completely.  It completely missed the Burghosphere.

It also missed the ongoing tension between gay men and lesbians over power and control of LGBTQ resources.  This dynamic is at play whether its bar owners complaining about lesbians who drink water all night or the debate about the misanthropic content of drag queen shows. 

The sidebar article sums up why this piece was not a hallmark step forward for the lesbians in Pittsburgh.  The editor helpfully included a list of contact information for the events described in the main story, which is especially good for those lesbians in the hinterlands that aren't sure how to go about finding these resources.  Kudos to the Trib.  However, the title of that sidebar?  Where the girls are.

'nuff said.