I was busy today at the City Council hearing on the promotions of three police officers with domestic violence histories (or allegations).  I live blogged for the Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society.  You can start here and scroll back through nine posts.

While local LGBT activist Billy Hileman showed up to testify, I was somewhat stunned that no other LGBT leaders were there to at least put the issue of same-sex intimate partner violence on the table.  In the usual scenario, victims of same-sex domestic violence are hesitant to contact the police for fears stemming from perceived homophobia ... they won't be believed, they won't be treated fairly, etc.  Imagine the deeper chilling effect upon LGBT couples living in Zone 2 where Commander Trosky now presides?  Or having someone show up at your door who is in the news for assaulting his own daughter? 

So, I wonder why no one from Persad testified at this hearing? 

I am really, really tired tonight so I will definitely not give this justice.  However, I've already had two inquiries asking me if I'm going to post about the Post-Gazette article on gay parenting.  So here is my post.

Click here for the article and wonderful sidebars.

A few points of interest ...

    * The existing research does not suggest children are harmed growing up with gay parents.

    * There is not good research comparing children of heterosexual parents versus children of homosexual parents. 

   *  The existing research focuses on upper-middle class white homosexual families, most of whom have adopted their children or concieved their children within their domestic partnership.  The intersection of race and class have not yet been accounted for in the research.  

 Census figures show that about 45 percent of same-sex parents are either black or Latino. And most of those same-sex couples with children have household incomes below that of their different-sex married counterparts.

It stands to reason that when you factor in race, socioeconomic status, blended families, etc things would get dicey --- just like they do in heterosexual families. 

This is an important article because it reveals that, yes, Pittsburgh has all sorts of families, including homosexual families.  Check out PrideFest this Saturday and you'll see many strollers amongst the crowd. And  I'm really proud of the young people who agreed to be interviewed, although I am very curious why their respective parents declined. 

Some of my Kennywood compatriots were betting how long it will take until the right wingnut letters are published.  Stay tuned b/c you know I'll cover them.