The PG is all queered up this week ....

L.A. Johnson takes a look at a recent New York Times piece lauding Pittsburgh as more gay friendly than Manhattan. 

The NYT author cites our thriving arts scene, affordable housing and high-profile LGBT events. 

Several local LGBT leaders weigh in with some skepticism that we are more gay friendly than New York City but citing the progress Pittsburgh has made overall. 

Alice Greene, who deals with GLBT youth as a board member of the local Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, says Pittsburgh can be a mixed bag.

"It's fairly easy to find community and there are a handful of relatively high-profile events throughout the year that are positive and bring the gay community together, but there are still an awful lot of closeted gay people and closeted leaders in Pittsburgh," she says. "There's still this parochialism that raises its ugly head with real frequency. ... If you're out and proud, it's a good place, but if you're scared, any place is scary, including Pittsburgh."

I'd agree with Alice.  There is a lot of LGBT activity here in Pittsburgh, but its still Pittsburgh - a very parochial community.  When I moved back to West Mifflin, I suspected that people tolerated my homosexuality because I was one of them (born and bred so to speak).  Whereas a gay couple moving into the community would have been less well-received. 

Our experience this past weekend in Seven Springs gave me a little dose of that. 

As I tell John McIntire all the time, Pittsburgh is a good place to be gay.   

Another story from today's Post-Gazette  According to a policy paper from the National Sexuality Resource Center at San Francisco State University,denying us marraige can lead to mental health problems. 

Well, duh!

The stress of being a second class citizen will do that you.  Having to rush to your partner's hospital bedside while realizing you left the power of attorney documents at home and hoping you can get in to see her?  Stressful.  Worrying about dividing up property after one partner dies?  Stressful. 

Being gay is not stressful.  Being in an intimate committed relationship is no more stressful than for heterosexuals.  Being in a committed gay relationship in a society which deems you second class, which denies your most basic civil rights ... now that's stressful.

Monday's Post-Gazette featured Buchanan Ingersoll PC's Nontraditional Couples and Families practice group which specializes in LGBT legal work. 

[Maureen] Cohon, the wife of Carnegie Mellon University President Jared Cohon, said her firm's nontraditional couples practice began quietly when a friend in a gay relationship asked her about guardianship for a child and drafting a will.

After eight months of talking to people in the gay and lesbian community to make sure there was a demand for such services, Buchanan Ingersoll launched the practice in 2002.

There were just four clients that first year. Two years later, there were about 40, "and it just goes up every year," Mrs. Cohon said.

According to the article, the U.S. Census counted 594,391 same-sex couples nationwide in 2000, including 3,693 in the six-county Pittsburgh region. 

3, 693 in this region!  That's a lot of queer families and kudos to Buchanon Ingersoll for recognizing an important legal service area. 

Without the protection of marriage, it is critical that LGBT couples seek as much protection under law as possible.  It is also expensive and not perfect which is why the struggle for true equality under the law must continue.