There's a lot happening in the Queer 'burgh -- gay political groups, queer art collectives, a lesbian chorus, comedy shows, art shows, movies, dinners, fundraisers ... the list goes on and on of all the cool groups and organizations making a difference for you and your family.
Often overlooked is the contribution of your average homo who takes it upon her or himself to do something proactive to build the kind of community in which s/he desires to live. Both of these people, Bob and Sheila, are friends of mine who I believe put their money where their mouths are for the greater good of the entire community. And they set examples for the rest of us who have a tendency to mouth off, but take no action.
Sheila thinks there isn't enough cool stuff for lesbians or, perhaps more precisely, that lesbians have trouble connecting with women with similar interests. There are email list for biking lesbians, hiking lesbians, even kayaking lesbians. Sheila liked to dance, go out to dinner, travel and hang out. So Sheila started her own group, Lesbos of Pittsburgh.
This group is for lesbians only who are tired of staying at home. We want women from Ohio, West Virginia, and all around Pennsylvania. Do you like to go dance,go to comedy clubs,eat nice dinners,travel and go to gay events? Lets get together. Most activities will take place in the Pittsburgh area. There are lots of things to do and see here.
I've known Sheila for several years and she is one of the most straightforward people in my life. She goes to all the events, including many fundraisers. She tries all sorts of new activities from potlucks to mini golf to art shows. And I really admire her for stepping up to create a sense of community for women who walk in her shoes. I'm on several other local LGBT email lists and only one comes close to creating a sense of community (Pittsburgh Potluck Womyn for those of you who are curious).
Bob is an old friend of Ledcat's and a relatively new friend of mine. He's interested in politics (like most of us), but he's made it a personal priority to help elect gay-positive candidates. Unlike most of us, Bob puts his time and money where his mouth is. He writes countless letters to the editor and letters to elected officials and letters to all the rest of us telling us that we should be writing, too. He's even dedicated a portion of his website to promoting the candidates he think will best serve the needs of the LGBTQ community in his districts.
Interestingly, both Sheila and Bob live outside of Pittsburgh, outside of Allegheny County even. But they both still identify with our city and want good things for the entire LGBTQ community. They aren't just focused on their neighborhood, card club or small group of likeminded friends -- they put themselves out here for all of us.
Looking for something to do on Sunday? Head out to South Park for a tea dance featuring the reunion of the Shari Richards Band for this one time event only. (Fusing Steely Dan with the Pointer Sisters according to one organizer).
A tea dance? Apparently its a long standing gay tradition of afternoon parties featuring dancing, socializing and fun. You bring your own refreshments and beverages, pay admission to cover the cost of the facility and entertainment and have a good time. They've held these events at local firehalls because there are no "good" lesbian bars around Pittsburgh.
I heard about this via an email list and it took me a few days of digging to get some answers on what exactly a tea dance was, who the organizers were and who was welcome (they used a vague reference to "our community" in the original emails). I've since ascertained that it does mean our entire community, but I'm just guessing that the event skews a bit older (based on the music).
Tickets are $10.00 and available at the door. Doors open at 1 PM. Entertainment begins at 2 PM
Location is the South Park Museum Building at the South Park Fairgrounds. Big clock on building so you cannot miss it.
Here's a perfect example of why heterosexuals should be outraged about gay bashing.
Colin Finnerty, that upstanding young lacrosse player from Duke facing rape and kidnapping charges, was found guilty in an attack on two men in Washington D.C.
Finnerty and five college buddies, including Duke lacrosse captain William Gerrish, followed two men, taunting them with homophobic epithets and then punched and kicked the men.
Here's the thing. Finnerty and Gerrish are white, privileged thugs and if they were poor, black or brown men, they would be in jail for such behavior. Finnerty beat up two men because he presumed they were gay. Gerrish lied under oath about the circumstances and only recanted when confronted with his own statement to the arresting officer. Finnerty got probation.
The Duke situation is filled with conflicting reports and he's innocent until proven guilty of course. But he's not innocent of being a prick and its not a difficult leap to imagine a gay-bashing bigot treating women like trash. Just the fact that these alleged pillars of society throw drunken brawls is disgusting. It doesn't make them rapists. It does make them elitist preppy pigs.
Back to my original point. The victims in the DC gay are not gay. They were beaten up because Finnerty perceived them to be gay. I don't know if they were mincing, pink shirted metrosexuals or just two average guys strolling through DC. It doesn't really matter. Finnerty has this tape in his head telling him that he has the right, the privilege, to beat the living hell out of someone b/c they seem gay. And, apparently in US society, he's right.
Under WTF? A prominent AIDS group recruits two notorious homophobes to perform at benefit concert. They would be reggae artists TOK and Beanie Man. Why, you ask, Beanie Man sounds familiar? Yes, he was supposed to perform at a 2004 show here in Pittsburgh at the Boardwalk. Til yours truly made some calls to LGBTQ leaders and the Post-Gazette complaining. In the wake of negative publicity, the show sponsors (Salem cigarettes) cancelled. As you can imagine, homosexuals, AIDS activists and the African-American community are up in arms over this stupid decision by LIFEBeat to ignore the cadres of talented reggae artists and bring in these two bastards for an AIDS fundraiser. Follow the link for the full story and details on how to voice your protest.
A one year initial campaign to mobilize and engage the community increasing visibility, to register 1200 new African American LGBTQ voters in Greater Pittsburgh,
and to increase health education and awareness.
Join us at the following events!
Monday, July 24, 2006
Town Hall Meeting 3
7:00-10:00pm
AndyWarholMuseum
117 Sandusky Street
Northshore Pittsburgh, PA
Come hear about the Center?s future plans.Mix&Mingle. Hear the Dreams of Hope Performance Troupe. Watch Isaac Julien?s Film ?Looking for Langston?, pick up your Black Paper, buy a PrideT Shirt, Register to Vote, more?.
FREE Admission.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
An Inaugural Event!
The Herman McClain Lectures
In Memory of the Late Herman McClain
with Special Guests
Bishop Yvette Flunder and Shirley Miller
Pastors&Founders, City of Refuge UCC
National Gospel Recording Artists
San Francisco, California
7:00 pm
at
Community House
120 Parkhurst at Sandusky Streets
Northside Pittsburgh
Directly across from AGH Emergency Room
Special Music Guests:
Missy, RCC Women?s Choir
FREE Admission.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Coming Out of the Closet; A Fashion Opera
featuring former clothing designs of
Leon Sheffey & Deryck Tines
$15.00
includes Live Music performed by The Howie Alexander Trio, guest DJ,
wine&spirits, grub&dancing
8:00pm-1:00am
Botanicals Designs
4765 Liberty Avenue, Bloomfield
412.621-3233
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Meet us for a day of fitness at the gym!
at the
New Homewood YMCA
7140 Bennett Street, Homewood
11:00am-4:00pm
Free health screenings&testings, Free hot dogs&watermelon, healthy lifestyle organizations, vendors, speakers. Participate in the Unity Basketball Tournament.
Bring the family! Bring your friends! Come alone!
FREE Admission.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
?Fire? in the Park!
Good ole foot-stomping, hand-clapping, soul-stirring gospel music,
dancing and singing in SchenleyPark.
Featuring the newly organized Community Gospel Choir, Missy,
The RCC Women?s Choir, Nikki Daniel, Dreams of Hope, and others.
Veterans Pavillion
6:30pm. FREE!
For more information, tickets, to volunteer, to sing&shout
There's not a lot of loal LGBTQ activity of late as we all recuperate from the marriage amendment battle. Plus your faithful correspondent has been struggling with allergies and is tired .... so here's a quick round up of some national stories of interest ...
Broward County, Florida school to admit a transgendered five year old and test their progressive policies. This is a really piece of good news coming from the land of Jeb Bush (and Katharine Harris).
Under WTF? AIDS group recruits two notorious homophobes to perform at benefit concert. They would be reggae artists TOK and Beanie Man. Why, you ask, Beanie Man sounds familiar? Yes, he was supposed to perform at a 2004 show here in Pittsburgh at the Boardwalk. Til yours truly made some calls to LGBTQ leaders and the Post-Gazette complaining. In the wake of negative publicity, the show sponsors (Salem cigarettes) cancelled. As you can imagine, homosexuals, AIDS activists and the African-American community are up in arms over this stupid decision by LIFEBeat to ignore the cadres of talented reggae artists and bring in these two pathetic clowns for an AIDS fundraiser. Follow the link for the full story and details on how to voice your protest.
A new multimedia exhibit at CMU explores women's empowerment through the clothing we wear. Its called Trappings: Stories of Women, Power and Clothing and its the work of two artists (one local, one not so much) - Renee Piechocki and Tiffany Ludwig, who collaborate under the sobriquet Two Girls Working.
This public art piece grew out of the ultimate old-school icon of American woman -- the Tupperware party format .... the artists worked with a host who invited friends, thus ensuring a wide range of women sharing their power stories.
Among the 50 or so interviewed locally:
Jan Gallaway, a member of the Pittsburgh Puffins recreational hockey team, feels powerful in her uniform -- and also when she takes off her helmet to reveal the 40-something mom underneath to the shocked boys at the ice rink.
Cecile Springer, retired head of her own consulting firm, feels it wearing a gold pin that was a gift from her late mother-in-law, the well-known union activist Maida Springer-Kemp.
Heather Arnet, executive director of The Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania, feels it in the purple cape she bought with her own earnings at age 16. The cut reminds her of the purple sash worn by suffragists like her great-grandmother, not to mention Wonder Woman, her childhood heroine.
Teen-ager Dana Jacobs of Philadelphia, interviewed at YouthWorks Inc., feels it in slacks and a sweater because in them, "I'm ready for anything, you know, for job interviews and if you go in a store, ain't nobody going to watch you."
Rebecca Newlin, posing with a hammer, feels it in her Habitat for Humanity T-shirt because "women can put up a drywall and that's what really gives me a lot of motivation."
And Valerie Archier feels it in the blue suit her mother bought her for job interviews because "it totally transforms me when I put it on."
I'm not sure if I feel powerful in any clothing. Probably something I wear to work, but I'm usually pretty self-conscious and disengage from feeling any connection with the clothes I wear. Ask Ledcat who shakes her head in dismay as I whirl around the house bemoaning all the negative aspects of my assorted items of clothing. Wow ... I really cannot think of something that makes me feel powerful. Now that's something to chew upon.
Trappings: Stories of Women, Power and Clothing
Where: Miller Gallery, Purnell Center, Carnegie Mellon University
When: 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday, or by appointment.
Someone is paying attention! Last month, we ran this little request from the Post-Gazette searching for married couples to interview about friends (we presumed they meant homosexuals, too). Today the article featuring partners of 11 years Madeleine Hershey and Michelle Wirth ran in the "on the go" section. On the go used to be known as the magazine section until the PG decided that we need more ads from Target and Rite-Aid than actual newspaper content. But I digress ...
The article discusses some of the benefits and pitfalls of extra-marital friendships as well as the pros and cons of single versus coupled friends. Every couple finds a groove that works for them, with the emphasis from the expert suggesting that being respectful of your partner's sensitivities and your own proclivities is most important. No one size fits all solutions. All well and good.
However, one breeder couple in particular illustrates the scary control factor embedded in isolatin yourself from your friends ...
Victor Cauley learned this lesson only after he was married.
"A single friend will get a married man in trouble," says Mr. Cauley, 38, of McKeesport.
When he was single, he did just that, not giving much thought to the sanctity of a friend's marriage when he was out with him one night at a club.
"I met a young lady, and she had a friend and I said, 'Talk to her friend, so I can talk to her,' " he says.
Later, after he was married, he apologized to his friend and his friend's wife for having disrespected their marriage years earlier. With six children, Mr. Cauley and his wife of nine years, DeShonna, are very busy. They socialize a bit with couples from church, but for the most part keep to themselves.
"Don't trust anybody with your wife but Jesus," he says.
Does anyone else read this as "creepy control freak?" Victor was a jerk when he was single, found Jesus and now focuses all his energies on his wife. It is very telling that DeShonna was not included in the story. Perhaps she was too busy raising their children and baking cookies for the Darryl Metcalfe fundraiser to think for herself ....
Thanks, Victor, for clearly evidencing the myriad of ways in which heterosexual marriage screws itself up with no help from the homos whatsoever.
Madeleine and Michelle try to balance couple friends with single friends.
"It's also important that we [each] have a place to go where someone can just listen to us and be with us and not feel that they're being disloyal to [our partner]," says Ms. Hershey, 43, of Swissvale.
Amen, sister.
All in all, another fine job from LA Johnson. Except for not calling out the creepy guy.
A quote from Santonio Holmes' attorney in a late-night PG article is so f*cking outrageous that I had to post. I need to sleep, but this seems more pressing for all you late night blog readers ...
As you know, Santonio faces domestic violence charges stemming from a June 19 incident in which the mother of his daughter called 911 to report physical abuse.
Guess what? She's refusing to testify which is not uncommon for domestic violence victims. It doesn't make her a bad woman or complicit in her abuse. It makes her a human being who is probably under terrible duress from all the media scrutiny and high power muckety mucks who need their meal ticket to walk away from this little situation.
Here's what got my goat ... a quote from Holmes' attorney Sam Shemansky:
"As DV cases go, this is not World War III," he said. "This is not a woman with her eye blackened shut. It's nothing like that. It's polar opposite from that. My hope is that after we've fulfilled obligations on our part, that the government will be willing to follow the wishes of the alleged victim and dismiss the matter in its entirety."
Excuse me? The polar opposite of a woman having her eyes blackened shut would be a woman in a healthy respectful relationship with a partner who doesn't abuse her. NOT SOMEONE WHO ABUSES HER A LITTLE BIT ....
This is so NOT the polar opposite. Not someone who has been arrested twice in the past 3 months. Not someone who got a traffic citation after damaging another person's car and only made restitution when facing a warrant. Not someone who sets the stellar example of fathering three children in multiple states with different women all at the ripe age of 22.
Santonio Holmes is a thug. Pure and simple. He's a thug with talent sort of like Mike Tyson. And if he gets rewarded for playing mister fucking contrite, he'll end up Mike Tyson. Too bad all the poor women he batters along the way won't have the consolation of a multi-million dollar contract.
If the Steelers sign him, shame on them. And a pox upon their 2006 record.
It has been awhile since we've run across some gay-themed letters to the editor in either the PG or the Trib. Today, Amesh Adalja of Butler comes to our rescue with a little missive in the City Paper. Adalja bemoans the hijacking of the Republican Party by the "cancerous growth" of the religious right.
The Republicans, increasingly suffused with the gospel of the Religious Right, have completely shattered any semblance of respect for individual rights to which they may stake claim.
Shout out to the non-hating Republicans in Butler County! Kudos for acknowledging that not all Republicans are, well, Rethuglicans. Take back your party damnit! Take back your churches, too!
While we are on the topic of the City Paper, I must sadly note the demise of the "Rant" feature. Editor Chris Potter discussed this decision on a recent appearance on the John McIntire show on KDKA (see McIntire blog www.macyapper.com). Apparently, they got sick of rants about Pittsburgh drivers and the like.
The CP archives indicate that there have been 287 rants. Number 284 featured my personal anti-PennDOT ramblings. And while we are on the topic, I must tell you that I am completely disillusioned with the political/citizens activist thing. NO ONE was willing or able to stand up to PennDOT and the fact that I kept being pushy and obnoxious about wanting them to maintain their property made me person non gratis. It was only when the All-Star game drew near that Mayor O'Connor's office helped. But at least they helped not only get it cut, but a commitment to keep it cut.
Back to the Rant. I enjoyed it, but it certainly did seem a bit repetitive at times. Now it would be GREAT if the City Paper would fill that space with the voice of a columnist who is not a white, heterosexual, middle-class man. God Bless Marty, John and Chris and their progressive, nay liberal ideals. But Pittsburgh's alternative culture is filled with a multitude of people of color, females, gays, working class, disabled, etc. We have ideas, too! Good ones. Ideas with multisyllabic words. Ideas festooned with purpose, meaning and a liberal dash of snarkery.
For crying out loud ... you can't shake a stick in Pittsburgh without knocking over a white, middle-class, heterosexual writer/columnist or writer/columnist wanna be. You want a fresh rant -- give voice to the rest of us.
Jan Gallaway, a member of the Pittsburgh Puffins recreational hockey team, feels powerful in her uniform -- and also when she takes off her helmet to reveal the 40-something mom underneath to the shocked boys at the ice rink.
Someone is paying attention! Last month, we ran this 
It has been awhile since we've run across some gay-themed letters to the editor in either the PG or the Trib. Today, Amesh Adalja of Butler comes to our rescue with a little missive in the 
