h/t to local writer Jane Muder for pointing out another local queer blog .... http://www.tonystimeout.outonline.com/ written by OUT publisher Tony Molnar-Strejcek. It is more of a personal blog than a newsy blog, but it is good to have another perspective on life in queer Pittsburgh out there. 

I had suggested to Jane that it would be great to see OUT utilizing Web 2.0 resources to provide more up to date content on local LGBT news.  They do a pretty good job using podcasts to cover the entertainment/events aspect of local queer life, but tackling that news component would be great.  Still, someone has to pay for it.  It being content written by local professional writers. 

Let me add that I'm not talking about myself.  I like my opinions too much to tame them to the demands of any local newspaper.  But Jane and other local gays should be writing online. 

Plans are underfoot on a national level to organize and train LGBTQ bloggers as advocates, with funding someone connected to the Progressive Insurance company (my insurer - yeah!).  They are only accepting 35 applicants this year.  That's not even one per state so the odds of Pittsburgh being included are pretty slim.  Yet, the dearth of online queer voices makes it even more imperative that we find ways to better utilize web technology to promote our agenda. 

It would be nice.

This little item in the Valley Independent caught my eye.

Abigail Begandy doesn't mind marching to the beat of her own drum.

Begandy, 16, a junior at Ringgold High School, recently was sworn in as a junior firefighter for the Monongahela Fire Department.

She was sworn in Oct. 7 and became the department's third female firefighter.

"All my life, my community and family and friends have helped me and I just wanted to do something to give back," said Begandy.

"Originally, I had planned on going into the army. But my mom didn't want me to do that because she said there is just too much crazy stuff going on in the world," she said.

"So, I decided to become a firefighter."

Abigail also happens to be a lesbian.  Who just outed herself to the readers of the local paper in a rural Mon Valley town.  She's working with her principal at Ringgold to start a GSA type organization.

That's a pretty impressive reveal of information.  Volunteer firefighting itself is an interesting choice.  I wish the article had delved a bit deeper into the reality of sending a 16 year old into a blazing building scenario.  Still, even if she's contributing behind the scenes, it is more than I did at 16. 

I wonder how many other teens read the Valley Independent and feel a bit less isolated?  I wonder how many other adults read it, nod their heads in approval about the firefighting and then stop to consider the lesbian reveal? I wonder how many phone calls the Ringgold principal received? 

Kudos to Abigail for being a real leader.  And good for the VI for writing an interesting story about a girl who happens to be a lesbian, not a lesbian firefighter.