Sunday, September 13 is the date of the annual Steel City Stonewall Democrats Fall Barbecue (yes, the s;mores will return) featuring apppearances and speeches by politicians seeking LGBTQ support for their upcoming elections.

The event runs from 2 PM - 6 PM.  Ledcat and I will have to boogie out early due to the podcast, but here are my suggestions for an outstanding event.

* 2 minute speeches.  Not 2 minutes bleeding into 5 minutes.  Be respectful of our time and our attention span.  I'm going to be timing people and will report back as to who had the ability to play by the rules.

* Protocol be damned.  Two races matter to us:  Jack Panella for Supreme Court and Tom Michalow for Allegheny County Council District 1.  Good luck to everyone else, but I want to focus on the races that matter to me.  County Council comes last in terms of protocol but it is our best chance to demonstrate our weight as a political force.  Sorry, but that should count for something.  If people get angry about it, they will get over it and come back. (I know this is unrealistic b/c the all powerful campaign managers would NEVER let the LGBT community get away with this. Still, by judge number 12, I'm bored.  Except for Joe Williams who has a story.)

* All three Mayoral candidates show up.  Harris, Acklin and Ravenstahl.  Not proxies, campaign managers or interns.  Matt, Michael and Paul - put your money where your LGBT Advisory Board ain't and show up.

* Fake laughter should be banned. 

* More chairs

* Can we get some women to speak?  Even the female candidates send male surrogates.  By the time the 15th heterosexual white male gets up, I'm so over this election.  Do any of the candidates have female campaign managers?  Wives?  Daughters?  I'm not even gonna point out that we aren't seeing too many gay people standing up. (Yes, I realize that I complained during the endorsement meeting that all the women blended together, but I was probably onto something b/c they've all disappeared.)

* If you used to be gay, but identify as straight now - don't ask for my vote. 

* Save me a s'more!