The Steel City Stonewall Endorsement meeting is here, today and I'm pretty excited. How fare we've come since I was the lone blogger reporting from last year's event. This year we'll have a variety of instantaneous feedback via the various tweeps planning to attend (hashtag #PghGayPick) along with the usual bloggers. What's most exciting is that some of our allied tweeps are getting involved in the organization and bringing the might of their thoughtful advocacy to the table for the LGBTQ community.

This shows that projects like Blog for Equality are having a systemic impact. People are paying attention. They are educated on the issues.  Allies and LGBTQ alike are stepping forward to create meaningful advocacy for our community.  We may not agree on the candidate best suited for Governor, but that's the beauty of the primary after all.  All this hullabaloo is proof positive that more people are paying attention and using social media. 

That's an amazing difference since I first began covering LGBT political events back in 2006.  I am excited to follow the hashtag and know that our endorsement will be covered by the region's largest political blog (2 Political Junkies).

If you cannot attend, please do the same.  Weigh in, retweet, whatever you like ... just pay attention and help us keep the movement going.

Today's agenda

The PA Governor's Race:  Hoeffel, Onorato and Wagner.  All three have strong gay backers.  Wagner could be a surprise spoiler -- he does have a gay positive voting record to atone for those atrocious City Council votes, a claim Onorato cannot prove. 

The Senate: Neither Sestak not Specter can attend so it really will be interesting to see how the inevitability argument plays out in this race. 

PA House Wheatley v Payne:  Jake and Tonya are both allies.  Allegations of petition fraud (on the party of MY City Councilor nonetheless) are a last minute twist.  This will be a close vote.  I'm curious if Mr. Lavelle will make his first post-election appearance at today's meeting to lend his support.

There are other races of course, but these are the hot ones. Alliances are shifting every day.  The bylaws require a 2/3 vote to receive a Strong Endorsement; 50% will get you a Recommendation. 

I want to commend my State Representative Chelsa Wagner and my State Senator Wayne Fontana for submitting questionnaires even though they are unopposed.  Fontana helped squash the marriage amendment and Wagner is a cosponsor and proponent for HB 300.  They deserve a nod. 

So let's see what today holds in store for us ...