Word on the street is that this week's meeting of the Allegheny County Human Relations Commission should include a report from the County Personnel Department on health insurance options from the County's vendor.  That should be a positive step forward.  At the very least, Chief Executive Dan Onorato will have a clear plan on how to provide dp benefits to non-unionized County employees.  That creates a foundation for the union negotiations, but I'm confident he won't make some employees languish while those negotiations take place.  Right? 

I'm not beating a dead horse. I'm following up on his promise to make this happen. There's no conceivable way this can't happen ... vendors offer these benefits.

The Commission's regular meeting is at 8 a.m. on Thursday May 6, 2010, in Conference Room 1 at the County Manager's Office in the County Courthouse. 

Allegheny County deserves these benefits before we consider sending our Chief Executive to Harrisburg.  It has been six years and counting.  It is time.

I have to give Ron Razete of Peace, Love and Little Donuts credit. His anti-gay bigotry was on display in the Post-Gazette, the Pgh City Paper, national blogs and the Urban Spoon and he didn't miss beat nor repent a single vile word he spewed. 

What did he say?  Here are some excerpts from his now defunct blog. Razete drew quite a response from the lesbian blogs (ahem) to the radical queers to LGBT business owners.

But getting a two page spread in Pittsburgh's LGBT magazine, Cue Pittsburgh, is stunning. How on earth did he get free publicity from a gay publication? 

It does prove my point that he's using the "peace, love, hippie" theme as a marketing ploy, but I'm intrigued how this played out.  Did the wingnutters go looking for a palatable gay media source?  Was this calculated or just chance? Did the wingnutter know what kind of magazine was interviewing his daughter? 

The undeniable fact is that Cue Pittsburgh missed the boat in a big way. I wonder if the editorial staff is paying attention to local LGBT news if they simply "forgot" about the donut scandal?  I am puzzled. It would be one thing if they were reviewing heterosexual owned businesses and overlooking gay owned companies, but this guy really hates us.  How does Cue plan to respond?  Will they step up and take responsibility for putting gay money in the pocket of a rabid homophobe?  I truly hope so. 

Senator Arlen Specter invites our community to meet with him.  He's having a private meeting with a few LGBTQ leaders and then a reception open to the general public.  Sadly, media are not invited to the private meeting.  The good thing is that they consider bloggers media so all four of us can pat ourselves on the back while we wait for the scoop.  LOL.  No dogs allowed.

Seriously, I am comfortable knowing that the Sue Frietsche's and Dana Elmendorf's will be behind those doors.  It would be nice if the Jodi Hirsh's were there, too, but that's probably too much to hope for. (Yes, I know that I've mentioned all women because I am very sure the male end of the LGBTQ community will be well represented). 

I am very curious to ask Senator Specter how we here in Pittsburgh can help move the repeal of DADT and the passage of ENDA along.  He's supportive of both so hopefully he'll have some constructive suggestions for us.

I won't have the guts to ask him why he's gone so negative on Sestak.  The ads questioning his military service (does that count as swiftboating?) are way beyond the pale.  Jon Delano tweeted that Specter only has a six point lead on Sestak so it is all fascinating at this point. 

I'm also curious how Sestak is going to reach out to the Pittsburgh LGBTQ community.  He lost the endorsement. I was asked to write a guest post when national bloggers discovered this little fact. (Guess what? I blame Dan Onorato!)

Sestakians, what say you?

So I guess Saturday morning, I'll have to leave my mulch and wildflowers behind and trundle off to Shadyside. 

I hope they have wi-fi. 

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Hey, I know I've told you about this before ... but I'm trying very hard to keep current a Twitter list of local and statewide politicians.  This is a most excellent way to observe the politicians in their natural habitat!  LOL.  Seriously, such a great way to see what matters to them and make some connections.

http://twitter.com/PghLesbian24/politicians-pgh-and-pa

I just updated the list so wanted to put it out here again. 

We like to keep up with local media coverage on LGBTQ issues, but things occasionally slip by us.

The Tribune Review ran a little AP piece on world condemnation of a Papal comment linking homosexuality and pedophilia. 

"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia," the Italian cardinal said. "But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true. That is the problem."

The Vatican backed away from that winner of a comment, but I'm curious why the Trib ran this.  Overall, the article condemns this attitude, but there seems to be a distinct trend in the Trib --- they run content that is anti-gay such as Pat Buchanan's column alongside local interest pieces about lesbian teenagers saving the world with food drives or some such thing.  So I can't help but wonder which editorial instinct ran with this piece  -- the part that wanted to get out the homosexuality/pedophilia story or the part that condemns it?  You never know.

If you have been sort of "meh" about immigration <ahem> reform in Arizona and/or international affairs that don't involve sporting events, you should take a quick read of this piece in today's Post-Gazette, reprinted from the New York Times.

Not only is Uganda attempting to make gay advocacy illegal and potentially punish gay people with the death penalty, but Americans are helping them out in the name of "religious liberty."  Yes, religious freedom to persecute the gay community in a very poor African nation is a high priority for certain American pastors. 

Though not originally linked to the Ugandan legislation, [Kansas City evangelist Lou] Engle has long been a controversial figure in the United States for his views on homosexuality. During California's referendum on same-sex marriage in 2008, he called homosexuality a "spirit of lawlessness."

Before arriving here last week, Mr. Engle came out with a statement condemning the harsh penalties proposed in the bill, and said that his ministry could not support it. But when he took the stage late on Sunday afternoon, with Ugandan politicians and pastors looking on, he praised the country's "courage" and "righteousness" in promoting the bill.

"NGOs, the U.N., Unicef, they are all coming in here and promoting an agenda," Mr. Engle said, referring to nongovernmental organizations. "Today, America is losing its religious freedom. We are trying to restrain an agenda that is sweeping through the education system. Uganda has become ground zero."

With highly-ranked universities and growing arts, medical, financial, and technological sectors, Pittsburgh is evolving into a global city. In this economic and social climate, the stakes for the city as well as its incoming international residents are high. This event explores Pittsburgh's past, present, and future response to immigration and addresses the high stakes for Pittsburgh in rejuvenating our community through the engine of immigration. 

Combining personal, creative, and historical narratives, "The Immigration Stakes" examines themes of relocation and finding new national identity. Local music performance and a short film screening will accompany the program of short readings and conversation. 

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