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View Article  Be part of the solution

I read about this on Facebook ...

Want to pitch in and do your part to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? Get a haircut - and then donate your locks to Matter of Trust, a nonprofit group that uses hair to make mats and booms that can combat oil spills.

The mats soak up oil from the air, skin or water, according to the organization.

"You touch the oil with the hair and the hair just sucks it right up," Matter of Trust President Lisa Gautier told the Florida Times Union  "It looks sort of like a thick paper towel, about 1 foot by 1 foot, half an inch thick."

Matter of Trust has been collecting human hair and pet fur to help combat oil spills for about two years now. Thousands of salons across the country donate hair clippings that are swept up off their floors, according to the Matter of Trust Web site.

What a great way to make a difference.  My friend in NYC told me her son's hair salon has been participating for a long time. 

Watching the news coverage of this issue has been heartbreaking. I lived in Louisiana for three years so it feels extra personal.  I know hair is a small thing and can blind us to the systemic changes that are necessary to address the real issues. 

But it does really help to feel like you make a difference, as long as you keep perspective on the need to do more.

Pass the link along to your hair stylist or your dog groomer.

 

sdf

View Article  Show us some Guv Luv

Speaking of Potter (he is always on my mind) ... here's a great breakdown of the gubernatorial race.  Note that this is a pithy snapshot on issues, not a comprehensive GOTV document. 

 

Speaking from the lesbian perspective, I think Joe Hoeffel has the most attractive disembodied head of the four. 

View Article  PG Shout out to LGBTQ runners

The PG ran a nice little article about local running groups. Among those listed:

It is good to see an article with a reference to a LGBTQ component of the community that ist woven into the story, just like community groups and chapters of national running groups. 

I knew someone in this group who loved it.  He told me there were walkers.  Hmmm .... I need a LGBT wii fit plus group. :-)

sdf

View Article  Capital Region Stonewall Democrats endorse Hoeffel, Sestak
 
2010 Candidate Questionnaires and CRSD Endorsements
 
On Wednesday, April 28th, we held our annual Meet the Candidates Night at the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center.   I hope you were able to attend; we had a full house with 23 candidates or their representatives speaking
 
Following the evening, the full CRSD Board met to discuss the candidates. The board made recommendations based upon the candidates' positions on LGBT issues and their ability to advance those issues.  The full CRSD membership then voted on which candidates to endorse. In order to receive CRSD's endorsement, a majority of members voting need to vote to endorse.
 

Clicking on a candidate's name will open a .pdf in a new window. (Sue's Note:  pdf links are not working, I will fix later today. Go to their site to view the questionairres).


Endorsed candidates are in bold and marked with an asterisk.
 

Pennsylvania Governor
The CRSD Board recommended endorsing Joe Hoeffel, and the CRSD membership endorsed him.
*Joe Hoeffel
Dan Onorato
Anthony Williams
Note: Jack Wagner did not complete the CRSD questionnaire and therefore was not eligible for our endorsement, however he did send us his responses to the Steel City Stonewall Democrats, which you can read here.

Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor
The CRSD Board recommended endorsing Scott Conklin, and the CRSD membership endorsed him.
*Scott Conklin
Doris Smith-Ribner

United States Senate
The CRSD Board found both candidates worthy of our endorsement, and the CRSD membership endorsed Joe Sestak.
*Joe Sestak
Arlen Specter

So all three Stonewall chapters in PA support Hoeffel with Pittsburgh also recommending Onorato. Pittsburgh and Philly endorse Specter and Capitol City endorses Sestak.  Interesting. 

On a related note, I also learned the Central PA has a Chamber of Commerce

 

sdf

View Article  Fayette County prison guard gender stereotyping suit settled

We first discussed this back in December 2009 when the Tribune Review reported on a federal lawsuit filed by a state prison guard in Fayette County.  He claimed he was being harassed because he did not conform to gender expectations, including being too effeminate on the radio.  (What does that even mean, asks the female former radio host?)

The suit has been settled by mediation. No one is talking about what that actually means, but it doesn't mean a court ruling on the matter.

This man is a state employee who enjoys no state protections from being harassed on his sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation (remember, gay men act like women and acting like a woman is bad).  He worked in Fayette County which does not have county protections for sexual orientation. 

He was harassed because people thought he was gay.  He had to go to the federal courts to get help.  We don't know if he is gay. 

This could be you.  You could be the woman who dresses in trousers and has manly gestures.  You could be the man with the effeminate voice.  You could be a heterosexual person who is perceived as gay.  And you could be fired. 

Support ENDA and HB 300.  It is about our jobs.

View Article  Could Allegheny County see movement on Domestic Partner benefits soon?

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.

View Article  Wingnut Donutter pulls one over on LGBTQ community

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. 

 

View Article  LGBTQ meeting with Specter

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). 

Please consider attending and helping to spread the word on this unique opportunity for our region:  

Saturday, May 8, 2010, 11:45am.  

 

Senator Arlen Specter is hosting a reception with the LGBT community.  The Senator will be taking questions and will give an update on what is happening on issues in Washington. 

 

Shady Grove

5500 Walnut Street, Second Floor

Pittsburgh, 15232. 

Corner of Walnut and Bellefonte in Shadyside.  

Please R.S.V.P. to Art DeCoursey: at Art@specter2010.com   or 412-682-0670

 

You can read Senator Specter's responses to questions on key issues effecting the LGBT community on the Steel-City Stonewall website at www.steel-city.org . Please join this community conversation with your questions and thoughts!  

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. 

df

View Article  Reminder ... Twitter List

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. 

View Article  What we missed: the trib on gays

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.

 

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The Correspondents