Pgh City Council Votes to Update Trans Non-Discrimination Protections

  Something very interesting took place in Pittsburgh City Council today – they directly addressed a matter of transgender municipal equality for the first time in history. The issue is non-discrimination which Pittsburgh City Council first took up as far back as the late 1980’s. In 1990, the City amended the Human Relations Ordinance to […]

Is Maria Bamford Procrastinating Her Reply To My Tweet?

Maria Bamford

Last night, I coaxed Ledcat into watching a 49 minute comedy show on Netflix with me. Fully knowing that watching Netflix means we’ll end up covered in cats, we curled up on the sofa to take in “The Special Special Special” featuring Maria Bamford. Maria Bamford is a comedian that I had not heard of […]

Celebrating Social Anxiety

Social Anxiety

There’s a grey area between social butterfly and hiding under the covers in your pajamas avoidance. When I bring up my social anxiety with casual friends, I get some interesting – if gentle – pushback. I certainly *do* a lot of things, especially with Ledcat. But I avoid many, many more things because they are […]

Can I Call Marty Griffin a Jagoff?

Marty Griffin

When was the last time you watched something so scary, cringe-worthy, or unbelievably tacky — in a movie, on TV, or in real life — you had to cover your eyes? I haven’t answered a daily prompt in quite a bit of time, but this was low hanging fruit.  The answer for me is the new […]

Five Essential Lessons From Pittsburgh Pridefest 2014

Pittsburgh Pridefest

I am breaking my silence on events that unfolded at Pittsburgh Pridefest. As some of you know, my partner of eleven years is an investigator with the City’s Office of Municipal Investigations so I do not comment publicly on active investigations of alleged police misconduct. But there are some serious problems with how the LGBTQ community is responding to this […]

sisTers Debut on TransperienceTV Takes Us to The Stroll in Pittsburgh

sister united

Last night, Transperience.TV debuted a new program “sisTers” which explores the experiences of trans women of color. The show is produced in partnership with “sisTers United” a Pittsburgh based project building supports for trans youth of color and other disadvantaged groups within the LGBTQ community. In this inaugural episode, host Ciora LeGrand takes viewers to […]

Second Trans Woman Murdered in Baltimore

Mia Henderson

    Tonight comes more terrible news from Baltimore – the murder of 26-year-old Mia Henderson, a trans woman of color whose body was discovered today. From Parker Molloy at The Advocate: Police have identified the victim as 26-year-old Mia Henderson, and said her murder bore similarities to that of another transgender woman, killed in Baltimore […]

If Gun Owners Could Read Your Mind

Sometimes I wish people who sold guns were “blessed” with the ability to read the minds of their customers – to see exactly what they planned to do with the gun. And to not be able to turn off that information. To live with it. I mean anyone who sells a gun – dealers, private […]

Why Lyft and Uber Make Me So Angry

Lyft Uber Pittsburgh

Over the weekend, Bram from The Pittsburgh Comet asked a fair question – why does this situation make everyone so angry, no matter where they fall on the issue? It is possibly the most incendiary issue of the Peduto Administration if not recent memory. How did some cars with mustaches create such intense feelings, even […]

After 11 Years, Ledcat Still Has My Number

Ledcat

This month, Ledcat and I celebrate eleven years of togetherness. Like many LGBTQ couples who (until recently) had no access to marriage, we’ve used our first date as our anniversary. Thanks to smart planning on my part, we moved in together almost two years to the day later. This minimizes anniversary dilemmas. A few weeks […]