“Madama Butterfly” – Cultural Lessons on Respect for Women

**SPOILERS** Last night, Ledcat and I were guests of the Pittsburgh Opera for the performance of  Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.” Congrats to Tiffany who won the two tickets (and brought her friend Becky along.) Cio-Cio San’s open heart and trusting nature are the reasons that Pinkerton should love her, and the reasons that we weep at […]

Change The Conversation: Blogging About Sexual Assault – Planning Post

Change The Conversation: Blogging About Sexual Assault – Planning Post

Friends – The Pittsburgh Women’s Blogging Society is organizing a “Blogging Day” on Tuesday April 2. “Change the Conversation: Blogging About Sexual Assault” We need help to make this successful. Help us send a message of solidarity to our sister in Steubenville and all survivors of sexual assault. Help us begin the difficult conversations on […]

Lessons From Steubenville – Rapists Destroy Their Own Lives By Raping Women

Trigger Warning – references to sexual assault, rape apologists, and rape culture   Let me be absolutely clear – it is not what they didn’t say, it is what they DID say. They weren’t guilty of “rape essentially” – they are guilty of rape. Their lives did not fall apart – they destroyed their own […]

The Week in LGBTQA – March 17, 2013

St. Patrick’s Day edition. First, let me wish my younger brother Jim a happy birthday. He’s 41 – 17 months younger than me. In my head he’s still 8. LOL.  One of most significant stories this past week involved a conversation about how we prevent rape. Gun proponents argue that women need guns to shoot […]

Jen Tyrrell Talks Boy Scouts Survey on HuffPost Live

Jen Tyrrell Talks Boy Scouts Survey on HuffPost Live

Our friend and contributing blogger Jennifer Tyrrell joined HuffPost Live this week to discuss the decision of the Boy Scouts to survey their members about lifting the ban on LGBTQ scouts and leaders. She’s concerned that the questions are leading and also makes a very good point that the survey response are tied to people’s […]

NAACP President Addresses Pgh Youth

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I learned that staunch LGBTQ ally Benjamin Jealous was in town yesterday to speak with youth attending a matinee performance of “Thurgood” – a one man show about the civil rights icon, Thurgood Marshall. And I was pleased that Jealous specifically referenced LGBTQ rights. Citing issues such as gay rights and […]

HIV Etiquette: An Interview With Radical Activist Ian Awesome

I first met Ian via the LGBTQ Connect “Pre-Conference” session of Netroots Nations in June 2012. While it is hard to miss the only guy with a pink mohawk in a room of middle aged bloggers and organizational folks, it also didn’t take long for me to realize that what he was saying resonated with […]

Pgh Lesbian Blog Finalist for 5 Readers Choice Awards

Thank you to everyone who voted in the semi-final “round” for the Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter Annual Readers’ Choice Awards. We are pleased to have made it to the final round in five categories. Voting ends on April 5, 2013 so we encourage you to click over now and vote for your favorites. * Favorite […]

*Trans*lation

(This is a modified edition of a blog post originally published at Huffington Post GayVoices.) “What exactly does it mean to be transgender?” “Why do they want to change their sex?” “Why can’t they just be gay or lesbian?” These are some of the questions I so ignorantly used to think about transgender people. I […]

Trib Letter to the Editor on Marriage Equality: “religion does not always know best”

The letter to the editor dialogue around LGBTQ rights continues to unfold in the Tribune Review. I love what Sterling Sorrow of Harrison has to say.  What sense does it make, then, to believe that gay marriage is illegal on the grounds of religion? The last time I checked, the Constitution, not the Bible, is […]