Q&A with Aerion Andrew Abney, Candidate for PA State House District 19

A few years ago, I answered a knock on my door in Manchester and met this energetic young man who was running for a committee seat. His enthusiasm was contagious and we became Facebook friends. I’ve followed his career and continue to admire his enthusiasm, his leadership in Manchester, and his passion for service. Aerion […]

Q&A with a March for Our Lives Pittsburgh Student Organizer #MarchForOurLivesPGH

March for our lives Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is one of more than 800 cities hosting sister marches with the National March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 24. Pittsburgh’s march will kick-off at 11:30 AM at the City County Building on Grant Street. The march route will take you down Grant Street to Fifth, then Fifth to Liberty […]

Would you organize a fundraiser for #AMPLIFY?

AMPLIFY

As we prepare to resume publication of #AMPLIFY Q&A’s contributed by LGBTQ neighbors, someone asked me about fundraising. We would love to work with your organization or group to raise funds for the project. Your efforts will go toward growing the archive, processing the voluminous data already collected, and ensuring efforts to include ever more […]

#AMPLIFY Update February 2018

#AMPLIFY Tee Shirts

Hello everyone. This is a quick update to let you that we’ll begin publishing #AMPLIFY posts again in March 2018. I had hoped to start backup in February after recuperating from my hysterectomy, but my recovery is taking a little longer than I expected. Nothing terrible, just a slow process especially during the winter. To […]

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Presents Autism-Friendly ‘Wicked’: Q&A with Director of Accessibility Vanessa Braun

Wicked is a  piece of art that should be able to be enjoyed by everyone. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents the autism-friendly  performance of WICKED on Saturday, February 3, 2018, at 2:00 p.m., at the Benedum Center, as a part of its national Broadway tour.  Pittsburgh will be the first city outside of New York to offer WICKED in this form. For this autism-friendly  performance […]

Honoring 250 Contributions to the #AMPLIFY Archive

Honoring 250 Contributions to the #AMPLIFY Archive

On Thursday, we published #250 in the AMPLIFY LGBTQ project.  Wow. That’s 250 in 30 months. An average of 8.3 Q&A’s per month since June 2015 when we began publishing. We are going to take a break from AMPLIFY during the holidays and into early January while I have surgery. We’ll resume publishing Q&A’s at […]

Dakota, 27, Wants You to Support Queer Activists & Queer Art #AMPLIFY

Describe your geographical community. 

“Pittsburgh is an urban community that is mostly LGBTQ-friendly, but I’ve found that’s often on a surface level… which I think is true for the way Pittsburgh appeals to lots of minoritized groups. There are community spaces for queer folks, medical providers who cater to our specific needs, nonprofits dedicated to our causes, and local businesses owned by members of the community. But it often feels like Pittsburgh’s blue-collar roots are at odds with contemporary queer community-building. Queer folks, to me, feel very disparate and broken up into cliques — sort of how the city is split up into so many tiny neighborhoods. As I write this answer, I’m realizing that I don’t think I’ve ever let my guard down to feel like my full self in any of the five years I’ve been living in Western PA.”

Lissa, 28, Identifies as Genderfluid, Grey Ace, and Poly #AMPLIFY

What motivated you to take part in this project? Maybe my answers will help someone else. I didn’t have anyone to say these things to me and I wish I had.

Kool Kase, 32, is a Black Lesbian at Peace With Herself #AMPLIFY

  Name: Kool Kase Age: 32 County of Residence: Allegheny, formerly Butler County Pronouns: she/her How do you describe your identity? Female, lesbian Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? My challenges came from those same people I looked at for support. I was always an outgoing person and not one […]

Sam, 28, is a Genderqueer Artist in Pittsburgh #AMPLIFY

the moon baby

  Name: Sam Age: 28 County of Residence:  Allegheny County, formerly Butler and Mercer counties, and a year away in Saint Augustine, Florida Pronouns: inconsistent How do you describe your identity? I am a genderqueer artist Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I did not come out until I was […]