29-Year-Old Afro-Latina Trans Woman Shot to Death in Puerto Rico

Uvita Channel Perez Ortiz

A 29-year-old Afro-Latina trans woman Chanell Perez Ortiz was killed over the weekend in the city of Carolina in northern Puerto Rico. Chanell was also known as Uvita, an endearment, among her friends and family. Sources close to the victim confirm that she identified as Afro-Latina and as a trans woman. She was shot to […]

Q&A With Kejuan, 16, Sharing Her Trans Joy On-Stage With Billy Porter in Pittsburgh

I believe it was an example of trans joy because I could just show the world who I was.  I think trans joy means that any trans person can express themselves freely without being judged for who they are. It also means that they celebrate their pride and the beauty of their bodies.  One of […]

Dear Taylor Swift. Pittsburgh’s Trans Kids Need You.

Protect Trans Kids

Friday night is one of the two biggest concerts of the year in Pittsburgh – Taylor Swift. The other is Beyonce in August. The news has devoted multiple segments for the past two weeks, nightly, to the concert – the fans, the hotel rooms being rented, the restaurants, the parking, etc. As someone who lives […]

Remembering the 49 Victims of the Pulse Shooting

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old Amanda L. Alvear, 25 years old Oscar A. Aracena Montero, 26 years old Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, 33 years old Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old Angel Candelario-Padro, 28 years old Juan Chavez Martinez, 25 years old Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old […]

Drifting Away from MSNBC as Programs Lose Diverse Voices

Black Women Voices Media

When we first brought cable into our home about a decade ago, we immediately began watching ‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ with religious fervor. Representative lesbian in media? Yes! Rachel introduced us to other programming, including the eye-opening representative weekend programming helmed by many people of color. Most notable was Melissa Harris-Perry morning slots on Saturday […]

The Summer I Hoped to Have Without Loneliness

lonely sunset in Pittsburgh

I’ve written about this many times, but June is a very difficult month for me. This year, a particular challenge has been my trauma processing work – digging in deep to some stuff that’s so hard to face, so painful, so so so much I can’t discuss with anyone except my therapist. And my therapist […]

Remembering the Gen X Shopping Cart aka Buggy

Came across an article today about the “generation wars” between the shopping cart. Here in Pittsburgh, we tend to call them ‘buggies’ but that’s a geographic distinction. It seems the smaller, lightweight carts are being labeled ‘Millenial Shopping Carts’ as opposed to the tradition deep basketed carts we are most familiar with. And that makes […]

For #Caturday We Are Throwing a Pop-Up Kitten Baby Shower

Kitten season has hit hard this year and the caretakers need your help. From finding a very small one with a potentially broken paw in the middle of Federal Street to pleas for help with large litters in Uniontown and beyond, everyone is overextended and running in three directions at once. With a kitten in […]

Update in Murders of Trans Folx in the US: Part Two

In early April, I published an update on the investigations into the killing of trans neighbors here in the US in 2023, to date. I’m updating now. In April, we had reported on the deaths of eight individuals, today we have It is important for us to follow these stories and push for justice. Justice […]

Liesl Obrecht, Selina Wu, And Their Kitten Brothers Are Doing Great

Nearly four weeks have flown by since this little litter of sweet kittens joined our (foster) family and they are doing great. Yay Kitten! Refresher: they were born in April in Fayette County, found in a barn, and voila! So now they are eight weeks old. They eat like champs, they play, they tussle, there […]