Update on the Pittsburgh MasQUe ProjecT – Connecting Facemasks with LGBTQ Neighbors

Pittsburgh Face Masks

Things are going along pretty busily. As of tonight, we have request for 98 individual masks and 250-350 by organizations including SisTers Pgh, Garden of Peace, and Shepherd Wellness Community. We want to make sure LGBTQ community has access to facemasks, especially that trans and queer folks feel safe and dignified. We are acutely aware […]

Help Connect Trans and Queer Neighbors with Face Masks in Pittsburgh

Sue and Laura in Face Masks

Update: as of April 13, we have received requests for 39 masks and identified five sewists and sources. Update: as of April 11, we have processed requests for 17 masks, received another 9 requests and identified two sewists. Laura and I were able to order masks last week through Operation Face Mask Pittsburgh. She has […]

84 Trans Stories from Western Pennsylvania on the Trans Day of Visibility

Transgender Awareness Week

March 31 is the International Transgender Day of Visibility, devoted to raising the visibility of transgender and gender nonconforming (GNC) neighbors both in terms of their resiliency and successes as well as the realities of transphobic bias and violence. I’ve curated 84 stories from our #AMPLIFY project to illustrate the multi-faceted experiences of transgender neighbors […]

True T Pittsburgh Statement on COVID-19

True T Pgh

I’ve reached out to several local LGBTQ organizations, requesting an update on how they are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include: Pittsburgh Center for Equality, Persad Center, PFLAG Pittsburgh, TransPride Pittsburgh, Proud Haven, OUTrageous Bingo, Shepherd Wellness Community, SisTers Pgh, and True T Pittsburgh. As I receive their responses, I will publish. Some of […]

SisTers PGH Statement on COVID-19

SisTers PGH

I’ve reached out to several local LGBTQ organizations, requesting an update on how they are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include: Pittsburgh Center for Equality, Persad Center, PFLAG Pittsburgh, TransPride Pittsburgh, Proud Haven, OUTrageous Bingo, Shepherd Wellness Community, SisTers Pgh, and True T Pittsburgh. As I receive their responses, I will publish. Some of […]

Allies for Health + Wellbeing Statement on COVID-19

Allies for health + wellbeing pittsburgh

I’ve reached out to several local LGBTQ organizations, requesting an update on how they are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include: Pittsburgh Center for Equality, Persad Center, PFLAG Pittsburgh, TransPride Pittsburgh, Proud Haven, OUTrageous Bingo, Shepherd Wellness Community, SisTers Pgh, and True T Pittsburgh. As I receive their responses, I will publish. Some of […]

Ross Township Commissioner and ACDC Committee Member Patrick Mullin Sharing anti-LGBTQ, welfare-shaming content on Facebook

Content note – homophobia, transphobia, sexism, racism, Allegheny County Democrats, suburban life, ageism, welfare shaming Also please note the original version of the essay contained a pivotal typographical error. That has been corrected. People are sending me Trump social media content shared by other ACDC members. This one gets to me. Patrick Mullin holds two […]

316 Reasons to Add Your LGBTQ Story to the #AMPLIFY Archive

Since 2015, we have been collecting stories from LGBTQ folks with ties to Western Pennsylvania. Some live here now, others grew up in this region. Others still attended college or had a job that brought them here or spent summers with their grandparents in an outlying community. Here includes 26 counties in Western Pennsylvania, from […]

The Criminal Complaint Against Gary Van Horn Illustrates (Again) Divides in Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ Community

The local LGBTQ community is abuzz with the revelation that Delta Foundation President Gary Van Horn has started a Pittsburgh chapter of the Rosco P Coltrane fan club and “unofficially” brought Allegheny County Sheriff Mullen, a few notaries, and his friend “Timmy” along with him. (see images below to interpret that allusion.) Gary has been […]

Why I Ended My Fiscal Sponsorship Relationship with Persad Center

Persad Center Shame

My fiscal sponsorship relationship with Persad Center has formally ended. I made the decision earlier in the fall after two specific incidents made me aware beyond a shadow of a doubt that allying the #AMPLIFY and other community art projects with the current incarnation of Persad was both unhealthy and hurtful to my LGBTQ neighbors. […]