A Trans Woman Was Sexually Assaulted in Allegheny County Jail

Transgender Woman Allegheny County Jail

CN: sexual assault, institutional violence A trans woman incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail reported that she had been sexually assaulted by her cellmate. He is now facing sexual assault charges after reportedly admitting the crime to ACJ officials. On Saturday morning, Amie Downs, communications director for Allegheny County Chief Executive’s office confirmed for me […]

Madi Scull, 20, Identifies as a Nonbinary, Asexual Lesbian #AMPLIFY

Name:  Madi Scull Age: 20 County of Residence: Allegheny Pronouns: she/her How do you describe your identity? Nonbinary asexual lesbian Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? Coming out experiences are hard to describe because it is never just one experience. It’s a series of interactions that you have to have with […]

Last Minute LGBTQ Donations To Consider in 2017

There’s a lot of good work going on in Pittsburgh and the larger region. If you are considering some end-of-the-year gifts, we offer these for your consideration. This is a time when $5 or $10 can have a huge impact. PublicSource – a critical resource for investigative journalism. Gifts up to $1,000 will be matched […]

Bier’s Pub to Host Happy Hour Supporting SisTers PGH, AMPLIFY on Friday, November 17

The folks at Bier’s Pub invite the LGBTQ community and allies to an evening of fine craft brew, drink specials, and appetizers, hosted by Northside neighbor Brian O’Neill columnist with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Happy Hour proceeds will benefit two important LGBTQ projects. SisTers PGH focuses on the needs of homeless transgender neighbors throughout the […]

Carmen is 42, Bisexual, and Resonates With Genderfluid Identity #AMPLIFY

Name: Carmen Age: 42 County of Residence:  Allegheny County, formerly Beaver County; Mobile, AL Pronouns: He, him, his How do you describe your identity?  I am white and bisexual (which I mean in the most inclusive sense). For most of my life, I have seen myself as a cisgender male. But over the past year or so, I feel like […]

Freedom Isn’t Free: Invest in the Work of POC in Our Community

Today is the Fourth of July and many of us are celebrating and/or enjoying the relative degree of freedom we have as American citizens. Not everyone is free and not everyone saw independence in 1776 or anytime soon after. The enslavement of African peoples as well as the eradication of Native Americans indigenous to these […]

An Open LGBTQ Pride Letter to @SenCasey UPDATED

Senator Casey LGBTQ

Senator Bob Casey has been working hard to move left and seize the post-electoral mantle of a progressive leader in Pennsylvania. And we absolutely need him to continue his aggressive leadership on choice, healthcare, immigration and more. So it was quite jarring to come across this the other day. It is a photo from the […]

Statement from Peoples Pride March 2K17 on Police Response

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – At 2:00 PM on Sunday June 11th just past the intersection of Washington Place and Centre Avenue, police officers dressed in riot gear helmets, padded vests, and clubs, with some officers around the periphery wielding shotguns with rubber bullets, blocked a group of pride parade marchers. The People’s Pride March 2k17 […]

Pittsburgh Pridefest: The Resistance Years

  The roots of what we’ve come to know as Pridefest in Pittsburgh are, as with many cities, deeply embedded in LGBTQ culture and more as we moved from the multiple resistance efforts in the 1960’s to a nationwide demand for visibility and freedom. At no point was this more apparent than in June 2015 […]

New Pride Events in Pittsburgh Shake Up The Status Quo

A few years ago, a group known as Roots Pride stood up in a very public way against the structural racism embedded in the current incarnation of Pittsburgh Pridefest. With very limited resources, organizers coordinated community meetings, activities and events to celebrate the LGBTQ community of the region and the spirit of Stonewall – creating […]