Lyndsey Identifes as a Queer Genderfluid Lipstick Butch #AMPLIFY

AMPLIFY queer

This is the 50th AMPLIFY profile that we’ve published. Name: Lyndsey Age: 38 County of Residence: Allegheny Preferred Pronouns: She her hers, they them theirs, anything as long as it isn’t said in a manner of disrespect How do you describe your identity? Queer, Gender Fluid, lipstick butch. ** Please note I use Queer as an inclusive catch-all. This is […]

Alex is a Black Trans Man Who Will Not Apologize for His Existence #AMPLIFY

Gay Pittsburgh

Alex Smithson Alex is the closing keynote speaker for the Transpride Pittsburgh Conference 2015 this weekend. He’ll be addressing the conference Sunday afternoon from 4-5 PM in Lawrenceville. It is very powerful that this conference is opened by a trans woman of color (Ciora Thomas) and closed by by a trans man of color, both […]

Mario Identifies As Queer Rustbelt Genderfluid Artist #AMPLIFY

I met Mario through Most Wanted Fine Art where we are both Artists in Residence this year. They are planning to participate in the AMPLIFY project when we move into our videography phase in 2016, but I was very pleased that they agreed to submit a Q&A response as well. I hope you’ll find it […]

Why I’m A Sponsor of the Transpride Pgh Conference

My blog is an official sponsor of the 2015 TransPride Pittsburgh National Conference September 18-20. I just now sent in my check and completed the paperwork. This is part of my intentional acts to show that trans lives matter to me. I chose TransPride Pgh because it functions as sort of an umbrella group for the […]

RIP Keyshia Blige, Another TWOC Whose Death Went Undiscovered

Keyshia Blige

We are on the road to participate in Erie Pridefest this weekend when I read this news on Facebook via The Guardian – another trans woman of color had been killed earlier this year, but the information didn’t hit the news until now. The reason? Misgendering by the police and the media. Her name was Keyshia […]

Another TWOC Murdered in Kansas City Missouri, #SayHerName Jasmine Collins

Transwoman Murder

Reporters covering the murder of TWOC Tamara Rodriguez in Kansas City have brought to light another death that occurred on June 23 but went unacknowledged because of misgendering. 32-year-old Jasmine Collins was stabbed to death, allegedly over a pair of shoes. From The Advocate: Police in Kansas City, Mo., tellThe Advocate that a 32-year-old trans […]

Tamara Dominguez Is Most Recent Trans Woman Murdered in 2015

Tamara Dominguez Trans

The week of August 9, 2015 may be one of the worst in LGBTQ history, specifically transgender history. This past ten days saw the actual death OR discovery of the death of six transgender women of color. The sixth sister lost to this horrifying epidemic was Tamara Dominguez of Kansas City, Missouri. She was 36. […]

Kandis Capri Murdered in Phoenix, 3rd TWOC Death Reported This Week

Kandis Capri transgender

Late late night, I learned from my Facebook friend Monica Jones that a trans woman had been killed in Phoenix. Her name was Kandis Capri and she was 35 years old. Few details are available, but an account in The Guardian describes a domestic altercation involving Kandis’ housemate. Note, the Guardian interviews her mother who […]

Jessi Is A Trans Lesbian Who Asks Questions #AMPLIFY

Transgender Westmoreland County

Read the entire AMPLIFY LGBTQ Q&A archive. AMPLIFY LGBTQ is a new occasional series of blog posts designed to give a “signal boost” to the voices of our LGBTQ neighbors throughout Western Pennsylvania. We are using a Q&A format and will minimize editing their responses. The questions, however, may change as we ask each participant to […]

25 Year Old Ashton O’Hara Was Most Recent Transgender Person Reported Murdered in The US

Ashton O'Hara Transgender

It was the community conversation around the murder of Amber Monroe in Detroit earlier this month that brought to light yet another violent crime against a trans person of color. 25 year-old Ashton O’Hara was found brutally murdered in a field on July 12, 2015. Their mother attended the mid-August conversation with praise for the […]