How #AMPLIFY Has Changed My Life

I’m nine months into my artistic residency and four full months into the #AMPLIFY project, at least the publication phase. Seems like a good time to do some reflecting. If I were going to put up a sculpture to describe my life this year, it would be #AMPLIFY. It would be a beautiful reclaimed wood sculpture. […]

Anonymous Grieves How Pgh’s Lesbian & Gay Community Treats Bisexuals #AMPLIFY

Bisexual Pittsburgh

Name: Anonymous Age: 45 County of Residence: Allegheny Preferred Pronouns: She, her. (Non-traditional female) How do you describe your identity? Non-traditional female, bisexual, polyamorous. Please describe your coming out experience. Where did you find support? What challenges did you face? I realized that I was bi at 42, after two hetero divorces. I think a big part of that was, when […]

Kitty Is Out and Open as a Bisexual Trans Woman in Erie County #AMPLIFY

Erie Transgender Bisexual

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 […]

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 […]

Review of the Movie ‘Tangerine’

Last week, Ledcat and I decided to catch the indie-film ‘Tangerine’ at The Harris Theater. The film follows two trans women during the course of one Christmas Day in Los Angeles. Alexandra and Sin-Dee are best friends with aspirations, hopes and lots of street smarts. Sin-Dee is on a quest to track down her erstwhile […]

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 […]

UPDATED: 22 Year Old TWOC Shade Schuler Found Murdered in Dallas

Shade Schuler Transgender

Another tragic loss, this time from Dallas. A 22-year-old trans woman of color, known as Ms. Shade, was identified this week after her body was found in late July. From Lone Star Q: On Monday, police identified the body of Shade Schuler, which they found July 29 in a vacant field just west of 5600 […]