Pittsburgh has been finding its way on “Most Livable City” lists recently, although I don’t know why. Pittsburgh is a great city to live in if you’re NOT black and gay. Here the white and black gay communities are two ...
Venice, Italy is unlike any other city – built entirely on water by men who defied the strength of the sea to create a Renaissance masterpiece. To experience the Venetian way of life, you may travel on the vaporetti (water ...
Valentine’s Day…..the one day a year that is completely dedicated to romance and love. But before you get stressed out with the thought of over-crowded restaurants, Hallmark stores bursting with cards, and chocolate heart boxes, all of which don’t sound ...
Outside of a Netflix or LOGO subscription, there aren’t many ways in which to access LGBT media in the Greater Pittsburgh area. When blurry, low resolution YouTube snippets of “Queer as Folk,” your local library’s VHS version of “Bent” and ...
She’s been silent film star Mabel Normand, the Witch out of fairy tales, gun slinger Annie Oakley and uber-stage mother Mama Rose. She is Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, and she will be appearing live at the Carnegie Music Hall on ...
A community needed a voice and a space in Pittsburgh, now one year later, the efforts of Project Silk are continuing to move forward. With a space Downtown for young men and transgender women of color, the HIV prevention initiative ...
As you may know, Key West is one of my favorite places to actually get away. It embodies all of my escape essentials: Sun, unbeatable wine and cocktail selections, and fabulous dining options. I have traveled to Key West a ...
Losing weight? Saving money? Developing better habits? These are all common New Year’s resolutions but one of the things I resolve to do each year is to explore the Pittsburgh food scene. Pittsburgh has a wealth of amazing restaurants; I ...
Let’s face it, the traditional Holiday fruitcake gets a bad rep. Say fruitcake, and the first thing you think of is an overly processed loaf. This also brings words to mind like brick hardness, and gummy green and red chunks ...
Just 50 miles north of Pittsburgh, one of the country’s most conservative colleges has been ranked the most LGBT-unfriendly in the country by the Princeton Review. Grove City College was ranked at the top of a list compiled by student’s ...
Thanksgiving is all about food, family and giving thanks for little things like pumpkin spice lattes, college Thursdays at Cruze and Cher’s Twitter feed. In the spirit of giving, here are six deliciously gay tidbits about turkey day. Feel free ...
There I was gathering my things, preparing to leave after a late-night comedy show when I was approached by a pretty girl attempting to hand me a drink. Being a fan of free things, I accepted. We made small talk ...
In my best Estelle Getty impression, “Picture it, Thanksgiving, last year.” This probably brings back multiple emotions of the holiday. This could include smiles from the family being together and sharing stories, to the horror of Uncles and screaming children. ...
Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy wasn’t at all surprised when labor representatives first approached his administration about offering health benefits to city workers in same-sex relationships. It was the Mayor himself who engineered the request. Working behind the scenes and ...
When University of Pittsburgh School of Law grad Carey Cummings accepted a position in May 2013 with Mintzer, Sarowitz, Zeris, Levda and Meyers LLP, a regional insurance defense law firm, little did she know how supportive they would be of ...
I get asked regularly, “What is your favorite city?” The truth is that I do not have just one……but, I do have my favorites. And one of them is Chicago. The primary reason I love Chicago so much is that ...
February 7, 2003, Pennsylvania enacted a 2710, a statute defining hate crimes. Pennsylvania law-makers called it Ethnic Intimidation: A person commits the offense of ethnic intimidation if, with malicious intention toward race, color, religion or national origin of another individual ...
On October 6, a violent incident sent shockwaves through the LGBT community when five young men committed an assault (read hate crime) in Lawrenceville. The suspects ruthlessly beat two unarmed men for being affectionate to one another in public. Benjamin ...
“If you loved “Waiting to Exhale” by Terry McMillan, I highly recommend you read “Who Asked You?” This book took me on an unpredictable roller-coaster of emotions. I could relate with many of the same struggles the characters, especially Betty, ...
It is Monday night, just 15 days before he officially becomes Mayor-elect, and Bill Peduto is hanging out at the Regent Square Theater where in a celebration of its 10th season barebones productions has just screened the cult classic, “The ...
Dear Friends This holiday season, as we gather family, friends, and our family of choice together to celebrate Thanksgiving, Equal Magazine would like to raise a glass and toast you Pittsburgh. We give thanks to you for allowing Equal Magazine ...
My cousin Graham and his partner, Francis, were deep in the planning stages for their wedding when the United States Supreme Court issued its June ruling legalizing federal benefits for couples in same-sex marriages. For them, the court’s decision was ...
When it’s quiet at the Rusty Dory Pub in Avalon, owner Joanne Teti says she hears some of the longtime residents of the building moving chairs, arranging silverware, closing doors or leaving pennies on the bar. “They’re good ghosts,” says ...
Fall has arrived and so has Pumpkin season. As one of the most popular crops in the United States, 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced each year in the top pumpkin-producing states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, California, and Pennsylvania. ...
A wise woman once said, “Life isn’t all diamonds and rosé, but it should be.” That woman was Lisa Vanderpump from the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and she was 100% correct. Life can be diamonds and rosé, if you ...
With the recent Supreme Court ruling against DOMA and more and more states across the U.S. making same-sex marriage legal, the traditional face of a wedding has given same-sex couples the opportunity to embrace—and tinker with— established tradition. Whatever traditional ...
Growing up, my brother and I loved to watch the sitcom – Golden Girls. The late actress Estelle Getty portrayed Sophia Petrillo, my favorite character. Prior to telling any story she would start it with the words “Picture it, Sicily” ...
With the fall semester quickly approaching, many students are looking to add more extracurricular activities to their plate. Whether freshmen or upperclassmen, the universities in Pittsburgh offer many safe havens and activist groups for LGBT students. Here is your guide ...
There is much that makes Pennsylvania stand out among its forty-nine sister-states. Not only is it home to Philadelphia, our nation’s birthplace (and whose cheesesteaks people willingly drive hours to devour), you will also find America’s most livable city, Pittsburgh—a ...
Before she decided she needed to become more comfortable talking about her personal life at work, Christine Crespo was introverted and kept people there at arm’s length. “I was always afraid of what people would think, what they would do ...
It’s ok to judge your food by its cover. ROYGBIV: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet should be a phrase and color scheme we’re all familiar with. Using that color palate should be a no brainer for picking ...
For the first time in 30 years, the “Queen of Motown” Diana Ross will be performing live in Pittsburgh. The concert comes, coincidentally, at a significant time in the career of Pittsburgh Drag Queen Miss Kierra Darshell, who many may ...
Young-adult fiction or young adult literature (often abbreviated as YA), is fiction written, published, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, although the “young” portion is getting more and more flexible all the time. According to the American Library Association, ...
Dr. John Tymitz and his wife Dixie have been spreading love and equality together for the last forty-four years and live by the philosophy that all are one. In 1976 John co-founded the Institute of Shipboard Education which operates the ...
Fiber Artist Amanda K. Gross and a few hundred people have knitted a bridge cozy (think tea cozy on a grand scale). Amanda, outreach coordinator for Fiberart International, and her team of volunteers will yarn bomb the Andy Warhol Bridge ...
In a remarkable career spanning over 40 years, Diana Ross has proven herself the consummate music artist as well as the most successful female singer of all time. Born on March 26, 1964 in Detroit, Michigan, Diana Ross lived a ...
Kate Passarelli remembers the moment her four-year-old son realized there were other kids like him with two moms. He was telling her about how he liked playing with another boy he met while they were visiting with other children and ...
Dear Friends, Let the sun shine. I’m excited to offer you the perfect summer read… Equal Magazine has packed this issue with so many hot articles that you’ll need sunscreen when you open it. I recommend an SPF of at ...
Hello folks: I hope everyone is well rested after an exciting Pride month. Here are some shots from a few non-pride events. Rhinestone Steel held a strip show fundraiser (1) which was a huge success and got everyone excited for ...
“Tenth of December” by George Saunders is a collection of short stories that touches on themes from adolescent disobedience and post-conflict PTSD to suicide and death. The stories were often dark, perverse, and emotional. Due to the heavy content of ...
I’ve been called a lot of things in my life: flaming, trashy, cheesy, stupid, ghetto, talented, idealistic, brilliant, crazy and numerous other things. I have also been called a “bottom” several times and often it’s been intended as an insult. ...
Since 1994, The Andy Warhol Museum has become one of Pittsburgh’s most influential and important cultural organizations. Located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, The Warhol holds the distinction of being the largest museum in the United States dedicated to ...
A little more than fifty years ago, the world was quite different. It was a time before the March on Washington and before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s stirring words began to change the hearts and minds of a generation. ...
If during Fourth of July weekend you see human-sized stuffed animals roaming around town, know that you are not hallucinating due to the extreme heat. It simply means that Anthrocon, the world’s largest furry convention, is back in town. Since ...
For the past six years, Pittsburgh Pride has taken on a different look than it had previously. For one thing, it’s a lot bigger in size and scope, and is far better attended. The celebration’s presence now carries more weight ...
The organizers of an upcoming queer arts festival needed a name, so they created two lists, one of words associated with queerness and the other a list of words associated with Pittsburgh. And what a better combination for those two ...
Back in April, Issak Wolfe, a student at Red Lion Area High School near York, Pa. wanted to add his name to the running for prom king. But because he is transgender, he was instead placed on the prom queen ...
We all go through our “dream vacation check list” in our heads countless numbers of times as soon as the travel bug gets a hold of us. As I go down my list, 99% of the time I am looking ...
As a woman, I know that taking care of oneself can seem overwhelming. With so much to fit into our schedules, our health sometimes slips onto the back burner. What we don’t realize is that if we break it down ...
Are you paying attention? Can it be that history has been made? It almost doesn’t feel real, does it? The LGBT community has achieved the most amazing progress towards equality since Stonewall and it feels as though momentum is building. ...