Richard Parsakian has been a fixture in the Pittsburgh LGBTQ community for many years. He currently serves on the City of Pittsburgh LGBTQ Commission and was the Grand Marshal of the 2024 Pittsburgh Pride Parade. On today’s podcast, Richard takes ...

Nearly three years after the tragic murder of Angel Naira, a transgender woman from Aliquippa, justice was served as Darnese Raines was found guilty of first-degree murder. The verdict was delivered on Wednesday, bringing some closure to a case that ...

When Katie Heldstab and Christa Puskarich got married, they received an ice cream maker as a gift. Little did they know at the time that this would be the start of their future business—Leona’s Ice Cream Sandwiches. The queer-owned, woman-owned ...

It’s almost midnight on a Sunday and I really, really wish that I was fast asleep but, alas, I am not. And it sucks. My battle with insomnia has been going on for years now. And every single thing I’ve ...

Advertisement According to Matthew Reinhart, LPC, therapist at Allies for Health + Wellbeing, everyone can benefit from therapy. “Everyone has trauma,” he said. “Everyone has stress. Having a dedicated space to unpack that with a third party who doesn’t have ...

Since becoming the governor of Michigan in 2019, Gretchen Whitmer has been a fierce ally for the LGBTQ+ community — not just through her words, but through lawful action. “That woman from Michigan,” originally used as an insult from presidential ...

The LGBTQ+ community is not just a part of the political conversation—we are the conversation. In this election cycle, the stakes couldn’t be higher for queer and trans people. From anti-trans legislation sweeping across states to attempts at erasing our ...

Our older selves might have a lot to say about how we live our lives now. What can we learn from them? And what might they learn from us? Elliott’s dilemma in “My Old Ass,” a film by writer-director Megan ...

5801 Video Lounge’s annual Halloween spectacular, Nightmare on Hellsworth, returned on Saturday with an Addams Family-themed show featuring the Boulet Brothers’ Supermonster Landon Cider. Photos by Ava Grace. ...

Queen Latifah is heading up a biopic about herself, via her production company Flavor Unit Entertainment. And she’ll have collaborators in Westbrook Studios, which is another way of saying Will Smith will co-produce (appropriate, since he began his career in ...

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13 winner Symone joined Another Party Pittsburgh for a ruckus night at P Town on Friday. Indica hosted the event, which featured performances by Serena Tea, Evon Dior Michelle, and Kardi Redd Diamond. Cover guy Jaxa ...

As I shut my laptop a few Fridays ago, I let out a big sigh. I’d just finished reading an email from an individual whose focus was clearly self-interest, despite writing to me: a person living with HIV and the ...

I have long had nothing but contempt for Log Cabin Republicans. But after reading LCR President Charles Moran’s opinion piece in Newsweek, my immediate response was, “Oh, fuck off.” The Trump Administration was one of the most anti-LGBTQ+ administrations in ...

The struggle for LGBTQ+ rights has been intertwined with the fight for political representation and equality. The Stonewall riots of 1969, often seen as a catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, highlighted the urgent need for queer voices in ...

Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania are filled with non-profits helping different communities. One in particular focuses on the queer community experiencing homelessness. Proud Haven is a non-profit specializing in housing for displaced queer people. The organization’s mission is to “provide a ...

The Washington County Gay Straight Alliance, Inc. (WCGSA), in collaboration with faculty, staff, and students from Washington and Jefferson College (W&J), will be holding a public launch of their LGBTQIA+ oral histories project archive (OHP) on October 12, 2024, from ...

Art can be a form of liberation, a gateway to self-discovery, and, for many, a method of expressing one’s identity freely and fearlessly. One Pittsburgh performing artist has utilized their work with the arts for all of the above and ...

What would motivate a Democrat to run for State Representative in an overwhelmingly Republican district?   Meet Ashlee Caul.  I set out on a Sunday morning to meet with Caul, the Democratic nominee for State Representative in District 15.    The gerrymandered ...

Out in Tech is a national nonprofit that unites the LGBTQ+ Tech community. It’s also the world’s largest non-profit community of LGBTQ+ tech leaders and has existed for over ten years. They currently have 32 chapters and over 50,000 members. ...

On Saturday, September 28, during Steel City Fetish Con weekend, new Mr. Pittsburgh Leather Fetish, Ms. Pittsburgh Leather Fetish, Mr. Pittsburgh Leather Bear, Mr. Fort Pitt Bear, and Iron City Pet were crowned. Mr. Pittsburgh Leather Fetish 2025 is Brian ...

Dena Stanley joins the QBurgh podcast to discuss her life experience and what drives her to work in Community. She is the founder of TransYouniting and co-founder of Pittsburgh Pride Group. Pittsburgh Pride 2025 will be May 31 and June ...

Jaxa Froot and JoeMyGosh will do anything for their craft. On the photo shoot for the QBurgh cover, the comedic drag duo prepared a variety of hot looks in a studio behind a camera shop in the North Hills. They ...

It’s time to get spooky! The Fall+Winter Issue of QBurgh magazine is everywhere starting today! Meet the people, organizations, and businesses making a difference in our city, and check out the Pittsburgh Pink Pages – your guide to LGBTQ Pittsburgh. The QBurgh ...

Mary Bockovich (she/her) has been named CEO of Allies for Health + Wellbeing. Mary previously served as chief operations officer and chief development officer of the organization and has worked for PATF/Allies for nearly half her career. “Mary has shown exceptional ...

After months of deliberation, David Sheldon Fearon wrote a letter in 1959 to the committee responsible for developing the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible. Fearon, recently deceased, was then a 21-year-old seminary student in Canada who hoped to ...

Before the title credits roll, childhood friends Ryan (Harrison Xu) and Daniel (Ivan Leung), aspiring actors living in Los Angeles, spend one last weekend together creating a movie before Ryan moves to Canada with his fiancé. The first fifteen minutes ...

There are a ton of queer people out there who love horror movies, and I’m definitely one of them. But my love is reserved for a specific niche of horror movies: the slasher films of the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. ...

Steve Rudzinski loves Christmas—just as much as he loves horror. The local filmmaker has merged the genres in his latest horror-comedy film, “Curtains for Christmas.” The film stars Aleen Isley as Holly, who will kill to turn her life into ...

From spooky drag shows to queer film festivals, October offers a perfect blend of celebration, activism, and community-building, giving everyone a chance to connect and express themselves. ...

For the past few years, I’ve heard people say Republicans have a “candidate quality” problem. In other words, that Republicans are losing races or are having to fight much harder than they have in the past to protect safe Republican ...

The influence of softhearted straight male allies for the LGBTQ+ community is gaining momentum in the era of Tim Walz. We can now count universally beloved comic actor Will Ferrell among those heterosexual men who, confident in their own identities, ...

If you popped on Grindr at around 8:20 p.m. on Saturday anywhere in Detroit, you saw a grid of faces and torsos that signaled Something Very Gay Is Happening Right Now. Twinks, twunks, daddies in twink clothes. People of every ...

QBurgh is thrilled to announce that we’ve joined forces with ten other LGBTQ+ newsrooms across the nation to form the Queer News Network (QNN), a groundbreaking collaboration dedicated to delivering crucial election coverage for the LGBTQ community. From October 1 ...

Bindr, the Pittsburgh-based LGBTQIA+ dating app where you don’t set your sexual orientation, has been chosen to exhibit at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 as part of Startup Battlefield 200, the world’s preeminent startup competition. Bindr is one of 200 startups selected ...

This year Reel Q (Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ film festival and the sixth oldest LGBTQ+ filmfestival in the world) extends its cinematic celebration throughout the city at three iconic Pittsburgh venues. Running October 4-12th, the festival’s 39th season opens Oct. 4 at ...

One president. A four-letter word. A global PR disaster. Seven women trying to keep the country together. This is the setup for POTUS Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive at City Theatre. The play, which ...

The City of Pittsburgh’s Commission on Human Relations is conducting a research survey to better understand the prevalence and impact of housing discrimination faced by LGBTQIA+ individuals. The insights gathered through this survey will play a crucial role in enhancing the enforcement of ...

OK, so let me see if I have this right. Disgraced former president Donald Trump hates Taylor Swift, one of the most beloved people in the country. Swift, as I am sure you know, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. ...

This article was originally published by our partners at onStage Pittsburgh and shared with QBurgh as part of Newsapalooza at Point Park University, Sept. 26-28, a celebration of local journalism in southwestern Pennsylvania. The colorful totem outside of a Shadyside storefront ...

“On Swift Horses,” the new dramatic feature from director Daniel Minahan (“Fellow Travelers”) and screenwriter Bryce Kass (“Lizzie”), recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The period film, based on the novel by Shannon Pufahi, follows a family settling ...

We don’t know how to talk about sex. In 2024, we legitimately do not know how to talk about sex without salaciousness and judgment. Years after the sexual revolution, failed government policy and a far-right regressive movement have ensured the ...

Let me start by saying I like Chappell Roan. I like her music. I like that she is an out-and-proud lesbian and not afraid to say it. I also realize that her meteoric rise to stardom has been hard on ...

Pittsburgh’s Chrissy Costa hosted a night of laughs with a comedy show at Love, Katie Distilling in Sharpsburg on Friday night. Featuring standup routines by Blair Grillz, Jon Huff, Samantha Bentley, and Jeff Fieldhouse. ...

In an exciting victory for diversity and inclusion efforts in the legal field, the Pittsburgh Legal Diversity and Inclusion Coalition (PLDIC) made waves at Diversity Lab’s prestigious “2024 Moments to Movements Hackathon.” Held in New York City, the event saw ...

Another Party hosted Xunami Muse of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 at P Town on Friday for Indica’s birthday celebration. The evening also featured stunning performances by Mariyea, Nicky Monet, Kardi Redd Diamond, Akasha L Van-Cartier, and many more. Follow ...

If you scroll through any of the major streaming services, trans stories are not the easiest to find. Coming across films about trans joy is even harder. The upcoming Netflix documentary Will & Harper stands out as a rare exception. At ...

It’s the return of the QBurgh podcast! After two years, we’re back! This time, QBurgh co-creator Jeff is interviewing LGBTQ and ally Pittsburghers to get to know them better. We’re kicking this season off with State Representative Jessica Benham, who ...

Advertisement If you can find any, lock up your virgins because the Black Flame Candle is lit, and the Sanderson Sisters are on the prowl again in “Witch Perfect” on Friday, October 4th, at the New Hazlett Theater on the ...

Advertisement When the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force was founded in 1985, one of the first services the organization offered was legal aid. At a time when AIDS was a death sentence, volunteers with PATF assisted people with AIDS in getting ...

Up against stiff competition like Picklesburgh, Three Rivers Arts Festival, and Neighborhood Flea, Pittsburgh Pride was voted 3rd best Street Festival by readers in the City Paper Best of PGH 2024. Also coming in third for best music festival was ...