We’ve all seen those movies. Someone is alone at night. They hear a noise, but just dismiss it as their imagination. And then, boom! The killer/monster strikes, and we the audience, who knew all along, have all of our fears ...
The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey challenges us to shine. It challenges those who aren’t queer to, well… queer it the hell up! In this spirit, City Theatre reaches out to its audience with a story all too familiar to the queer community. ...
Author’s note: I appreciate a community member who pointed out potential ambiguity here. The article has been edited to emphasize that we are talking about “legal” and “illegal” use in the zoning code, and that does not mean drag is ...
Dubbed Cirrhosis of Liver, Sonia Maybottom is a 32 year old, 6 year veteran in the drag community, a member of the Manic Monday house cast at P Town Bar, and a founder of the Birdcage Players Theater Company. After two drag performances ...
“I knew, right off the bat, that if I openly associated myself with these people, even though I was really into what they were doing, everyone would drag me through the dirt for it.” Paul Peng tells me this as ...
Drag N’At will be doing performer profiles, focused on the local PGH drag scene. Some of our folks have left us for other states, but they will always be Pittsburgh performers in our hearts. I met Orion at a random show ...
Thursday the 14th of December was a terrible day. I am a film student and it was finals week, so I was sitting in a classroom watching everyone’s rushed film projects. My peers may be extremely talented people, but we ...
I’d been sporting the same pack of Hanes boxers (you know, the kind you can only acquire after dodging around the gendered holiday stocking stuffers upstairs at Target) for a while, so I was pumped to try out Glitter Grandpa’s ...
Hey! Welcome to the frequent(ish) column here at QueerPGH highlighting our drag community! We are a collective of performers and supporters from all over the city looking to really shine the light on our drag community, to lift it up ...
What do your queer friends actually want for the holidays? I’ll tell ya. They want a local queer community that supports one another and works together to reach economic equality, right? So, how do we get that? I’m not totally ...
Proud Haven is a non-profit that focuses on the needs of LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness. They got started unofficially in 2012, in response to a crisis on both the local and national levels. Recently, Proud Haven had a fundraiser called Tunes ...
Art is inspirational for many, and permanently marking our bodies is a celebration of self and life. Let’s face it: many of us, myself included, are way into tattoos and other forms of body modification. Tattooing, in particular, is a ...
The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Pittsburgh recently changed its name to the Pittsburgh Equality Center. “We struggled with the potential for hurt feelings by removing the references to the words ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’, but as the LGBTQIA+ community has ...
This past week, a white man in Las Vegas took a whole mess of automatic weapons and surpassed the Pulse Nightclub slaughter as the most deadly mass shooting in recent U.S. history. After Pulse, I had to write. I was still ...
On Friday October 13th, Pittsburgh’s own LGBT film festival, Reel Q, will be kicking off downtown! From the perspective of 2017 it can be hard to appreciate the value of media representation for our community. The premier of new season ...
This first installment of Sex Ed 101 will focus on dental dams! Sex Ed 101 is a series to help provide the sex ed you may have missed. There are plenty of topics that I could have discussed first, but I have found over ...
Despite the fact that our state’s Acting Secretary of Health and Physician General, Rachel Levine, is an openly trans woman who practiced gender care, it may seem almost impossible to find a queer-friendly, doctor in Pittsburgh who is knowledgeable about LGBTQIA+ ...
Are college campuses doing enough for their transgender students? According to The Healthy Minds Study, a national survey of over 14,000 students on campuses across the United States, 32.7 percent of transgender respondents thought about attempting suicide in 2013. In addition, ...
Despite varied stances on the American Military Industrial Complex within the LGBTQIA+ community, many experienced a thrill of outrage upon reading President Trump’s series of tweets on Wednesday July 26, 2017. Trump’s tweets stated his intention to ban transgender individuals from serving ...
Kids are gender-explorers, still developing their own sense of what gender is and how they want to express it. For queer kids, seeing and interacting with queer adult role models can give them confidence in themselves and who they are ...
In a move designed to distract and alienate, President Trump announced via tweet at 6 a.m. on July 26th that he would be instituting a ban on trans people serving in the United States Armed Forces. This would overturn a ...
Hey, queers! As promised, I’m back with something super special! It’s Part 2 of the Queer Pride Guide with 21 awesome events happening between Thursday, June 9th and Friday, June 16th! This week there are 21 unique events that are ...
You are busy right? I get that. As a busy lady with a full time job, two children under the age of five, a wife, and a part-time obsessive food thing (blogging, catering, reviewing, designing, writing, Instagraming, etc.), I’m no ...
At the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula is a jewel called the Republic of Singapore. Nicknamed “The Little Red Dot,” Singapore is a city-state separated from Malaysia by a causeway measuring only 250 square miles. Within its compact borders, ...
In order to have access to necessary, often life-saving care options, transgender people whose bodies are incongruent with their gender identity, must accept the label of having severe mental distress (Gender Dysphoria) or worse yet, a mental disorder (Gender Identity ...
Picture it: PITTSBURGH, 2016. Three friends set out to have the best summer of their lives, while remaining single. They called it “Single Summer” and it was going to be glorious. But shortly after summer began those three friends failed ...
As a labor employment attorney (not to mention an all-around legal nerd), one of my first thoughts on election night was “I wonder what this result will mean for employment law?” No kidding. However, to understand the answer to this ...
Arcade Comedy Theater is taking a stroll down Liberty Avenue. The theater is not just moving down the block, from 811 Liberty Avenue to 943 Liberty; it’s expanding from its modest space into a custom-built, three-floor, two-theater, state-of-the art performance ...
While stand-up comedy is still predominantly male, improv and sketch comedy is more inclusive. Since its inception, the Arcade Comedy Theater has welcomed diverse voices. There is Frankly Scarlett, an improv/sketch group composed of all women (Abby Fudor, Liz Labacz ...
Last year, as part of Pittsburgh Pride, the first ball on the Bridge took place on the Andy Warhol Bridge. It was a night celebrating the underground ballroom culture, and Dena Stanley was among the leaders helping to make that ...
In the wake of the tragic anniversary of the Orlando Pulse Nightclub massacre, singer songwriter Brandon Parsons wants to remind us “We must never hide.” The former American Idol contestant paid tribute to the victims of the Orlando tragedy with ...
Thank you, President Obama. Without a doubt, no president in U.S. history has advocated and pushed legislation to help the LGBT and ally community more than you. As a result of your administration’s actions, more U.S. adults self-identify as LGBT ...
A TRIP TO HILLS DEPARTMENT STORE IN WARREN, OHIO, came around only twice a year. Once, when it was time to go back to school and once again when it was time to replace my pair of shoes. Walking into ...
In the late hours OF November 8, 2016, it is believed between two to eight transgender youths committed suicide. Although the exact numbers are unconfirmed, both Trans Lifeline and The Trevor Project saw a surge of phone calls. Unfortunately they ...
When you hear the word “Pride,” many queer and trans people think of the official Pride March. For years in Pittsburgh that has meant the Pride Festival and Parade hosted by the Delta Foundation, and for years some Pittsburghers have ...
This here is just an overview to help you understand the language used by NB (non-binary) people who have less popular pronouns than ‘he’ and ‘she’. These non-he-and-she pronouns are commonly known as gender neutral pronouns, and are often used ...
For the 5th year in a row, the FIERCE! queer burlesque festival will celebrate sexy queer bodies through creative dance, featuring hot performers diverse in age, race, ethnicity, class, body type, access/ability, and gender expression. This year, the festival returns to ...
April 21, 2017 is the GLSEN Day Of Silence. For those of you who don’t know what the Day of Silence is, I’ll explain. GLSEN stands for the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. Their Day of Silence has been ...
Since 2010, Hot Metal Hardware (HMH) has been a staple of genderqueer entertainment in Pittsburgh, presenting all manner of drag and burlesque shows at locations around the city. Their upcoming event, GET BENT! A Night of Gender Fauxery, focuses on ‘gender mayhem’ ...
A little while ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Pastor Shanea Leonard of Judah Fellowship to discuss church hurt, intersectionality, community building outside the City, and everything that she’s been working on in and around Pittsburgh. The Judah Fellowship Christian Church is ...
I’ve spent the last seven years studying and practicing organizational psychology, a field that seeks to enhance the workplace from a people perspective. This might conjure up thoughts of Google nest pods, annoying surveys about your work attitudes, and measuring ...
“Burlesque is about feminism. Burlesque is about power. Burlesque is about women doing what they want and loving themselves.” What society thinks is sexy–who gets depicted as sexy, what sort of bodies are given that designation, is a thing that ...
Heya Sister 6P, Silicone or water-based? I can never decide. Thanks,Lou-b’d Dear Lou-b’d First of all.. A water-based sex toy may sound fun.. But the ice insertables do come with a risk. Meanwhile, the insert-into-able ice sex toys do help ...
Dear Costa,My girlfriend moved in with me and my dog, Apollo, about 9 months ago. She always got along with the dog but lately it seems she’s more interested in Apollo than she is with me. She never asks me ...
Heya Sister PPPPPP, Here’s an embarrassing fact–I’m terrible at talking about sex in any context. I find myself referring to sex as “doing IT” or “You Know What.” My partner has even started calling me out on it. I feel ...
Every summer, the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh organizes Pittsburgh’s Pride Festival and March downtown. The Delta Foundation recently announced in a press conference with the EQT Foundation, Mayor Peduto, and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald that this year’s festival and march ...
Community Health for Queer and Trans Folks Despite the passing of the Affordable Care Act that expanded healthcare access to millions of people, one in ten Americans under age 65 are still uninsured and over half of these individuals report ...
Music has the power to unite, and to heal. In these trying times, it can be an important component of self-care. The Renaissance City Choir (RCC) has brought music to the Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ community for decades. Founded in 1985, the choir ...
As the entire country counts down the days until the 2016 election season is over, it’s important to remember that local and state elections will matter just as much, if not more than the Presidential election, when it comes to ...
Chrissy Costa is a Pittsburgh-based stand up comedian, who has graced you with her virtual presence to answer all your lez-lady, queer-loving dating inquiries. Need some advice? Send your questions to DearCosta@queerpgh.com. Dear Costa,I have a crush on my boss… ...