Pittsburgh becoming more gay-friendly

A man in makeup, a dress and a wig stood at the front of ballroom A in the William Pitt Union…. A man in makeup, a dress and a wig stood at the front of ballroom A in the William Pitt Union. He was there to perform in a drag show. He lip-synced to a new song by Kylie Minogue as he danced and waved his feather boa in circles. His name was Veronica Bleaus.

The more than 500 people in attendance laughed and applauded her performance. It was standing-room only.

“I’m out of breath,” Veronica – a.k.a. Pitt senior John Musser – said after the dance. “Have you ever danced in 8-inch heels?”

Even though it was the seventh drag show the Pitt’s Rainbow Alliance had organized in the past eight years, RA president Aaron Arnold said Pitt students, faculty and staff have come a long way in their acceptance of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Their interest in the show was one indication.

When Arnold applied to college, he received the Point Scholarship, sponsored by the Point Foundation and awarded to gay students whose parents won’t help them pay for school. Arnold then researched carefully the gay and lesbian organizations offered at different universities. He chose Pitt because of the full ride and its gay pride groups.

But he admitted that Pitt wasn’t entirely accepting when he arrived on the campus two years ago. Although it was socially tolerant, Arnold was most upset by the University administration’s lack of support of the GLBT community.

“It seemed like they were ignoring the fact that there was this community of students, and they did have special needs,” Arnold said. They weren’t “keeping up with the times and the reality of [the] student population” when it came to the GLBT community, he said.

Arnold and RA member Kelly Coburn brought the Allies Network training program to Pitt to better the lives of GLBT students. The anti-discrimination policies committee of the Pitt Faculty Senate assisted the Rainbow Alliance with the program.

Faculty and staff gathered for workshops – they have completed two in the past year – in which they learned how to support the GLBT community in compassionate ways, said Arnold. They posted signs in their offices to show their support.

“It gives students a friendly face, a friendly office and a safe environment for students to go and express who they are without fear of retribution or discrimination,” said Shawn Brooks, director of Residence Life at Pitt.

Brooks said it’s difficult to estimate the gay and lesbian population in any institution. Statistics are “thrown around” that suggest anywhere from 3.5 to 10 percent of a population is not heterosexual, said Brooks, but they are not absolutely accurate.

Plus, it’s hard to determine how many people are “out” to themselves or “out” to their friends, he said.

Katherine Pegher of the Office of Human Resources at Pitt participated in one of the workshops last year.

A 2005 graduate, Pegher doesn’t remember the GLBT community having a large presence on campus during her college years.

Pitt’s Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey was a driving force behind the growing prominence of the group, both Brooks and Arnold agreed.

In November 2007, Humphrey invited the Rainbow Alliance to her house, as she has done with other Pitt organizations, to discuss the gay and lesbian community at Pitt. Arnold said Humphrey’s goal was to make a more personal connection with student organizations.

And Pitt’s acceptance of the GLBT community stands out from other universities where she’s worked, Humphrey said.

“I see our gay students engaged in the greek community,” Humphrey said. “I’ve never seen that on any other campus.”

When Pitt sophomore Brendin Rogers came out, even people who didn’t agree with homosexuality as a lifestyle still supported him.

“We are more accepting than our parents are of alternative lifestyles,” Rogers said.

But Humphrey said the University isn’t perfect in its tolerance of the GLBT community.

“I think we’re in a good place, but there’s always more to improve,” she said.

The same goes for the city of Pittsburgh, said Rick Allison of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Pittsburgh.

“It’s still rare that I will see two individuals of the same sex holding hands on the streets of Pittsburgh, very unusual,” Allison said. “It’s just not that acceptable yet.”

“Pittsburgh is such a strange city,” Pegher said. “There are these progressive institutions and colleges, and then there are the Pittsburghers who hold onto an older way of thinking.”

People with an “older way of thinking” might not be speaking out.

Sixty-seven percent of Pennsylvanians support civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, according to a Susquehanna Polling and Research statewide poll.

While there has been a dramatic increase in how many people are out in the city, Pittsburgh is still very closeted, Allison said. Gay people often stay in the closet because they want to protect their jobs.

Twenty-five years ago, Pittsburgh was much more closeted, and people who were completely out were the minority, Allison said.

But Pittsburgh wasn’t an outlier. In the 1990s, the GLBT scene across the country was more underground, said Andrew Collins, a gay and lesbian travel writer for About.com.

There weren’t many options for meeting people other than going to gay bars and clubs. Now there are organizations in Pittsburgh for activities like bingo, volleyball, bowling, outdoors and running, Allison said.

And although the GLBT lifestyle is not fully accepted in the city, Pittsburghers “are becoming more progressive in their way of thinking,” Allison said.

Collins agreed that times are changing.

As a travel writer, Collins would frequently call the Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau and ask about the GLBT community.

“They weren’t unfriendly, but they didn’t have much to say about it,” Collins said.

Now, organizations like the Visitors Bureau won’t stop talking.

Since gay and lesbian travelers spend $55 billion annually, cities often want to communicate the message, “You’re valued, they want you there, you’re safe there, and you’re important to them,” ALTUS spokesman Jonathan Morein said.

ALTUS is a gay-owned marketing agency and creator of “City Navigaytor,” a guide for gay and lesbian tourists. It started in Philadelphia and has expanded its market to attract gay and lesbian tourists to cities such as Chicago, New Orleans, San Diego and Pittsburgh.

In one column on About.com, Collins named Pittsburgh one of 10 underrated gay-friendly U.S. cities in part because of its tourist destinations like the Andy Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory. He also admired the city’s variety of gay-owned businesses in the North Side, Oakland and Shadyside.

Arnold agreed that the gay-friendly neighborhoods make Pittsburgh a welcoming place.

Pittsburghers have the overall attitude of “live and let live,” Arnold said.

And while people might not be so accepting of homosexuality as to go “march in a gay parade any time soon,” Arnold said, they still have an idea that people should do what makes them happy.

“You can either sit back and hate everybody,” Arnold said, “or get out and be involved with a general appreciation for diversity.”