Opinion | The ideal way to corporatize LGBTQ+ identity
By Grace McGinness, Staff Columnist
June 12, 2019
While the corporatization can be bad, there are ways to ethically market LGBTQ+ inclusiveness. Companies need to adopt these principles, and it is our job to hold them accountable.
Editorial | Acknowledge progress and pitfalls during Pride month
By Pitt News Editorial Board
June 12, 2019
But the past few years also brought forth a slew of hateful events, serving as a bleak reminder that we still have a long way to go. In order to continue progressing forward, it’s vital to acknowledge both the progress and the pitfalls.
Opinion | Pride can be both political and a party
By Julia Kreutzer, Staff Columist
June 11, 2019
While Pride in 2019 is far different than Stonewall, if executed with respect, it can be an incredible time to both toast to how far we’ve come and push for continued progress. It is imperative that members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies alike push for the continued growth of Pride events in ways that support and include everyone in the community.
Campus organizations host first Pride month
By Neena Hagen, Senior Staff Writer
April 9, 2019
Pitt’s campus is home to many LGBTQ+ organizations — Rainbow Alliance, oSTEM and the Gender and Sexuality LLC, to name a few. But until this year, none of those organizations came together for a large-scale project celebrating Pitt’s LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
Opinion | Non-inclusive sex ed puts LGBTQ+ youth at risk
By Julia Kreutzer, Staff Columnist
February 14, 2019
To decrease the number of LGBTQ+ individuals put at risk, inclusive education is needed to keep students safe and encourage security in their sexual and gender identities.
Exploring the gray areas of asexuality
By Maggie Young, Staff Writer
February 14, 2019
Asexuality is a sexual orientation, meaning a whole spectrum of sexual attraction exists — not just a void of sexuality.
GSWS program to offer LGBTQ+ studies minor
By Brian Gentry, Assistant News Editor
February 14, 2019
The GSWS program will offer a minor in LGBTQ and critical sexuality studies this semester, which requires 18 credits in classes about sexuality through a variety of lenses.
LGBTQ+ representation through flags
By Joanna Li, News Editor
February 14, 2019
The iconic, instantly recognizable rainbow flag featured on this year’s Sex Edition cover isn’t the only flag members of the LGBTQ+ community rally around. Since the late artist Gilbert Baker first flew the rainbow flag in 1978, countless other activists and artists have created id...
The Pittsburgh pride of today ignores its roots
By Anaïs Foss | For The Pitt News
June 13, 2018
As a member of a community under constant attack, attending pride celebrations used to feel like a breath of fresh air for me. Pride was always a space to be out safely and celebrate myself with other queer people. But things have changed. Pittsburgh Pride has been sponsored by natural gas compa...
Pittsburgh packs the streets for Pride 2018
By Madeline Gavatorta | Staff Writer
June 13, 2018
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple lit up downtown Pittsburgh over the weekend as members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies united to celebrate their differences and show support for the community. They danced, sang and kissed under rainbow flags. This was Pittsburgh PrideFest 2018. ...
Column: Hosting World Cup in Russia is dangerous for LGBTQ+ fans
By Hannah Schneider, Sports Editor
June 13, 2018
Professional sports environments aren’t traditionally safe spaces for LGBTQ+ athletes and fans — especially in Russia, where policies outlawing “gay propaganda” have been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights as “discriminatory.” With the 2018 World Cup games quickly approachin...
Editorial: Supreme Court’s decision hurts LGBTQ+ community
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
June 6, 2018
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed “hostility” toward a local baker when it decided he had discriminated against gay couple by refusing to bake a cake for their wedding in 2012. The ruling avoided a larger question the case presented, which is whether Jack Phil...
Anjali Kumar: A journey into faith
By Mariam Shalaby | Senior Staff Writer
April 19, 2018
Anjali Kumar has an infectiously bright presence. The corners of her eyes crinkle when she smiles and her curly teal hair bounces in rhythm with her steps. She said she has a lot to be happy about these days. She just joined a sorority and is making friends in her new faith community. Plus, she j...
Drag queens and kings strut past boundaries
By Madeline Gavatorta | Staff Writer
April 9, 2018
Performers lip-synched, danced and seductively plucked money from people’s hands with their mouths while pop song remixes played in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room Friday evening. “Drag is about pushing boundaries,” the emcee for the first half of the night, drag queen Anne T. Christ, ...
Cecile Richards reflects on life of activism
By Hannah Schneider, Staff Writer
April 5, 2018
Cecile Richards has been politically active since seventh grade, when she wore a black armband to school to protest the Vietnam War. When she was called to the principal’s office and asked if her mother knew what she was doing, she replied, “Probably.” Since then, she’s grown to become a lea...
Lance Bass in sync with LGBTQ+ community
By Sam Weber | For The Pitt News
April 4, 2018
When Lance Bass looks back on his time in NSYNC, he can’t help but laugh — both at his antics and the crowds often confused by them. “I found it funny,” Bass said. “Before anyone knew I was gay, I was just Lance from NSYNC and I just humped the stage a lot.” Bass, a 38-year-old mus...
Seeking out safe sex in the LGBTQ+ community
By Shahum Ajmal and Abigail Tesfay | Pitt News Staff
February 14, 2018
The average human being can only be so comfortable with openly discussing how to insert an internal condom, which is why organizations like the Rainbow Alliance come prepared with a prosthetic vagina. “You have to overcome that hurdle of talking about it at all in order to talk about safe sex prac...
Students reconcile religion, identity
By Sid Lingala | Staff Writer
December 1, 2017
Bridget Duffy felt uncomfortable practicing her family religion of Catholicism when she found out same-sex couples could not get married in Catholic churches and infants of same-sex couples were not allowed to be baptized. “I’m a traditional person. But I need someone else to tell me that God does...
Student scores scholarship to start LGBTQ+ on campus
By Remy Samuels | Staff Writer
November 9, 2017
Amy Kelley said she was “living the life.” Why? Because she got to hear Hillary Clinton speak and had people drive her around the nation’s capital as part of her invitation to attend the Human Rights Campaign’s National Dinner in Washington, D.C. Oct. 28. “It was really awesome,” Ke...
Students drown out bigotry in counter protest outside Towers
By Janine Faust and Amanda Finney / TPN Staff
September 18, 2017
A crowd of Pitt students jammed the stairway leading up to Towers Patio on Monday, waving rainbow flags and sporting “I [heart] the female orgasm” t-shirts. Others stood on nearby trashcans and benches and leaned over the patio rails, fervently chanting “God loves everyone” and “shame on you...
Pittsburgh celebrates two controversial Prides
By Henry Glitz | News Editor
June 14, 2017
When Pittsburghers gathered for the city’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade Sunday, they probably expected the marchers to toss candy and wave rainbow flags — but they got their fair share of political chants slung their way as well. The circumstance of two parades came as the result of fundamental disagree...
March mayhem: Delta’s Pride draws criticism
By Madeline Barber / Staff Writer
June 6, 2017
Pittsburgh gears up for its annual Pride celebration every June by filling the streets downtown with dozens upon dozens of rainbow flags and banners that promote equality and stand out against the monochromatic buildings and oft-dreary skies. Pride week finishes the weekend of June 11 with PrideFest — a ...
Embracing Queer: Pitt’s LGBTQ+ Community
By Madeline Barber / Staff Writer
May 31, 2017
Queer pride is everywhere in Pittsburgh — Bloomfield storefronts sell queer-friendly merchandise, rainbow flags dance in the winds of Lawrenceville homes and banners adorned with local drag performers hang from streetlights Downtown, advertising the upcoming Pittsburgh Pride Festival. The queer co...
In light of Trump, Pitt students can take heart in LGBTQ+ resources
By Christian Snyder | Columnist
March 29, 2017
American universities have been at the forefront of cultural change for decades. From free speech movements at Berkeley in the 1960s to a student carrying her mattress around campus to raise awareness of sexual assault, many of our country’s biggest social movements have started at the collegi...
Sojourning exhibit shares LGBTQ+ journeys
By Jack Shelly / Staff Writer
March 23, 2016
A new exhibit is flipping the script on LGBTQ+ awareness — letters and photos of encouragement will come not from the accepted, but from the accepting. The exhibit, titled “Acceptance Journeys Pittsburgh,” is on display around campus, with two to four narratives stopping in Posvar Hall, Parran Hall...
Wigging out: student drag show bends gender norms
By Jack Shelly / Staff Writer
September 18, 2015
Picture nearly 200 students crammed into Nordy’s Place singing along to Nikki Minaj’s “The Night Is Still Young” and cheering wildly for a drag queen sporting a wild blonde wig and denim jacket. That was the scene Thursday night at one of the Rainbow Alliance’s first events of the year,...
LGBTQ visual activist discusses ‘curative rape’ in South Africa
By John Lavanga / A&E Editor
October 9, 2013
As South African photographer and LGBTQ visual activist Zanele Muholi — joined on the stage by Lerato Dumse, a participant in Muholi’s photography and member of her activist group, Inkanyiso — stared out at the modest audience from the stage of the Carnegie Lecture Hall on Tuesday night as a part of ...