West Pittsburgh Pride Group formed by ‘great uniter’
When Pittsburgh City Council President Theresa KailSmith meets a new resident of her district, she tends to “swoop them up.” She typically gives them tours of District 2 neighborhoods — Westwood, Sheraden, Banksville, Duquesne Heights and more — and shares her favorite ice creamshops, all while getting to know her district’s newest residents.
That’s how she noticed the uptick in LGBTQ community members entering the area beginning about two years ago.
“I’m talking to all these people from the LGBTQ community who’ve moved into District 2 — a lot of pretty prominent people in our community who do a lot of good things,” she told the Post-Gazette. “The odd part, to me, was they didn’t know one another.”
On June 13 Ms. KailSmith organized the first meeting of the West Pittsburgh Pride Group, a name dubbed by its members. They met at Blinky’s Noble Grille and Bar, which is as central to the district as the meeting’s chronology was to LGBTQ Pride Month. It was the culmination of two years of brainstorming — and a lifelong inclination to cultivate connection — that made the timing only a happy accident.
Ms. Kail-Smith grew up with a culture of acceptance. Her childhood home in Oakland — at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Robinson Street — was an equal opportunity refueling spot for both activists and first responders during the protests that followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968. She remembers her mother filling a large silver carafe full of coffee, preparing food and setting as many places as she could across the kitchen and dining room tables, where law enforcement and activists sat side by side before returning to their respective roles in the streets.
She also remembers the discomfort she felt when the culture of that era made many in the gay community feel rejected.
Drawing on those experiences, she thought of a plan to bring her district’s growing LGBTQ contingent together. But COVID-19 restrictions pressed the pause button for her. Then, as the pandemic eased, the May 2021 primary election was on the horizon. “I didn’t want to make it a political thing,” she said. “I wanted people to know that I really care about them.”
After winning the City Council election, which confirmed the office she held since 2009, her attention turned toward her 2-year-old idea.
“She was ‘the great uniter,’ ” said Jim Sheppard, 34, who moved to Westwood at the beginning of the year. As the cofounder of recently launched Qburgh (www.QBurgh.com) — the region’s first LGBTQ publication since 2014 — and a longtime participant in Pittsburgh Pride month event planning, Mr. Sheppard didn’t want for LGBTQ connections. But he also didn’t realize how many of those acquaintances live in the West End until his council woman pointed it out.
“Whenever you make yourselfmore visible, that can really help to change hearts and minds,” he said, referencing the value of the West Pittsburgh Pride Group. “Whenever you have people around you who have gone through the same life experiences, you don’t feel alone. You have a greatersense of community. It goes a million miles for mentalhealth.”
Ms. Kail-Smith hoped to plan one meeting of her district’s LGBTQ community members and crossed her fingers it would turn into more. It did.
Windgap-Chartiers resident and state Senate chief of staff Megan Winters, 28 — a queer polyamorous person — remembers an excitable group at the first meeting. Two tables of community members gathered and threw out ideas at rapid speed. Not only were they eager to meet one another, but they also felt motivated to keep their presence (and dollars) local, helping West End businesses recover from the pandemic. A queer homecoming, crafting fair, paintball night at the facility in East Carnegie, bowling nights at the alley down the street, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Pride Night and bar “takeovers” were among their ideas for future events.
The group, which invites any member of the LGBTQ community regardless of where they reside, decided on monthly meetings. The second one took place on July 8 at another local establishment, Hunter Blue’s.
The bar and restaurant changed hands just over a year ago. From the beginning, the new owner, and her family, hoped to foster an atmosphere of acceptance. Welcoming the group for their second meeting was just an extension of that philosophy.
“When we took over this place, our main goal was to make it a place for everybody — a place where everyone is comfortable, where they can come in and relax,” said the bar’s namesake, Hunter McCracken, who’s the daughter of the new owner and works as a manager. “It’s kind of like a little family, and that’s how it should be with everybody, no matter who you are.”
For Ms. Winters, the district’s increase in LGBTQ community members is a function of the area’s general livability. “I think, generally, District 2 is an underrated part of the city,” she said, referencing the area’s affordability, closeness to the city and the parkway and its family-friendly atmosphere.
She had a previous association with Ms. Kail-Smith through the local politics scene, but, since moving into the district, she now looks at her “as an aunt or something.” It’s that type of close-to-home connection Ms. Winters knows the West End Pittsburgh Pride Group can also provide, recognizing its increased importance for newer members of the LGBTQ community.
“I think coming out of the past year of the pandemic, a lot of people found themselves,” she said. “I think we all need community, but especially if you’re coming out of the past year thinking, ‘I might be queer.’ What I’m really loving is this is a literal community, a geographic community coming together as a queer community in our area.”