Across the rainbow coalition of Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community, action has begun in response to last week’s gay bashing in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh with various organizations and individuals stepping forward and being proactive in a number of ways.

On Wednesday evening, a rally occurred in Lawrenceville. I wasn’t there, but the reports I received said there was a good-sized crowd, many speakers, and a respectful police presence. I was told that Deb Gross, who is running for Pittsburgh City Council District 7. Deb was there I understand, simply to be supportive and better understand the issues in the district. I’ll say more about Deb in another blog post.

Persad and the GLCC is organizing a training for the community to cover discrimination, hate crimes and legal interactions that community members should understand. I’ve been through this training and it is thorough, interesting and well worth the time. I’d encourage everyone, even those who believe they are in the know to participate. Too often most people in the community think they either know this stuff, don’t care about this stuff , or wish they didn’t have to care about this stuff. And then something happens. Participate in this training and know the facts before anything happens. No date is yet set for this, but I’ll blog about it once I know the event is scheduled.

The Delta Foundation has used their exhaustive connections with the media as well as local, regional, state and even federal government to get publicity and coverage for the incident. While the bashing isn’t considered a hate crime for the PA state law, I understand the US DOJ is watching the investigation closely to see if a federal investigation is warranted.