Delta presents itself as something other than what it is. It calls itself Western Pa’s leading LGBT organization, and it’s not, no matter how much it wants you to think that. It is however a small somewhat exclusive group of mostly men who intend to do good, but fail to represent and address the needs of the whole LGBTQ community here in Pittsburgh, let alone in Western PA.
In my opinion, some of the backlash about Iggy Azalea is about how parts of Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community feel alienated by such a controversial performer who blatantly appropriates and cashes in on African American Culture. But underneath that is a longstanding and very justified frustration with an organization run mostly by a few white persons (including Bryan) which makes itself out to appear like the all-powerful wizard. It is this attempt to be the wizard that has people most outraged, and the Delta Foundation remains tone deaf to this point.
Towards the end of each year, I write a series of posts about the year’s posts that received the most hits. This year, I’m writing about the five posts that were the most read or viewed in 2015.
Two posts about the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh were a part of my top five read posts in 2015. This really isn’t a surprise, given that the Delta Foundation is likely the most controversial element within Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community. I’ve tried to write objectively about Delta since I started this blog. I’ve felt there are problems with Delta for as long as I can remember. I have believed, and still do, that Delta does much good by producing some elements of Pittsburgh Pride, while other elements of Pride either damage or diminish the community.
The 2015 Pride became explosively controversial when Iggy Azalea was announced as the Pride headliner. Much was written about this by myself as well as other bloggers. From my perspective, the big story wasn’t Iggy herself, but rather, how this demonstrated the huge disconnect between Delta and the actual LGBTQ community of Pittsburgh.
Of my top five read, number five was a post I wrote about Delta’s role, and the number one post, was about their use of gay baiting Nick Jonas. from the first post:
Delta presents itself as something other than what it is. It calls itself Western Pa’s leading LGBT organization, and it’s not, no matter how much it wants you to think that. It is however a small somewhat exclusive group of mostly men who intend to do good, but fail to represent and address the needs of the whole LGBTQ community here in Pittsburgh, let alone in Western PA.
In my opinion, some of the backlash about Iggy Azalea is about how parts of Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community feel alienated by such a controversial performer who blatantly appropriates and cashes in on African American Culture. But underneath that is a longstanding and very justified frustration with an organization run mostly by a few white persons (including Bryan) which makes itself out to appear like the all- powerful wizard. It is this attempt to be the wizard that has people most outraged, and the Delta Foundation remains tone deaf to this point.
https://thomascwaters.com/2015/05/is-the-wizard-of-oz-behind-the-delta-foundation-facade/
From the Jonas post:
So to recap, Delta has another Pride in the Street with a performer who is mostly marketed towards the gay male constituency that Delta refuses to recognize that they cater to. This is not progress, it is the status quo.
https://thomascwaters.com/2015/06/delta-foundation-takes-step-backwards-with-nick-jonas/
Now, six months post Pride 2015, everything remains pretty much as it was before. Delta continues to operate and is no more open to the community than it was before. Maybe even less so. Their web suite was hacked in the late summer and is still off-line. Though my guess is that this “black out” is intentional. The media as well as bloggers were able to use their web site to identify problems with the organization, publicity that they didn’t like at all.