Pittsburgh LGBTQ Charities is reviving and expanding its efforts to distribute Protect Trans Kids signs during Pride month.
Sue Kerr, PLC’s president, says the campaign that last year focused on private homes around Pittsburgh’s North Side is now pushing to get signs to Pride events as far away as Meadville and State College.
“What better time than Pride to send trans youth a sign?” Kerr says in a press release. “Our plan is to send five signs, 100 stickers, and 100 pens to each event. “We’ll also provide information so attendees can request their own signs via the online form.”
Kerr began circulating the signs last summer after a North Side family felt their transgender children were being harassed by a neighbor who posted a nine-foot sign reading “transing kids is abuse and homophobia” in the direction of their property. The family took the neighbor to court and won the case.
Kerr said at the time a grassroots effort to fund the sign campaign prompted an outpouring of community support.
This spring, PLC raised another $5,000 to distribute 450 signs around the Pittsburgh region, primarily in rural and suburban neighborhoods where LGBTQ communities are underrepresented in this time of culture war fervor.
“Anti-trans rhetoric is fueling divisions in school districts and even the State House of Representatives where four anti-trans bills have been introduced,” PLC says in a release. “Pennsylvania is home to over 500 school districts, many mulling their internal policies and procedures around identity. The Commonwealth does not yet have a statewide non-discrimination law, local ordinances protect approximately 30% of Pennsylvania residents.”
Signs can be requested from PLC at bit.ly/ProtectTransKidsSigns .
