NEWS

Current Newsletter

Pittsburgh Gay Days is a new social group in the Pittsburgh and surrounding areas that sets out to provide fun activities for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) community. Pittsburgh Gay Days hopes to raise awareness and acceptance for them as well as promoting positive visibility for the LGBTQ community as a whole. 10% of all profits go to a charity fund that Pittsburgh Gay Days has started and uses to help members of the community who are struggling with general problems in life or need help in what they aspire to do. The rest goes towards providing services for the community. Pittsburgh Gay Days strives to organize the members, families, and friends of the local LGBTQ community for entertaining events, thereby providing additional social activities for the entire community during the day before going to the bars/clubs at night. Other hopes are to cross interracial, sub cultural, M/F, gay/straight, and age barriers within the community at large.

Ultimately, the desire is to have everyone come together, become aware of and have more resources available to them, and enjoy themselves. So far Pittsburgh Gay Days has executed 5 successful Thai dinner nights as well as a Laurel Caverns Gay Caving Adventure which was a major success and will be repeated in the future. Right now they are in the process of taking on additional staff as well as accepting donations, so your help no matter how much or how little WILL HELP. Information on where these events will be occurring can be found on the Pittsburgh Gay Days website at www.pghgaydays.com.

Currently, Pittsburgh Gay Days is in the process of promoting and selling tickets for a Gay Day at Kennywood Amusement Park in hopes that the LGBTQ community can establish a steady organized gay day there just like anyone else that has a day at Kennywood (i.e.; Italian Day, Brownsville Day, Enlow Fork Mine Day; et al). The GLCC generously sponsored the event by providing Pittsburgh Gay Days with the money for the Kennywood tickets up front. Because of this generosity, Pittsburgh Gay Days has been able to make the tickets more readily available to the community. They can be purchased at The Pleasant Present Gift Shop, Donny's, Leather Central, 5801, The Link, Club Pittsburgh, and you can you can also purchase tickets on the website at www.pghgaydays.com . You will not be able to purchase tickets for Kennywood “Gay Day” at Kennywood unless you pay full price and the profits would not benefit the LGBTQ community. So we are urging you to buy through us at the discounted price which will benefit the LGBTQ community. If you’re thinking “well I have a ticket for Kennywood that my little cousin’s best friend’s brother gave me”, just remember that if it’s not purchased for our event that you will most likely pay a surcharge. Purchasing tickets from one of the ticket vendors mentioned is the only way to get your ticket for $24.00 instead of $31.00 at the gate.

Pittsburgh Gay Days is planning many events for the LGBTQ community, and currently has over 20 events scheduled over the next few months and into next year. You can submit any ideas and even do your own events through us and our resources by contacting us.

PRESS [back]

Our article in July's issue of Out Newsletter:
New social group plans 'gay day' at Kennywood
By Brian Duncan

Get out and have some fun this summer-a new local group will be right there with you.

That group, Pittsburgh Gay Days, is all about organizing social events as an alternative to bars and clubs, according to founder Ryan Martin.

"It's really to expose gays and lesbians to another side of Pittsburgh," Martin said. "We want everyone to come together and have some fun."

Martin started the group in January, and its first get-together involved some chat room friends meeting at a Thai restaurant for Martin's birthday dinner.

"Only eight of us showed," Martin said. "But by the third 'Gay Thai Night,' we had so many people showing up that there weren't enough chairs in the restaurant for us-about two dozen people."

Since that first unofficial gathering, Pittsburgh Gay Days has become more organized and has scheduled several outings for the rest of the year. Caving at Laurel Caverns, a Gay Day at Kennywood Park and outings to the Mattress Factory Museum, Carnegie Science Center and the Pittsburgh Zoo are all in the works.

Kennywood does not promote an official "Gay Day," but Martin isn't letting that stop him and the dozen members of Pittsburgh Gay Days. The group has set Aug. 19 as Pittsburgh Gay Day at the park.

"Kennywood is not promoting it as gay, but neither did Disneyworld or Cedar Point during their first gay days," Martin noted.

"We're promoting it everywhere and taking it as a serious event rather than a 'let's go to Kennywood' day. The feedback so far has been so overwhelming. We have a goal of at least 200 tickets sold," he said.

Following the Aug. 19 event, Martin said, "We're shooting for some 'haunted gay days' in October, a skiing/tubing trip in the winter, more dinner nights, a gay comedy night, hiking trips and camping trips." Martin added that Pittsburgh Gay Days intends to build greater rapport between the gay and lesbian community and local businesses.

"The long-term goal is to provide year-round events in an organized way that sustains the group without turning it into a business," he explained.

Martin noted Pittsburgh Gay Days does not intend to compete with other local gay organizations. "We encourage other groups like ours to join forces with us.

"We plan on making Pittsburgh Gay Days a household name for everyone in the community," he added.

For more information about Pittsburgh Gay Days and for a calendar of upcoming events, visit www.pghgaydays.com.

Events [back]

Current Report

On July 21st at 2 P.M., Pittsburgh Gay Days held an event at Laurel Caverns. The event was called a "Gay Caving Adventure" and it consisted of both 1 and 3 hour tours. Most of the group opted for the 1 hour tour but a few brave ones brought their flashlights and put on their hard hats for the 3 hour tour into the unexplored regions of the cave. Both groups had loads of fun and our tour guides were very informative and fun to cave with. Nobody got hurt, everyone had a great time, and we plan on doing it again in the future. For more information on Laurel Caverns, please visit their website at www.laurelcaverns.com.