MIRACLE JONES, RYN PARKS, DJ MANNY DIBIACHI AND CATHRYN CALHOUN WITH RIAN LOUIS (RED BLAZER).
by Naomi C. Ilochi
For New Pittsburgh Courier
A weekend in Pittsburgh can mean one of two things; inspiration or transformation. On Saturday, Oct. 18, at TLC Libations in Homewood, it was a night of Black Queerness, leadership, revitalization and togetherness spearheaded by Pittsburgh resident Rian Louis in an effort to celebrate creativity, community and Pittsburgh’s Black LGBTQ+ changemakers.
Louis, of the “RianOutLoud!” podcast, is a wearer of many hats; from an outreach coordinator at Amachi Pittsburgh, to a creative director, emcee, podcaster, writer, producer and everything in between.
The event carried the night in live podcast session style with sessions featuring Pittsburghers Cathryn Calhoun (Director of Education & Community Engagement at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center) and Miracle Jones (Director of Advocacy and Policy at 1Hood Media Academy).
Gems and ah-ha moments were shared during these sessions on topics that ranged from work/life/joy balance, to safe space identification, to identity recognition apart from the roles and responsibilities they may carry. The audience was moved to say the least, inspired by what can be of Pittsburgh if more spaces are created for Pittsburgh’s Black LGBTQ+ community.
The event also hosted a wearable and audible curation by Manny Dibiachi, musician and DJ, and RYN Parks, who runs a pop up shop, featuring Black- and Queer-owned sustainable fashion that curates gender and size-inclusive shopping racks with unique pieces from the late ‘70s to the mid-2000s.
The audience consisted of a wide array of people from independent contractors and curators, to those who work in the fashion and art spaces, all coming together in one accord in hopes that the event, titled, “Rianoutloud!: The Live Experience,” is the start of something special.
“I think this is an opportunity to be a part of an emerging, bubbling creative ecosystem, said attendee Ahmed Tacumba Turner Jr., 31. Turner is a consultant and independent curator. “It’s cool to come to something like this and support Rian and see him bring together a diverse group of folks and just be able to support other folks that are doing their thing. That’s what it’s about.”
RIAN LOUIS is the host of the “Rianoutloud!” podcast.
For Louis, he podcasts regularly, but wanted to branch out into a live event and give people the chance to just be open, be themselves, and create a safe space for all aspects of Pittsburgh’s Black community.
Parks, 26, a fashion stylist and creative director at Bad B___ Thriftin, told the New Pittsburgh Courier that “I think this is one of those rare times in Pittsburgh when a bunch of Black people can get together, especially Black LGBTQ people…I think that’s very special.”
“I think that Rian is a revolutionary simply because he has done more than a lot of elected officials have,” voiced Cleo Harmonson, 30, a data analyst for the Food and Drug Administration. Harmonson was an event attendee, too. “He (Louis) puts himself out there and creates a space for us to be Black and be excellent, and be all of the things that sometimes we may not feel like we have the space to be in Pittsburgh.”
In Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, there are specific organizations and services focused on the LGBTQ+ community. The Allegheny County official website outlines specific civil rights related to the LGBTQ+ community via the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal. Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people. The county’s website also highlights some LGBTQ+ organizations of color, such as Project Silk and SisTers PGH.
And each year in the late spring, a Pittsburgh Pride Festival and Parade is held throughout Downtown and the North Side, with other pride-focused events occurring in numerous places throughout the city.
In 2024, Franklin & Marshall College released data from its LGBTQI+ Perception Index Report. It measured issues such as safety and acceptance, fear of police, discrimination and ability to gather. Out of 76 respondents from Pittsburgh, the report gave Pittsburgh a high “C” grade (76 percent), for how safe the city, as a whole, felt to the LGBTQ+ community. That percentage was six points higher than the nation average of 70 percent in the report.
“I think of others before I think of myself, and when I say ‘others,’ I think of my community, the Black LGBTQ+ community, especially here in Pittsburgh,” Louis, 35, told the Courier. “I represent a large audience but I’m based here in Pittsburgh, so I’m always going to put my Black LGBTQ+ Pittsburgh natives first. This (event) is a way of highlighting the excellence that’s here in Pittsburgh. We get overshadowed by a lot of mediocrity sometimes. This is the start of something beautiful for Black LGBTQ+ people in this city.”