David Moore

On January 15, the Pennsylvania Equality Project will be starting year 4 of a five-year study on housing affordability and stability for Pennsylvania's LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities. Participants can find the survey on our website paequality.com - click on the Survey button. All survey responses will remain confidential, and we will release only aggregated data following the survey without any identifying information about participants. The survey will run through March 31; results from the survey will be available by May 15, 2026.

On June 20, 2011, David Moore was watching live coverage on C-Span of the New York state legislature voting to enact marriage equality for same-sex couples. He was so moved that he formed a group of like-minded people on Facebook and called it Gay Marriage for Pennsylvania. When enough people in the group expressed to him that the name overlooked far too many people in the LGBTQIA2S+ community, he changed the name to Marriage Equality for Pennsylvania (ME4PA). In 2012, Joshua Szczesny joined ME4PA; together, David and Josh built the organization into a small nonprofit. However, by August 2014, with marriage equality already law in Pennsylvania, he changed the name to Pennsylvania Equality Project (PEP). The organization he founded now focuses on surveys related to housing, discrimination, bullying, and mental health. PEP also offers the Meadville FreeShop, held two or three times per year at the Meadville Public Library.

The Pennsylvania Equality Project held a Read-In at the Blasco Memorial Library in Erie, PA, between 5:30 and 7:00 PM, on Monday, June 26, 2023. The Read-In protested the library’s decision to remove the LGBTQ+ Pride Month display along with all other displays from the children’s section. Participants were advised at the Erie Pride Festival on Saturday, June 24, to make signs showing their support for the Pride display and keep them visible while at the library. At 5:30, 150 people read books silently while sitting in various seats in the library. Savannah Jakubowski, Pennsylvania Equality Project’s newest Board Member, ran the event and was quite pleased with the turnout. She said, "The goal of the Read-In is to have the displays restored and not removed in future years and to raise awareness for the LGBTQ+ community of the Greater Erie area."

On Wednesday, November 8, the Conneaut School District School Board voted at its monthly meeting to allow a Gay-Straight Alliance Club to be formed. Mr. David Moore and Mrs. Melissa Flinchbaugh were named as co-advisers to the club. At the meeting, Mr. Moore addressed the school board and said that such a club "would allow the LGBT students of the school to have a safe space to discuss issues relevant to them." He stressed that the LGBT students of the high school are the most underserved segment of the student population.