Pittsburgh DA Violated My 1st Amendment Rights After I Told the Truth in Self Defense Against Trans Activist Neighbors

I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I'm a single woman. In April 2022, my neighbors started a sign war with me, then asked the District Attorney to charge me with "harassing" them for the sign I put up * in response to theirs. *

It's been two years and eight months. I've been through three trials with three different activist judges who declared me guilty and ordered me to pay a $200 fine. After the second trial, I appealed to the higher court, where I should have won, but the lawyer I hired initially was grossly negligent, causing all manner of problems and resulting in a remand back to the trial court, which is where I just had the third trial, on Feb. 10th, with yet another politically biased judge.

These former neighbors are married men who had been defaming me for two years as "dangerous" to their four teenaged sons, one of whom they call their daughter. In June 2020, the one man threatened to SWAT me to police, and he repeatedly lied that I had "scared" his sons. His behaviors absolutely terrified me for a three-week period that culminated in my cat going missing mysteriously. (I did get her back after four days.) Thus, in April 2022, when they placed a flag on their property facing me that said "Trans Rights Are Human Rights," I responded with a sign that said "Transing Kids Is Abuse and Homophobia." My intent was not to cause them to move, but they did in fact sell their house and move in 2023. They've testified they moved due to my "dangerousness" but I am the one who now can feel safe at my home, as I no longer have a group of six men and boys ten feet away who are watching me constantly, making false accusations against me, and are determined to destroy me with insane lies.

I am safe at my home now, but when they obtained the criminal harassment charge against me in May 2022, the men immediately libeled me in the press and online, including with lies painting me as racist. That has caused me severe psychological harm and distress, but I also am very harmed financially from fighting the baseless charge. I have had to spend almost $17,000 on attorneys to try to clear my name and vindicate my 1st Amendment rights. Those costs ended my self-employment as a (very small) real estate developer. I'm no longer able to qualify for loans to buy and rehab fixers, as I was doing since 2009. I am down to five rental units, having had to sell one of my properties to stay solvent.

How I'll use funds raised here:

If I am able to raise $10K here, the money will go to a lawyer to appeal my case to the Superior Court (for a second time). * I have until March 10 to file the appeal. * If I don't reach the $10K fundraising goal, or don't get close enough, I will use any donated amounts to try to start to rebuild my life. I am not sure how I can do that since I am libeled so severely, and the criminal conviction is reported online, but I will find a way. The destruction of my name also affects my ability to find tenants. I have had one prospective tenant tell me directly she would not rent from me because of what she saw when she googled my name. A couple others just ghosted.

I know many people are struggling and there are so many good causes to support, but if you can spare a few dollars to defend our American 1st Amendment rights and specifically, the free speech rights of women, I would greatly appreciate it. My conviction is grossly unjust. It says men have free speech and women don't. And, if / when my charge is dismissed, I will have grounds to file a federal lawsuit holding this District Attorney accountable for its illegal, politically motivated prosecution.