PITTSBURGH OUT

The Kinney's - Tragedy and Happiness

Brian Kinney, Pittsburgh's most successful ad man and his husband Justin Taylor, a talented artist, are Pittsburgh's IT-COUPLE. Their story is filled with so much love and tragedy that one could think it was a fairytale but for the two lovers it wasn't always like that. Read about their hard fight against homophobia , jealousy and death.

Kinney and Taylor met at Babylon, a gay nightclub that Kinney bought a couple of years ago. Back then, Kinney was known as the Stud of Liberty Avenue. Taylor himself was only 17 and wanted to explore the Avenue. Kinney spent the next 5 years denying his love for the blonde artist while Taylor states that he fell in love with Kinney on the first night.

They were together on and off during their first 5 years. Taylor survived an horrible attack on his life by a former classmate - Chris Hobbs - on the night of his prom. Hobbs, a football player, attacked and bashed Taylor with a baseball bat. Taylor was in a coma and to this day struggles with the damage the bat caused. Hobbs got off rather easily with community service. Taylor stated several times that he almost gave up his dreams of becoming an artist because he couldn't use his right hand as a result of the bashing. Kinney helped him through the dark time with a specific computer that helped the young man to keep creating while doing therapy to regain his motor control skills.

The couple however separated after the bashing and Taylor had a brief romance with the violin player Ethan Gold. Taylor said that he and Brian needed the break to find themselves again but he regrets the way their relationship ended. He admitted to having cheated on Kinney with Gold but also said that while he cared for Gold, he never stopped loving Kinney so it really wasn't a big surprise for most people when Taylor and Kinney got back together after Gold was history.

The next big obstacle in their relationship was the former police chief Stockwell who ran for Major and picked Vanguard and Kinney specifically to run his campaign. In the end, Kinney lost his job because he secretly fought against Stockwell and solved the murder of Jason Kemp with the help of Taylor and their friend Hunter Bruckner and exposed Stockwell's long time police partner Rickert as the murderer. When the truth about Stockwell's attempts to cover up the murder, he lost and was later investigated by the FBI. Stockwell was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Kinney was fired by Gardner Vance, owner of Vanguard and Taylor had been kicked out of PIFA where he studied to get a major in fine arts. Kinney took the chance to start his own company: Kinnetic. Taylor was not only responsible for the name and the first campaigns, he also stood by his lover's side when he was in debt and about to lose the loft they lived in. Kinnetic has been the biggest and most successful company in Pittsburgh for several years now and continues to grow. Kinnetic is responsible for many ads world wide.

The same year Kinney and Taylor started their company with Ted Schmidt and Cynthia Moore, Kinney was also diagnosed with testicular cancer and had to undergo chemo and an operation. Kinney told us that he tried to break up with Taylor because he feared that the younger man wouldn't love him anymore. "I wasn't perfect anymore, or so I thought." Kinney admitted but Taylor made it clear that he would always love his partner.

Kinney fought the cancer and Taylor became a member of a group called 'Pink Posse'. The group's goal was to protect gay people from homophobic gay bashers. Taylor admitted that his stunt with the group lead to a rather unpleasant meet-again with Chris Hobbs. After that, Taylor left the group.

After the bashing, Taylor created the comic 'RAGE' with Michael Novotny. The comic about a gay superhero became a success and Taylor was invited to LA, where Brett Keller wanted to shoot a film based on the comic. Novotny was responsible for the dialogue while Taylor worked and created the illustrations, which led him to become a big part of the crew for the movie which was supposed to star Connor James as RAGE. The production was stopped months later and Taylor went back to Pittsburgh.

Kinney and Taylor told us that they separated shortly after Taylor's return. They both weren't on the same page after a health scare that left Taylor shortly "confused" and "unbalanced" . The couple got back together quickly tho after Kinney's club 'Babylon' was bombed. Kinney wasn't attending the event but Taylor was and suffered light injuries. Kinney proposed twice, the first time he did Taylor didn't accept, but they cancelled the wedding after an article in an art magazine offered the chance for Taylor to go to New York...

Interviewer: You cancelled the wedding and went to New York to pursue your dream to become an artist. What happened after that?

Justin: I think that Brian and I rushed our relationship too fast after the bombing. It scared both of us, given that many people we knew died or were badly injured. I spent a couple of months in New York, working in galleries and creating but I missed my life with Brian. Going to New York was never my dream but Brian and I were manipulated by a former friend who is also the birth mother of our son Gus. Luckily, after a couple of months in the Big Apple I realized that I had been an artist since forever. I never cared about fame, I just wanted and needed to create, to express myself in a creative way but my creativity suffered when Brian and I were apart. My agent told me that it is more important for an artist to create, rather than running from party to party in the hopes of being discovered and she was right. Once I returned to Pittsburgh, my creativity was back and my art was better.

Brian: I hated New York because it took my Sunshine (note: Kinney calls his partner that) away but I also think it was an important step for both of us. I was the happiest when he came home. We've been together for about a year before we decided to get married.

Interviewer: Justin became a known artist and most of his pieces include you and your personal life. Did it ever bother you?

Brian: No! I have always been proud of Justin's work. It is his way of showing the world and me how he feels about us, himself, our family and everything that matters in life. Everything inspires him and I'm honored that he calls me an inspiration.

Interviewer: Your life and relationship must have changed a bit when Justin was pregnant?

Brian: A bit? Good joke. The brat was a pain in the ass.

Justin: Very funny, Brian. Of course my pregnancy changed everything. We already had our son Gus and his sister Jenny. You see, Brian had Gus with Lindsay Peterson and her wife Melanie had Jenny with Michael Novotny. We always included Jenny because she's Gus' sister and such a joy to be around. But I was so excited to have Brian's child.

Brian: I think we were the happiest after we got the news. I spent years avoiding relationships and all that family stuff because I didn't think I was worth the love and devotion that Justin blessed me with but with Gus, Jenny and our baby on the way I realized that I'm nothing like my father who was an abusive drunk or my mother who was a drunk as well.

Interviewer: The joy was overshadowed by the actions of your former best friends, Lindsay Peterson and Michael Novotny.

Brian: Yes. We knew they were jealous and wanted Justin gone but I would have never thought they would do the shit they did.

Interviewer: They kidnapped Justin and tortured him. He gave birth to your child while being held captive by them. Police reports said they tried to kill Justin and your daughter.

Brian: When I got to the hospital the doctors were trying to save Justin. Our daughter, Leonie Estefania, thankfully was in better shape than Justin. He almost died and I will never forget the look of pain, sadness and pure desperation in his eyes when he woke up and remembered what happened. He thought they killed our beautiful girl. I had to repeat over and over again that she was alive and well.

Interviewer: The police reports also mentioned that Justin had been raped by Ethan Gold and that several people, including Justin's father Craig Taylor as well as Kip Thomas and Stockwell had been helping Peterson and Novotny. Is that true?

Justin: That is true. They drugged me heavily so I don't really remember it happening but I could still feel Ethan touching me, kissing me against my will. I wasn't able to stop him and it really isn't easy for me to accept being touched by most people these days. I'm working on it with a therapist and Brian supports me very much, as well as the rest of our family.

Interviewer: Who is part of your family now?

Brian: Justin's mother Jennifer Taylor and sister Molly, Melanie Marcus who's the mother of our children Gus and Jenny, Emmett Honeycutt and his partner Drew Boyd, Ted Schmidt and his partner Blake as well as Ben and Hunter Bruckner. Cynthia Moore is part of our family as well.

Justin: We have lost our mother figure Debbie Novotny during this and it was hard on all of us but we're getting stronger day by day.

Interviewer: What are your plans for the future?

Brian: Well, Kinnetic is growing and we'll work hard on our campaigns and Justin will of course continue with his art. We will take care of our children and since Justin knocked me up he will have to deal with my mood changes, too. All in all, we just want to live our lives and our love.

Michael Novotny, Lindsay Peterson and Ethan Gold have been sentenced to many years in prison as well as Craig Taylor, Kip Thomas and Stockwell.

Justin Taylor and Brian Kinney are both fighters and survivors. They are the heroes of their generation, idols for many other gay men who gain strength from the power couple.

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Debbie closed the magazine and wiped away the tears. Brian was pregnant. Debbie missed her granddaughter and Gus, too. She never had the chancer to properly see and meet Leonie and most likely wouldn't get the chance to meet the new baby either.

She knew that she needed to change before the sons of her heart would even try to forgive her, let alone respect her again.

TBC