PQ Monthly: June/July 2013

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PQMONTHLY.COM Vol. 2 No. 6 June/July 2013 MINISTRIES

A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

PHAME ACADEMY TO ALL THINGS SHINING THE SPOTLIGHT ON ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES

PRIDE

2 • June-July 2013

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HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR ACTIVISTS LATELY? Where are you celebrating your Pride this summer? At a parade? A picnic? A party? The options are legion, as are the hours, days, years invested in planning and executing these opportunities to revel in our beautiful queerness — not to mention the lifetimes being spent reshaping the region, nation, and planet to allow the LGBTQ community to live and love in peace and dignity.

Within this issue, we’ve compiled an exhaustive listing of Pride events (visit us online and check back in print next month for more), but we’ve also striven to provide you with a sense of the extraordinary effort ordinary people in our community are putting into building a better Pride and a better world.

So head out for those parades and parties. Have a blast. But take a moment to reflect on all the hard work that goes into bringing us together every year and holding us together every day. Give thanks — and maybe a few hugs — to the folks who make it all possible.

-The PQ Monthly Team

A SMATTERING OF WHAT YOU’LL FIND INSIDE:

ON THE COVER

izzy ventura

A global perspective: LGBT equality around the world.................................. page 6 Equality in the eys of God: Local ministries..................................................... page 14 When I knew: Readers’ first moments of same-sex attraction....................... page 18

Staff Photographer izzy@pqmonthly.com

Goodies: A few kits to spice up your Pride sex life......................................... page 21

media

Sammi Rivera

All Pride, all the time: Festivals, parties, and more! ........................................ page 29

503.228.3139

Pride performers on love, music, and community......... ................................. page 33

Director of Video Productions

Vicci Martinez hopes to give Portland hot flashes.......................................... page 37

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PHAME gives adults with disabilities the stage............................,................... page 38 Out loud together: LGBTQ choruses................................................................. page 42 Read more about our cover models on page 26. Photo by Jeffrey Horvitz, PQ Monthly

The National Advertising Representative of PQ Monthly IS Rivendell Media, Inc. Brilliant Media LLC, DBA El Hispanic NEws & PQ Monthly.

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Send us your Pride Photos #ProudQueer

‘Antony and Cleopatra’ — a classic with a twist............................................. page 46 Columns: LGBTQ Legal Outlook; Pretty & Witty & Gay; OK, It’s Like This ...; Everything is Connected; Ponderlust; The Lady Chronicles; Whiskey & Sympathy; Cultivating Life; and Eat, Drink, and Be Mary.

Plus Astroscopes, Queer Aperture … and more!

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NEWS BRIEFS

(Left to right) The Rev. Dr. Guy Erwin, an active member of the Osage Tribe of Indians, is the first openly gay bishop elected by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Oregon United for Marriage volunteer Josh Standtler collects pledges to support marriage equality on SE Hawthorne in Portland (photo by Erin Rook, PQ Monthly); Oregon native Brigadier General Tammy S. Smith served as Capital Pride’s parade grand marshal June 8; protesters demonstrate outside of Sweet Cakes by Melissa (photo by Christopher Alvarez, PQ Monthly).

Marriage Equality campaign hits the streets with Summer of Love

By Erin Rook PQ Monthly

Oregon United for Marriage kicked off its Summer of Love campaign for marriage equality June 1 with events across the state.

In Portland, more than 50 volunteers showed up at Sunnyside Church to listen to remarks from Sen. Jeff Merkley and retired Lt. Col. Linda Campbell — who recently won a battle to have her wife buried in a national cemetery — before hitting the streets to identify supporters and future volunteers.

Following a brief training, the volunteers split up into groups and dispersed across the city to invite passersby to pledge their support for marriage equality and sign up to volunteer during Pride weekend.

Volunteers are not yet collecting petition signatures.

“We are waiting for the green light from the Oregon Supreme Court, so we can begin collecting the 116,284 signatures needed to qualify for the November 2014 ballot,” says Amy Ruiz, communications director for Basic Rights Oregon.

One of those who gave up four hours on a sunny Saturday was 33-year-old attorney Josh Stadtler. The California native isn’t gay — in fact, he’s engaged to be married to his girlfriend in September — but he says he’s “very animated” about marriage equality.

“As someone about to get married … to me it’s a no-brainer in 2013 that everyone should have that freedom,” he says.

Stadtler’s step-brother is gay, and though the two have never had a heart-to-heart about the issue, he says his sibling’s coming out in the 1990s was a transformative experience for him and his family. He says he’s been eager to get involved since that “bittersweet day” that California passed Proposition 8 and Barack Obama was elected president.

“I heard about the campaign on NPR and thought I should get my lazy butt off the couch,” Stadtler says. “[My step-brother] can stand and be my best man but he doesn’t have that right [to marry]. That’s messed up.”

Most of the people who passed by Stadtler on SE Hawthorne that day were eager to show their support for marriage equality. One woman, catching only the words “freedom to marry,” waited patiently while Stadlter finished another conversation to find out what was going on.

These conversations will continue throughout the summer, on street corners, at kitchen tables, and across neighbors’ fences.

“The single most important thing people can do to achieve marriage equality in Oregon is to start a conversation about why marriage matters,” Ruiz says. “LGBT people and our straight allies shouldn’t assume that the people pqmonthly.com

in their lives know how you feel about marriage for samesex couples. It’s not about changing someone’s mind in a single talk, it’s about starting the conversation — sharing your values around love, commitment, and basic fairness.”

To learn more about how to start conversations about marriage equality, check out PQ Monthly’s extended coverage at pqmonthly.com. To volunteer with Oregon United for Marriage, sign up at oregonunitedformarriage.org.

LOCAL Multnomah County Board Chair Jeff Cogen signed an executive order June 11 calling for all future county buildings to include gender-neutral restrooms. The county will also conduct an inventory of its existing buildings and remove the gender labels from single stall restrooms where possible.

Cogen told the Oregonian that he made the decision after transgender county employees expressed that there were no facilities they could safely and comfortably use. He also said that he timed the signing of the order to correspond with LGBTQ Pride month.

Washington, D.C.’s Capital Pride honored Oregon native Brigadier General Tammy S. Smith as its Pride Parade Grand Marshal June 8. Smith, who became the first openly gay or lesbian flag officer to serve in the U.S. military in 2012, is originally from Oakland, Ore., and graduated from the University of Oregon Reserve Officer Training Corps program.

She has served in the Army for 26 years, including tours in Afghanistan, Panama, Costa Rica, and the Pentagon, and recently received the 2013 Advocacy Award from Out and Equal Workplace Advocates. Her wife, Tracey Hepner, is the co-founder of the Military Partners and Families Coalition.

A group of activists called Northern Oregonians for Equality and Respect (NOFEAR) is circulating an online petition asking Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to take action against two Oregon bakeries that denied services to same-sex couples — Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham and Fleur Cakes in Mt. Hood. The group, which organized in response to these incidents, says that the bakeries’ actions violate the Oregon Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations.

In Washington, 13 Republicans introduced a bill into the state Senate in April that would weaken that state’s non-discrimination law after a florist came under fire for refusing to sell flowers for a same-sex wedding. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Sharon Brown and would exempt business from the law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity if providing goods or services violates their “sincerely held religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs, or matters of conscience.” While that plays out, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers is counter-suing state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

Dustin Lance Black — the award-winning screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBTQ rights activist — will be in Portland in July. He is the special guest for the 2013 HRC Portland Gala, to be held July 27 at Meriweather’s Skyline Farm. The annual outdoor event supports the work of the Human Rights Campaign in Oregon and SW Washington with a farm-fresh meal and local wines and spirits. Ticket are $200 for VIP and $150 for regular admission and Federal Club members. For more information, visit hrcportlandgala.org.

NATIONAL The Maine Supreme Court ruled on May 30 that the National Organization for Marriage must turn over donor records from its campaign to ban same-sex marriage in the state. Fred Karger, the former Republican presidential candidate and president of Rights Equal Rights, who had previously worked to expose the financial backers behind California’s Proposition 8, filed the original complaint in the case. He called the ruling “a victory for everyone who believes in truth and transparency in elections.”

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recently elected its first-ever openly gay bishop, the Rev. Dr. Guy Erwin. The denomination had banned clergy in samesex relationship until 2009, a position that prompted gay and lesbian clergy to serve in the closet and caused congregants to leave for more welcoming denominations. Erwin, who will serve in an area that includes Los Angeles, is also an active member of the Osage Tribe of Indians. He called the election a “significant milestone for both LGBT people and Native Americans.”

On June 1, 35 LGBT organizations released a joint letter and accompanying video called “We the LGBT” committing themselves to re-engaging the community in the fight against HIV. With issues such as marriage equality and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) taking center stage, HIV/AIDS is no longer the galvanizing issue it once was for the LGBTQ community. Despite advances in treatment, HIV continues to disproportionately affect the LGBTQ community, especially people of color. According to the letter, 63 percent of new infections in 2010 were among men who have sex with men. And while statistics for trans communities are still sparse, research indicates that about 28 percent of trans women — and 50 percent of African-American trans women — are HIV positive. The letters cosigners include the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Lambda Legal, The Transgender Law Center, SAGE, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, PFLAG National, The National Minority AIDS Council, The National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Immigration Equality, among others. Learn more at wethelgbt.org.

Looking for a global perspective? Check out Pride Around the World on page 6.

June-July 2013 • 5

NEWS

A global perspective: LGBT equality around the world

According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, the United States, Canada, and the Czech Republic have seen the greatest increase in acceptance of homosexuality.

By Erin Rook PQ Monthly

It’s easy to get impatient with the pace of progress for LGBTQ rights in the United States, but as older activists explain — and a June 4 report by the Pew Research Center confirms — public opinion is actually shifting rather quickly.

In fact, acceptance of homosexuality has increased 11 percentage points here since 2007 — an increase only exceeded by South Korea. But despite the rate of progress, only 60 percent of Americans believe homosexuality should be accepted. Of the 39 countries surveyed, the United States doesn’t even make the top 10.

So which countries are the most accepting of gays and lesbians, and which have the furthest to go? And how do those attitudes translate into tangible legal protections?

Let’s take a look.

THE GOOD Claiming the top spot in the Pew survey is Spain, where 88 percent of those questioned believe homosexuality should be accepted and only 11 percent think it should be rejected. With numbers like that, it’s possible Spain has fewer homophobes than homosexuals.

Spain legalized same-sex marriage in 2005 — the same year Americans re-elected George W. Bush — through a bill supported by the country’s newly-elected social democratic government and passed by parliament. At the time, 66 percent of Spaniards supported marriage equality.

But it’s not just marriage — in 1979 Spain legalized gay sex and passed anti-discrimination laws. By 2005, the country not only allowed same-sex couples to wed, it permitted adoption, military service, and blood donation by gays as well as the rights of trans citizens to legally change their gender.

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Just behind Spain is neighboring Germany, coming in at 87 percent acceptance of homosexuality. It has the highest rate of acceptance of any country that has not yet passed marriage equality. However, same-sex couples have been able to register their partnerships since 2001.

Interestingly, Germany allows people in same-sex relationships to adopt their step-children, but joint adoptions are not permitted. Commercial surrogacy is banned for all couples, regardless of sexual orientation.

Gays have been openly serving in the military since 2000, which is the same year Germany recognized the right to change one’s legal gender.

Tied with Canada for third place at 80 percent acceptance is the Czech Republic. Surprised? The small European nation was an early adopter of the decriminalization not only of homosexuality (1962), but also gay prostitution (1990).

Same-sex couples still can’t marry there, but they’ve been able to register their partnerships — and obtain some of the rights of marriage — since 2006. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been banned in the military since 1999 and in the rest of society since 2009.

Czech law provides protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and allows for the legal change of gender — transsexuality is not classified as an illness, but gender confirming surgeries may be covered by health insurance.

Oddly, gays may only adopt if they are single. Public polls consistently show significantly lower support for adoption rights than for marriage rights.

THE BAD According to the Pew survey, the country with the lowest acceptance of homosexuality was Nigeria, where just 1 percent said they believe it should be accepted and 98 percent supported its rejection. Whether attitudes

reflect laws or vice versa is not clear, but the situation for LGBTQ Nigerians appears dire.

It is illegal to be gay in Nigeria. The maximum penalty for homosexuality for those governed by Shari’a law is death by stoning.

In secular areas, gay sex can get you 14 years in prison. Lawmakers recently passed a bill making same-sex marriages illegal as well.

Nigerian law also prohibits men from dressing in women’s clothing in public.

As a result, LGBTQ Nigerians ex ist mostly in secret. However, they are welcomed at the House of Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church, and targeted services exist for HIV-positive men who have sex with men.

(Keep an eye on: Nigeria’s Queer Alliance, queeralliancenigeria.blogspot.com. And if you’re not already, follow Spectra Speaks, a powerful voice for hope and progress, at spectraspeaks.com/.)

Just 2 percent of the Pakistanis surveyed believe homosexuality should be accepted.

While gay and lesbian Pakistanis have no legal protection and their sex lives are criminalized, the country’s government did move in 2009 to recognize the rights of transgender citizens.

Pakistan’s anti-gay laws are part holdovers from British outdated penal codes (as is the case in many nations formerly colonized by Britain) and partly influenced by Shari’a law. Gay and lesbian culture exists largely in the shadows. Hijras, a third gender identity common in South Asia, are more visible due to their established in the culture prior to colonial times.

(Check out: Pakistan Gay Rights Movement on Facebook.)

As in Pakistan, LGBTQ Tunisians face strict laws and unwelcoming attitudes. Only 2 percent of Tunisians think homosexuality should be accepted, and gay sex is illegal.

Though most Tunisians are Muslim, the country does not follow Shari’a law and homosexuality is not punishable by death — just three years in prison.

In 2012, Human Rights Minister Samir Dilou said that gays need medical treatment for their “perversions.”

(Bookmark this: Gayday Magazine, launched in 2011, gaydaymagazine.wordpress.com/.)

THE CHANGE Though South Korea has seen a 21-point increase in cultural acceptance of homosexuality in the last five years, it’s still not a wildly accepting environment. According to the Pew survey, a majority of South Koreans still think homosexuality should be rejected (59 to 39 percent).

Gay sex as well as gender confirmation surgeries are legal in South Korea, though same-sex couples have no protections. The recent up-spike in support may be, in part, attributable to an increase in LGBTQ visibility in popular media. Entertainers such as Harisu and Hong Seok-Cheon have come out as transgender and gay in recent years, bringing LGBTQ issues to the forefront.

In 2013, a Seoul court ruled that gender confirming surgery is not required to change one’s legal gender. Also this year, in May, South Korean filmmaker Kim Jho Gwang-soo announced plans to marry his partner of nine years. Perhaps the tide is turning.

For the full report from the Pew Research Center, visit pewglobal.org. pqmonthly.com

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June-July 2013 • 7

NEWS

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NEWS PERSPECTIVES

Uniting to win for us all LGBTQ LEGAL OUTLOOK INCLUSIVE REFORM: IMMIGRATION & SAME-SEX COUPLES

By Mark Johnson Roberts PQ Monthly

Nicola Cowie (left) and her wife, Meg, have remained “happily together” through transition and legal limbo.

By Nicola Cowie Guest opinion

As an immigrant and transgender woman whose marriage is not recognized in this country, I often find myself in a legal limbo that makes it hard for me to protect my family. From this position at the intersection of multiple identities, I’ve seen firsthand how the prejudices and disparities that impact one group also impact others. It’s helped me realize that for human rights to move forward, we must work together, on multiple issues at once, to win freedoms and protections for us all.

Since childhood I had known that the gender I was assigned did not fit. However, a lack of information and a fear of the consequences of nonconformance kept me from dealing with my identity. In the late 1980s, I met the woman I fell in love with. We were cast opposite of each other in a community theater production. Meg and I both had the same silly sense of humor, and we bonded over our mutual love of Terry Pratchett novels. We moved in together.

It took several years and several major life events — marriage, children, the death of Meg’s mother, international relocation to the United States — before my life came to a crisis point. On May 26, 2008, it all came out at once. At home in the kitchen, in one breathless sentence, I told Meg, who was now my wife, how I could no longer live this way and that I needed to transition.

Meg had long known of my female gender identity. She still loved me, and she bravely decided to stay and support me. Together we went to counseling, and she was with me as I went through the transition process, which took more than three years.

We’re still happily together. Our relationship might seem different from others, but Meg and I just think of each other as two people in love. We share similar values, hopes, and dreams as other loving and committed couples and want to take care of each other as we grow old. But because we don’t easily fit into the usual categories, we too often struggle to protect each other.

In Oregon, for example, we can’t be regispqmonthly.com

tered domestic partners because we already married in England. But we aren’t considered married in the United States because here we are seen as a same-sex couple. This has made it difficult for my wife to get on my medical insurance plan. Anti-immigration laws make it hard for her to legally work here.

That’s why I am working not just to win the freedom to marry but on several issues all at once, volunteering at Basic Rights Oregon, which works to win the freedom to marry and simultaneously works toward trans justice and racial justice.

Some people make it sound as though we are all completely separate groups — as if gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people, people of color, people of faith, and immigrants are on opposing teams, working for different causes. In 2004, opponents of the freedom to marry even hired an African American spokesperson to divide gay people and people of color. In 2012, the National Organization for Marriage in a secret leaked memo stated that it intends to “drive a wedge between gays and blacks,” making it seem as though people with both identities do not exist.

In reality, transphobia, homophobia, racism, immigration, and faith are not discrete issues. Laws that stop Oregonians from having the freedom to marry, anti-immigration laws that make it hard to keep families together because partners are from different countries, healthcare policies that exclude people because of their gender and the gender of their loved ones — all these polices impact me and my family.

It’s likely they affect your family, too, if not now, then some time in the future. Our movement must be broad and inclusive. At the most basic level, it all comes down to the Golden Rule. I believe in treating others as one would like to be treated. That includes allowing us all to have the freedom to marry and to live in a world that gives us an equal opportunity to be whom we are and to reach our potential.

Human rights apply to all us, or they mean nothing for any of us.

Nicola Cowie lives in Hillsboro.

LGBTQ activists were disappointed last month when the U.S. Senate’s version of an immigration reform bill passed out of the Judiciary Committee without provisions designed to assist binational LGBTQ couples in achieving legal status for their foreign partners. While the outcome is disappointing, there is cause for optimism that at least some of these couples will soon be removed from the legal limbo where current law has left them.

Over the last decade, as the number of undocumented immigrants in America has climbed, immigration reform has become a symbol of the partisan gridlock that seemingly grips Washington in all matters great and small. Estimates hold that 11 million or more undocumented immigrants presently live in the United States, and there is no practical way either to deport them all, or to incorporate them more fully into American life. Many of these people are adults brought here by their parents as children, with no way now either to become American citizens or to go back to their parents’ home countries.

During this Congressional session, a coalition of interested stakeholders — including LGBTQ activists — have pulled together on immigration reform, and it appears that a bill may actually be enacted into law. The 2012 election, in which Latino voters abandoned the Republican Party wholesale, also has had an impact on conservatives’ willingness to consider making needed reforms.

Transnational married couples have received special treatment in immigration for many years. It is relatively easy for an American husband or wife to obtain citizenship for their spouse. But because same-sex couples are excluded from marriage in most states, and because the federal government does not recognize those legal marriages celebrated in states that do allow them, LGBTQ couples have long been excluded from the special status accorded to opposite-sex marriages in the immigration context. LGBT activists have sought equal treatment for samesex couples in the immigration process through a stand-alone bill. More recently, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has proposed to include the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) as an amendment to the larger package of immigration reforms as it is assembled in the Senate.

The Senate’s reform package is being carried by the so-called “Gang of Eight”

senators — four from each party — who have resolved to make immigration reform a priority for this session. The Democrats in the Gang of Eight include Leahy and other senators who have supported LGBTQ issues in the past; nevertheless, when the four Republicans expressed doubt about passing the bill with LGBTQfriendly provisions, the Democrats agreed to omit those provisions in favor of promoting passage of the larger bill. While Leahy has not said whether he will introduce the UAFA amendment on the floor of the Senate, it likely will require 60 votes to pass there and probably will not be able to get that much support.

While this is an obvious disappointment, it is also true that other provisions in the bill will benefit LGBTQ immigrants as well as benefitting our coalition partners, who presumably will remember our support and stand with us on another issue another day. The “Dream Act” provisions, for example, benefit undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, a cohort estimated at 1.7 million young people, including a vocal minority of LGBTQ youth — or “undocuqueers.” For these reasons, activists have agreed to support the bill even without the UAFA provisions.

In a n inter v iew w it h PQ, Sen. Jef f Merk ley (D-Oregon) gave his opinion that the momentum coming from the Senate and coalition partners, together with the perceived need for Republican outreach to Latino voters, w ill be too much for the House to ignore. He expects the House to pass its own bill and for the differences to be ironed out in a conference committee. If Leahy chooses to press UAFA on the Senate f loor, it is conceivable — though unlikely — that the amendment may still make it to the conference committee.

Pendency of “United States v. Windsor” in the U.S. Supreme Court is also a factor of sorts in this calculation. In that case, the court has been asked to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the law that presently prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from treating all married couples the same. If the court strikes down DOMA as expected, then presumably same-sex married couples will be treated the same as opposite-sex. The Supreme Court decision in “Windsor” will come before the end of June and the bill may still be in the Senate side when that happens.

Portland attorney Mark Johnson Roberts is a former president of the National LGBT Bar Association and of the Oregon State Bar. He practices family law at the Gevurtz Menashe law firm with a particular focus on LGBT family law issues. He can be reached at markj@gevurtzmenashe.com.

June-July 2013 • 9

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DYKES&ALLIES ON BIKES

Meetup at Paradise Harley Sunday June 9, 2013 at 11am at Paradise Harley-Davidson Meetup at Pride NW Parade head at NW Park Blocks at W. Burnside

Sunday June 16, 2013 at 10am; park and walk to breakfast.

Please email Gabriela@PQMonthly.com to get on mailing list

Dykes&Allies on Bikes

RIDE LOUD & PROUD WITH US!

10 • June-July 2013

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FEATURES

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June-July 2013 • 11

PERSPECTIVES

12 • June-July 2013

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FEATURES

Pretty And Witty And Gay

KUMQUAT!

By Belinda Carroll PQ Monthly

Hey, sugar plums, it’s 2013 Pride season! I am currently trying to shove food in my face as fast as possible for some sustenance, so I can get through my to-do list of all things Portland Pride.

I have three events that I am directly responsible for: the fourth annual Pride comedy show on Thursday with the comedian ANT and myself at Curious Comedy, main stage entertainment at the Waterfront Pride festival, and Dyke March.

Who knew being queer was so much work? I guess it isn’t for some. Some people just go to the marches and then a party, like normal. I suppose if I were straight I’d be the annoyingly busy president of the PTA who’s also coaching the Powderpuff football team and juggling my career in macramé art or something.

People have asked me how I find the time. Well, my house is a mess, my dishes still aren’t done, and my girlfriend gets to talk to me while I type into a computer as I half-listen to her day. “Uh huh, yeah. Oh, really? [Interrupting] I wonder if Uh Huh Her is available? I should email their management.”

And you do not want to know the state of my laundry.

I’m not sure if people know the amount of masochistic activism that goes into planning LGBTQ Pride. I say masochistic because this time every year I am curled up in a ball muttering my safeword (kumquat) over and over, yet I still take on more every year. I don’t know how it’s done in the rest of the country, but in Portland we only have a few key players who plan most of it. I say few in the larger picture of who comes down for Pride (around 30,000 people). We have about seven or eight people (maybe nine or 10?) who have their jobs. That means that if you had 3,000 talking My LIttle Ponies, then one My Little Pony would be in charge of all of them. We would have a Pony stampede in no time. I may have that wrong; I’m not good at math.

If it weren’t for the volunteers who step up on the weekend of the event, I’m sure that most of the planners would have been committed to the mental hospital by now. (P.S. Volunteer for the weekend.) As it is, I’m sure half of us are subsisting on medical marijuana, but I’m not saying what half, because that would be telling.

Pride planning happens all year. That means while you are sleeping off your

Family law for all families hangover and shaking the glitter out of your speedo on June 17, we are beginning to put together the bones of the next year.

(No pun.)

Going into the minutiae of planning Pride is a bit boring, but suffice it to say that everyone involved with planning Pride is part entertainment booker, part networker, part logistics, part travel agent, part accountant, part salesperson, part fundraiser, part public relations manager, and all parts absolutely crazy.

I remember when I started to work on becoming a stand-up comedian, entertainer, and producer. I recall reading all of these interviews with successful comics saying, “It’s the best job. I work an hour a day!” And being inherently lazy, I was like, “Sign me up!” There may be a few entertainers who have that life. I picture them just lying around while their houseboy Stephan showers them with praise and cookies (and the good cookies too, not the shitty shortbread kind), while they take phone calls from Comedy Central begging them to put on some pants and come to work. Sometimes I feel like I was duped by a multi-level marketing scheme where “Work an hour a day, and have all of the groupies fawning all over you” turned into “Work for 16 hours a day and hopefully someone cute will talk to you someday.”

But, alas, I love it anyway.

I addressed this in a blog post I wrote for PQ about Dyke March recently and I will echo it here: everyone who works to make Portland Pride happen does so because they love Pride. Somewhere a little gaybee (I say gaybee regardless of biological age) is walking into their first LGBTQ pride festival, and sees reflected back at them all that they are and they finally feel acceptance, maybe for the first time. LGBTQ Pride, when the day is done, is exciting, fun, and a way for us to catch up with all of our ex-girlfriends all in one weekend.

Though I may only be speaking for myself on that last one.

Mark Johnson Roberts Past president, National LGBT Bar Association; founder/past president, Oregon Gay and Lesbian Law Association; past president, Oregon State Bar

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Belinda Carroll is a Portland-based, nationally-touring stand-up comic, writer, vocalist, and an ardent LGBT activist who is in desperate need of a nap, a massage, and a girlfriend who works for an airline or a spa. For booking or to offer the aforementioned services, her email is BelindaDCarroll@gmail.com. pqmonthly.com

June-July 2013 • 13

FEATURES

Equality in the eyes of God Two local ministries provide models of LGBTQ community engagement

By Nick Mattos

as a transsexual,” she announces with the booming voice of a Pentecostal preacher.

“My mission in life has been to show that Editor’s note: This is part two of three God accepts lesbian, gay, bi, and trans in a series on maintaining a sense of compeople, and that gay Christians are every munity. bit as born again and filled with the Holy Spirit as any straight person. There is total The queer community is at a point equality in the eyes of God.” of critical transition. For LGBTQ spaces, Her ministry took a dramatic turn when businesses, and communities, the quesPaula decided to take her message to the tions of reach, relevance, and engagemasses. ment are more pressing than ever; the “God put me on television in 1987 when answers they find to these questions I started the Sister Paula Public Access Minoften define whether the organization istry,” she says, “The Sister Paula Ministry is lives or dies. As the Metropolitan Coma combination of all my life’s experiences — munity Church of Portland and the Sister from when I was born again, to when I was Paula Public Access Ministry discern the a teenager and received the baptism of the means by which their message and activHoly Spirit, to when I went to Bible school, ity can thrive through a challenging era and when I started working as a profesof transition, they illustrate the impor- The Reverend Nathan Meckley of Metropolitan Community Church ofPortland (left) and Sister Paula Nielsen (right) engage the community at large sional entertainer at Darcelle XV’s in 1980. tance of keeping historically significant through their innovative, gay-focused ministries.

The show business training at Darcelle’s institutions alive — and provide models was every bit God’s training and preparaby which queer organizations can remain relevant, serve church” comes into question. While MCC has never been tion for my television ministry, which has been going for diverse populations, and redeem the community at large. exclusively gay in membership — two of the original 12 con- nearly 30 years and has now expanded onto the Internet.” gregants at Perry’s fellowship weren’t queer, and his mother At its inception, Sister Paula’s television ministry had METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH: A QUEER REFORMATION is cited as the first straight member of the church — it has everything necessary to enter the annals of public-access always been focused on ministry towards the LGBTQ com- cult status: a mind-blowingly countercultural mix of fiery Founded in 1968, the Metropolitan Community Church munity. old-time religion and gender nonconformity. As a result, denomination emerged from the ministry of former Church “The moniker of being the so-called ‘gay church’ is still she quickly became a public-access television phenomeof God of Prophecy preacher Troy Perry. Interestingly, the shorthand used in 2013 to differentiate an MCC from non, attracting both media attention and a large number though, Portland was ahead of the curve. another church,” says Meckley. “In places like Portland and of rapt viewers. However, something astonishing began to “Portland had at least two or three gay Christian gath- other progressive, large cities in North America, we are not happen: many of the viewers who were attracted to Nielerings already meeting in the early 1970s which were not the only game in town — there are multiple options for sen’s flamboyant display of Pentecostal preaching ended affiliated with MCC,” explains the Reverend Nathan Meck- people to worship and be in a community of faith as an up staying to pray. Through Nielsen’s public ministry, a ley, current pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church LGBTQ person, Christian and otherwise. It’s a good thing, surprisingly large number of people either came to know of Portland. but it presses us to look deeper and offer more. The ques- of the Gospel or rekindled a fire for the message that they One of the local groups became an MCC in 1976. As a tion is, what is that ‘more,’ and what is that ‘different?’ There had long left behind. result, Meckley notes, MCC became the first place locally are gifts that we can’t let go of from our founding and who “When I started the ministry, I thought it would just be a where all openly queer people could come together out- it is we are, but what is the larger offering? We’ve always gay audience, but it isn’t,” says Nielsen. “I’ve heard so many side of a bar or club. “In the early years of the church, it been more than just ‘the gay church’ — we’re just learning people say ‘Sister Paula, you’re the only religious program was the first center where the community could congre- how to live into that more fully.” we watch.’ Gay, straight, educated, uneducated, rich, poor gate,” he says. “This is the case for many places where “The role and location of MCC has shifted and changed — they all listen to me!”

MCCs have existed.” over the last 36 years,” Meckley adds. “It was much more “I think part of it is that they like the sincerity,” Nielsen At its inception, the Metropolitan Community Church central early on. As more groups arose and took on their says of her thriving international ministry. “People don’t like was largely influenced by Perry’s Pentecostal Holiness back- own missions and identities, there was less of a need for hypocrisy, and they can tell sincerity when they see it. I hear ground in theology and worship. However, soon after the the church to serve these things. That’s a mixed blessing — from atheists and agnostics all the time that they’re totally mother church of the denomination started to sprout new it’s wonderful for there to be a proliferation of groups and against religion, but they like me because they appreciate the congregations, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan spaces, but it’s unfortunate that the church is often not a sincerity and honesty of my message.… My motto is ‘Tell the Community Churches opted to allow its local off-shoots place for people to come for things that aren’t a spiritual Truth.’ I have my flaws and my faults. However… sometimes free reign to create their own theologies, ministries, and tra- need.... Churches die when they do not adapt. Change or the most unlikely person is the very one that God anoints and ditions of worship. As a result, UFMCC-affiliated churches die! I mean that for church universally, not churches indichooses to carry His message. The apostle Paul persecuted vary dramatically from congregation to congregation; even vidually. Church — and not just my church, but all churches and murdered Christians before God zapped him on that within congregations, the beliefs and even religious iden- — must be in a constant state of reform. If we don’t, we will Damascus road! People who are gay, lesbian, bi, and trans tities of members can be wildly diverse. become irrelevant.” who are despised by the traditional churches, by some of the “While we have defined and articulated it differently at straight Christians, are the very ones that God has chosen.” times,” Meckley explains, “MCC locates itself as a Christian THE FLAMBOYANT GOSPEL OF SISTER PAULA NIELSEN church — not a Christian-exclusivist church, though, as all THE REDEMPTION OF THE COMMUNITY people are welcome to participate.”

“Even though I was born Larry, Paula is who I am,” says With their focus on queer theology, however, comes Sister Paula Nielsen. “I am a preacher of the gospel, a bornIn an era in which LGBTQ spaces, businesses, and coma unique challenge for the MCC which mirrors an issue again Christian, and an entertainer.” munities are experiencing an often-rough transition, what faced by other queer-centric organizations, businesses, Nielsen is also the televangelist behind a surprisingly can be inferred from ministries like the MCC and the Sister and spaces in Portland. There was a time in which the MCC large and influential ministry, the reach of which has gone Paula Public Access Ministry? In a sense, it is the imporwas indeed “the only game in town.” However, in this era, international. tance of redemption. numerous other churches have adopted queer-affirmNielsen became a Christian at age 12; later, in 1963, “One way to look at redemption, taking it out of the reliing policies and theologies, with several even developing she came out as transgender. However, her gender transi- gious context, is the act of trading one thing in for something queer-specific ministries to attract and serve LGBTQ con- tion did nothing to change her fervor for faith and calling else,” Meckley explains. “Redemption is an exchange, to take gregants. to the ministry. something and trade it for something of value in return, to In this situation, the necessity of the so-called “gay “I knew from then to this very day that Jesus accepts me MINISTRIES page 49 PQ Monthly

14 • June-July 2013

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OPINION

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June-July 2013 • 15

FEATURES FEATURES

16 • June-July 2013

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PERSPECTIVES FEATURES

OK, HERE’S THE DEAL …

A vision of Pride

By Monika MHz PQ Monthly

Nights were always the worst. I remember playing the piano with tears in my eyes, and lying in bed watching the trees sway and flicker the moonlight as it shone on my restless body. I’d stare at the sky and wish I’d paid more attention in astronomy. As a child and teenager each night was painful as I sat alone.

Loneliness, alienation, shame, and distress are the unspoken demons that plague queers in a quaint world — and more so for those whose queerness resides at the intersection of other marginalized existences.

Queers with disabilities, queers of color, queers with HIV, queers living on the streets, queers with trans bodies, and those who live intersecting these spaces, between the lines or beyond these margins, often find that forging their path and finding community can be the most difficult of tasks in a society that, at best, so easily ignores us.

Whenever the idea of “Pride” comes to mind I become momentarily sentimental and hopeful. One of the ideals, at least in some of my favorite idealistic portrayals of Pride, is one of community and coming together out of love and solidarity.

I imagine taking that teenage girl I was by the hand, and helping her see that she wasn’t alone. I imagine seeing her laugh and smile with her new friends, who welcome her with open arms, and owning every intersection of who she is without shame. I imagine her hearing moving speech after moving speech, inspiring her to action. I imagine her falling asleep for the first time feeling like she has a real family and community.

But I know it’s more likely that she would feel like more of an outcast, more alone, and more ashamed than she did before. And the adult I am today feels the same way.

The truth is, I’ve never really been to Pride.

I was nearly 22 years old before I knew that Pride was anything but one of the best-paying club weekends of the year. I had been a DJ in gay clubs since I was 16, and no one had taken the time to explain to me what Pride was, what it commemorated, and what it hoped to be.

But by the time I’d discovered what Pride was, beyond the nightclub, it seems as if all that history had been erased — or pushed aside.

Sylvia Rivera fought her way to the microphone during the Christopher Street Liberation Day march in 1973, shouting: “Y’all better quiet down.” When Sylvia took the stage that day, her voice cracking with passion, she reminded the crowd of all the people who weren’t there, who wouldn’t have the chance to speak that day. She spoke of the street kids, the homeless, the

incarcerated, the beaten, and the murdered.

“Do you do anything for them? No! You tell me, ‘Go and hide my tail between my legs.’”

She demanded that those who wanted to do real work, who wanted to make great change, must join to “help everyone, and not just men and women that belong to a white middle class.”

Pride is an important moment for some, no doubt. It is a weekend of no shame, of pride in who they are. Pride has been a matter of fact in some queer lives for so long it can be easy for forget those at the margins — those queers who may not have found their community, those who don’t have trans friends, or gay friends, or someone who is like them. For many, especially our youngest and/or most marginalized, simply telling them they are welcome, that we are here for them, and that they should be proud just doesn’t cut it.

Each of us should make the effort to make someone we don’t know feel welcome, proud, and a full participating member of our community. Don’t just ask someone what they are doing for Pride. Ask them to join you, and remind them that all of Pride will be richer for their contribution and participation — that all of our community will be richer for it. Let’s reach out to those who we are missing, and who desperately miss us.

I envision a future for Pride where our youth, just for a moment, will see that they aren’t alone. I envision them meeting new friends who welcome them with open arms, and owning every intersection of who they are without shame. I envision all of us hearing moving speech after moving speech, inspiring us to action. I envision everyone, truly everyone, finding a home, a family, and community.

Pride can be the moment we all come together, leaving our petty squabbles and personal politics behind us for one brief moment. And we can do it together, because we have to if we want to move forward. From disability justice to racial justice, our Christopher Street won’t ever find the liberation we all still march for, until all of us do.

Our Liberation Day has got to be for all of us.

Monika MHz is a queer trans Latina who makes her way as a Portland-based House music producer/DJ, activist, and writer. Practicing radical love through music, she believes in the transformative nature of music and its real substantive and cultural power to save lives. You can find Monika online at monikamhz.com and @MonikaMHz.

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June-July 2013 • 17

FEATURES

When I knew: PQ readers share their first moment of same-sex attraction

Moonshine Sparrow, Mike Clemenhagen, and Oriana Quackenbush agree that their epiphany of same-sex attraction was a major turning point in each of their lives.

Compiled and edited by Nick Mattos

The first time a person realizes they are attracted to someone of the same sex can be a life-changing moment — and the memory of it often lays the groundwork for one’s entire future.

Here, a few PQ readers recall their first memories of same-sex attraction. Have your own story to share? Tell it to us — and to the world — at PQMonthly.com.

“I was probably in the fourth grade at the time. My family was vacationing with a few other families from my mom’s work on a houseboat. There was another girl there, and we got along right away. After hanging out all day long doing things fourth graders do, we played some sort of cops and robbers game. She tied me up with a jump rope and ‘tortured’ me by covering me with kisses. I could have sworn my little fourth grader heart fell in love right then and there. This may coincide with when I realized I was kinky, too.”

— Moonshine Sparrow “I think the first time I realized I was attracted to the same sex was, I kid you not, seeing Stanislav Ianevski in the fourth Harry Potter movie. I found him intensely attractive, and all of a sudden, I realized that my feelings for my best friend were so much more than just liking him as a person — I was in love with him. It almost destroyed our friendship. I was 16 and stupid, ha ha!” — Mike Clemenhagen “It was about .5 seconds after my best friend told me she loved me like her boyfriend and then kissed me. I was just barely 15; I was also super into Jesus and very dense. My friend and I had gone to visit her aunt and her aunt’s ‘roommate’ in Iowa. It was my best friend’s idea that we should go through her aunt’s desk. We found what I’m sure my best friend knew we would find, which was the aunt and ‘roommate’s’ secret stash of cards and letters proclaiming their undying lesbian love for one another. Literally right after the kiss, I was like, ‘Oh my god, duh — this is why I hate making out with dudes! I’m gay!’

More than guilt or shame or anything else, I felt relieved that I figured it out. I was happy.”

— Mary Charming “All of the freshmen at my high school were required to take P.E. As a chubby, awkward, unpopular kid, the thought of changing in the locker rooms terrified me. On the first day, when we chose our lockers, I picked one in the farthest-back row in order to avoid all of the other guys. A few days later, I discovered that I wasn’t alone on that block: a senior, who I’ll call J.R., had dance that period and also picked a locker in the farthest-back row.

I changed into my gym clothes and fixed my eyes on a single point on the lockers in order to avoid him; however, when I glanced over at him as he changed into his dance leotard, 18 • June-July 2013

Photo of Oriana Quackenbush (right) by Greg Maguire

I couldn’t stop looking. To say that he was exquisite would be an understatement — his body was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and the things I felt were immense and wild, terrifying, a great pagan force that filled the sky and electrified everything like a cloud in a lightning storm. He looked up at me, I quickly looked back at the single point in front of me on the locker, and I tried not to pant, knowing that something profound and life-changing had just occurred.” — Nick Mattos “My senior year of high school, some raunchy college-type movie had just come out wherein some over-sexualized female characters convince the main male characters to get all sexy with each other in exchange for getting to watch the female characters do the same things. I was at a small hot tub party at a friend’s house with my then-boyfriend, a male friend, and a female friend who I’d been unaccountably and confusingly fascinated with for some time. Someone suggested we emulate such a pact, and enthusiastic same-sex makeouts followed. That certainly cleared up the confusion about my feelings towards my friend, and I do not believe I was the only person present who felt they were getting the best end of the deal.” — Andrea Winchell “The first time I found myself physically attracted to a guy was while watching the documentary “Pumping Iron” on T.V. But, in retrospect, my first same-sex attraction ever was to a boy in my kindergarten class. The feeling was innocent and uncomplicated — I distinctly remember sitting with my mom looking at my class picture, pointing to him and saying, ‘I want him to be my friend.’ Sometime thereafter I approached him in class, and asked straight out, ‘Do you like me?’ Without malice or hesitation, he shook his head ‘no.’

My first flat-out rejection.” — Randall Szabo “When I was in the fifth grade, 10 years old, was the first time I looked upon a man and thought sexually of him. There was a kid in the class who sat across from me, right across the aisle — his name as Darwin. He had Levis on, and his legs spread out, and I sat there and fantasized about what it would be like to see him in his underwear! That wasn’t a crush, or being in love, but was strictly a physical thing. Up until then, I had crushes on guys, but that was the first time I thought of a man in a sexual way.” — Sister Paula Nielsen “When I was a freshman in high school I went to a regional weekend Unitarian youth gathering. I met this awesome girl who was open about having a crush on me. She was beautiful, sweet, cracked me up, and even drew my portrait. I felt a little strange around her but certainly didn’t want to stop hanging out. I thought it was just because I couldn’t take a compliment. Shortly after that I started to identify as ‘bi-curious’ and when I let myself acknowledge a crush on a girl I realized that strange feeling had returned. I had totally been crushing right back on my whirlwind weekend friend!” — Oriana Quackenbush pqmonthly.com

PERS{ECTOVES

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June-July 2013 • 19

NIGHTLIFE

20 • June-July 2013

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CALENDAR PRIDE

Goodies: A few kits to spice up your Pride sex life

By Erin Rook and Nick Mattos

Kind, but Naughty: The Eco-friendly Set Clockwise from left: locally-made hemp rope ( $ 3 4 ) , So l o U S B v i b e ($134), Sheer Glyde dams ( $ 1 . 7 5 ) , Si r R i c h a rd’s Condoms ($13/pack), She Bop massage oil ($13), Almost Naked vegan lube ($16)

PQ Monthly

Who doesn’t like a few new toys? Whether you’re shopping for a gift or just outfitting your bedside supplies, it’s always good to have a few new acoutrements on hand — so She Bop, one of our favorite local queer-friendly sex shoppes, provided us with some must-have suggestions for your Pride escapades. Whether you’re a solo flyer or making all sorts of “new friends,” you’ll be set through the season with a few items from each of these PQ-curated sets.

Warm Leatherette: The Dungeon Set C lock w i se f rom lef t : Cu stom handmade f logger with machinedaluminum handle ($46), Hanky Code handkerchief pack ($11), rainbow dildo ($70), Wartenberg pinwheel ($19), Skyn non-latex condoms ($1 apiece), Yes lubricant ($2), Cumfy cuffs ($49.50), The Toybag Guide to Dungeon Emergencies and Supplies ($10)

On the Go: The Compact Set Clockwise from left: Rainbow zipper sox ($11), J-Boa lasso-style cock ring and gift tube ($35), lube sampler kit ($7), Yes waterbased lube ($9), finger cots ($2), Hot Dam dam ($1.75), Tenga Egg male masturbator ($8.50), Nice Pocket Toyfriend vibrator ($22), Kimono condoms ($1)

Drug Store Cowpoke: The Homemade Set Clockwise from left: Disposable gloves — cut the fingers (keeping the thumb intact) and then cut up the other side for a makeshift dental dam ($5.99/ pack), drugstore-brand lube ($2.99), carrots and cucumbers (prices vary by season), condoms (free via numerous community organizations), Trojan vibrating ring ($9.99)

She Bop is located at 909 N Beech St, Portland.

For more information and to shop online, visit SheBopTheShop.com/.

GET PUCKED! at Morning Brewtender Coffee Bar

The Official Brewtender of PQ Monthly!

Outside on the 6th Ave side of Macy’s, between Alder & Morrison

We’ll be at the Pride Festival again this year!

Be sure to come see us!

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June-July 2013 • 21

WEDDINGS NIGHTLIFE PERSPECTIVES

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Greg sits on my couch, illuminated by the dim light of the lamp beside him. He is in his 40s, an accomplished craftsman, grey-haired and rugged-handsome in his black 501 jeans. He’s here to drink Evan Williams on the rocks, summoned by my latenight perusal of my neighbors on Scruff, but there’s a vastly more important reason than whiskey and kisses. Greg is here because his heart is broken.

“I’m not in a place where I can date,” he says, his ice cubes clicking against the glass. “I just got out of this relationship, and I’m not ready to start seeing anyone else while I’m still reeling from the last one.” He sips thoughtfully while Fiona Apple sings through my speakers, reminding us that she had to fold because her hands were just too shaky to hold. “That said, I do want to have fun, and have sex, and be close with guys.”

“That’s a very common story,” I observe, pouring myself another.

“If I’m really honest,” he goes on, his eyes focused on the empty air between himself and the floor below him, “I think I really just want to feel like myself again. After all that time loving my ex, I’m worried that I don’t really know how to love anyone else.”

Everyone’s a psychologist after three whiskeys on the rocks, and I am no exception. “Do you think that’s part of it?” I ask.

“Not sure if I follow,” he says.

Everyone’s a psychologist after three whiskeys, but very few are articulate therapists, and some just become bold and confrontational — I do, at least. “A part of why you can’t get into a relationship? Like, you’ll get into a relationship with someone, and that not knowing how to love again will weigh on you terribly, and you’ll feel like you’re just going through the motions? Or that you’ll be in there and realize that it’s not just a state of ‘not knowing,’ but that you actually can’t love again?”

Greg is quiet for a moment and Fiona Apple states that hunger hurts, but starving works. He looks up at my face — “Yeah,” he says softly. “It’s hard to admit, but that’s it.”

When we talk about being brokenhearted, it’s so often about the interior experience of emotions — the sadness and lethargy, the intrusive thoughts and longing, the feeling that the chest is full of jagged heirlooms cutting one up inside. What we don’t talk about, though, is the heart’s brokenness in terms of functionality — that, through these experiences that leave us feeling abandoned, pained, and unlucky,

something fundamental about our ability to love and be loved becomes dysfunctional. When we talk about recovering from broken hearts, perhaps this is the vastly more important part: not having an emotional heart that is free from pain, but a heart that actually works.

Now Greg is on a roll, running his fingers over his salt-and-pepper beard. “When I broke up with my ex, most of the people around me encouraged me to ‘have fun,’ which at the time seemed absurd because I couldn’t even really conceptualize what ‘fun’ felt like at that moment. Then, they clarified that ‘having fun’ basically meant acting as though as I had a right or even a responsibility to get out there and act wild, fuck around with dudes, casually date, interject myself into the social scene.” He downs his whiskey in one gulp. “I am in my 40s and I’m fucking heartbroken. Why in the world would it be a good idea to act like some emotionally-stunted 20-something?”

“Speaking as an emotionally-stunted 20-something,” I quip, “I dig it.”

As individuals, many of us walk around with broken hearts, probably far more than even realize it. However, perhaps more dangerous for the queer community is the brokenness of our collective heart. As a people, we’ve done some amazing things for which we can, and should, be proud; simultaneously, and perhaps more urgently, we’ve had numerous legitimate and profound reasons to question the functionality of our ability to love and be loved I say this, not as any sort of expert, but just as a man whose heart is broken: If we — me there on the couch, Greg beside me, our exes and friends, the community at large rippling outward into the world — have any hope of ameliorating our broken hearts, pride is unfortunately not the answer. What we need is to admit frankly that, somewhere near if not deep within the core of us, something is not working, that all of our good intentions and works aside, something is still broken, and that as a result we don’t know how to love one another or love ourselves. Rather than gay pride, perhaps what we need is gay humility.

Greg and I do nothing that night. We drink until our eyelids get heavy, then he hugs me goodbye and walks out into the darkness of 12th Avenue. He turns around on the sidewalk — “Thanks,” he tells me. “I needed that.”

“Me too,” I reply and shut the door, turn the deadbolt lock. I fall onto my bed, my eyes closed, and listen to the heart beating out its rhythm inside my chest.

Nick Mattos loves hearing from you at nick@pqmonthly.com. pqmonthly.com

ARTS & CULTURE

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June-July 2013 • 23

ARTS & CULTURE FEATURES

24 • June-July 2013

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June-July 2013 • 25

STAGE

On our cover: Model citizens

By Erin Rook PQ Monthly

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PQ PRESS PARTY! Get PQ Monthly hot off the presses the third Thursday of every month at our PQ Press Parties!

This month’s cover models are a few of the local activists who comprise the vanguard of the LGBTQ movement.

Together, they help make our community’s march toward justice and equality unstoppable. They may not be household names, but the work they do changes lives. Two of them — His Most Imperial Majesty Rose Emperor XXXIX Gina Valdez Kennaday Smith and Her Most Imperial Majesty Rose Empress LIV The Sassy Cassie Nova of the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court — will lead the 2013 Portland Pride Parade as Grand Marshalls.

Learn more about these hardworking activists online at pqmonthly.com.

LAURA CALVO, 56 Identity: Human, Latina, female, trans, pretty happy Occupation: Residential and commercial property inspections; Democratic Party politics Activism: Democratic National Committeewoman representing Oregon, Democratic Party of Oregon leadership team She says: “Pride is being Photo by Jules Garza and living your true self without remorse, shame, or guilt. Pride is living respectfully while being part of the solution and not part of the problem. Pride is being at a point in life where you give more than you take — where you can actively and intentionally leave the world just a little bit better than you found it.”

DEVIN KIT CROSLAND, 26 Identity: Queer Occupation: Web developer and computer science student Activism: Coordinator for In a Bind, TransActive Education & Advocacy’s chest binder exchange program He s ay s : “C h i ld r en and youth are often overlooked in the transgender community, despite their Photo by Erin Rook alarmingly high rates of suicide ideation. The work we do at TransActive saves lives and virtually nobody else is doing it. Pride means each of us as individuals living as the unique people we are, and all of us as a community recognizing and celebrating our shared humanity.”

• June 13, 2013, 5P.M.-7 P.M. :VENDETTA ( 4306 N Williams Ave, Portland, OR 97217)

Next up in July: Starky’s • July 18, 2013, 5P.M.-7 P.M. STARKY’S (2913 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97214)

Like us on Facebook for details on the press parties & all things PQ Monthly!

CITY HALL

Starky’s

26 • June-July 2013

Photo by Jeffrey Horvitz

LEILA HOFSTEIN, 29 Identity: Disco Butch Occupation: Youth coordinator for Portland PFLAG Black Chapter; tattoo artist Activism: Social justice work for queer youth of color in Portland, creating safe spaces, connecting communities, and providing resources.

She says: “Pride is about visibility first and foremost.

It’s about speaking for the silent and being present for the invisible.”

JOHN KIM, 29 Identity: Gay Occupation: Musician and computer machine programmer/operator Activism: LGBTQ equality, youth education, safety and progressive public policy, political campaigns.

He says: “I would rather work towards solutions than complain about problems and believe that injusPhoto by Julie Cortez tice anywhere is a threat to justice, liberty, and equality everywhere. Pride is a community celebration of individuality, and diversity.”

CASSIE NOVA, 34 Identity: Gay Occupation: Loan processor for mortgages Activism: Imperial Sovereign Rose Court, fundraising for the HIV Day Center, Our House of Portland, and the Trevor Project He says: “Pride means c o m m u n i t y. T h e r e’s a saying: ‘You can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends.’ I know a lot of people whose family has discarded them just because the fact they were gay. I have a very close set of friends whom I consider my family. I think Pride is that one time of year we get to band together and celebrate it with the world.”

GINA VALDEZ KENNADY SMITH, 49 Identity: A gay woman who loves to hang out with drag queens Occupation: Owns a foster care home that supports adults with disabilities.

Activism: Imperial Sovereign Rose Court; fundraisPhoto by Jeffrey Horvitz ing for Esther’s Pantry, Our Gina Valdez Kennady Smith (left) and Cassie Nova House, and other organizations She says: “About 24 years ago I met a drag queen and she was going to do a show. She asked me to stay and that is where it all began. Pride is about togetherness, love, and awareness.”

ROB SMITH, 36 Identity: Gay male Occupation: Assistant manager of Housing Services at Cascade AIDS Project Activism: HIV/AIDS, social justice, civil rights, marriage equality He says: “[Pride] is about being unafraid to be yourself, and in that process, helping others to underPhoto by Jeffrey Horvitz stand that it’s ok for them to be themselves too. It’s also about standing up for ourselves and saying we deserve a place at the table.” pqmonthly.com

GET OUT!

PQ PICKS

Monday, June 17 Note: there’s no Gay Skate this third Monday. (It moved to June 10 for Pride week.) We’ll be back on schedule next month.

Wednesday, June 19 CAP’s Fighter’s Ball: Grab your boxing gloves, lace up for extreme cardio, cue up “Eye of the Tiger” on your favorite portable music-playing device.

Test your skills in the ring playing “Street Fighter X” in a pre-registration based video game tournament. (If you’re crowned champion you can win a flight to Vegas!) But that’s not all. Drinks, music, friends, raffle prizes, all of the things. Benefits Cascade AIDS Project. 5pm, Fez Ballroom, 316 SE 11.

Thursday, June 20 – Sunday, June 22 Due to overwhelming demand, defunkt theatre is extending its run of “The Boys in the Band” through June 22. This is a one-time extension and the show must close on Sunday. The nine men who make up “The Boys” were among the first positive depictions of openly gay men in America. “The Children’s Hour,” a landmark lesbian-themed play defunkt is also staging, closes June 15. The Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne. For tickets/times, visit: defunktheatre.com Friday, June 21 Causa Zócalo Night: The Zócalo is the main plaza in the heart of the historic center of many cities across Latin America — a place for celebrations, ceremonies, food, dances, live music, and civic engagement. Each summer, Salem creates its own Zócalo at The Mill, putting at the center of our community the stories and people who make sure the American dream is a reality, honoring men and women who’ve played key roles in supporting Oregon’s Latino community. 5:30pm, Mission Mill Museum, 1313 Mill Street SE, Salem.

Saturday, June 22 – Sunday, June 23 PHAME Academy’s “Bye Bye Birdie”: Portland’s acclaimed fine and performing arts academy for young and older adults with developmental disabilities presents its annual musical production.

In addition to the incredible cast of PHAME students, the show is directed by Jessica Dart — with musical direction by Matthew Gailey and choreography by Heath Houghton. 7pm Saturday and 2pm Sunday, Mt. Hood Community College’s Main Stage Theater, 26000 SE Stark. Buy tickets at phameacademy.org.

Thursday, June 27 Gay and Grey Fourth Thursday Social. Come one, come all, come socialize. Eat delicious foods, mingle with all the gorgeous greys — burgers, specials, and more. 4pm, Starky’s, 2913 SE Stark.

Stonewall Anniversary Party — in its fourth incarnation, the LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Oregon invites you to remember the struggles of our brothers and sisters and celebrate our accom-

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plishments as a community. Let’s re-invigorate our fight towards full equality. There will be special guests, local VIPs, and community leaders galore.

6pm, Crush, 1412 SE Morrison. Donations encouraged and accepted.

Sunday, June 30 Hot Chocolate III: Join Poison Waters, Maria, Tiara Desmond, Kourtni Capri Duv, and Alexis Campbell Starr (Miss Gay Portland!) as they celebrate their sisterhood and mutual love of entertaining in a prideful tribute to African-American vocalists. Anyone who’s ever attended any of the previous incarnation can vouch for this night’s brilliance. They need to take this act on the road.

Are you reading, Poison?! Do it! 5pm, Darcelle’s, 208 NW Third. $10.

Thursday, July 11 Mark your calendars, the night we hinted at while back (in our profiles of Big Dipper and Rica Shay) is finally upon us. The Accidental Bear Queer Music Benefit Tour brings this big gay family together: local legend Logan Lynn, Chicago’s Big Dipper, Conquistador, vagabond darling Rica Shay, and Darling Gunsel. Proceeds from the tour go to LGBTQ Mental Health Services and Suicide Prevention at Q Center (PDX), LA’s Gay and Lesbian Center, Pride Foundation (Seattle), Ali Forney Center (NYC), and Stonewall Project (SF).

The more money raised, the more queers helped. The night your sonic dreams come true, and you helped so many people! 7pm, Mississippi Studios, 3939 N. Mississippi. $15.

Sunday, July 14 The Annual Red Ribbon Show in Salem, which has raised nearly $20,000 for a variety of HIV/AIDS organizations by way of entertainment (drag, burlesque, live singing) celebrates its sixth incarnation.

This year’s show features performers from throughout the Northwest. Benefits Our House, which provides health care, housing, and other vital services to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS. Raffles, auctions, impressive prizes, and more. 6pm, 3529 Fairview Industrial Drive SE, Salem.

Friday, July 19 — Sunday, July 21 Bad Girls of Portland presents HOWL, a woman-only outdoor weekend event held on eight acres of “primitive playground.” Organizers encourage you to “leave the chains of civilization behind” and to “play in the wild or in the dungeon that’s open both evenings.” For those wanting to retain a touch of humanity, there are also spa services available. Workshops, camaraderie, and a gluten-free/ vegetarian menu. Open to all self-identified women over the age of 18. (Bad Girls is a social and educational group for women interested in BDSM with other women.) A portion of proceeds go to Planned Parenthood. For more information, including cost and membership requirements, visit: pdxbadgirls.net/howl/.

Friday, June 14 Gaycation holds its Pride edition Friday — and welcomes MEN/Le Tigre’s JD Samson (who killed it at the last Control Top). About Samson: For more than a decade, JD’s career as singer, producer, and DJ has landed her at the intersection of music, art, activism, and fashion. Oh, and Gaycation plays the best music you’ll ever hear. Truth.

DJs Charming, Snowtiger, and La Bruiser. 9pm, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison. $7. Pg. 31 for full list of Pride parties.

ARTS &PRIDE CULTURE 2013 It is June — Pride month — and it seems like every single day is filled to the brim with queer-centric goodness. In addition to an exhaustive Pride agenda (pg. 31), check out our online calendar of events, submit your own, and view photos from your reporters-about-town. Our weekly weekend forecast — which has all the latest and greatest — comes out each Wednesday (sometimes Thursday), online only.

DANCE IT OUT (CHEERFULLY PAY YOUR COVERS; DEEJAYS GOTTA EAT, TOO.)

First Sundays Bridge Club. A slew of stellar deejays play music on one of the city’s most treasured patios. Old Boys Club regularly welcomes special guests. Brunch, mingle, get down. 3pm, Produce Row Café, 204 SE Oak. Free.

Every Sunday, including this Pride Sunday, Superstar Divas.

Bolivia Carmichaels, Honey Bea Hart, Ginger Lee, and guest stars perform your favorite pop, Broadway, and country hits. Dance floor opens after the show. 8pm, CC Slaughters, 219 NW Davis.

First Thursdays Dirt Bag. Keyword: Bruce LaBruiser. She’ll make all your musical dreams come true. Indie, pop, electro, all of it.

Dance to the gayest jams. 10pm, The Know, 2026 NE Alberta. Free.

Hip Hop Heaven. Bolivia Carmichaels hosts this hip-hopheavy soiree night every Thursday night at CCs. Midnight guest performers. 9pm, CC Slaughters, 219 NW Davis. Free.

First Saturdays Sugar Town. DJ Action Slacks. Keywords: Soul, polyester.

9pm, The Spare Room, 4830 NE 42. $5.

Maricon! DJs Moisti and Ill Camino redefine the Eagle with their beloved once-monthly dance party. For homos and their homeys. 10pm, Eagle Portland, 835 N Lombard. $3.

Second Sundays Silverado’s Beer Bust. (Every Sunday.) Sweet jams, lots of skin (the dancers, not you), and our city’s beloved Stan — listen carefully to his commentary. He has things to say.

4pm, 318 SW 3, Free.

Second Thursdays I’ve Got a Hole in My Soul. Three keywords, the most important being: DJ Beyondadoubt. Others: soul, shimmy.

9pm, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison. $5.

Second Fridays BMP/GRND. Portland’s only queer dance night devoted entirely to that tragic(ally wonderful) decade. DJs Kasio Smashio and Rhienna. Wear 90s gear, get in on the cheap.

9pm, The Foggy Notion, 3416 N. Lombard. Free before 10pm, $5 after, $3 w/ themed attire.

Second Saturdays Rotate: DJs Moisti and Hold My Hand make a Maricón/ Bridge Club baby. 9pm, Eagle Portland, 835 N Lombard. $3.

Mrs.: The queen of theme. And dynamic DJ duo: Beyondadoubt and Ill Camino. Costumes, photo booths, all the hits. 10pm, Mississippi Studios, 3939 N. Mississippi. $5.

Third Thursdays Polari. Troll in for buvare. Back-in-the-day language, music, and elegance. An ease-you-into-the-weekend mixer. Bridge Club boys make the music. Bridge and tunnel patrons have

Thursday, June 20 Bites for Rights is back! On this day, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and bakeries all around the state will donate a generous percentage of their day’s proceeds to Basic Rights Oregon. This day — and this day only — you can feast to promote fairness for all LGBT Oregonians. Make a day of it. Stuff your face morning, noon, and night.

Check out the list of participating venues here: basicrights. org/bites-for-rights-participants/

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no idea what to do with us when we pour in. 10pm, Vault, 226 NW 12. Free.

Third Fridays Ruthless! Eastside deluxe. DJs Ill Camino, Rhienna. Come welcome new resident deejay Rhienna and listen to the fiercest jams all night long. Keyword: cha cha heels. 10pm, Local Lounge, 3536 NE MLK. $3.

Third Saturdays Gaycation all you ever wanted. DJs Charming and Snow Tiger. Be early so you can actually get a drink. Sweaty deliciousness, hottest babes. THE party. April = Jenna Riot.

9pm, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison. $3. (Note: moves to Pride Friday for June.)

Nuttz 2 Buttz. Maricón’s kid brother. DJs Moisti, Ill Camino.

Ass-shaking contest. Hug Moisti! 10pm, Eagle Portland, 835 N Lombard. $3.

Fourth Thursdays Cockabilly. Rock and roll disco with homosexual tendencies. The night’s charismatic hostess, Chanticleer, proves Thursdays are back. 9pm, White Owl Social Club, 1305 SE Eighth. $5.

Fourth Sundays Gender Abundant Square Dance. All-ages goodness. No experience necessary! 7pm, The Village Ballroom, 700 NE Dekum. All ages! $7.

Fourth Fridays Twerk. DJs Slutshine and II Trill. Keywords: old school.

Established fun, all night long. So much dancing. 9pm, Local Lounge, 3536 NE MLK. Free!

Fourth Saturdays Inferno! DJs Wildfire and D-Zel. Ladies, ladies, ladies. Rotating venue — check online for the latest!

Blow Pony. Two giant floors. Wide variety of music, plenty of room for dancing. Rowdy, crowdy, sweaty betty. 9pm, Rotture/Branx, 315 SE 3. $5. (Note: moves to Pride Saturday for June.)

Filth: (Formerly Hey Queen!) For the party girls. The more intimate, shoulder-to-shoulder Saturday night choice. Bruce LaBruiser and special guests. 9pm, Beulahland, 118 NE 28. Free.

Last Thursdays Laid Out, Bridgetown’s newest gay dance party. Seriously, the posters read: “gay dance party.” Deejays Gossip Cat and Pocket Rock-It, with photos by Eric Sellers. 9pm, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison. $3 after 10pm.

Last Fridays Temple! A West Side Social. Keeping the west side afloat.

Downtown dancing goodness at everyone’s favorite dive bar. Resident Kasio Smashio, plus guest. 10pm, The Matador, 1967 W Burnside. Free is a very good price.

Saturday, June 29 Netrippers’ Sixth Annual Co-Ed Soccer Tournament: Roll up your sleeves, lace up your cleats, dust off your sports bra, and tighten your jock strap — it’s time to play soccer, Netrippers-style. Good times, fun social events, and plenty of on-field action.

Players of all skill levels welcome. Grass and turf fields. Jerseys, snacks, and balls provided. Benefits Camp Starlight. Registration info: netrippers.org/

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TRAVEL & OUTDOORS PRIDE MUSIC

All Pride, all the time—festivals, parties, and more!

By Daniel Borgen PQ Monthly

This year, more than any other, marks one of the most profound in terms of changes on the Pride landscape.

Much of the old guard has stood down (or gone out of business), and new-ish veterans are leaving their marks all over our fair city. Lots of folks are angling to secure The Biggest Pride Party Ever™, but, as party architects and festival organizers know, you can’t just call it that and make it so. You have to plan, assemble talent, woo queers, and then turn it out on game day. Lucky for you, we’ve done our best to put all your options in one place. Here, in our beautiful pages, a look at what’s going down, Pride-wise, in the next 30 days.

Thursday, June 13 PQ Pride Press Party: If you’re reading this, you probably already know about it. Regardless, come mix and mingle with your favorite writers and publishers on the city’s most venerated patio — at Vendetta. It’s typically an eclectic group of queers, and an ideal place for more intimate (and sober) chats with your peers. 5pm, Vendetta, 4306 N. Williams. Free, clearly.

Queer Heroes NW Opening Reception: Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest and Q Center partner for an annual multi-media celebration of queer pioneers and leaders from our local movement — a new one is unveiled each day in June. Come see all the heroes displayed in Q Center’s gallery — the diverse collection eventually hits the road and tours the region, sharing the good news far and wide. 5pm — 8pm, (program at 6pm) Q Center, 4115 N. Mississippi.

Homo Ha! An evening with Ant: The fourth annual LGBT Pride comedy showcase, co-produced by Belinda Carroll and Kitty Moshpit Productions. This year, Homo Ha! is delighted to present Ant, a frequent “Tonight Show” and “Tyra Banks Show” guest. Hyper and irreverent, Ant has steadily climbed the comedy hill to become one of the most successful comedians of our time. Carroll will also perform, and Manuel Hall hosts. Two shows, 7pm and 9:30pm, Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE MLK. homoha. brownpapertickets.com.

Queerlandia: At long last, Queerlandia returns. In its third year, Queerlandia is conjuring new pleasures with an extravagant hybrid of Portland’s queer magic, mixing and mashing beauty into a new creature of pleasure and ecstasy. Six deejays (yes, six), Carla Rossi’s Carnival Grotesque, a very long list of drag performers, a marketplace of queer crafts and art hosted by Serendipity Jones — the list goes on. This goes on your “don’t miss” list. Who cares if you have to be up early Friday. You should have taken a long weekend. Deejays from every party you love: Gaycation, Bridge Club, Laid Out, Temple, BMP/GRND. This is what Pride looks like, and this last year’s party I’m still talking about. 9pm, Embers, 110 NE Broadway. $5.

Friday, June 14 The Living Room’s Intergenerational BBQ: Held at Clackamette Park, the Living Room, a safe haven for LGBTQ youth in Clackamas County, holds their annual potluck.

4pm, Clackamette Park, 1955 Clackamette Drive, Oregon City. For more information, like “The Living Room, Clackamas County” on Facebook.

Silverado offers Pride festivities all weekend long. Music, dancers, dancing, Lawanda Jackson, and lots more! Stan, as always, will be calling every play. (And critiquing you.)

Silverado, 318 SW Third.

Hedonistic Decadence and Twerk present a Queer Strip Night: “Strippers, booze, tits, and ass everywhere,” promoters promise. Hosted by Ecstasy Inferno, this night of dreams welcomes all genders, shapes, sizes, abilities, and races.

Put on some glitter, kittens, unicorns, rhinestones, skulls, cocks, and floggers. Or sit back and enjoy the show. Twerk goes down right after. 8pm, Local Lounge, 3536 NE MLK. $7. pqmonthly.com

Gaycation all you ever wanted holds its Pride edition Friday — and welcomes MEN/Le Tigre’s JD Samson (who killed it at the last Control Top). About Samson: For more than a decade, JD’s career as singer, producer, and DJ has landed her at the intersection of music, art, activism, and fashion. Oh, and Gaycation plays the best music you’ll ever hear. Truth.

DJs Charming, Snowtiger, and La Bruiser — all the lovelies.

9pm, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison. $7 Lumbertwink returns! It’s the Twink’s last party until autumn. (Say it isn’t so, Bund!)

Photo booth by party architect Wayne Bund, music by deejays Gossip Cat and Pocket Rock-It (Bridge Club, Laid Out) — wear your plaid, get in on the cheap, and enjoy the Photo by Julie Cortez, PQ Monthly sprawling patio and packed, What Pride activities have you the most psyched?

Check in regularly on pqmonthly.com for more. sweaty dance floor. The photo booth alone is worth the trip.

NBC’s “The Voice” will perform. Also on tap: Sindel Starr, The fur is the bonus. 9pm, Kimikaze, burlesque, drag queens and kings — all sorts of Funhouse Lounge, 2432 SE 11. $3 in plaid, $5 without.

BMP/GRND’s Velvet Goldmine Edition: Portland’s only delights. Portland and Seattle go-go dancers will keep your queer dance night devoted entirely to the 90s is doing an eyes busy. 6pm, Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside. Advance extra-special Pride edition with a screening of “Velvet Gold- tickets $16.25, $16 at the door.

Control Top, a Queer Experience. A quarterly nightlife mine,” two guest deejays, and a glorious medley of 70s and 90s jams. Residents Amy Kasio and Rhienna welcome DJs enterprise — a blend of skillful music, stunning visuals, ONE-900 and Go Ask Your Dad. Think Studio 54 meets rich photography, design, lots of cute people you want to MTV’s The Grind. 70s and 90s costumes get you in free. make out with, sweaty bodies, rad outfits, a lot of nasty fun. And dancing. If you haven’t been residing under a 9pm, The Foggy Notion, 3416 N. Lombard. $5.

Twerk, Pride Edition: See Queer Strip Night above. This rock, this is probably already on your radar — and if it pride edition features a twerk-off, prizes, and various other isn’t, put it squarely at the top. Stage and show inside, goodies. There’s also a drink special called the Twerk-O- patio and deejays outside. Performers include Bomb Ass Later. Oh my. Deejays Trill and Ill Camino. 11pm until late, Pussy (Portland), Double Duchess (SF), Ononos (Seattle), and Glitterbang (Seattle). Deejays: Hold My Hand Local Lounge, 3536 NE MLK. (Bridge Club), Bruce LaBruiser (Dirt Bag), Freddie Says Saturday, June 15 Relax (Butch Queen), and house resident Roy G Biv. The Portland Pride Festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park: shit’s shit — best arrive promptly. 9pm, White Owl Social Opens at Noon. Booths, vendors, food, adult beverages, all- Club, 1305 SE 8. $10. ages, beverages, performances, comedy, live singing, drag Blow Pony, a Family Affair: Come out, share yourself, — you name it, it’s here. Good luck dodging exes. $7 entry, celebrate, and be proud without corporate sponsorships, lasts all day Saturday and Sunday. banners, or pushy ads tell you how to be or how to live. Blow Taking Pride on Stark: Scandals’ annual Pride block Pony’s sprawling complex plays host to a variety of deeparty. One of the last Pink Triangle bars, this is a week- jays, and includes live performances by Big Dipper (NYC) end-long shindig with a $5 cover each day. The weekend — who is fresh off his stellar April show — and Hi Fashion will feature music by DJ Robb and shows by Peacock Pro- (LA), and Portland’s Boy Funk, We Are Like the Spider, and ductions. Their headliner Saturday night is Magic Mouth Rap Girl. Deejays Airick, Stormy, Kasio Smashio, and many (!!!), Sunday is Saturday Night Orphans, with Larry Pendar more. Get there early, this one gets packed. 9pm, Rotture, and Friends earlier in the day. A portion of proceeds go to 315 SE Third. $5.

Cascade AIDS Project and the Audria M. Edwards ScholGaylabration 2013: Its third incarnation and in the arship Fund. Doors open at 3pm Saturday, earlier Sunday, heart of the city at the Crystal Ballroom, it’s Gaylabration! and the party goes through closing time Sunday night. DJ Grind is “back to tear up the dance floor.” Party planners Scandals, 1125 SW Stark. $5. say “this will be the biggest Pride event all weekend.” 10pm, Dyke March: The Portland Dyke March originated in Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside. Ticket prices are, well, 1994 to heighten visibility for dykes of all persuasions. complicated: mcmenamins.com/events/114871/.

Embrace dyke diversity — all self-identified dykes, lesbians, Cross Over’s Pride Party: Celebrate Pride, Escape Bar women, and people of trans, gender non-conforming ,and & Grill-style. Drink specials, “bomb food,” pool, and video gender-variant experiences are invited to march. The 2013 poker. 10pm, Escape, 9004 NE Sandy. Free. will kickoff at 6pm — sharp — at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Meet at 5:30pm at the Salmon Street fountain. Look Sunday, June 16 for all the dykes — or listen for Belinda Carroll’s “loudness.”

Portland Pride Parade kicks off the day. Starts off at the The Big Gay Pride Party, Hot Flash style: Hot Flash is corner of NW Park and Burnside, ends at the corner of SW turning up the heat this year with an incredible lineup — Naito Parkway and Pine. 11am sharp. Free. and they’ve moved to the Crystal Ballroom to make room Portland Pride Festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park: PRIDE page 30 for everyone. Vicci Martinez (read more on page 37) of June-July 2013 • 29

PERSSPECTIVES

PRIDE Continued from page 29

Opens at noon. Mattachine Social plays at 3:30pm. $7 entry, lasts all day.

Taking Pride on Stark at Scandals. See entry for Saturday, June 15.

Gula Delgatto’s External Delusional Lounge: One of just a few outdoor, daytime block parties, Eagle Portland reunites Ms. Delgatto with her old sidekick, Fannie Mae Darling, and welcomes relative youngsters Shitney Houston, Bomb Ass Pussy, and Kitty Von Glitterbox. Along with that impressive array of drag talent: Cakes Da Killa (New York). Do yourself a favor and YouTube some of his videos. Maricón resident deejay Moisti and Eagle regular Danimal will make the music. There’s an Absolut lounge and lots of Joe’s Burgers. 2pm, Eagle, 835 N. Lombard. $10.

A Big Gay Boat with Latrice Royale: “To keep the spirit of the block party alive,” a drag and dance party on the Portland Spirit.

And, what’s more: Drag Race fan favorite Latrice Royale. Along with Ms. Royale will be Portland’s own Carla Rossi, Kaj-Anne Pepper, Bolivia Carmichaels, Honey Bea Hart, Alexis Campbell Starr — and too many others to mention. Music by SNAP! and Bridge Club. Boards 2:30pm, disembarks at 3pm, returns by 5pm, Tom McCall Waterfront Park, $20.This event is sold out.

Gospel according to Alaska Thunderfuck: Still smarting from her second place Drag Race finish, this queen is tearing it up on tour, proving she should have been America’s Next Drag Superstar™!

“Your makeup is terrible.” With your host Madame Anita Dumore and music by Seattle beloved Bottom Forty deejays (and SF’s Honey Sounsystem), this is the perfect Pride nightcap. Performers include Shitney Houston, Carla Rossi, Kaj-Anne Pepper, and more. Oh, to share the stage with Alaska. It’s every drag queen’s dream.

Rumor has it there are other special surprises (appearances) in store, but shhh.

7pm, Branx, 320 SE 2. $10.

Apocalysp! An all-ages Pride celebration without the corporate sponsorship. A portion of proceeds go to organizations working to end teen suicide in the queer community. Featuring performances by The Need, Thank You Holy Spirit, and DJ Hero Worship, and many more. Go to slabtownbar. net for more details and ticket information.

8pm, Slabtown, 1033 NW 16. $7 advance, $8 at the door.

Wednesday, June 19 (And you thought Pride ended on Sunday) All the Way Turn’t Up: Portland Black Pride 2013: “This year we are more ‘turnt’ up than ever: Loving who we are, learning who we are, and celebrating all that we are.”

Wednesday marks the kickoff party at the Local Lounge, featuring The Queens of the Night, Pride Edition. 8pm, Local Lounge, 3526 NE MLK. Visit PortlandBlackGayPride. com for more information, VIP tickets, and a complete schedule of events.

Friday, June 21 Rice, Beans, and Collard Greens: a Pride dance party for queer and trans people of color and our friends and family. All pro30 • June-July 2013

ceeds support Basic Rights Oregon’s Racial Justice and Alliance Building program. Drink specials all night! Dance to hip hop, reggae, top 40, and more. Presented by Basic Rights Oregon, in partnership with Asian Pacific Islander Pride, Portland Black Pride, Portland Latino Pride, Portland Two Spirit Society, and Pride NW. And since it’s at Crush, there’ll be plenty of delicious food available.

8:30pm, Crush, 1400 SE Morrison. $5.

Saturday, June 22 Eyes Open: Our Past, Present, and Future, Portland Black Pride Summit 2013: An opportunity to explore our diversities and multiple identities and the ways we can stand in solidarity as we come together as a community. The summit will be an afternoon of workshops covering a wide range of topics relevant to the Black LGBTQA community, thought provoking discussions, information, community resources, and entertainment. It runs most of the day, from 10am until 4pm, and you can find registration information here: surveymonkey.com/s/PBPreg2013. PCC Cascade, Student Center Building, 10am.

Saturday, June 29 Central Oregon Pride 2013: The ninth annual Central Oregon Pride celebration takes over the beautiful Drake Park in downtown Bend, Oregon, from noon until 6pm.

Human Dignity Coalition, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary, hosts the event.

This year’s festival will focus on entertainment and information, and organizers expect their biggest event yet. The after party will start at 7:30pm, and will be held at Seven Restaurant and Nightclub. Donations accepted. For more information, contact centraloregonpride@gmail.com. Go spend a beautiful weekend in Bend, and celebrate all your gayness with your eastern brothers and sisters.

Corvallis Pride/Pride in the Park: Your favorite sleepy college town celebrates your gayness in Central Park. Central Park, Corvallis — not NYC. Organizers are still assembling talent, but plan on a leisurely, lovely time.

Vendors, refreshments, entertainment! We’ll have more online as the day approaches.

Starts at noon, ends around 6pm.

Saturday, July 20 Portland Latino Gay Pride: PLGP’s eighth annual celebration will stretch over this July weekend, with events spanning the Q Center and the Jupiter Hotel. This year’s theme: ¡Viva La Vida! Festival mainstays Voz Alta and the afterhours dance party at Embers remain. The food alone is worth the trip. Seriously. For more coverage of Portland Latino Gay Pride, look for our July issue! But save the dates now.

Saturday, July 13 Saturday in the Park: Every second Saturday in July, Southwest Washington holds the region’s only LGBT Pride celebration. This year marks its 19th. That’s a great many years! As always, Saturday in the Park prides itself on itself for being family-friendly, free, and, well, fun.

Vendor booths, live entertainment, raffles — and what queer shindig would be complete without a beer garden? 11am — 5pm, Esther Short Park, 301 W. 8 St. pqmonthly.com

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PRIDE

Pride performers on love, music, and community

Musicians Aiden James, Dirty Looks, Lucas Silveira of the Cliks, and Mattachine Social promise to rock your world at Portland Pride 2013.

By Nick Mattos PQ Monthly

While there are a vast number of things to love about Pride Week in Portland, the music is always a highlight.

In celebration of the wonderfully diverse acts playing the Pride Festival Soundstage in Tom McCall Waterfront Park this year, PQ presents interviews with a few of the stage’s headliners and performers from near and far. This represents only a tiny selection of Portland Pride’s veritable cornucopia of musical offerings; for a far fuller look at the array of performers at the Waterfront and beyond, go to PQMonthly.com.

LUCAS SILVEIRA, THE CLIKS (Toronto) PQ Monthly: Can you tell me a bit about your current musical project?

Lucas Silveira: Right now I’m concentrating 100 percent on my band, The Cliks. We just released a new album called “Black Tie Elevator” and are planning tours around it.

PQ: As one of the most visible transpeople in music, how do you see yourself fitting into the larger queer music scene?

LS: I don’t really know, to be honest. I’m in a weird spot right now. Almost limbo-like. I don’t quite fit in in the mainstream, and now that I’m passing as male I feel like all my female lesbian fans have finally realized I’m not one of them, so it’s a strange spot. I think a lot of them identified with me because of how I looked, but are now realizing that in fact I am a man. I was feeling very invisible before, and in a way it’s validating to my sense of self to know that when I was feeling unseen that it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. I actually don’t like being called a queer musician, because my identity and my music are two separate things. As a musician, I’m simply human.

PQ: You and I are both from Portuguese-diaspora families. How did you find that the larger Portuguese community responded to your coming out? How do you currently connect with your Portuguese identity?

LS: My direct family has been extremely supportive, and overall of the Portuguese people in the media who have approached me have met me with kindness and curiosity, so I can’t say I’ve had a bad reaction. As far as connecting with my Portuguese identity, it is something I carry and connect to daily. I’m extremely proud of my heritage. I live in a Portuguese area of Toronto and am very close to my family. I was born in Canada but in my heart, I’m always Portuguese.

PQ: Thinking about the queer community at large — do you feel that there is a single unified “queer commupqmonthly.com

nity?” Is full unification of the queer community a reasonable goal to work towards?

LS: No. I don’t feel there is much of a community these days. In fact, I feel the community has divided itself into cells of separatist mentalities. It’s quite disheartening, actually. I’d love to see queers more united, but sadly it seems that some people’s ideas around personal narratives have become increasingly constricted, and so it feels suffocating to me and others who just want to be queer our own way.

I have found my community lately to be more attached to being an artist than a queer person. I feel really judged in the queer community and it doesn’t bode well with me.

PQ: In this era, why are Pride celebrations still important?

LS: Because we simply are still not seen as equals in the eyes of society and we are victims of discrimination and violence daily.

PQ: If you could give one piece of advice to young queer people, what would it be?

LS: Be yourself and allow others to be who they are as well. Just because someone else’s identity isn’t the same as yours within whatever part of the LGBT alphabet you come from, doesn’t mean their identity is any less valid.

AIDEN JAMES (Philadelphia) PQ: Can you tell us a little about you and your work?

AJ: I’m a fan of anything that is cat-related, coffee-centric, or celebrates beards on men. I write catchy love songs.

I sing, engineer, and produce; my latest album, “Trouble With This” climbed to the top of the iTunes Top 30 Charts.

I started a record label. I play 100 concerts a year across the country and internationally. PQ readers might particularly like my cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” She and I share a birthday.

PQ: In this era, why do you feel that Pride festivals are important?

AJ: It’s important to show our numbers, to stand up and be counted. Celebrating who we are is important because their are people who will hate us for being just who we are.

PQ: As an out musician, have you had any surprising members of your fan base or sources of support?

AJ: I live for how music transcends the lines of gay and straight. There are universal themes of love that I explore in my music; even past that, it’s great to see people from all walks of life meet each other at a concert and become friends. Who doesn’t like to see a butch lesbian meet a 6’3 beefy married straight guy at the merch table wearing the same outfit? My latest album, “Trouble With This” is 100 percent fan funded, and I cherish the direct relationship I have with my audience as an independent artist performing live.

Photo of Aiden James (left) by Jeremy Lucido; photo of Mattachine Social (right) by Holly Andres

KATE NEAL, DIRTY LOOKS (Portland) PQ: Can you tell me a bit about your band and your sound?

Kate Neal: Dirty Looks is a new band comprised of five local Portland musicians. About a year ago, I was looking to take my solo hip hop music to the next level by getting a backing band — what I ended up with was Dirty Looks. This project is completely different from what I set out to do but what organically transpired is something I immediately fell in love with. We are the house band for an amazing queerowned bar called Escape Bar and Grill on NE Prescott and Sandy. In fact, our band was named there when we asked an audience for help in selecting a band name during a show.

We put up a little message on the chalkboard wall in the bathrooms and asked for suggestions. We played a song I wrote called “Dirty Looks” and someone had written that down on the wall as a band name. We all loved it instantly and decided to go with it!

PQ: What made you decide to play Portland Pride?

KN: We’ve just recently started playing shows out and about around town. Putting our feelers out, if you will. Pride seemed like a natural choice for me personally because I’ve always performed at Pride festivals as a queer hip hop artist, and while I may be transitioning to new musical genres, I’ll never transition out of my community. Performing at Pride is not only a great way for us to get our sound out there but it’s also a way to stand in solidarity and support with my community.

PQ: In this era, why do you feel Pride festivals are important?

KN: This question is a bit of a double-edged sword for me. I love Pride and think that historically, it’s been an amazing part of the queer equality movement. It’s important to celebrate ourselves and our love — and to that end, I will always support Pride festivals. However, I also think that our obsession as a culture with focusing on our differences is only further driving the wedge that separates us. My sexuality doesn’t define me, nor is it a major factor in my life. I think true equality will be achieved when we don’t have to “come out” as queer, when “gay marriage” is just marriage. As a society, we should be focusing on what brings us together, what we have in common, that’s when we’re most powerful. We see it after any national tragedy, people throwing aside differences, political or otherwise, and coming together to lift each other up as fellow human beings. Why does it take a tragedy for us to remember what’s really important? To me, Pride is about building community and supporting each other regardless of individual differences. And I think that should happen every day, not once a year.

PRIDE PERFORMERS page 49

June-July 2013 • 33

PERSPECTIVES

WHISKEY & SYMPATHY

Dear Sophia and Gula,

I’m worried that I’m the human personification of Grumpy Cat. Whenever I date someone, I start out very into them, but inevitably within a couple weeks I find some aspect of the person to be absolutely intolerably annoying — their laugh is annoying, they believe weird things about the world, they’re too self-aggrandizing, they’re too loud in bed. This annoyance only builds until I just can’t stand anything about them and break things off. I’m lonely, but I can’t stop pushing people away. How can I stop working myself up into being too annoyed by my partners?

-Eeyore in Irvington

Hey Grumpy,

Sophia

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We all have been annoyed by loved ones. That little smacking noise, that heavy breathing while next to your ear, that leg shake they do when they are bored or nervous.... We all have those pet peeves.

However, pet peeves should not be reason alone to end a relationship. Think of what attracted you to them in the first place. What are the things you enjoy and love about them? What makes you smile when they are not near? What warms your heart when you think of them? These are the things to keep in the forefront of your mind when you start to wonder why you stay with someone who laughs like a hyena.

You also need to look inside and see if some of these things come from your past. Do you have some unresolved issues that are playing into your current situation? Sometimes if we do a little self-analysis we can come up with clues that may give us answers. When I take the time to do this, I notice that I am much calmer and can think clearly as to why I am so annoyed.

Try to consciously “talk to yourself” before you are about to see them. Reassure yourself that this is the person who makes you happy and the little things are nothing. Allow them to fall to the background. Being intentional takes time, so allow yourself that time.

Being open and honest with your date will help, too.

Most people are not able to maintain a poker face when there are issues bothering them. Whether it’s a wrinkle in the brow, a slight frown, or a raised eyebrow, your date might notice. Be ready to address your gesture if they notice.

Good luck, Sophia St. James

Do you revel in correcting others’ grammar and spelling? Do you get angry at the smallest of lines that for just taking too long? Driving makes your butt pucker because all of the “idiots” out there? You like things your way, cuz it’s RIGHT? I might have had you as a roommate at one point.

You jump into a relationship with an open mind, with all of the annoying attributes of Gula the other there but you don’t need them for an exit strategy yet. You wait awhile, then you start picking your partner’s carcass like a vulture.

You find an out before they leave you for YOUR annoying traits — traits that bug you, too.

So, you’ve identified that you have a problem with pushing people away, whatever the situation or reason. Well done! You’re well on your way to understanding, and conquering, this issue. Usually, this problem comes down to your own confidence and self-worth. As with any problem, knowing that it’s there is the first, and hardest, step, to overcoming it. You’re here, which is excellent, so let’s get on with it.

1. Seriously learn to love yourself. Write out the crazy things you love, hate, feel annoyed by and be honest about the things you do that others love, hate, and get annoyed by! Once you figure those things out, stop doing the annoying shit.

2. When someone says they like, love, respect, enjoy you ... accept it! If you act like you don’t deserve praise and love over and over, people will take you seriously and leave. No one wants to invest time in a self-loather. You deserve love and good people deserve to be in your glorious presence! Let them in and believe the compliments they offer, dumb-ass.

3. Stop waiting for people to disappoint you. Accept that some people will hurt you, but also, many will not. That is life, but if you let fear keep you from trying to see the good in people then you will miss out on some real gems!

4. Stop the “negative-brain dialogue” about how nothing good will happen and how all people are the same. If you tell yourself that only losers will like you then it is the losers that will come your way! They can hear your negative thoughts and will descend upon you like thirsty vampires.

STOP IT NOW because being with a soul-sucker is no fun!

5. Be cute and you will attract positive people. Smile, damn you!

Good luck!

Gula

Need some advice from Sophia and Gula? Send your query — with “Whiskey & Sympathy” in the subject line — to info@pqmonthly.com.

Sophia St. James has been an erotic entertainer since 1996. She has traveled performing and educating the public on self confidence, self worth, and the art of sensuality no matter their outer appearance. Working as a sex and sensuality educator, sex toy/product reviewer, adult film director/producer, model, and erotic visual performer, Sophia is a well rounded woman with drive and determination. Sophia is also a mother and healthcare professional who takes pride in being a body positive and sex positive fierce femme.

Gula Delgatto’s life began in a small rural farming town in Romaina. She was scouted singing in a rocky field picking potatoes by a producer of a “Mickey Mouse Club” type ensemble. While touring the Americas the group fell apart due to jealousies and drugs. She later transitioned from Vaudeville to starring on the big screen to woman’s prison, and eventually advised the Dali Lama on fashion n-stuff. Currently she’s taking her life knowledge and giving back in an advice column for PQ.

pqmonthly.com

THE GOOD LIFE PERSPECTIVES

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pqmonthly.com

Vicci Martinez HOPES to give Portland hot flashes

Catch Vicci Martinez at Hot Flash’s Big Gay Pride Party in Portland on June 15.

By Trish Bendix PQ Monthly

It’s been 13 years since Vicci Martinez released her first album. In that time, the Tacoma native has gone from starving artist to television star to professional touring musician after appearing on the first season of NBC’s “The Voice.” The out 28-year-old took third place in the singing competition, but she walked away from the show with a built-in fanbase and an admirer in her mentor Cee-Lo Green, who lent his vocals to Martinez’s single “Come Along” from her 2012 major label debut, “Vicci.”

Although the show, currently in its fourth season, has been hugely successful, not all of its winners and runner-ups have continued to make a name for themselves like Martinez has. She’ll be in Portland to play Hot Flash’s Big Gay Pride Party at the Crystal Ballroom on June 15, marking one of her first ever Pride experiences in general.

“It was just a few years ago [Tacoma] recently started having [Pride],” Martinez said. “My life has consisted of working.…

I always miss out on these kind of things.

So I think that that’s why it’s kind of special time in my career, when I can start being a part of it.”

Martinez will be playing a 30-minute acoustic set at the Hot Flash party, where she is excited to see some friends she met during a trip with Olivia Travel. She said she’s played Portland several times, but it’s not been the easiest place to find fans.

“Portland has kind of been a hard market for me,” she said. “It’s funny because it’s only a few hours from where I lived, but it’s still hard to get an audience to come out to the show and be able to make money from it. With the song on the radio and everything, it’s been a little bit different. But I’ve been coming out there for a long time.”

Martinez is happy to be getting booked for LGBT gigs alongside the regular touring and festival appearances she’ll continue to pqmonthly.com

make throughout the summer. “The Voice” has been home to several out contestants during its four-year run, but Martinez seems to be the only one who has avoided being pigeonholed as a “gay artist” limited to only playing queer-based events.

“I’ve kind of always gone into it with an ‘I’m no different than you’ kind of vibe,” Martinez said. “I was out, but I didn’t make any kind of statement about it. I hadn’t made that a priority. It was always, ‘Whoever’s gonna book me, I’m down to play.’”

While visiting “The Voice” during the season 4 semifinals, Martinez advised out lesbian contestant Michelle Chamuel to “make sure you have the most fun time of your life because it’s amazing.” She also managed to have a bit of her own fun thanks to Shakira — who was not a judge during the first season.

“I got to meet Shakira and I can die happy,” Martinez said. “I’m glad she wasn’t on my season. I think it would have been bad for me because I would have been nervous the whole time. I have had a crush on her since I was 12. I would have always had a nervous tummy, and not because I was on TV — because I was around Shakira.”

Martinez now lives in Los Angeles and said she loves the “therapeutic” process of songwriting, but prefers performing live to anything else.

“If anything,” she said, “I am doing it to inspire other people to find what makes them happy and help them realize what their passion is.”

But because her ultimate goal is to have a good time, her only advice for those coming to the Hot Flash show is this: “Make sure you get ready to drink some tequila. It’s going to be a fun night.”

Vicci Martinez will play Hot Flash’s Big Gay Pride Party at the Crystal Ballroom (1332 W. Burnside St.) June 15, 6 p.m.-10 p.m. For tickets and information visit hotflashdances.com/.

June-July 2013 • 37

THE STUFF ARTSFUN & CULTURE

Claiming the spotlight: PHAME gives adults with disabilities the stage

(Left to right) Jace McFeron shows off his PHAME Honor Tour T-shirt (photo by Erin Rook, PQ Monthly); PHAME students perform the musical “Willy Wonka” (photo courtesy of PHAME).

By Erin Rook PQ Monthly

When Stephen Beaudoin first heard about Pacific Honored Artists, Musicians, and Entertainers (PHAME) — an arts organization serving adults with developmental disabilities — he wasn’t sure what to expect. A friend suggested that Beaudoin invite the group’s choir to perform on a benefit CD he was producing called “Songs for Haiti” and he hesitantly offered them one track.

“I figured it could either be really beautiful and inspiring or it could totally miss the mark,” Beaudoin says. PHAME didn’t have a YouTube presence at the time and he’d never heard them perform, so he was going out on a limb. “They blew it out of the water. It’s a performance I’ve never forgotten…. Seeing a great performance stays with you, and what I was observing was a great performance, not a great performance with an asterisk.”

Beaudoin was so captivated that two months later he was on PHAME’s board, and before long he became the group’s executive director.

PHAME offers arts education classes about 30 weeks out of the year, including everything from yoga to an iPad music lab class and rehearsals for its annual summer musical. This year, the group is putting on a performance of “Bye, Bye Birdie” (June 22-23 at Mount Hood Community College). Last year’s show was “Willy Wonka.”

In all, PHAME participants give 15-20 public performances each year. In 2012, members of the group went on a tour that had them doing 15 shows in 10 days. Past performances have included collaborations with high-profile artists like Pink Martini and the Portland Cello Project. This year, the group will take the main stage at the Mississippi Street Fair for the first time.

“PHAME is about art, but it’s also about community,” Beaudoin says. “Some of the students have never stepped on stage in their lives. If that’s not empowering I don’t know what is.”

Jace McFeron, 26, is one of those students. When he first came to PHAME, the segregation he faced as person with developmental disabilities at Gresham’s Centennial High School left him with few opportunities to explore the arts or build friendships.

PHAME changed all that.

“The first week or two that we came here, we came early to check out neighborhood,” says Jace’s mother, Debi McFeron. “We stepped into Starbucks and found all the 38 • June-July 2013

‘phame-ous’ people. It was so cool. Jace was there with friends hanging out in Starbucks. On the way home he said it was the first time he’d had friends.”

Those friendships have only grown through Jace’s participation in the group. In addition to performing in “Willy Wonka” (as a squirrel) and participating in the tour, he busts it out at PHAME’s social events, including dance parties.

It’s a lot like “Glee,” Beaudoin says, referencing the popular television show about a high school show choir that brings together students who are different and help them create something bigger than themselves.

Jace recently moved to a group home in St. Helens and travels nearly an hour each way to attend PHAME classes.

When he lived closer, he came more often, and he’s having a hard time adjusting to the change.

“No more, no more,” he says.

Kayla Rockdaschel, who works with Jace a few days a week, says it’s a common refrain since he moved out to the new home. She tries to reassure him that they’ll keep coming to PHAME, even if it’s not as often as before.

Jace’s verbal abilities are limited due to cerebral palsey.

He typically uses a computer to help him communicate, but his mother says it’s currently in the shop. So the others in the room talk about Jace’s experiences with PHAME, checking in with him frequently to ensure that they are representing him accurately.

Despite his verbal and mobility challenges, Jace will try anything once and, as a result, has developed a full repertoire of creative outlets.

“It’s such a way of expressing yourself,” Debi says of her son’s involvement in PHAME, which has included visual arts, acting, dancing, yoga, and singing. “These are things he wouldn’t get to do [otherwise], and because he doesn’t have the gift of speech, that is a way of expressing yourself that is really valuable.”

In addition to PHAME, Jace is looking forward to attending Portland Pride. In past years he’s marched with East Rose Unitarian Universalist Church; the congregation has been supportive since Jace first came out at age 14. His mother attended PFLAG meetings there.

For the most part, Jace has been met with positivity around his sexuality. But that wasn’t always the case. When he came out at age 14 to a teaching aid, she reported his disclosure to the authorities.

“Her assumption was that he must have been violated in some way. [The authorities] were required by law to come to our house and interview us. Fortunately they under-

stood,” Debi says. “Folks with IDD [intellectual and developmental disabilities] are not seen as sexual; they’re also seen as victims. It’s easy to victimize someone who has a disability. But that’s a long jump to the assumption that they must be [victims].”

It’s not uncommon for people with disabilities to be de-sexed by society. Debi admits that even she, while generally supportive, had a hard time wrapping her mind the idea that Jace was gay.

“I said, ‘Well, that’s ok, if that’s what you decide.’ I thought at 14 he probably didn’t know how to decide,” Debi says, adding that it’s hard for any parent to see their child as sexual. “I probably didn’t know enough about it to know it isn’t about sex. Jace’s idea of gay might mean something different, but everyone’s might.”

Fortunately, at PHAME, Jace is fully accepted, as a person with a developmental disability and as a gay man. And though there is only one other out LGBTQ participant at present, Jace knows he’s not alone.

“You’re not the only ‘fierce’ one here,” Beaudoin reminds him. Jace immediately points with excitement at Beaudoin, who is also gay.

Jace is proud of who he is. Recently, he asked his mother if he could order rainbow spoke decorations for his wheel chair. But the cost was prohibitive, and she said they would have to find a way to make something. A few days later, Jace returned from PHAME with rainbows made of multicolored duct tape adorning his wheels.

Though there aren’t many outlets for LGBTQ people with developmental disabilities, Beaudoin says the queer community has responded positively to PHAME. “We are very lucky to have a lot of support from the LGBT community,” he says, citing Equity Foundation’s backing of the recent tour. “I think what anyone sees from the LGBT community are the resonances between persons with disabilities and LGBT people” in terms of the need for equality in the realms of employment, housing, and families.

Beaudoin is glad that Jace has been so accepted, both at PHAME and in the LGBTQ community, but he acknowledges that there’s still progress to be made.

“Discrimination against people with disabilities is prevalent. They face mounting stigma, lack of access to services,” he says. “It can be difficult for the LGBT community to remember; there can be a lack of presence and awareness. Through our public performances, we’re helping to reduce stigma.”

Learn more at phameacademy.org. pqmonthly.com

THE FUN STUFF

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June-July 2013 • 39

      

     

   

 

40 • June-July 2013

pqmonthly.com

PONDERLUST CAN YOU SEE ME NOW?

By Erin Rook PQ Monthly

“That’s an interesting tattoo,” the checker says, pointing the black bird holding a rolling pin and playing cards half-visible below my rolled up shirt sleeve. “What is it?”

“It’s based off a card game called Rook,” I explain, pushing the sleeve up past my elbow.

It’s a family tattoo I got with my siblings in memory of our grandparents — my granddad’s love of card games, my grandma’s fondness for singing (and dancing) in the kitchen.

I don’t have time to elaborate before he inquires about the ink peeking out on my left forearm. He asks what it says between the wings sprouting out from the black and white anatomical heart.

“It says ‘survivor,’” I reply. It’s been two years since I got the tattoo — my first — to mark the two-year anniversary of leaving a physically and emotionally abusive relationship. At the time, friends cautioned me against something so blatant, reminding me that it would invite questions. But I was proud to be a survivor and compelled to make that part of my history visible.

“A survivor of what?” he asks. I get that question a lot, mostly from phlebotomists and other health care providers. Once, an ER doctor told me she assumed I had survived heart disease. In a way, she was right.

“Domestic violence.”

The checker pauses and a wave of sadness washes over his face.

“Domestic violence.” He sighs. “It breaks my heart — but I don’t understand. Why do the women stay with the men who abuse them?”

The phrasing feels awkward — why is he referring to me in the third person? — but it doesn’t register right away. I’m still ma’amed more often than not, so I tend to assume that strangers are reading me as female unless their language indicates otherwise. Caught off guard by his question, I offer an over-simplified response.

“It does funny things to your brain.”

It does funny things to your brain? I kick myself for not coming up with a better response to this frequently asked question years ago.

“I guess it turns into some sick kind of love. Like Stockholm Syndrome,” he offers.

“Do you think they know why they stay — those women?”

Finally, it dawns on me. “Those women.”

He thinks we’re talking about someone else.

Us guys are not survivors of domestic violence. And so this fleeting moment of visibility has rendered me simultaneously invisible.

Sometimes, being seen makes me stand

out even more.

V i s i b i l i t y, i t seems, is rarely neutral. Walking through our neighborhood in East Portland, my partner and I are hesitant to show affection in ways we never were before, aware that the more people perceive me as male, the more we are seen as faggots.

As I transition from female to male, I shift from victim to threat (and, perhaps, back to victim again). Sometimes, my position within that power dynamic shifts many times in one day. It makes it hard to trust that anyone’s perception will hold. And if it wavers in the wrong person, well, you’re fucked.

Last month, I was a “sir” and a “gentleman” in the morning, but a “ma’am” by the afternoon. As much as I relish the affirmation inherent in masculine honorifics, they also put me on guard. I worry that people take a closer look, see the shaping of my eyebrows, hear the treble in my voice, catch the lilt in my step, and realize they were wrong.

Driving through Wyoming last fall with my partner, we stopped in a thrift store to look for vintage Western wear. As we were perusing the men’s shirts, the shop keeper called out to us.

“Let me know if you gentlemen need any help.”

I hadn’t really come out as trans yet, and wasn’t making any particular effort to be read as male. Still, the acknowledgement was simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. I wasn’t afraid of the woman, but I didn’t want to deal with awkwardness of an unaffirming apology. So I skulked around the back of the store, shrugged my shoulders forward, and avoided eye contact when we departed.

I take the same don’t-look-too-closely stance with the Office Max cashier, continue to play along with this story we’ve created about those women who stay with their abusive men, hypothesize about their experiences as if I don’t — can’t — know.

“I think some know why they stay and some don’t. It’s complicated,” I reply.

He doesn’t know the half of it. I don’t have it in me to explain and I’m not sure why.

Am I afraid of the vulnerability or worried that he’ll find me out? But there’s no time to ponder. I’m running late (as always) and search for an escape.

“Well, those men aren’t men, they’re boys,” he says.

I nod, figure the best way to end the conversation is to agree, and mutter something about how grown men ought to act. Satisfied that I share his worldview about the ways of men, he hands me my receipt and I slip out the door, step up into my partner’s big red truck, and drive off to a gay bar.

Erin is collecting clever comebacks to correct future assumptions.

Send suggestions to erin@pqmonthly.com. pqmonthly.com

June-July 2013 • 41

ARTS & CULTURE

Out loud together: LGBTQ choruses

While choruses like the PGMC and Soromundi were created to serve as safe spaces to socialize for gay men and lesbians, respectively, they welcome participants representing a diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities.

By Leela Ginelle PQ Monthly

The first LGBTQ choruses emerged almost 40 years ago.

While the movement began with the Anna Crusis Women’s Choir, which formed in Philadelphia in 1975, the first chorus to include “gay” in its name was the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, who gave their maiden performance on the City Hall steps the night of Harvey Milk’s shooting death in 1978.

From Seattle’s BEARatones to Salem’s Confluence, this blending of art and politics, community and visibility, have always been present in the LGBTQ chorus movement, though perhaps not as pronounced as it was on that night 35 years ago.

The Soromundi Lesbian Chorus of Eugene formed in 1989 after its founders attended the Portland Pride Festival. Co-founder Karm Hagedorn had sung in choirs in high school and at the University of Oregon.

Of the early days, and the chorus’s entry into activism, she says, “I had no motives or agenda at the beginning, but when three or more lesbians gather, opinions and ideas pour out and before long, we were singing at political events and rallies right away, as the times were ripe with anti-gay legislation — causes like ‘Take Back the Night” and such.”

Soromundi, which translates to “sisters of the world,” also became a social hub for its members. “[It] very quickly became a community,” Hagedorn says.

“It was a pretty wholesome place to meet other people who were tired of the bar scene.”

The same is true for the group that inspired Hagedorn 24 years ago at Pride, the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus. The PGMC formed in 1980, and was the fourth chorus to call themselves “gay,” according to artistic director Bob Mensel.

In the PGMC’s early years, Mensel says, “The reasons that men joined the choir were myriad, but a common

42 • June-July 2013

theme was to build an alternate safe space for gay men to gather that was not a bar or a bathhouse.”

Mensel has observed society’s changes in the transparency practiced by the chorus’s members. In the early years, he says, “Many members of the chorus listed ‘name withheld’ in the program, or used a fake name. I do not think that any member of PGMC uses a fake name anymore, and I think it would be unbelievable if anyone were fired in this community for being gay.”

Both Soromundi and the PGMC have non-discrimination policies, and include non-LGBTQ members.

“Early on,” Hagedorn says, “we established policies and guidelines, including that membership was open to anyone who identified as a woman.”

Of the PGMC, Mensel says, “Gender and sexuality are irrelevant in assessing a singer’s suitability for the chorus.

A prospective singer must be able to sing in the range of our repertoire — bass to tenor — and be a good musician.”

The Portland Lesbian Choir has a similarly inclusive outlook. The choir, which formed in 1986, has a “non-audition” policy, and, according to its website, welcomes “women of ALL ages, races, gender and sexual orientations (including straight allies), abilities, creeds, lifestyles, etc.”

As transgender visibility has increased in recent years, so has trans participation in LGBTQ choruses. Hagedorn says there have been several transwomen in Soromundi, and that the group has elected its first transman to its board of directors. San Francisco also boasts a transgender chorus, Transcendence, which is the subject of a documentary called “The Believers.”

Seattle’s youth chorus, Diverse Harmony, which will perform with the PGMC at this year’s Pride festival, also features transgender singers. The group was founded in 2002

by Rhonda Juliano to help create a safe space for gay male students she taught, and has since expanded the profile of its membership, according to artistic director Jared Brayton Bollenbacher.

Photo of the PGMC (left) by Bill Barry, BarryFoto©

“We are still focused on being a Gay-Straight Alliance youth chorus,” Bollenbacher says, “but like all social advocacy organizations, we find other portions of our community that need our love and support and we focus on the needs of everyone. Like all queer organizations, I think we are turning more of our focus on how to assist the trans portion of our family.”

Of course, while community and visibility are benefits of LGBTQ choruses, music is still their raison d’etre, a point both Mensel and Hagedorn stress.

“The Portland Gay Men’s Chorus has always been dedicated to performing high quality choral pieces,” Mensel says. “The founders of PGMC were blessed with many fine singers and musicians.”

He also refers to the PGMC’s mission, which states that the “chorus aspires to expand, redefine, and perfect the choral art through eclectic performances that honor and uplift the gay community and affirm the worth of all people.”

Hagedorn talks about the response Soromundi, which recently performed in Portland during its three-city “Be the Change” tour, has on its audience members.

“People say they haven’t heard a choir who sounds like ours,” she says, “and that can be attributed to the arrangement-specific music we sing, the way we select our music, and the fun we have singing every week.”

Portlanders will get the chance to take in two LGBTQ choruses as Diverse Harmony joins the PGMC for “Showtunes” at the Arlene Schnitzer Hall June 15 at 7 p.m. as part of Portland Pride weekend. Diverse Harmony will also sing at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish June 14 at 7 p.m., at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall June 15 at 7 p.m., and at the Waverly United Church of Christ June 16 at 10 a.m.

The Portland Lesbian Choir presents “Our Time to Shine” at the Rose City Park Methodist Church June 21-22 at 7:30 p.m.

pqmonthly.com

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June-July 2013 • 43

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THE LADY CHRONICLES I’M CONVINCED — YOU GOTTA DATE AN IMPORT

By Daniel Borgen PQ Monthly

About a month ago, my cousin visited from Amsterdam. I host a variety of guests in and around my home — friends, family, and otherwise — so an out-of-towner isn’t a terribly abnormal occurrence. This visitor, though, shares my last name. And here’s the thing that makes that completely commonplace circumstance peculiar: I haven’t seen another Borgen in the flesh in more years than I can count. I could give you a ballpark number, but I’d be revealing private, intimate details about my age, and I’d rather not disparage myself in print. Hint: it’s been decades.

It’s a strange sensation to be cut off from an entire side of your brood. The why’s and how’s of my separation aren’t terribly important right here and now — suffice it to say, it’s the age-old tale of being ostensibly disowned. Your parents divorce, adults act like children, and your father accuses you of choosing your mother over him. (You were 8.)

Everyone always says, “Oh, your family is what you make of it,” offering that or similarly phrased bullshit when the subject comes up — and there’s a lot of truth to such platitudes. But no matter the rationalizing and intellectual understanding, losing an entire side of your family feels like losing a limb. It’s a festering wound that never completely heals. A gnawing you learn to abide.

So when my cousin told me she’d be in town, naturally I hesitated. We hadn’t spent significant time together since we were small children — who knew what she’d say or what she thought of me after all these years. I worried about whose side she took and if some old father-type wounds might bust open. But you never get anywhere running from the things that scare you, so I made a breakfast date — Kornblatt’s, which houses all my favorite meats — and I broke bread with a Borgen.

It’s hard to pinpoint what surprised me most that morning — that I showed up at all, that my cousin is a seasoned world traveler, that she’s similarly a creative-type, or that none of my worst fears came to pass.

Her worldly aptitude impressed me and I was more than a bit jealous hearing about her treks through our Italian homeland.

Eventually, the inevitable: conversation steered toward the Borgen clan, and she shared with me something I didn’t expect.

“I stand up for you,” she said, explaining what shouldn’t need explaining. “You were a child; it’s ridiculous to blame you for anything.”

We moved on to romantic scorecards — and it was good to see a little of me in her, like her knack for enjoying the company

of a man. (The Borgen genes run strong.) I recapped some of my more momentous pair ings, she shared hers. I discussed my recent habit of falling for out-of-towners and how the last time I was in San Francisco I happened upon a man I met while visiting New York — who lives in L.A. (That’s a lot of cities, I know.) It always happens that way, I said.

Grindr introduces me to some guy visiting from Canada, we have a splendid time, and he eventually retreats back to the frozen tundra. It’s my destiny.

Mere days after her visit, Scruff walked me to The Nines, where I courted a gentleman visiting from New York. He was incredibly foxy — voluminous, tousled red hair, toned in all the right places, and an accent that made me swoon. There were weird moments, like when he insisted I stand on the other side of the room so he could stare at me naked, or when he danced to Red Hot Chili Peppers in his underwear, but generally I found his company enjoyable. I spent a lot of time in that bed that weekend — bravo, Nines, for such impressive comfort — and I was a little sad to see our time together end.

We half-heartedly discussed keeping in touch, but I’d long ago learned the lessons of Canada and L.A., and my friend Ryan’s infamous words haunted my eardrums: “Stop trying to make it something it’s not.” Because I do. Often. That my final set of plans with the New Yorker fell apart cemented every one of my instincts.

This past Memorial Day weekend, I crossed paths with a friend I hadn’t seen in eons — he was, once, like me, one of the last dating holdouts. But even he’s been bitten now, all paired up with a non-native. “Given the level of ‘talent’ in this town, you gotta date an import,” he said. “I have a first look deal with the Port of Portland.” (Someone get me his agent.)

I thought a little about my newly discovered accommodations in Amsterdam, wondered how many poor many choices I’d make with a new continent and new countries filled with men, and blamed a “Shameless” marathon for my lingering obsession with family.

Seeing my cousin wasn’t so much life-altering as it was life-affirming. We are so similar — genetically and otherwise — and also wildly different, like long lost friends who missed chunks of each other’s lives. Regardless, being reminded you’re fine precisely as you are is always a welcome affirmation — as is the prospect of a European tour.

Any Dutch tutors out there? Email Daniel@PQMonthly.com. pqmonthly.com

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THEATER

‘Antony and Cleopatra’ — a classic with a twist

PQMONTHLY.COM

Photo by Kristen Padilla

Chip Sherman (right) and Orion Bradshaw in “Antony and Cleopatra”

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“I have been so moved by stories of closeted homosexuality, or closeted gender identification,” director Cassandra Schwanke says of her motivation for mounting a same-sex adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra.” “In 2013, there are still people that feel they have to put on a persona, live in a skin that really isn’t theirs.”

Running from June 15-30 at Milepost 5 in Portland through Shwanke’s HumanBeingCurious Productions, the play’s genesis came from company member Chip Sherman.

“He proposed it to me nearly a year ago,” Schwanke said. “The seed of thought that he had was to play Cleopatra in drag and explore the darker side of the drag world.”

Sherman can relate to the theme of

For more information on “Antony and Cleopatra,” running June 15-30 at Milepost5 (900 NE 81st St.), visit human-being-curious.com/.

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clandestine love the adaptation presents.

“I, myself, like some homosexuals, had the option of ‘coming out’ [when I was 18],” he says. “But remembering those times prior — cutting class to meet in the bathroom, escaping into the woods, or going on long car rides, has helped me with one of the plays main topics: closeted sexuality.”

While Schwanke, who may be familiar to Portland theatergoers for her performance earlier this year as Lady Macbeth in Post5’s “Macbeth,” enjoys performing, she looks to all aspects of theater to find expression.

“I decided years ago that I wasn’t happy as an actor because I had to say ‘yes’ to roles that I didn’t connect to; plays where the message wasn’t important to me,” Schwanke says. “It was then that I started to write and from there, to direct. When I get to be more discerning, I am a more content artist.”

In this case, she says, that contentment came from her collaboration with Sherman, and an exploration of the play’s themes. “I really wanted to see Chip tell his version of Cleopatra. I wanted to try and reach out to an audience with a Shakespeare piece that would speak about the life that they have led, or maybe still lead.”

Both Schwanke and Sherman see gender as a central theme of their production. “I couldn’t tell this story and put a woman in the role of Cleopatra,” Schwanke says, “and Chip Sherman is expressing the female gender in this role as clearly as any woman that I’ve seen audition.”

For his part, Sherman sees the play as reflecting his more revolutionary ideas on the topic. “I don’t practice or acknowledge gender stereotypes. Gender is fluid. Little things like having a penis or vagina, have no effect on who you are as a person.”

These ideas all align with what Schwanke sees as the production’s central point.

“Love is universal” she says, “but I think it is important to show stories with this plot to remind people who might forget, or have never come to that realization.”

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June-July 2013 • 47

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MINISTRIES: “at our best, we offer people belonging in a meaningful way, and purpose for how they are in the world and belong to one another.”

Continued from page 14

give it a new name and a new value.”

To provide this value, it’s critical to identify and understand what the community needs, and to consider how best to provide it.

“I’ve heard it said several years ago that there are two primary emotional needs: belonging and purpose,” Meckley muses, “and I think our spiritual needs are identical. This is the redemptive value of communities, and churches are built for this — at our best, we offer people belonging in a meaningful way, and purpose for how they are in the world and belong to one another.”

Another way that organizations can demonstrate their relevance and importance in the modern world is to explore means by which they can innovate in ways that can impact diverse communities.

“The MCC has been so much on the cutting edge of things, like inclusive language,” Nielsen says. The denomination’s innovative reading of scripture has also resulted in significant impacts upon the doctrines of other mainline churches; for example, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, a well-respected study resource utilized by many serious students of the Christian scriptures, incorporated gay-affirming scholarship and biblical

interpretations which originated from the Metropolitan Community Church’s readings.

Finally, in order to branch out in relevance and importance in the gay community and the world, organizations must stay true to their roots — and for Christian ministries, this is to be found in Jesus.

“I sincerely believe that the message, the person, and the relationship offered by the spirit of Jesus Christ makes a difference in people’s lives,” Meckley says. “It allows us not just a different life in the hereafter, but also a different life in the here and now. I think this is what most people are worried about — questions about how to live their lives in a different way amongst all the brokenness they see around us. Don’t give up on that just because some of the messages you’ve heard have been negative or have hurt you personally. That’s not the whole story, and the story isn’t done yet.”

PRIDE PERFORMERS

PQ: All of you have so many creative projects going on at once — how do you see your individual endeavors cross-pollinate into Mattachine Social?

AK: Well the band owes its origins to that!

[Bandmate] Justin [Warner] and I both met via the HUMP! Festival, where he showed a fantastic stop-motion film. He’s contributed amazing costume and prop work to our visual aesthetic and our videos. As a filmmaker myself, I’ve lensed things for us. Miss Tammy Whynot brings a deftly-skilled performance artist eye to things and as a DJ she has the beast summer soundtrack around. I think all the work we do — Justin art directing or animating, Tammy DJing, me directing [for defunkt theatre] and doing video art work just lends experience that helps add more colors to our palette.

PQ: The queer community has some amazing things to be proud of — what makes you proudest about the community?

AK: I think we are proudest of the little, unsung things, like people doing charity work that goes unpublicized — doing community outreach for at risk youth, helping out with women’s health rights, with STI awareness, with elder care. I think we are proudest when we see members of our community treat each other like a real community and take care of our own. After all we are all in this together.

PQ: Finally, will you be bringing your glitter cannon to the Waterfront this year?

AK: No! For this particular performance, we were asked to tone that down! After years of spectacular glitter and confetti explosions in the sky, we were told it’s not allowed this year, which is a real bummer. But hey, it’s rock n’ roll, so who knows what will happen?

Continued from page 33

ANDREW KLAUS, MATTACHINE SOCIAL (Portland) PQ: Since the beginning, Mattachine Social’s work has been about exploring and illuminating themes from queer history.

Where did this originate from, and how has this focus changed over the years?

Andrew Klaus: Part of it came from a strong unanimous urge to pay our dues and to help educate others in our collective queer history, even if only by name dropping in a song and planting those seeds to show kids where they come from. Part of it was just a desire to pay tribute to the people who made us want to make art in the first place. While it’s still a significant part of our aesthetic and our content, it’s not 100 percent our focus anymore — we leave room for songs about relationships and the dance floor. Over the years, it has been fun to see how organically the references pop up in the various styles of music we span.

PQ: Y’all are about to release a new EP — can you tell us a bit about that?

AK: We are in the studio at Remix Lab in Seattle currently recording our full-length album, which will be out later this summer.

We had these three songs that really worked well together as a sort of “sad songs cycle,” so we thought, “Why not release these as an EP?” They’re sort of late night trip-hop tracks influenced electrorock ballads — very downtempo and sexy. It represents a mellower, sexier, more introspective side of Mattachine Social. pqmonthly.com

The Metropolitan Community Church of Portland meets at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sundays at 2400 NE Broadway, Portland; For more information, go to MCCPortland.org.

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ARTS BRIEFS Local photographer and national treasure Holly Andres presents “The Homecoming,” a retrospective of her largescale photographic work from the last six years, at Willamette University’s Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery in Salem. Hanging through Aug. 4, the 43 works showcased in “The Homecoming” consider personal narratives and feminist subjectivity with Andres’ signature aesthetic of approachable subject matter cast in a surreal, often unsettling light. For more information, visit willamette.edu/arts/hfma/.

The United Kingdom’s esteemed newspaper The Guardian gave Portland quite a bit of love recently, naming their picks for the top 10 cultural hotspots in the Rose City in their May 24 edition. Among the honored organizations: the Laurelhurst Theater, Disjecta, Courier Coffee, Artists Repertory Theatre, and Floating World Comics. I do believe three cheers of “hip, hip, huzzah” are in order!

Miss your raver days? Check out Closer PDX — a multi-day festival set in Portland’s inner-East and West sides, offering cutting edge electronic dance music, world-class guests, diverse musical genres, and an unparalleled selection of local and regional talent and labels. Occurring June 20-23 at a wide array of venues throughout Portland, Closer brings such world-class EDM luminaries as John Tejada, Bryan Zentz, Natasha Kmeto, Masa Ueda, and more to showcase the new frontier of digital music.

For more information and tickets, go to closerpdx.com.

Get yucky at Bitch Slap! Burlesque, two nights of cabaret inspired by the one and only John Waters, June 23 and June 30 at the Star Theater in Portland. Hosted by Vera Mysteria as Divine, Bitch Slap! gathers such notorious talent as Baby LeStrange, Hai Fleish, Burk Biggler, Miss Alex Kennedy, Zora Phoenix, and even synchronized booty-shaking troupe The Assettes to honor the aesthetic legacy of the father of queer cinema. Shows start at 7 p.m.; tickets are $10. For more information, go to StarTheaterPortland.com.

The Murdock Charitable Trust has awarded Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) a grant of $119,800 over three years to build technological capacity, specifically to fund the hire of a web developer. The grant supports the enhancement of the institution’s digital presence ensuring that its web properties serve collectively as an effective recruiting tool, a tool for student engagement, and a platform for communication

about campus expansion. The announcement comes shortly after the school announced the formation of their Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies, which unites five graduate programs created through a historic gift by the late Hallie Ford.

The summer is heating up, and the Northwest branch of the Multnomah County Library is going to be even hotter on June 26 for Opened Window: A Steaming Evening of Erotic Verse.

Presented by Verse in Person, poets Sterling Clark, Joaquín López, Ross Robbins, Celina Wigle, and Dena Rash Guzmán will share their sensual musings and lyrical fantasies for your voyeuristic pleasure. The reading is free, open to all ages, and runs 6 p.m.-7:45 p.m. at 2300 NW Thurman, Portland.

Need a push to get your creative output going? Check out the How To Kickstart Your Art workshop presented by fine artist and fashion designer Jessica R. Van Hulle at Catalyst Art Space on June 27, 6:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Participants will be inspired to take action, move through stagnation, create more artwork, and try new methods of promotion such as social media and Kickstarter. Concurrent with the workshop, interestingly enough, is the reception for Through the Aestherscope, a showcase of Steampunk-inspired art and a live oil painting demonstration

by Van Hulle. For more information on Van Hulle’s free workshop, go to jessicavanhulle.com.

Hand2Mouth’s Drammy Award-winning show “My Mind Is Like an Open Meadow” returns to Portland as part of CoHo Theater’s Solo Summer Festival June 27-30. In 2001, Hand2Mouth ensemble member Erin Leddy lived with her grandmother, Sarah Braveman, for a year and recorded her memoirs.

Sarah worked as an actress in Boston, Manhattan, and upstate New York from the 1930s until the 1990s, and the tapes Erin recorded form the bones for this solo performance, a meditation on consciousness, memory, and things passed down through generations. All shows start at 7:30 p.m.; for more info and tickets, visit hand2mouththeatre.org.

Everyone raves about the warm sound of vinyl, but what about the charms of cassettes? Tiny Hearts still digs them — which is why they’re releasing their new EP “Nuthin’ Fits” in a format that sometimes demands re-spooling with a ball-point pen. The Dani Fish-fronted project will release their cassette EP at a can’t-miss show on July 12 at the Langano Lounge; supporting the fabulous Fish will be deejay Alex Boyce, mandolin

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“The Secret Portal” is amongst the works local photographer Holly Andres is presenting at her show, The Homecoming, at Salem’s Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery through Aug. 4. noise-punk outfit Havania Whaal, grumpy rockers The Mishaps, and out comedian Sisterbrittaney. What the hell else could you possibly want? Show is free and starts at 9 p.m. — but sorry, kids, it’s 21-and-over only. To find out more and hear tracks from Tiny Hearts, go to Soundcloud.com/tiny-hearts.

Out singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick comes to the Doug Fir Lounge on July 21. Since 1994’s “Massive Blur,” Ferrick has consistently thrilled critics and performers with her Liz Phairmeets-Morrissey sound and enigmatic stage persona. Tickets are $15; doors open at 8 p.m. For tickets, go to DougFirLounge. com; for more info on Ferrick, check out MelissaFerrick.com.

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THE GOOD LIFE

Cultivating Life YOU SAY SALVIA, I SAY SAGE: ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY

By LeAnn Locher PQ Monthly

W hat can withstand neglect, needs little water, produces gorgeous blooms feeding hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees, and is one of my favorite plants in the garden? Bingo. It’s salvia. And with over 900 species in the salvia genus of

the mint family, I have many to choose from. The real question is, why do I only have five?

The latest plant blooming last year, all the way into December, was my Salvia guarantica ‘Black and Blue.’ A pure drama queen, its black stems and clary blue flowers fed the hummingbirds on Thanksgiving Day. The first perennials blooming this year? Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips,’ again, providing an all-you-can-eat buffet for the

hoards of hummingbirds bellying up to its bar every evening.

When is it sage and when is it salvia?

Salvia is the Latin name, with sage being the common name for when it’s used for culinary purposes. Sage is a fragrant herb that’s easy to grow in our climate as a perennial: mine faithfully come back year in and year out, often producing throughout most of the winter. Its lightly fuzzy leaves are an indicator as to its watering needs: it doesn’t need much, meaning it’s an easy-to-carefor plant, especially during our dry months.

But it’s the ornamental salvias that shine in the garden. Four salvias are listed as a Great Plant Pick (greatplantpicks.org), always a good sign, meaning they are plants hardy and reliable for home gardeners in the maritime Northwest. One of them is Salvia verticillata ‘Purple Rain’ and is found in my garden, too. Bright plum flowers blooming in summer, it’s large and in charge, and how can I not conjure a little Prince and hum my personal high school anthem when it’s in full bloom?

There’s even a hallucinogenic salvia. I recently learned this thanks to my other half, a police officer working in the schools. When the kids learned she grows salvia in the garden, they couldn’t hold back their wide-eyed shock, telling her with mouths agape that she was growing drugs. No, we’re not growing Salvia divinorum, but evidently high schoolers know all about this salvia. It’s native to Oaxaca, Mexico, where it’s used by Mazatec shamans to induce hallucinogenic visions — and perhaps by high schoolers seeking cheap thrills.

Chia seeds? Yep, they’re salvia.

Salvia hispanica, to be exact. A darling on the natural foods circuit right now, they’re high in antioxidants, OMEGA-3 fatty acids, and fiber, even though many people know them as the seeds you sprinkle on the clay figurine to grow green hair in your kitchen window.

Salvias favor well-drained soil, not wet boggy soil. They also like full sun. Have successful salvia that you love? Dig and divide it in the spring, spreading pieces to different parts of the space or to share with fellow garden nerds. Salvia makes a great passalong plant and is easy to transplant. Just don’t tell a teenager you’re growing salvia in your garden or they might freak out in excitement. Look how cool you are.

LeAnn Locher is an OSU Extension Master Gardener and believes there’s always more room in the garden for salvia. You can reach her at llocher@gmail.com.

52 • June-July 2013

EAT, DRINK, AND, BE MARY BITES FOR RIGHTS: A TASTY FUNDRAISER

By Brock Daniels PQ Monthly

Last year over 100 restaurants, bars, and eateries statewide participated in one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for LGBTQ equality — Bites for Rights. This year, on June 20, Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) encourages everyone to feast at any of the participating venues for the 14th annual fundraiser. A large portion of the daily proceeds from each of these generous establishments will be donated back to BRO. It really is that easy! Get a group of friends, check the Bites for Rights list, go out, have fun, and enjoy.

Since the inception of Cupcake Jones in 2007, owner Lisa Watson has gone above and beyond as an ally for equal rights.

“Supporting Bites for Rights is an easy decision each year because it’s a day that helps raise awareness of equality issues all over the state of O re g o n ,” Wa t s o n explains.

S h e ’s b e i n g modest. In addition to donating a portion of Cupcake Jones’ profits on June 20, Watson established a “Benefit Month Program,” where a percentage of their entire monthly sales goes to a special local organization, with BRO serving as their annual June choice to highlight awareness for equality. Every sale and every little morsel eaten this month will directly support our cause.

Watson has a “long and very involved relationship with [BRO],” she says. “I’ve been on the auction committee, I’ve volunteered phone banking, we’ve donated probably thousands of cupcakes for BRO events, and I am currently a member of BRO’s Business Leaders Council. We’ve even incorporated the issue of equality into our guiding principles for our business, stating, ‘We treat everyone with equality.’”

A leader in her own right and role model for equality, Watson and the entire gang at Cupcake Jones set the gold standard for support.

Committed to buying local whenever

possible, local flowers, fruit, and ingredients are the cornerstone of the Cupcake Jones mission. Soft, delicate, and almost cloud-like — biting down into a perfectly-frosted and -decorated cupcake proves Cupcake Jones is top notch. June is not complete without a bite of the menu main-stay, the Lemoncello. Tender lemon cake is filled with their famous lemoncello lemon curd pastry cream and topped with lemon cream cheese icing, with more of that lemon curd on top. Not over the top sweet (but perfectly sweet as every cupcake should be), the bold summer citrus hits your tongue first, and balances flawlessly with the velvet smooth frosting.

In addition to the Lemoncello, other featured cupcakes for the month of June, all of which support BRO, are the Pearl, Downtown Cupcake Brown, Chocolate Chip Cookie, German Chocolate, PB&J, Coco Cabana, Velvet Painting, What’s Up Doc, Peanut Butter Cup, and Peter’s Chocolate Mint — all of which are an amazing treat any time of day. Cupcakes are $3.75 for the jumbo filled, and only $1.50 for the mini — a perfect addition to any weekend BBQ, a summer outdoor wedding, or any Pride event this month.

Call 503-222-4404 to reserve your dozen(s).

With your help, we can send a powerful message to business owners that supporting LGBTQ equality is not only the right thing to do, but it’s good for business, too!

By dining out all day long, YOU can help sustain BRO’s efforts in transgender justice, racial justice, and marriage equality.

June 20 is our day! Eat, eat, eat!

Cupcake Jones 307 NW 10th Ave. Portland, Oregon 97209 503-222-4404 cupcakejones.net

Basic Rights Oregon’s Bites for Rights Thursday, June 20, 2013 For more information call Joe LeBlanc at 503-222-6151, ext. 104.

Visit basicrights.org/bites-for-rights-participants/ for a complete list of participating establishments in your area.

Brock Daniels, a Pacific Northwest native, has studied wine, culinary arts, gastronomy, and loves researching new food. Brock has written a self-published cookbook titled “Our Year in the Kitchen.”

Reach him at brock@pqmonthly.com. pqmonthly.com

THE FUN STUFF

QUEER APERTURE Through his Queer Aperture project, photographer Jeffrey Horvitz has spent years documenting the LGBTQ communities of Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver, B.C. He’s well aware that a picture paints a whole mess of words, but here he offers a few actual words to better acquaint us with his dynamic subjects.

What is your name?

Allie McQueen How long have you lived in Portland?

Three years When was the first time you noticed that gayness existed?

When I was making out with boys in elementary school.

What would you consider a guilty pleasure?

White Zinfandel and Red Bull You’re having a dinner party of six; whom would you invite?

Britney Spears, Robyn, Christina Aguilera, Iggy Azalea, and Joan Rivers

What would you consider a perfect meal?

McDonald’s What would be a perfect day off?

Spent at a spa Favorite book?

“Go Ask Alice” Favorite movie?

“Mean Girls” Favorite word? “like”

Favorite swear word?

“Bitch” What is your profession?

By day I work retail at Charming Charlie.

I f yo u c o u l d c h a n g e yo u r profession with a snap of a finger, what would you like to be?

Socialite Whom would you like to meet, dead or alive?

Britney Spears

Least favorite word? “no” For more Queer Aperture visit, queeraperture.com

Photo by Jeffrey Horvitz

ASTROSCOPES WITH MISS RENEE Miss Renee aka Tarot Chick is an empath, tarot card reader, and spiritual astrologer of 20 years based out of N. Portland’s Kenton neighborhood. She loves love notes so feel free to holla or schedule a tarot/astrology chart session: that_tarot_chick@yahoo.com. never before. Hopefully you’ve entered a new sense of self and empowerment. Late June-July shifts focus to improving/reworking finances, redefining values system, planning out the timing of bold career moves, and revamping/fine tuning your public image. Pant Pant Pant!

Miss Renee aka Tarot Chick. Email her to make an apointment

CANCER The world’s your mutha truckin’ oyster! You’re stronger/more talented/resilient than you knew as this last year peeled off layers of your old self, revealing ARIES the most beautiful pearl. Jupiter (growth, good luck) “Home” — where / how you’re living, family and enters Cancer June 25 through 2014, lending you finding inner stability — are themes for you now. charisma and self-esteem/confidence. Late June You may find your energy is focused on consciously through July = balancing introversion/extroversion, deciding how you’ll shape the next few years when Mr./Ms. Popular. it comes to planning, readjusting, and rooting down.

Soul-searching time. Late June brings personal and/ LEO or significant other career ops.

Multiple planets in your 12th house (hidden/sub-

that_tarot_chick@yahoo.com

TAURUS Tribe Taurus has been going through a “decluttering” phase for months. Personal values and friendship requirements shifted considerably. Do one last big sweep to let go and wrap up loose ends. Late June-summer 2014 opens opportunities in love (hayyyy!) as well as in broadening your mind via education, mentoring, writing/speaking, growing hobbies, and artistic pursuits.

GEMINI 2012 to now has been an inner growth spurt like pqmonthly.com

conscious) says look at what you NEED: to feel healthier, have better relationships, feel loved.

For fiery Leo this early summer introspection may seem like the worst timing, but doing this work now = amazeballs summer later! Start shopping now as Venus entering Leo June 28-July 23 = star power!

VIRGO Multiple planets in your 11th house (Dreams/Goals/ Community) ask you to put your ALL into sorting and achieving your long term goals now. Social

CAPRICORN 2012 to present has asked Cappies to get FREE. Planetary aspects in your 1st house (Identity/Persona/ Body), 3rd house (Communication, Mental Processing), and 7th house (Relationships) reveal that studying how you think and erasing/rerecording old beliefs LIBRA can free you up to 1) express yourself more truly, 2) Balancing home, health, and work are themes now. clarify your persona, and 3) create loving partnerYou may find yourself looking at your career path in ships. #FreeYourMind a new light as you see how your job does/doesn’t nourish you, how small changes in day to day living AQUARIUS make your job/life easier, as well as researching new Planetary action in your 2nd house (Finances/Values) job training/health regimens. Regroup, love! and 6th house (Work/Health) asks you to consider either taking further training in your career or shiftSCORPIO ing/switching your career path to be better aligned The planets has Tribe Scorpio either thinkin’ ‘bout with your financial needs, who you are, and where hittin’ dem books this year, or pondering how to utilize you’re going. You may find yourself valuing a healththe education/wisdom/experience gained over a life- ier lifestyle/more consistent habits. #LifeBrazilliantime. Either way mental and educational stagnation Wax is OUT. Planetary action in your 5th house (Romance, Creativity, Children) may stir up old yearnings there, PISCES bringing them to your conscious mind. #nextlevel Your ruler Neptune retrogrades June 7-Nov. 14.

Retrogrades = review periods and this one hapSAGITTARIUS pens in your 1st house (Identity/Persona/Body).

Independent Saggs will find themselves exploring You’ll be reviewing Identity — how you see yourcore intimacy needs while balancing what’s yours, self/present yourself to the world. Other aspects what’s mine, and where the line is. Planetary action show surrendering to artistic/romantic/child planinspires you to get personal, real, and deep with a ning urges/interests can path the way to self-dischosen few. To get your home in order and chose to covery. Break boxes. truly be present, root, stabilize. Tell the truth about what you “need.” #BlissBombs circle shifts become crystal clear as some friendships/groups/goals fade/get cut and new friendship/group/goal requirements rise. Virgo’s consistently show up for people, your friends/groups should too. #whip!

June-July 2013 • 53

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Find your therapist through Portland’s most detailed GLBT online counseling directory

eDIRECTORY Our directory of LGBTQ-friendly businesses and organizations is constantly evolving.

Visit it often!

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54 • June-July 2013

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PSYCHIC MEDIUM

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• June 13, 2013, 5P.M.-7 P.M. :VENDETTA ( 4306 N Williams Ave, Portland, OR 97217)

Next up in July: Starky’s • July 18, 2013, 5P.M.-7 P.M. STARKY’S (2913 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97214)

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56 • June-July 2013

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