PQ Monthly August/September 2014 Edition

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PQMONTHLY.COM Vol. 3 No. 8 Aug-Sept 2014

INSIDE: Amy Ray, 10 Things You Need to Ask Before Marrying, The City Nightclub, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a Guide to Oregon’s Summer, Columns, & Much More!

PHOTO BY ERIC SELLERS

MONTHLY

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PQ TEAM THE DOG DAYS ARE DONE (SAYS FLORENCE) Melanie Davis

Owner/Publisher melanie@pqmonthly.com

Gabriela Kandziora

Director of Business Development

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chris alvarez

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editorial TEAM daniel borgen

Editor daniel@pqmonthly.com

nick mattos

Founding Staff Writer & Social Media Manager nick@pqmonthly.com

Andrew Edwards Copy Editor

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Sales Representative larry@pqmonthly.com

lynda Wilkinson Sales Representative lynda@pqmonthly.com

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National Advertising Rivendell Media 212-242-6863 sales@rivendellmedia.com

photographers Oscar Foster

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contributing writers

TJ Acena, Ben Burwitz, Belinda Carroll, Marco Davis, Gula Delgatto, Andrew Edwards, Leela Ginelle, Kim Hoffman, Shaley Howard, Konrad Juengling, Richard Jones, LeAnn Locher, Monika MHz, Miss Renee, Katey Pants, and, of course, your PQ Editorial Team

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Cover outtakes from the brilliantly talented Eric Sellers. Our cover models really wanted to swim, damn it!

OK, not quiiite, but we’re close. By every measure, this Northwest summer has been a spectacular one, and we still have quite a few sultry, sweltering, summer days left. In ancient Rome, the Dog Days were considered a frenzied, ominous time—a time when “dogs grow mad” and “all other creatures became languid, a time that caused people to experience burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies.” Now we know, of course, that there’s no angry star named Sirius plotting our demise, though we’ve certainly seen our share of hysterics — all around us — that perhaps occasionally make us wonder. And in the spirit of that wondering, a few things that have been on my mind: — Ferguson. Last week, one of our bloggers (TJ Acena) wrote, “All LGBTQ people should understand that we have a responsibility to tear down oppression wherever we see it; we should be able to abstractly identify when other groups are being systematically oppressed by society and the state, and realize that it is wrong.” That is the damn gospel truth, and it is our hope and prayer we, as a country, as a whole, begin to tackle the ugly truths that have been tainting our country since the day it was born. We do not live in a post-racial society. Racism is systematic and institutionalized, and that fact can no longer be up for debate, and it is our responsibility as voters to not allow our elected officials to shrink from action. It is my hope that we as a community remain unified and vigilant when it comes to matters of racial justice, and we support the activists in our community who are fighting the good fight every single day.

— The plight of our trans brothers and sisters. In an excellent “ID Check”(pg. 14), Leela Ginelle writes, “The July 15th murder of Mia Henderson in Baltimore marked the fifth killing of a transgender woman of color in the US in a 41 day span. Watching these stories come and go on the transgender subreddits I frequent, with no larger outcry from LGBTQ

or women’s organizations, piling up inexorably, statistics in the seemingly unacknowledged epidemic they represent — it was hard to deny the awful sense that, to the world at large, these victims’ lives don’t matter.” Where is our outcry when a trans woman of color is, for all intents and purposes, assassinated? What are we doing when trans women are wronged and violated and abused by our prison system? Those questions haunt my dreams, and I hope we see the day very soon when we rally for trans justice the way we so successfully rallied for marriage.

And that gets me to the heart of the issue — and the inspiration behind this issue. I can’t think of anything more important than telling our stories — it is, as a community, our most effective tool in affecting widespread change. Within these pages, you’ll find the stories and words that legitimize our experiences, give a voice to the voiceless, and create a sense of togetherness and community. The stories in these pages run the gamut — they are happy ones, sad ones, sassy ones, urgent ones, playful ones.

They are as diverse as we are. I hope you enjoy them all as much as I do.

One final note on diversity — we’re so proud of the people we’re recognizing with our upcoming Brilliant List. So much so, in fact, that we’ve decided to merge the celebration with our anniversaries (PQ’s and El Hispanic News’) very early next year. We think the timing couldn’t be better, and it’ll give everyone something to look forward to in the early, dreary days of 2015 (February, to be exact). Plus, our fearless publisher, Melanie Davis, will be spending much of September tending to some important family business, and I will be out of the country — and the two of us couldn’t stand the thought of missing what will be an epic Brilliant List celebration. We’ll have more details for you very soon.

Until September, Daniel Borgen

A SMATTERING OF WHAT YOU’LL FIND INSIDE:

ON THE COVER Our cover inspiration for this issue is, as yo u ’ ve p ro ba b l y gathered by now, the dog days of summer, and indulging in them while we still can. Sadly, the pool was closed for our models, Josh Beckel and Eli McIntyre (cover, right and left, PHOTO BY ERIC SELLERS respectively), but that didn’t stop them from sweltering--quite sexily--in the heat. You can find Josh and Eli at Bridge Club, among other queer spots around town. Try not to gawk. Photo and concept by Eric Sellers, styling by Eric Sellers and Daniel Borgen.

Savor the last bits of summer with our late summer tips! ................. Page 5 Amy Ray dishes to PQ’s Nick Mattos...................................................Page 6 Oh, the memories...The City Nightclub returns! ................................. Page 7 Trans oppression within the larger LGBTQ movement........................Page 8 Christina Lugo, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate......................Page 9 A visit to Ashland: the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.........................Page 11 Queer nights, fundraisers, social events, your calendar....................Page 17 Ten questions to consider before marrying.........................................Page 18 Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest...........................Page 24 Plus: Everything is Connected, The Lady Chronicles, ID Check, OK Here’s the Deal, This Ends Badly, Living Out Loud, The Sassy Gardener, art briefs, business briefs, and much more! Have a story or event you want covered? Email Daniel@PQMonthly.com.

August/September 2014 • 3

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FEATURE

DAMS, LAKES, S’MORES— A GLIMPSE AT OREGON’S STELLAR SUMMER

Left: “Adam in Buck Lake” by Andrew Edwards. Right: “Little Crater Lake,” by Adam Patterson.

By Andrew Edwards, PQ Monthly

My friends like to say that my boyfriend and I are lesbians. “Lezzies,” they call us. I think this stems from a few stereotypes they’ve decided we fit, namely that we like to hike, camp, and grill meats in our backyard. Vegetables, too, straight from our garden. (To all my lesbian pals: I apologize on behalf of my rude friends; you’re obviously a far more diverse bunch than they give you credit for.) As far as their assessment of our proclivities, though, my friends are pretty spot-on — especially when summer comes around. So, when Adam’s brother and sister-in-law visited from Virginia last month, both of them Oregon neophytes, we strapped on our Chacos, loaded up the Subaru with sunscreen and whiskey, and set bravely off to explore the uncharted wilderness, i.e. spend two nights camping, swimming, and drinking our way around Mount Hood.

DAY 1 Because we are nerds as well as lezzies — and because Adam’s brother is an electrician — our first stop is Bonneville Dam, about an hour east of Portland. One of the nation’s largest hydroelectric generators, the Dam was built during the Great Depression and is a truly impressive example of a New Deal-era public works project. Our tour includes a walk directly on top of the massive generators that provide power to 500,000 homes across the west coast. After spending the morning learning about electricity (or ogling the ex-Army Corps engineer-turned-park ranger leading the tour, depending on who you ask) and watching salmon migrate upstream from the Dam’s underwater viewing room, the only-slightly-less-rugged among us urge a visit to the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort and Spa. But it’s 90 degrees out and the group has beer on its collective brain, so we forgo the hot soak and drive 25 more miles for lunch in Hood River, the Columbia River Gorge’s craft-brew capital.

As far as I’m concerned, a pub crawl is a prerequisite to any proper camping trip — we’ve planned to hit three breweries before heading into the woods. Turns out, one is enough: Pfriem Family Brewers has everything these hungry, nerdy, lesbian lushes want and more. Only two pqmonthly.com

years old, Pfriem is crafting some of the best Oregon brews I’ve tasted, many of which lean toward the yeasty, Belgian-style end of the spectrum, which suit us fine (dear Pacific Northwest: lay off the hops already). Even Adam’s award-winning-home-brewer brother is impressed. Mustdrink: the spicy, fruity Super Saison and boozy-yet-crisp Belgian Strong Blonde. Double Mountain, take notes.

By this time, the car thermometer is showing three digits and the call of the wild has grown deafening. Lost Lake is our destination, and we can’t get into our swimsuits quick enough — a fact that has nothing whatsoever to do with the burgers and beer. 26 miles and as many pit stops later, we stake claim to campsite B-3, which the camp host informs us means “Bears: three.” With sunset not far off, we sprint-hike to the water’s edge and throw our bodies like sweaty, abandon-less ragdolls into the glassy lake. Now, anyone who has swum in an alpine lake in Oregon before the month of August knows the cardinal rule: Brace yourself. But it’s 8 p.m. on July 7 at 3,200 feet, and the water is fucking warm. And then, as if it’s possible to get closer to lezzie Nirvana, a few quick backstrokes toward the middle of the lake bring us out from under the shade of the trees and straight into a postcard. Mt. Hood looms overhead, close enough to touch, its reflection on the lake broken only by our splashing.

That night, after a meal of camp stove mac n’ cheese and kosher hot dogs, my inner butch fully off-leash, I build what could only be called a towering inferno of a campfire. We pass around the whiskey, and as it tends to do, campfire time turns to conversations about intimate lubricants — it seems coconut oil is useful in more rooms than the kitchen — and nontraditional s’more construction (do yourself a favor and bring Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and/or Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies on your next campout).

DAY 2 It’s cloudy. Not outside, but in our heads. Nothing some leftover mac and a mimosa can’t fix, though, and we’re off on the next leg of our Tour de Lake. Only 75 miles of remote forest highway stand between us and Buck Lake. Side note: If you ever find yourself on this stretch of Highway 281, also

known as one half of the Hood River Fruit Loop because of the 2 billion orchards its cuts through (or did they just know we were coming?), stop at Jim’s Market, somewhere between the bustling metropolises of Dee and Parkdale, Ore. The coffee is terrible and free, and Jim’s view of Mt. Hood is unquestionably the most spectacular vista I’ve ever witnessed from a gas station.

There are those who would condemn me for writing about Buck Lake, fearful of its being “discovered” and subsequently overrun with drunk yahoos. As we all know, a swimming hole is only as good as the rednecks who swim there; this particular one is so phenomenal, it would be tragic for it to become Sauvie Island. But, since I myself am a drunk yahoo, and because one cannot discover a lake as if it were America and one was Christopher Columbus (he did that, right?), I might as well tell you that Buck Lake is nothing short of paradise. And there is hope: We had the entire Caribbean-warm, crystal-blue lake to ourselves. Not a board short or PBR in sight. Miracles, it seems, do happen.

After reveling in our good fortune for most of the day, we hike our sunburned asses the half-mile back to the car and set off for our final camp, Little Crater Lake. The name alone is enough to set our lezzie-adventurer hearts aflutter. Just off the Pacific Crest Trail near Timothy Lake, Little Crater more than earns its comparison to its larger namesake. The water, which changes in color as the sun moves through the sky, can only be described as otherworldly.

From certain angles, the clarity with which every sunken tree can be seen could make you question whether the lake contained no more than neon blue air. Dip one toe in, though, and its 34 degree-water will shock you back to reality.

That night, as we zealously burn the last of our firewood, it doesn’t take long for the whiskey bottle to run dry, or for mosquitoes the size of raccoons to chase us into our tents. Countless stars and snores later, it’s morning. The drive home that day is a blur of Paul Simon singalongs, melted trail mix, and bug-bitten arms hanging out of Subaru windows. Our friends may call us lesbians, and it’s a label we’d proudly bear. But, I’m pretty sure we’re just from Oregon.

August/September 2014 • 5

PRIDE FEATURE

AMY RAY GOES COUNTRY

By Nick Mattos, PQ Monthly

rights issue, and everyone wants it because it’s just a no-brainer that everyone should have it. It became the entry point for a lot of people to become allies to the queer community.

As half of the Indigo Girls, Amy Ray has been at the forefront of queer visibility in pop- However, it goes so much deeper than marriage equality — when you want to be an ally ular culture since the release of the duo’s self-titled album in 1989. Since then, the clearly to the queer community, you have to start understanding things like suicide rates, racism, indefatigable Ray has released thirteen studio albums with bandmate Emily Saliers, class inequality, gender inequality, trans oppression. When the marriage equality moveworked as an activist for numerous social justice causes, formed her own record label, ment started heating up, I sometimes got frustrated because there wasn’t enough attention and even released four solo albums. However, with the release of going towards some grassroots issues. A lot of money was going her latest solo project Goodnight Tender, Ray reveals something into these big battles that could have been used to help the sitthat she’s kept secret for years: all this time, she’s been a counuations of kids who were more disenfranchised. However, then try singer at heart. Ray chatted with PQ Monthly’s Nick Mattos you saw that marriage equality was a great entry point, and that about the southern gothic inspiration behind her shift in genre, some of those people do reach deeper and become more aware. her spiritual life, and the challenges of being a gracious activist.

I think of the trans movement, for example, which is much more PQ Monthly: What was the inspiration behind Goodnight Tender? visible now; part of that visibility comes from the direct work of Amy Ray: I made a bunch of solo records before that were trans activists, and another part of it might come from the work more punk- and rock influenced. Over the years, though, I was that the marriage equality movement has done to lead people also writing country songs on the side and putting them away. to look at these issues more. The trans equality movement also I ended up meeting this player from Seattle, though, and he got informed the marriage equality movement by making them look me thinking about making this record. I started getting other deeper, and forcing them to consider more fully what it meant players together, and it all just snowballed and it became this to be part of a queer community… I think it’s a good thing when record. The songs were influenced by where I live, which is a something opens the doors for people to get engaged in an issue, rural area of North Georgia in the foothills of the Appalachian but I am a person who always wants people to look deeper, to Mountains where there’s a lot of music going on — bluegrass and understand more about the intersection of other issues as well, country. There’s also a lot of spirit on this record, looking at the and to push the envelope. influence of growing up in the church. It’s storytelling inspired PQ: We’re in a very interesting moment right now in that by folks like the Carter Family, Hank Williams, and early tradithere’s an increasingly visible mainstream gay and lesbian identional country… but it also hits a very vulnerable, personal vein tity perpetuated by what sometimes gets called the “glitter-indusfor me. I think that’s why it needed a particular time and space trial complex” of nonprofits and media; at the same time there’s for it to come out. still that so-called radical fringe occupied by transpeople, queer PQ: Your work embodies a certain southern gothic spiritupeople of color, and otherwise disenfranchised people that are ality, and this album takes it to the next level. What is your spirstill part of this unified LGBTQ movement. It’s fascinating to see itual life like these days? how it segments out and how we come together as a community.

AR: It’s the same as it’s always been — I’m very spiritual, and Amy Ray’s new album, Goodnight Tender, is available now from Daemon Records.

AR: It really is. You know, I live in an area where we’re still I was raised going to church three days a week. I really appreciated the things I learned working on the most basic issues around the queer stuff, and even feminism. Race is still from the community I was in, which was obviously very conservative. I took what I needed a huge thing where I live — it’s almost easier to be gay than to be black here. And then I form it and left the rest. I was a religion major in college and explored intellectually lots look at the work that is being done in Durham, or Atlanta, or Portland, or Seattle, and they of different facets of religion in the world. Now, my spiritual is rooted in a cultural con- are in such a radically different place. A completely different conversation is happening! struct of Christianity in the South —to borrow from Joseph Campbell, that’s my cosmos, For me, it’s great to be able to see those things, because you don’t want to leave behind and I relate to them very metaphorically. My spirituality is very nature-based, and based a community that is working on these things on the most basic level. You can’t dismiss a in humanity. The gospel part of me comes from a deep place of where I grew up and came community or a people because they’re on a different level of understanding than you are. from, and it’s my infrastructure. Everything fits into it. It’s also filtered through the lens The reality of the situation is that you can’t leave anybody behind. You can’t judge people of being queer, and an activist, and aware of all these other faiths in the world and how or communities because you feel as though you’re more progressive in your thinking than they fit together. When I write a gospel song, it’s coming from a place in me that is rooted they are. You have to take into consideration the real context of the community, the hisin the Southern gospel tradition, of having a relationship with Jesus, of having this thing tory and the legacy. Everybody has so much to teach one another. that is always with you to strengthen you and that you can always turn to, even if you can’t PQ: I get it. It’s so challenging sometimes to be a gracious activist, though! intellectually grab onto anything about it.

AR: (Laughs) It’s true. I definitely know what you mean.

PQ: It seems like, in recent years, there were suddenly a lot of straight people and performers who spoke out in support of marriage equality; it seems like some of them used Amy Ray’s new album Goodnight Tender is available now from Daemon Records. Ray their support of marriage equality as a sort of proxy for supporting gay people. plays at the Doug Fir Lounge (830 E Burnside, Portland) on 23 August; tickets are $16 and AR: That’s a good way to put it! Marriage equality is a complex issue — it’s a human available from DougFirLounge.com.

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FEATURE

THE CITY NIGHTCLUB RETURNS (ONE NIGHT ONLY!)

By Daniel Borgen, PQ Monthly

Picture it: 1994. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times — but most it, was the most formative of times. That’s how I’ll always remember The City Nightclub, an all-ages queer spot that saw its best and brightest days in the 90s. Back then, the Pearl was all abandoned buildings and peed-on dumpsters — with nary a skyscraper or stroller-pushing yuppie in sight. Across from The City, which was just off Burnside and NW 13th, there were often protesters: OCA- and churchtypes who were hell-bent on saving our souls (and feeding the homeless; they also manned a soupkitchen-food-cart, which I found oddly gracious and efficient). But week after week, we, the underage army of sexual misfits, would ignore them, and climb up the short staircase to our big queer destinies. Belinda Carroll — at the time the butchest lesbian this side of Butchville — worked the door for years, and stared right back at you, waiting to take your fistful of dollars. She was loud and her gregarious militancy coupled with her big, booming voice scared me. Oh my, this is my gay future?

If anything could define “queer” back then, it was The City. Sure, the Pink Triangle was alive and well and lots of those gentlemen patrons would kindly pour in and admire our beautiful, youthful dance moves when the bars closed (and sometimes they’d arrive early and sneak us in the bars, shhh), but The City is where lots of us grew up. It shaped our identity. In a time without the Internet, it was our destination and our community. There were no questions about where to go or what to do, it was always that place. The music, the performances, the cable access television show (avoid those cameras if your parents are Pentecostal), the place where drag queens were born (hi, Poison and Bolivia), the scandalous second floor where you (often) dared not venture, the light up dance floor, stolen kisses behind pillars and posts and thrilling, terrifyingly pleasurable gropes in the bathrooms (there’s a reason why they made a T-shirt). At The City, you found love, family, discontent, drama, drugs, sex, and anything your queer little mind could dream of. We, in our little Portland way, were James St. James, Michael Alig, Studio 54.

Don’t get it twisted, the City wasn’t glamorous — the bathrooms smelled, the floors squeaked, the second floor was supremely scary, and I always remember cracks in the floorlength mirrors. The City was dirty and dingy — but it was sexy. And the sexy made you feel

By Belinda Carroll, PQ Monthly

It’s a big day in a person’s life when you get asked to write a retrospective about a part of your life. You are flattered; you were a big part of that scene after all! You are also like, “Am I old enough to write a retrospective? You take it back, you bastard!” I immediately ran and put on wrinkle cream and then did the next thing I could think of, drank until I felt 20 again.

I’m like The City Nightclub version of Sunset Blvd. (I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. Swerdlow.)

To convey what The City was in 1993-97 (my active years), you have to picture a life as a LGBTQ youth, with no Internet. There wasn’t a way to connect to the gay community besides posters in coffee shops and rumors of a place where you could go, underage, dance, and meet other people like yourself. I found out about the City at the Blah Blah Cafe (now The Roxy), and even then I only knew kind of where The City was; so myself and some friends walked up and down 13th and Couch looking for the infamous door. I know that makes the City sound like a LGBTQ community center, and it was.

But sluttier, with a light-up dance floor and more drugs.

You always remember the day you met your true love (s) and you will always remember the first time you walk into a dance club that would lead to you prancing onstage in leather to Nine Inch Nails and “dating” as many girls as the law would allow. (It turns out there isn’t a law.) The first time I went to The City, I was in a velvet skirt and a peasant top — and I had long, flowing hair. Someone pointed out “Dyke Corner,” where all the short-haired lesbians in sports bras, tank tops chain wallets and backward baseball caps danced with themselves while looking at themselves in the full length mirrors that adorned the walls. The dykes of Dyke Corner did “bro” culture before “bro” culture was a thing. Did I just hipster bro culture?

I did. Little did I know that within two years, I would “go butch” and become King of the pqmonthly.com

glamorous. The City was goth; it was industrial; it was J-Crew- and Gap-wearing flaming.

There were fags, dykes, gender queers, trans people, drag queens, vampires (true story) — you name it, and “it” went to The City. At The City, everyone came together in that filthy little hovel, and everyone waited with bated breath to see what number Lady O had cooked up on any given night (hint: it was always genius). The midnight show — part drag, part performance art — was the stuff of legend (it is true an animal may have met an untimely demise on the stage once — and only once), and those little queer kids had never seen anything like it; we had never seen anything like it and we ate it up. The City was part of a ritual — a big gay ritual that defined Portland. The City on the weekend, La Luna for queer night on Monday, Peacock in the Park at the end of the month, glimpses of Poison Waters through Silverado’s open door. House parties and phone calls using landlines in between.

Imagine a time without RuPaul’s Drag Race, without the Internet, without fucking Facebook and definitely without selfies. Then, you scoured gay newspapers, you whispered to friends, you stalked queer-looking guys and girls in coffee shops — that’s how The City became a thing, a place borne out of necessity and kept alive by unwavering passion and dedication. For all of its faults — and there were many (there were probably too many drugs and too much underage drinking, for starters) — it proved invaluable to anyone who grew up in it. Without The City, I would have never known I had queer community. I would have stayed in my Pentecostal church and perhaps eventually found my way out, but The City did in a weekend what would have otherwise taken years. Like a housebound cat who tastes sweet freedom for the first time, I was a goner the moment I laid eyes on that place. At The City, I discovered I wasn’t alone. I had family — real family, my “island of misfit toys.” I met my first boyfriends (yes, there were many back then). There I had my first kiss. I still thought love was like I watched it in romantic comedies. There I saw my first penis — never mind it was in the bathroom (a badge of honor, to be certain). And in that same bathroom, I had sex with a man for the very first time. And several a few times after that. Because like The City, I was classy.

Whether you drove in from Clark County like I did, or from beyond Canby like my friend Ryan did — whether or not you remember dancing with the close friends you have now, as is the case of me and Rob and Brad (we all went to The City then and became friends years after but have zero recollection of seeing each other then) — whether you were a street kid or a club kid or a trans woman or man or a drag queen waiting to find your place or a gay boy or lesbian desperately longing for love — whatever your story, if you grew up in or around Portland, odds are you have a tale (or 10) to tell about The City, and the experiences there made you the person you are today. You’d saunter in, live your dreams, escape reality, then stumble out, waving kindly at the protestors across the street, the ones trying to save your soul. “I’m already saved,” you’d tell them. “Because I found my family.”

Oh, and I had sex in the bathroom.

bros, Ms. Leather 9. (We weren’t sophisticated enough to use roman numerals.)

Lady O. She just popped into my head as I was thinking about how to describe the shows at The City. This was not only the first time for a lot of kids to see a “drag show,” but the shows weren’t just a queen on stage lip synching. They were spectacles. Everyone was trying to outdo the last show; it was experimental theatre clothed in drag. Lady O was a performer who was tall, willowy, blond and as pretty as any model. Everyone was mesmerized the first time she stepped on stage. Now, we have Rupaul’s Drag Race so you see beautiful queens all the time on TV, but back then the queens were a revelation to me.

There were so many great performers; some have gone into professional show-biz like myself, and Danny Diess. Some have gone on to work behind the scenes in make-up, like Electra Shock (James Patrick). I’ve lost touch with a lot of people, been relieved to find out some were still alive, and mourned the deaths of others.

It’s a prevailing sense of family among those that came out, got loud, and partied at The City Nightclub. August 30th we get to see all of us in our balding, overweight, over-30 glory, dance the night away and hear the lie, “You haven’t changed a bit!” I can’t wait. I wonder if I can find leather pants in a size 20?

I also hope we can manage to stay out past midnight.

At the end of this month — on Saturday, August 30, an official City Nightclub reunion is going down at Rotture. Music requests are being taken at thecityreunionmusic@gmail.com. If you have any pictures you want to share and submit, send them to the cityreunionpics@gmail.com. There will be a two-part show that evening, featuring the “Legends of the City,” Diva Macabre, Poison Waters, Mauria, Zadia, Maria Peters Lake, Patti O’Dora, Cherry Jubilee, and many more. 9pm, Rotture, $12 — advance tickets on sale via Brown Paper Tickets.

August/September 2014 • 7

FEATURE FEATURE

THE HISTORICAL OPPRESSION OF TRANSGENDER PEOPLE WITHIN THE LGBTQ MOVEMENT cially splitting the LGBTQ rights movement, and jettisoning those who’d helped begin it.

The men making these decisions were able to do so, in part, because they benefitted from male cisgender privilege transwomen like Rivera lacked, and in doing so they perpetrated a bias toward the gender variant members of their community. Though LGBTQ minorities themselves, they preemptively assumed bigotry on the part of the politicians they hoped to court, and then acted upon it, hoping that excluding trans people would make their movement more palatable to the politicians they wished to court.

Rivera inferred the motives of her former comrades, saying later, “When things started getting mainstream, it was like, ‘We don’t need you anymore.’”

This abandonment proved fruitless. The gayonly ordinance failed to pass. Spurned, Rivera formed STAR — Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries — with fellow trans activist Marsha P. Johnson. STAR staged marches, and operated a shelter for gender variant youth experiencing homelessness, the latter a priority reflecting the precarious nature facing the trans community.

LGB activists, pursuing their own interests, eventually procured the passage of a sexual It’s commonly known that among the Stonewall rioters were many transwomen and drag queens. One such identity protections ordinance in NYC in 1986.

Gender expression would not become a proparticipant was nascent trans activist Sylvia Rivera. tected right in the city until 2002.

Those dates reflect the larger pattern of the advancement of gay and lesbian rights relative to those of transgenBy Leela Ginelle, PQ Monthly der people in our country during the last forty five years.

Lateral oppression occurs when one member of a That marginalization following Stonewall, the decision on marginalized community oppresses another. This dynamic the part of those in the movement with the greatest social has been practiced, with demonstrably damaging results, capital that mainstream society was ready to embrace by the LGB community toward its transgender counter- sexual minorities, but not gender ones, i.e.: people like the parts repeatedly as the campaign for rights has proceeded decision makers rather than those different than them, left the trans community decades behind its gay and lesbian since the Stonewall uprising.

It’s commonly known that among the Stonewall rioters counterpart in terms of legal rights and social acceptance.

This dynamic that followed Stonewall repeated itself were many transwomen and drag queens. One such participant was nascent trans activist Sylvia Rivera. Seven- almost identically seven years ago in Congress with the teen at the time, she’s reported to have shouted, “I don’t maneuvering that surrounded the Employment Non-Diswant to miss a minute of this. It’s the revolution,” when crimination Act. Trans-exclusionary versions of ENDA were the uprising started, and to have thrown one of the first put forth in 1994, ‘95, and ‘96, all unsuccessfully.

The Human Rights Campaign, which shepherded bottles at the police.

Following Stonewall, Rivera organized with the Gay these efforts, earned the extreme ire of the trans commuActivists Alliance in New York City, as they worked to attain nity, when its then-executive director Elizabeth Birch was protections for sexual and gender minorities. Within a year, reportedly overheard at an LGBTQ event saying a trans-inhowever, the GAA began to drop protections for drag and clusive ENDA would happen “over (her) dead body.” Trans transvestitism (as gender expression rights were referred activists began picketing HRC dinners and events to bring to then) from its agenda. In 1971, the GAA put forward a light to this lateral discrimination, and eventually, by 2007, citywide Gay Rights Ordinance excluding those rights, offi- their efforts appeared to have made an impact.

8 • August/September 2014

In 2007 Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.

For the first time, HRC announced it would not support an ENDA bill that excluded trans protections. According to Transgriot founder Monica Roberts, the organization also raised $20,000 from the Southern Comfort Conference — an annual trans event in Atlanta — to support their efforts.

On September 27, 2007, however, gay congressman Barney Frank, acting unilaterally, decided trans protections would doom the bill, and struck them. In the wake of this, the HRC equivocated, saying it would not support the bill, but would not encourage congresspeople to vote against it, either.

The sense of betrayal within the trans community at this turn was mammoth. Donna Rose, the first trans member of the HRC’s board of directors resigned almost immediately, and while a coalition of 300 LGBTQ groups quickly formed, calling itself, United ENDA, and prevailing upon the Democratic Congress to immediately pass a trans-inclusive ENDA bill, the HRC stayed apart, and kept its silence.

Frank’s trans-exclusive ENDA passed the House in early 2008, but died in the Senate without ever reaching the floor.

The parallels between this episode and that of the gay and lesbian rights ordinance forty years prior are so glaring they hardly require illustration: the presumption among gay male leaders that those around them were transphobic, the intra-community oppression, and the utter fruitlessness of yet another legislative abandonment.

These instances of lateral oppression by the cisgender members of the LGBTQ community toward their trans counterparts, are, I find, common knowledge among trans people I know. When I mention them to gay and lesbian friends, however, even ones well acquainted with LGBTQ issues and history, I don’t encounter the same familiarity.

This gulf, in my view, is harmful, as the history involved in these instances constitutes a pattern of injustice that can contribute to a sense of cynicism among trans people, resulting in occasional bitter sayings about our movement, such as “The ‘T’ comes last,” “The ‘T’ is silent” or “The GGGG community.”

I bring all this up not to stoke resentments, or point fingers, but rather to air out old wounds, so they might heal.

Such healing is occurring already, I believe, as attention is given to trans issues, like health care access and coverage, gender identity protections in schools and public spaces, and the removal of surgery requirements from process of updating the gender markers on one’s IDs and documents.

Actions like the HRC’s recent condemnation of the trans-exclusionary Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival help, as well.

Our community is big and diverse, and made up of people who likely all know what it is to be excluded. As Stonewall showed, though, we accomplish more when we turn our love toward one another, and practice the acceptance and equality we’re fighting for in the world with the people closest to us.

pqmonthly.com

FEATURE FEATURE NEWS

“GETTING EQUAL RIGHTS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CONVERSATION”: PQ TALKS WITH PACIFIC GREEN SENATE CANDIDATE CHRISTINA LUGO

By Nick Mattos, PQ Monthly

Christina Lugo wants to make history. The state’s first openly transgender Senate candidate, Lugo accepted the Pacific Green Party nomination and has hit the campaign trail running to the November election — but first, she sat down with PQ’s Nick Mattos to discuss conflict in the Middle East, the struggle for social justice, and why she feels that LGBTQ people who vote Democrat are voting against their interests.

PQ Monthly: Can you briefly summarize your platform?

Christina Lugo: The most important issues to me are peace, climate justice, healthcare reform, the abolishment of the prison-industrial complex, labor justice, and LGBTQ rights. My platform, though, is identical to the Green Party platform — I’m guided by the Ten Key Values of the party.

As a Green, I represent not just myself and what I think, but an entire community of people that we feel distinguishes us from the Democrats and Republicans.

PQ: I understand that one of the major things that made you decide to run was related to issues going on in the Middle East right now.

CL: When Jeff Merkley voted in favor of Senate Resolution 498, which stated that Israel had the right to defend itself at a time when Israel was bombing hospitals, United Nations schools, and mosques — even killing entire fam-

ilies in their homes in Gaza. As a person of conscience, I feel so strongly about the issue of the occupation of Palestine that I felt that alone was reason enough to run against Senator Merkley and offer an alternative. I have to stress, though, that the reason I feel so strongly about this issue is not because I’m anti-Semitic — I am very supportive of the Jewish people, and I attend a Torah study here in Portland. I support Israel, but I do not support what Israel has done recently in murdering 1,800 people, almost all of them civilian, and killed over 400 children. I needed to offer an alternative.

PQ: As I understand it, you’re the first openly transgender Senate candidate in Oregon history. How do you feel like being a member of this community changes the way you can talk about LGBTQ issues in this race?

CL: On one hand, it’s a real honor to be the first. In a way, though, it’s kind of sad, because it means that transpeople are still in the closet so deeply that there hasn’t been enough people self-confident enough to run for public office. This year has been absolutely amazing for LGBTQ people — here in Oregon, we turned over the ban for equal marriage, joining many other states that have done so. But there’s so far to go — and it’s going to take a federal case brought before the Supreme Court or an act of Congress to ensure that marriage equality becomes national. I think that the most important thing we can do right now is pass ENDA. As an out trans lesbian, if I am elected, I wouldn’t just vote again for ENDA — I would push the House, the Senate, and the President to support it. All people should have a right to have basic job security, and to not be discriminated against for reasons of sexual orientation, gender identity, or the other statuses that ENDA covers. It’s a federal protection that LGBTQ people nationwide absolutely need. Also, as a trans person, I feel so welcome and comfortable in Portland, but outside of the city and in many other places of the country I get nervous. Trans women have the highest rate of being murdered out of all groups in the LGBTQ community. Something like 40% of all transgender people have attempted suicide. Transgender people face the highest levels of unemployment, have the lowest rates of higher education completion, and are in general the most marginalized group in the LGBTQ spectrum. There’s been a lot of progress this year, but transgender people still don’t have

the right to access surgery under the Affordable Care Act, and we still have such a huge amount of stigma to fight.

We have so far to go.

PQ: What can we do — culturally and socially — to handle issues of inequality?

CL: Making sure that people have equal rights is fundamental, but there’s still a lot of work to do after there are equal rights. In the South, people had equal rights, but it took a long time — including acts of Congress, and activists putting rights on the line — to actually desegregate, and there’s still a long way to go in the South in terms of civil rights. As LGBTQ people, we’re just starting our struggle for civil rights. Getting equal rights is the beginning of the conversation. This is true for many groups — people of color, immigrants, women, people who are differently abled. Even after there are equal rights, there is social convention to contend with — how do we see ourselves in the community, in the media, in our religions, in our corporate structures, and in our stories? We take the rights, and then we start creating the narratives that really enable all people to have equal access. This is how we ultimately arrive at social justice.

PQ: What are your thoughts on Ballot Measure 90, concerning open primaries?

CL: As a party, the Green Party feels that Ballot Measure 90 is against the interest of minor parties. There’s no reason that people cannot vote for their favorite candidate on the day of the general election. By taking away the voices of parties in the general election, we’re diminishing those other important voices. It’s like making a law saying that there could be no alternative papers in Portland, and that we could only have the two most popular newspapers.

That’s how I see the open primary — there’s no reason to exclude all of the other legal parties that have qualified for ballot status from being in the general election.

PQ: What would you want the LGBTQ community to know about your party?

CL: I would like people to know that there is another party here in Oregon that has supported LGBTQ rights for over 25 years and has always been on the cutting edge of social justice. Every time that you vote for a Democrat — even Jeff Merkley — you’re voting for the party that spends 640 billion each year on defense, that still hasn’t given us women’s rights, that still hasn’t given us climate justice.

You’re voting for a party that values corporations more than people. You’re voting for the status quo when you vote for a Democrat, and you’re voting against your real interest. If you want a party that has been advocating for you and for the community you want to see for decades, look into the Pacific Green Party.

Mention our ad in PQ Monthly & we’ll take $20 off your initial cleaning for regular service!

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mollymaid.com August/September 2014 • 9

VOICES

NEWS

This Ends Badly Truth, And Consequences

By Michael James Schneider, PQ Monthly

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We’re walking along 10th Street near Everett. Karl and I just had the greasiest, sloppiest meal of our lives at Tilt (I’m sorry, but tater tots should not should be the size of my fist, or my increasingly struggling cardiac muscle). The first date had gone great for sure, ending in a make-out session that had startled my cat Ned away with its ferocity. We scheduled this date, our second, before the first ended. I had good reason to be optimistic about this one. Holy shit, I even saved his last name in my phone.

This place, walking past the yogawear shop, the rainwear store, the record shop that only sells cassingles, that’s where he drops the Bombshell. Not at the end of the date, and not a day or two afterwards, which would have been better. Here, while we’re wandering around the Pearl district and telling each other embarrassing stories about ourselves, this is where he ruins everything: “I don’t think we should see each other anymore after this.”

I mean, it’s just the second date, but I don’t make it past the first date usually, for a lot of reasons. Sometimes I date too young: 21 year-old gay guys travel in packs, like velociraptors. Surprisingly, a lot of guys just aren’t “feelin’ it” for the awkward, slightly geeky, young Jeff Goldblum impersonator that is me. I throw “jazz hands” in casual conversation. I’m lanky as fuck, and the proportions of my body have been described as “unlikely.” I’m not cool at all. (Recent example: I held up a picture of a Cambodian temple to friends and yelled “Turn down for Angkor Wat!”) There’s no good reason anyone should even want to date me a first time, much less a second. I’m not a catch, I’m the one thrown back into the ocean.

I pause for a second when Karl says this to me, and sirens are going off in my head.

Then they’re literally going off nearby us, as an ambulance speeds by and I almost raise my hand to flag it down like a taxi, then change my mind. Ambulances are the “woo girls” of cars, and I’m better off standing my ground. I scratch my nose, massaging a pimple thoughtfully (things that can be relied on with impressive regularity: a mother’s love, the sunrise, a massive zit on my nose the day of a date). I stammer out, “Okay. Um, can I ask why?” I instantly regret asking.

“I don’t think I’m ready to date yet,” he says, and I remember the backstory: his relationship, his recent breakup, the tentative feelers put out on OKCupid, where we met. (Small tangent: dating app suitors, please stop saying “nice to e-meet you” when we introduce ourselves — I literally feel like I’m in a time machine to the 90s.

Also, try asking some questions back.)

I’m startled into silence. I drive him home shortly afterwards.

I’m not upset, but I’m afraid he thinks I am so I try to make conversation. It falls flat. I finally get near his house and pull over. As he gets out he mutters “sorry” one more time. “It’s okay, don’t...” but my words are cut off as he shuts the car door.

I take some time the next few days to review in my head if I saw this coming. I mean, come on, we only went on one date, but I was so sure he was crazy into me. I’ve misread signals before though, and I’m so damn human. I frequently confuse “I wanna make out with you so bad” with “I wanna network the shit outta you.”

I realize that it’s not the rejection that actually stung, it was the honesty. I’m not used to it, and I’m starting to realize that I’ve actually gotten used to guys not being able to say “I’m not interested.” In fact, they do everything but. They give The Fade, where they’ll just stop texting or messaging back. They’ll give the Half-Fade, where you see each other a few times and then they become a lot less available, or they don’t flirt anymore, and they’re super-friendly.

Why the hell is it so hard to just say what we feel? Is it so bad to say “Hey, I like you a lot, but I hoped I would start having romantic feelings by now and I’m not”? Or maybe, “I’m sorry, I know we saw each other a couple times but the timing isn’t going to work out because I’ve started seeing someone else.” These aren’t that hard to say. In fact, they feel pretty okay once they’re said, and the other person is usually appreciative.

The answer is scarier than you think: We must get something out of it. This behavior, either when we give The Fade, or when we live in the uncertainty of where something is headed rather than just asking, or when we’re unsure whether or not we’re even still dating someone who seems to be unavailable? We want this. As horrible as it sounds, we choose this. It must satisfy a need in us to feel untethered, or that maybe the “not knowing” is better than being certain. We feel fulfilled when we complain to friends about someone we’re dating, or we feel noble martyrdom when we live in the uncertainty of a where a relationship is going, rather than just asking.

I’m not going to waste my time anymore, or anyone else’s. Starting now, I’m going to be upfront. No, not brutally honest, but sincerely and considerately honest. Honesty isn’t hard, it just takes practice.

Days later, I get out my phone and scroll to Karl. Usually, when I say, “No worries, good luck on your journey,” it usually means “Kindly please go fuck yourself.” Not this time. I start typing: “Hey, I just wanted to thank you for your honesty...”

Michael James Schneider is a writer, designer, and artist based in Portland, OR. His mom thinks he is the Best Writer Ever. He writes for his wildly unpopular blog, BLCKSMTHdesign.com, and just released his first fiction book, The Tropic Of Never, available as an ebook on Amazon.com.

10 • August/September 2014

pqmonthly.com

FEATURE

FEASTING ON THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL’S 2014 SEASON: A VISIT TO ASHLAND

Left: Left: Denizens of the town head “Into the Woods.” (Rachael Warren, Miles Fletcher, Javier Munoz, Robin Goodrin Nordli, Jennie Greenberry). Photo by T. Charles Erickson. Right: In “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Syliva (Vivia Font) is won by Valentine (Sofia Jean Gomez), but all is not well. Photo by T. Charles Erickson. A special thanks to our girl, Julie Cortez, for the photos.

By Leela Ginelle, PQ Monthly

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival serves up a veritable banquet of great theater each season. The OSF’s campus features three theaters, the outdoor Allen Elizabethan, and the Angus Bowmer and Thomas indoor spaces, each of which feature multiple shows in repertory, keeping theater-loving visitors busy for days and days. I’m just back from feasting on the festival’s 2014 season. Here’s a review of what I saw The Great Society (Angus Bowmer) – This marquee premiere, which picks up where last season’s Tony-winning drama “All the Way” left off, chronicles Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 to 1968 term in office. Johnson pushed social legislation through Congress to combat poverty, while committing to full involvement in the Vietnam War, a combination that proved untenable.

The play focuses not only on Johnson (an excellent Jack Willis), but on civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King (a moving Kenajuan Bentley) and Stokely Charmichael (an electrifying Wayne T. Carr), as well. The dramatization of protest demonstrations and unban uprisings make for some of the play’s most memorable moments. While playwright Robert Schenkkan’s portrayals of his protagonists lack the emotional depth of the theater’s great characters, the show is engaging and moving, and the staging and set design capture the drama of our country in a time of great upheaval. This is your chance to see it before it takes Broadway by storm.

Two Gentlemen of Verona (Allen Elizabethan) – This production is a delight! While Shakespeare’s early comic script can sometimes feel thin or superficial, the lively, all-female cast fills the large theater with its energy, humor and charm.

The story follows two friends, Proteus (an amazing Christiana Clark) and Valentine (a winning Sofia Jean Gomez) whose attitudes toward, and adventures with, love lead them through sympathy, rivalry, betrayal and beyond. Erica Sullivan’s tempestuous, highly sympathetic pqmonthly.com

Julia is another standout, playing a lady whose affections are courted and spurned by a lovesick Proteus. Rarely does a production this big feel so fun.

The Comedy of Errors (Thomas) – I wanted to love this production, which relocates Shakespeare’s earliest comedy to the Harlem Renaissance with an all African-American cast, but it didn’t happen. While the cast is gifted, and the staging is full of energy and color, this story of two sets of identical twins – two gentlemen and their servants – unwittingly inhabiting the same city and causing all sorts of misunderstandings, is too silly and sour to completely enjoy.

Tobie Windham as Antipholos is an amazing comic talent who commands a stage with ease, but half the jokes he’s given here involve beating or threatening to beat his servant Dromio (a very funny Rodney Gardiner), which grows old quickly. The show is a brisk 95 minutes and director Kent Gash gives his cast ample room for inventive physical comedy, but it’s not enough to overcome the script’s thin conceit.

Richard III (Allen Elizabethan) – This is a marvelous and, at times, grand production of one of the Bard’s bestloved plays. Dan Donahue is an amazing villain, who creates a true intimacy and connection with the audience. His performance has both great depth, and a delicious hamminess, as we watch his Richard travel from being a mischievous plotter, to a paranoid, lost butcher.

Donahue’s surrounded by a stellar cast here, including OSF favorite Robin Goodrin Nordli as Queen Elizabeth and deaf actor Howie Seago as Lord Hastings. Director James Bundy wisely avoids going too dark in his interpretation, finding the right balance between fun and sorrow. This is one not to miss!

The Tempest (Angus Bowmer) – Here’s a production that boasts a gorgeous set, a fantastic opening set piece, and some ravishing costume designs, but is ultimately too slow-moving and problematic to recommend. Alejandra Escalante’s Ariel is memorably bewitching, as she creates a wonderful blend of charm and foreignness, and Wayne T.

Carr’s Caliban is majestic, but Denis Arndt in the lead role of Prospero, is too unassuming and quiet to command the viewer’s attention.

The Tempest’s story, which features a shipwrecked Duke who befriends and then enslaves the native creatures on the island he inhabits, is colonial in the extreme. Director Tony Toccone does little critique this. Moreover, the scenes between Prospero’s daughter and her suitor featured an odd, sitcom-y tone, reminiscent of “Father Knows Best” that, perhaps unintentionally reinforce the troubling themes.

Into the Woods (Allen Elizabethan) – Sondheim’s beloved musical gets a staging here that’s nothing short of magical. The costumes, props, arrangements, and performances all sparkle with wit, vibrancy and inventiveness.

The show starts as a mash up of familiar fairy tales, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood, which all careen to their happy ends at the completion of act one. Act two examines the unexpected repercussions that follow. While the first act is ecstatically fun, the second is darker, and more poignant. OSF’s production brilliantly conveys the wisdom of the play, as it shows us how we all tell stories to ourselves continuously to make meaning of what’s come before. A true gem.

Family Album (Thomas) – This rock musical premiere has a lot on its mind: art, family, balance, compromise, race, money and more. As such, it’s perhaps not surprising that it’s a little hit and miss. The fictional band the Putney Swopes come to New York for what could be a breakthrough gig, bringing bandleader Heimvey (a fun Luqman Brown) back in touch with ex-girlfriend - the wealthy, reclusive modern artist, Cleo (a fantastic Miriam A. Laube), leading both to question the paths their lives have taken.

Act one is relatable and funny, if a little clunky at parts; act two takes an odd turn, as it engages with our fast-paced, viral culture in ways that seem a far-fetched. It has the feel of a future cult classic, with all the pluses and minuses that implies.

August/September 2014 • 11

VOICES

TRANSITIONS

IN MEMORY OF STEVEN CLAYTON GARDNER Feb. 8, 1961- July 30, 2014

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12 • August/September 2014

Steven Clayton Gardner lived his life simply, with grace and extravagantly, with style. He was a caring son, a beloved husband, and a good friend to hundreds and a fond acquaintance to thousands. He was incredibly handsome, charming, kind, and funny. His beautiful eyes sparkled when he spoke, he had a quick, discerning wit and his laugh was contagious. But perhaps the real reason why so many people will remember Steven is because when he spoke with you, he always made you feel as though you mattered. He finished his 53 years as he lived them…surrounded by love with family and friends, at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, OR on July 30, 2014 at 11: 31 pm.

Steven was born on Feb. 8, 1961, in Pocatello, Idaho and was the fourth of five children born to Jeanette and Richard Gardner. The family relocated to Newberg, Oregon in 1965, where Steven attended high school. He was drawn immediately to the drama department, where his swansong was acting in the play, “The Man of La Mancha.”

When asked what high school he graduated from, he would grandly announce (in a perfect rendition of a Miss America contestant) “I graduated from Neeeewberg High, in Neeeewberg Oregon!”

After graduation, Steven moved to Portland, where he soon met his future husband, Wayne Harshaw, at the historic Virginia Cafe in 1983. Steven and Wayne formed an amazing partnership of timeless love, and spent the last 3 decades working, playing and entertaining. After a long engagement of 31 years, the couple was finally allowed to legally get marry in Palm Springs, CA on Nov. 4, 2013.

Steven wisely chose a career that would combine his love of people with his desire to travel, and became a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines. Steven touched many lives as he traveled over a million miles for Alaska, where he worked for 30 years.

Steven loved to spend his time off at their beautiful Spanish-style home in NE Portland. Steven’s passion was his exuberant garden, which was fondly known as “Harshaw’s Hula Hut and The Gardenia Lounge.” The couple had many parties in Portland that have gone down in history as some of the city’s best.

Their pinnacle of entertaining happens every June at the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade. This year marked their party’s 26th year. They are the most popular

gay hosts at the Grand Floral Parade, and an invitation to their party is the hottest ticket in town. Friends volunteer to go early and to camp out overnight on the corner of SW 10th & Stark to secure their space and front row parade viewing.

Steven would shine when the Rose Festival Queen and Princess’s float came by and would ask everyone at the party to stand up and do the “Queen’s wave.” He would run to the floats and toss several long stemmed roses their way, which almost everyone caught. The surprised recipients would then give Steven a great smile and throw a kiss or shout out “thank you!” He also presented the long stemmed roses to rodeo queens as well as the dignitaries and city officials as they rode by in convertibles.

Eight years ago, Steven was diagnosed with colon cancer but after treatment, thought he had beat it forever. However, the cancer returned, in a different form, and claimed his life quickly…within eight weeks.

Fortunately, Steven was able to attend his beloved Grand Floral Parade one last time.

The float appeared and Steven, who was too ill to go over to the float and toss roses, remained chair-bound. His fellow employees however, had a plan to acknowledge the co-worker whom they loved and admired.

As the float turned the corner, the 25 members of Alaska Airline’s Drill Team broke formation and ran over to Steven to present him with sunflowers, hugs and kisses. As The Royal Rosettes reported, “emotion ran high… and there was not a dry eye in sight.”

Steven is survived by his husband, Wayne Harshaw of Portland, and their beloved cat (child) Elton. His mother, Jeanette Gardner, preceded Steven in death in 2012. His father, Richard, and his brother’s Terry, Gary, and Dan, his sister Vickie and many nieces, nephews and cousins survive him.

As we remember Steven, perhaps we may reflect on his grace and his gratitude for even the smallest things… a kind word or a beautiful bloom on a rose. He was a humble person, and his life may serve to remind us why being humble is a virtue.

Yet, when it came to design, he took everything he touched to its absolute maximum, and yes, he had fun! Especially in nature, he saw potential beauty that no one else could fathom. He loved, he lived and he laughed every single day. And through his example of living his life, through what he created in his gardens, through friendships and his lifelong commitment to his husband whom he so dearly loved, Steven managed to inspire us all. Perhaps he is telling us now- to take a deep breath, to feel at peace and to remember… that he was happy to have known us, and we made his world a more beautiful place. Because lest we forget: “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!”

Please join us for A Celebration of Steven Gardner’s Life: Sunday, September 7, 2014 1:00-4:00 pm, Steven & Wayne’s home, 5715 NE Mallory, Portland OR 97211.

Memorial donations to the Oregon Humane Society, “In memory of Steven Gardner.” pqmonthly.com

VOICES

FEATURE FEATURES

LIVING OUT LOUD Sultry, Slutty, Salacious Days of Summer

By Kathryn Martini, PQ Monthly

If in the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to love, the sultry, salacious, dog days of summer often bring a stagnation of inactivity as we saunter through August, slowly awaiting the cooler air and rain falling from the sky. Sirius, the brightest star and part of the constellation Canis Major (large dog,) rises before the sun sets and looks over our hot summer nights with a rage so fierce that the ancient Greeks would sacrifice a red dog in an attempt to end the star’s reign.

The thick hot air of August lends itself to cold cocktails, patios, concerts in the park and floats on the river, and many people are on holiday or away from their day-today lives. These are occasions and opportunities for romance and relaxed fun. There is little more exciting than hot, sweaty sexy times and long days that spill into cooler evenings under a clear sky.

When I was sixteen years old, I attempted to lose my virginity on a blanket in the grass next to a water reservoir. It was a hot summer night like the many we’ve recently had here in Oregon. The boy, who was four years my senior, was blond and beautiful and because of our age difference, excitedly mature to the young, naïve girl I once was. That first sexual foray was a stirring introduction, and one I’ve built on ever since. As far back as I can remember, I’ve been a highly sexual person and unfortunately, until I reached my 40’s, it carried with it a deep sense of shame — feeling like many women do — as dirty or bad, occasionally cost me friendships, relationships, and damaged my “reputation” as a person — all because of a high sexual drive and desire for sex in a variety of forms — something, that despite puritanical societal notions, is not abnormal.

Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy, authors of The Ethical Slut assert that “sex is fun, and pleasure is good for you.” They advocate for women to freely express their sexuality in a healthy, respectful, and consensual way, dispelling the negative connotations of sluts as promiscuous, amoral, sinful, compulsive, or pathological. It wasn’t until Krafft-Ebing coined terms to describe supposed sexual pathologies in his 1886 work Psychopathia Sexualis that anyone knew they were doing anything “wrong.” Prior to Krafft-Ebing, as well as influence from Freud, people just did what they did, although it varied culturally. Homosexuality wasn’t completely removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until 1986, and unfortunately, there are still a slew of sexual dysfunctions and paraphilia listed that are often acts engaged between two or more consenting adults and don’t

pose a problem for anyone. If a behavior isn’t hurting oneself or others, why do we need to categorize it as negative just because it’s sexual in nature?

Our LGBTQIAAP alphabet soup acronym has room for many orientations, including asexuality, which is an absence of sexual desire. So why isn’t there a sexual orientation for the opposite of asexuality? The closest term I’ve found is hyper-sexuality (satyriasis for men, and nymphomania for women), which carries a clear, negative implication.

Although hyper sexuality isn’t included in the DSM, it is under consideration for inclusion and is linked to obsessive-compulsive and borderline personality disorders. The consensus seems to be largely ambiguous, but many professionals feel that if sexual desire interferes with daily activities, relationships, work or school, it’s no longer just a heavy desire, and is instead a problem and pathology. The question remains, however — how much sexual desire and activity is too much?

Who gets to decide that amount and what behavior is “acceptable?”

Easton and Hardy empower women to find their inner slut and give them permission to engage in open sexual lifestyles that are satisfying for them and their partners.

They encourage women, like myself, with heavy sexual appetites to share themselves: “Sluts share their sexuality the way philanthropists share their money: because they have a lot of it to share, because it makes them happy to share it, because sharing makes the world a better place.” Although the authors are clearly progressive, the term “slut” remains pejorative. I sincerely hope that our greater community can find a place for those of us who embrace our sexuality and behavior as a positive identity (like we have for asexuality.)

Women who are non-monogamous ethical sluts aren’t in a protected class and are not considered part of our queer community — and I question why this is. I believe that in order for feminism to thrive into the next wave, for further embracing equality and for cultural diversity, we must have a paradigm shift that allows and inspires women to control, drive, and explore in whatever ways they desire. It is also a chance for women to look at one another not as competition, but rather as complimentary — and build one another up, rather than tear each other down. After all, abundance is available — sexually and otherwise and it’s up to each of us to find our own divine slutty selves. The sultriness of hot August summer nights is the perfect time.

Kathryn Martini is a narrative strategist, teacher and storyteller who recently completed her first publication Four Seasons Circle a Square Calendar. She can be reached through kathrynmartini.com.

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August/September 2014 • 13

FEATURE

VOICES

ID CHECK 5 Murders in 41 Days

By Leela Ginelle, PQ Monthly

LIFE IS GOOD. ENJOY THE RIDE!

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The July 15th murder of Mia Henderson in Baltimore marked the fifth killing of a transgender woman of color in the US in a 41 day span. Watching these stories come and go on the transgender subreddits I frequent, with no larger outcry from LGBTQ or women’s organizations, piling up inexorably, statistics in the seemingly unacknowledged epidemic they represent — it was hard to deny the awful sense that, to the world at large, these victims’ lives don’t matter.

The murders of five white investment bankers, five Ivy League students, or five airline pilots, for instance, would presumably trigger alarm and action. What could account for this pattern, people would ask.

What could the killers have been thinking?

How can we prevent more loss?

Those murders would seem like an aberration, a deviation from the safety people with privilege expect to enjoy. In the absence of any such communal expression of concern around these actual murders, one can only assume people do not see the safety of trans women of color as a priority, or its loss as a violation in need of redressing.

This persistent indifference to the lives of the LGBTQ community’s most vulnerable members, while they die on a monthly, and, at times, weekly basis, at the hands of men who hate them for existing as themselves, provokes rage in me that I normally hide away, not knowing what do with it.

I’m not a trans woman of color, don’t live in the city where these crimes happen, and have not faced violent assault myself.

In these ways, the murders are not my story, and I’m fearful of appearing to appropriate it, or attempting to speak authoritatively about it without possessing the knowledge I should were I to do so.

I can’t see how any of us, however, can encounter these stories and not feel a kinship with these deceased women, persecuted in the most absolute way, by killers who thought their LGBTQ status marked them as unfit for life, and thus suitable for execution.

We campaign for our rights, in part, in order to secure for ourselves the safety and equality enjoyed by non-sexual and gender minorities. Reading these stories about trans women of color robbed not just of legal protections, but of their very lives, I want to scream at those who choose what aims our movement pursues, “What more pressing issue do we face?! Whose safety and equality are more in jeopardy?! What right is more basic and human than life?!”

When my grief passes, my focus returns to my life and all its pursuits and goals, but my thoughts and emotions find their way back — quite often of late — to the trans women of color, living in the cities where the murders occurred, and the words of Lourdes Ashley Hunter, the co-founder of the Trans Women of Color Collective, who said, “There is a target on the heads of black trans women. Our future is being threatened.”

Reading story after story about women like Yaz’min Shancez, 31, of Florida, who was murdered, set on fire and thrown into a garbage bin, Zoreida Reyes, 28, an immigrant rights activist in California, whose body was found abandoned behind a Dairy Queen in Anaheim, CA, or Tiffany Edwards, 28, who police discovered shot to death in the middle of a street in Cincinnati, all three killed in late June of this year, one would be hard pressed to contend with Hunter’s assertions.

With so many murders, and so few voices calling out for the killings to stop, so few voices possessing the social capital these slain women lacked allying themselves with the trans woman of color community, one can’t help drawing the sickening conclusion that the men committing these murders see their victims as unwanted by society as a whole.

The local news coverage of the crimes, in which the women are often misgendered by reporters and family members alike, many times constitutes the only attention the media pays them, confirming this feeling.

The late-80s AIDS activist organization ACT UP coined the slogan “Silence = Death” in response to the inaction surrounding the AIDS epidemic engulfing the queer community at the time. Watching the bodies of trans women of color ceaselessly pile up before us today, I can’t help thinking the equation holds true in this case, as well.

Lourdes Ashley Hunter, speaking after Mia Henderson’s murder, expressed the same sentiment, calling for noise to counter this endless, numbing violence. “It is time all social justice movements rallied around the lives of black trans women,” Hunter said. “That is the work. The time is now.

Our lives matter!”

It should go without saying that trans women of color’s lives matter. I hope we’ll use our voices to make it a world where it does.

Leela Ginelle is a playwright and journalist living in Portland, OR. You can write her at leela@pqmonthly.com. pqmonthly.com

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also eloquently argued the summary judgment motion in the case.

Their work to secure the freedom to marry goes further back than the final months that led to victory. Isaak and Davidson are also part of the Basic Rights Oregon Legal Committee, which is a group of attorneys that has been providing legal and strategic advice, conducting research, and assisting with efforts to support LGBT community members experiencing discrimination for over 15 years (a full list of BRO legal committee members is at the bottom of the article).

The two attorneys drafted and vetted the ballot measure text for the proposed freedom to marry Cliff Davidson, left, and Misha Isaak, right, honored as two of the “Best LGBT Lawyers under 40 in the United States.” amendment. They researched and documented the strength of the ballot measure to withBy Daniel Borgen, PQ Monthly stand legal challenge. They advised the campaign on early election-law issues.

We’re still sort of basking in the glow of our big marriage Davidson and Isaak did all this in addition to their fullequality win, aren’t we? And we’re doing so while refocusing time careers. Davidson is an attorney with Sussman Shank our energy and attention to new battles, and our leaders at LLP, where he works as a commercial litigator with jury trial BRO and CAP (and many others) are leading the charge for and appellate experience. His work encompasses a broad trans justice, racial justice, economic equality, immigration range of matters from complex commercial litigation to reform, HIV/AIDS causes — the list goes on.

First Amendment and employment litigation. Currently, In June, we honored Lake Perriguey for his work in win- he is co-counsel for a student in Riverside, Calif., who was ning freedom to marry in Oregon — and we’re thrilled to suspended and expelled from California Baptist University honor two more of our heroes. Hearty congratulations (and after school officials discovered she is transgender. A trial thanks!) are due to local super-attorneys Misha Isaak and is set to begin this month.

Cliff Davidson, both of whom will receive the highest award Isaak, an attorney with Perkins Coie LLP, has worked on bestowed by the National LGBT Bar Association: the “Best a variety of complex business disputes, including corporate LGBT Lawyers under 40 in the United States.” governance, employment, and business tort litigation, in This is a well-deserved honor for two movement leaders federal and state courts. He joined Perkins Coie after clerkwho have been quietly laying the groundwork and leading ing for judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Cirthe legal effort that won the freedom to marry—all without cuit and U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. claiming credit or seeking glory.

Congratulations to Misha and Cliff — and thank you Misha Isaak was brought in to the marriage fight by Basic for your hard work and leadership for the community! The Rights Oregon and ACLU of Oregon. He quickly became entire state — and country — is thankful for your service. one of the lead attorneys and the judge’s go-to in RumBasic Rights Oregon Legal Committee members: Jann mell v. Kitzhaber — the case that on May 19, 2014, finally Carson, Aubrey Harrison, Vanessa Usui, Emilie Edling, secured the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Ed Reeves, Misha Isaak, Patricia Walsh, Miranda SumOregon. Misha drafted all the pleadings filed in that case, mers, Cliff Davidson, Mark Johnson, Tiffany Harris, Maura including the summary judgment brief and opposition to Roche, Jeana Frazzini, William Patton, Beth Wolfsong, Emily the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) motion. He McLain, Becky Strauss.

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22 Twerk’s 2-year anniversary. This party gets a special shout out in honor of its second birthday. Hip hop, R&B, move your ass. Riff Raff from Seattle is heading down to join in the fun, joining II Trill and ILL Camino. 10pm, Local Lounge, 3526 NE MLK. $5 SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 The 43rd annual Gay Portland Pageant: The Imperial Sovereign Rose Court (I.S.R.C.) invites you to their annual festivities. This year’s theme is Cities around the World, and attendees are encouraged to dress up and be part of the theme. Voting for the winner will happen the night of the show. (There’s also a dinner at Starky’s the night before — it begins at 7pm.) The show itself begins at 5pm on Saturday.

Embers, 110 NW Broadway, $15 cover benefits local gay-straight alliances. This event is all over FB. SUNDAY, AUGUST 24 “At Basic Rights Oregon, Love Means Equality for All! We are travelling across the state talking to Oregonians about trans-inclusive health care, racial justice and celebrating the freedom to marry. Together, we will continue building a politically-powerful movement for LGBT Oregonians.”

Join BRO for the Portland Garden Party for an evening of light bites, refreshing beverages, and entertainment – all to benefit Basic Rights Oregon. Basic Rights Oregon’s Executive Director, Jeana Frazzini, will also provide the most up to date information about our work, and how folks can get more involved as we move forward with our work for full lived equality for all LGBT Oregonians statewide. $25, more info here: http://bit.ly/1pU2qvj.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27 “Come one, come all to the Sea of Dreams: an imaginative drag and talent show underwater adventure!” Join Pagan Holladay and friends as they saddle their seahorses for a quixotic life aquatic.

The seaweed is always (or at least often) greener at Scandals, so get your “fins a-flappin and flipper your tail on down” for a night of tropical treasures and wet and wild and whimsy, Show starts promptly at 9:30 and is free to attend, so don’t miss out... or you’ll have to walk the plank. 9:30pm, Scandals, 1125 SW Stark.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29 Turnt Up! Quite simply, you should just expect a very strong dousing of queer-freak-shenanigans from this one. Promoters are very excited to have Seattle’s GLITTERBANG (live electro-pop-dance) as well as a performance by Lawrence of House of Aquarius and resident DJ Sappho. Basically, the Queer basement dance party of your dreams. Get sweaty with a stranger. Dillon Martin knows just how to cook up a night of dreams. Go spy your new crush! 9:30pm, East End, 203 SE Grand, $6.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 Testify II — a musical storytelling revival! Come fill your heart-bellies with us one last time this summer as we wrap up the second year of this interactive storytelling experiment. Featuring testimonials, sermons, and soapbox confessions by: MARGARINE POWERS, STACY STL LISA, STELLA MARIS, AMANDA RUSSELL, DONAL

MOSHER, and KAT ENDGAME! All money raised goes directly to AIDS WALK Portland. Hosted by WILLIAM FREDERICK STEUERNAGEL V, music by APRIL BROWN, DONAL MOSHER, and MIKE PALMEIRI. (Yes, I used capital letters where appropriate.) THE FAMILY THAT PREYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER! See? Get on your knees and play. 7pm, Old Town Floyd’s, 118 NW Couch. $6.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 Poison Waters and Friends Back to (old) School Happy Hour! Poison Waters & Friends are back in Al’s Den for one of their notorious Happy Hour shows. They’ll be celebrating Back to (old) School. Bring your friends and get ready for a fast and friendly, fun and funny happy hour experience. PW & Friends are ready to entertain you — and no cover, as usual. 6pm (sharp), Al’s Den, 303 SW Twelfth.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 AIDS Walk Portland. Visit http://aidswalkportland.org/ to register, join a team, or to donate! All monies go to support Cascade AIDS Project and the very important work they do.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 Beers, Steers, and Queers: This party was so amazing last year that Helvetia Aly and Belinda Carroll decided to do it again. Join them for a party on their farm! You’ll enjoy a show that takes place in their barn (no euphemism). They’ve had a stage built and it will be a multifaceted show with stand-up comedy, live music, and a deejay. They will be BBQ-ing as well, so your donation covers your food, and the show. (Beer and wine available for those over 21.) You can also camp on the farm, so you don’t have to drive home after drinking (good idea). Partial proceeds go to Pride Northwest so we can have a rocking LGBTQ Pride next year — so do this. Search for “Beers, Steers, and Queers” on Facebook.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 Not Enough! Fest 2014: Are you up to the challenge of creating something BRAND NEW? Art and music NEVER BEFORE SEEN? Not Enough Fest is happening again this September and they’re amped to get y’all involved. Not Enough Fest is a showcase of all the amazing energy we as queers can bring to creative projects. Since there are not enough of us in mainstream art and music scenes — let’s make our own! The goal of this event is to create space for queer people to express themselves and to create community by bringing together artists, musicians and film makers to offer up their magic in front of a supportive audience. Submissions due 9/1.

Like “Not Enough Fest PDX” on Facebook for submission information. 6pm, Slabtown, 1033 NW Sixteenth.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 The days are longer, brighter, and (much) warmer, and it’s an excellent time to get your active socializing on.

Seriously, Gay Skate is a joy. Meet queers and mingle with them outside the bar setting — maybe your dream lover will ask you to hold hands during couples’ skate.

And there are themes now! Themes! (Check online for the latest.) Come dressed to impress and wine beautiful prizes, and look for our publisher, who’s always handing out copies of PQ. And, you know, you’ll probably get a date. Food drive for Take Action Inc. 7pm, Oaks Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way. $6.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23: Blow Pony, Shorty Shorts and B-plug Klub present the Portland premiere screening of “Ladies and Gentlemen, Phatima Rude!” For the last 20 years, Phatima Rude has pioneered the performing alternative queer punk drag scene that has now become internationally famous. This is a small but powerful piece about their life. This special Portland showing is the 38 minute “Director’s Cut” version shown only once before in public. They’ll be screening the film and a few other short pieces at Crush Bar starting at 6pm. (After party and performance with Phatima Rude to be held at Blow Pony at Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave.) Phatima will be present for Q&A after the screening at Crush. All donations made at the door will go directly to Phatima. 6pm, Crush, 1400 SE Morrison. Donations.

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FEATURES Want more? We’ll give you everything. Head over to pqmonthly.com and check out our online calendar of events, submit your own events, and peruse photos from your reporters-about-town. Also, remember to carefully examine our weekly weekend forecast — with the latest and greatest events — each Wednesday (sometimes Thursday), online only.

--DANIEL BORGEN

DANCE IT OUT FIRST SUNDAYS Bridge Club. A slew of stellar deejays play music on the city’s most treasured patio. Old Boys Club regularly welcomes special guests. Snack, mingle, get down. Bridge club is delighted about its permanent new home—Vendetta! 3pm, Vendetta, 4306 N Williams. Free EVERY SUNDAY. Superstar Divas. Bolivia Carmichaels, Honey Bea Hart, Topaz Crawford, Isaiah Tillman, and guest stars perform your favorite pop, Broadway, and country hits. Dance floor opens after the show. The Drag Queen Hunger Games are over, and the shows must go on! Check out the newest and freshest Diva hits. 8pm, CC Slaughters, 219 NW Davis. Free!

FIRST THURSDAYS Hip Hop Heaven. Bolivia Carmichaels hosts this hip-hopheavy soiree night every Thursday night at CCs. Midnight guest performers and shows. 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.

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 TUESDAYS Bi Bar—every second Tuesday at Crush, and it’s an open, bi-affirming space for music and mingling. Correction: Bi/Pan/Fluid/Queer. 8pm, Crush, 1400 SE Morrison.

SECOND FRIDAYS Slo Jams is a Queer Modern R&B & Neo Soul Dance Night at Local Lounge. DJ II TRILL (TWERK) and DJ MEXXX-TAPE lay down everything from Mary J // Jagged Edge// Keyshia to Badu//Lauryn Etc. 10pm, Local Lounge, 3536 NE MLK. $5.

SECOND SATURDAYS Hot Flash: Inferno. (Second and Fourth Saturdays) In the heart of Portland is where the women are—dancing the night away and burning up dance floors the second and fourth Saturdays of every month at Trio. Welcoming all women, queers, and their allies. 6pm-10pm, Trio, 909 E. Burnside.

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

SECOND SUNDAYS Beat It at Black Book: A beautiful new queer night all for you at one of the city’s most exciting new(ish) venues.

A monthly event celebrating everything from beards and

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30: If you grew up in or around Portland in the 90s, you remember (mostly) The City Nightclub. If you didn’t or haven’t, you should. At the end of this month — last Saturday, an official City Nightclub reunion is going down at Rotture. And music requests (what’d we listen to then?) are being taken at thecityreunionmusic@gmail.com. If you have any pictures you want to share and submit (humiliate yourself and everyone you can), send them to the cityreunionpics@gmail.com. There will be a two-part show that evening, featuring the “Legends of the City,” Diva Macabre, Poison Waters, Mauria, Zadia, Maria Peters Lake, Patti O’Dora, Cherry Jubilee, and many more. Deejays and owners and patrons and party promoters of yesteryear are coming together for one big queer night of nostalgia.

9pm, Rotture, $12 — advance tickets on sale via Brown Paper Tickets.

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tattoos to butch queens. Mark your calendars: second Sundays. Hosted by JC Powers, killer deejays. 7pm, Black Book, 20 NW Third.

THIRD WEDNESDAYS Comedy at Crush: Belinda Carroll and a slew of locals rustle up some funny. Special guests, and Crush’s signature cocktail and food menus. Donations, sliding scale.

(Comics have to eat and drink, too, so give!) 9pm, Crush, 1400 SE Morrison.

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 no idea what to do with us when we pour in. Hint: it’s always the Thursday we go to press. What serendipitous fortune! 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 Burlescape! Burlesque & boylesque wrapped in a taste of tease! Zora Phoenix, Isaiah Esquire, Tod Alan. (And there’s more than that, kids.) Zora is a treat and a treasure—and so are her shows. Try one out! 9pm, Crush, 1400 SE Morrison. $10.

Gaycation: DJ Charming always welcomes special guests. Be early so you can actually get a drink. Sweaty deliciousness, hottest babes. THE party. Yes, boys, even you can hit on Mr. Charming. We know you want to. 9pm, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison. $5.

FOURTH FRIDAYS Twerk. DJs ILL Camino and II Trill. Keywords: bring your twerk. The city’s longest-running queer hip hop/ R&B party--where artists, deejays, performers come to mix, mingle, and move on the dance floor. Established fun, all night long. 9pm, Local Lounge, 3536 NE MLK. $5.

FOURTH SATURDAYS Blow Pony. Two giant floors. Wide variety of music, plenty of room for dancing. Rowdy, crowdy, sweaty betty, the one tried and true, even after all these years. 9pm, Rotture/Branx, 315 SE 3. $5.

LAST THURSDAYS Laid Out, Bridgetown’s newest gay dance party. Seriously, the posters read: “gay dance party.” And oh, how it’s a gay dance party. Thursdays are a real thing again. Deejays Gossip Cat and Pocket Rock-It, with photos by Eric Sellers. 9pm, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison. $3 after 10pm.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12: Please, queen, I know you’re all Bianca-this and Adore-that. Perhaps not Cour tney-any thing.

Regardless! How could you forget last season’s beloved #2? Oh, you haven’t! Good. Samuel Thomas and Lulu Luscious proudly present the return of Alaska Thunderfuck! (We can print “Thunderfuck” in the newspaper.) As of press time, party promoters were still ironing out the guest list — guest performers, that is, but Ms. Luscious is definitely in to be mistress of ceremonies — and we want this on your gay agenda. There are GA and VIP tickets — and VIP, as per usual, gets you all sorts of goodies, like a drink ticket, access to a VIP lounge, no-wait bars and bathrooms, and probably some time with Alaska. Get on it, folks! 9pm, Branx, 320 SE Second. $11 GA, $20 VIP. Tickets at holdmyticket.com.

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August/September 2014 • 17

FEATURES FEATURE

TEN QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER BEFORE MARRYING

By John Christianson and Mark Johnson Roberts, Special for PQ Monthly

In May, the federal courts ruled Oregon’s marriage laws invalid under the United States Constitution and ordered that the state begin marrying same-sex couples just like opposite-sex couples. The court decision was great news for Oregon’s LGBT couples, but those couples are now confronted with many legal questions about whether, when, and how to marry. Making a commitment like this requires careful planning, because marriage creates a long-term, complex legal relationship. Here are ten things to think about before saying, “I do.”

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN OUR RELATIONSHIP ENDS? One of life’s truisms is that everything is temporary.

Even our relationships will end with death if not before.

Knowing that either death or divorce will end our relationship, what steps can we take to see that our wishes are carried out in times of crisis? A lawyer can help a couple contemplating marriage to develop answers to this and other questions.

WHAT KIND OF A PROBLEM SOLVER IS MY PARTNER? This is not really a legal question, but it is so important to your legal affairs that it must be considered. Life seems incredibly happy when we are in love, but real life presents us with a never-ending series of challenges and problems to overcome. How does your partner react to life’s everyday troubles? A person who responds with anger or frustration at minor inconveniences may not be the partner you want to have when a child gets suspended from school. If your marriage were to end in divorce, would your partner still want the best outcome for you?

DO I NEED A PREMARITAL AGREEMENT? Two of the key characteristics of state-sanctioned marriage are that the state prescribes a standard estate plan and a procedure for getting divorced. LGBT couples, who may have been together for many years before getting married, need to investigate and understand whether the state’s prescribed processes are consistent with the couples’ existing domestic partnership arrangements. Premarital agreements help define who gets what, and can also serve as a tool for creating clarity in a couple’s financial dealings before they get married. Same-sex couples considering marriage should consult with a lawyer to see whether a premarital agreement is appropriate to their circumstances.

WHAT ARE WE DOING WITH PROPERTY EACH OF US OWNS SEPARATELY? In some circumstances, property owned by a partner before the marriage can be awarded back to that partner upon divorce, without a corresponding award to the other party. Couples contemplating marriage should consider carefully what their agreement is about such property and make sure that documents of title are exchanged if needed to carry out the parties’ agreement.

HOW WILL MY PUBLIC BENEFITS BE AFFECTED BY OUR MARRIAGE? “Means-tested” public benefit programs, such as Medicaid and Social Security Sup-

plemental Security Income (SSI), generally will look to both spouses’ resources to determine eligibility. What this means is that marriage may place some public benefits in jeopardy. Careful planning before walking down the aisle is crucial to prevent disqualification or a disruption in benefits.

WILL WE HAVE CHILDREN? HOW? Having children or not is a key decision most couples must make. It’s best to talk it out thoroughly before tying the knot. LGBT couples generally must use some kind of assisted reproduction to produce children. Adoptive options can be scarce. In vitro fertilization and surrogacy are viable options, although both are expensive and filled with legal uncertainty. Donor insemination is cheaper but carries its own set of legal difficulties. A consultation with a lawyer skilled in the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART) can be helpful in understanding options. Under no circumstances should you perform your own insemination without talking to a lawyer first.

WILL ONE OF US PROVIDE MOST OR ALL OF THE OTHER PARTNER’S SUPPORT? Many, many couples rely on one partner primarily to keep the home and raise the children. These arrangements affect support obligations and child custody questions in ways that you may not fully understand without talking to a lawyer first. When you get divorced is not the time to realize that you’re going to be paying alimony for the rest of your life.

HOW WILL WE HANDLE DEBT? A certain amount of debt load (primarily houses, cars and student loans) is common and acceptable in most families, but the buildup of unsecured credit card debt can place a financial and emotional strain on the strongest of relationships. Be sure you understand your partner’s spending and savings patterns and ensure that they are compatible with your own. Also, understand that, by marrying, you become liable for your partner’s basic support needs.

WHAT IF I GET AN INHERITANCE? Unlike some states, Oregon has a specific process by which an inheritance or a gift can be kept separate from the marital estate and largely or completely kept by the partner who receives it. Consulting with a lawyer will help you understand how to keep your inheritance largely free of the divorce process.

WHAT IS MY ESTATE PLAN? In most circumstances, the act of marriage automatically revokes the married couple’s existing wills. All PHOTO BY ERIC SELLERS couples contemplating marriage—whether same-sex or opposite-sex—should consider reviewing and updating their estate plans with their attorney.

John Christianson and Mark Johnson Roberts practice estate planning and family law, respectively, at the Portland law firm of Gevurtz, Menashe, Larson & Howe, P. C.

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THE LADY CHRONICLES How to Win Your Heart: a Dating Retrospective

By Daniel Borgen, PQ Monthly

It’s not that dating is so hard, but it can be difficult, and I am less willing to do it the older I get. It is the inquiry, the inquisition that, for me, is so tedious. Where did you grow up? What do you like about your job? Who do you socialize with? What sorts of movies do you enjoy watching when summer blockbuster season rolls around?

Tell me about you. In these ways, dating is incredibly hard. My defenses are up; I can be impatient. (I cannot control my impatience; I worry that means I’m ruined.) I am both an open book and impossible to read, as are most of the men who sit across from me.

I’m sitting at a table by the bar in Muu Muu’s, the place where the mousy waitress knows me by name and drink; this restaurant is all things to me—home to many a friendly brunch, the place where secrets are heard and told, where friends tell me how their lives have changed. Here I celebrate and mourn. A large painting of Heath Ledger looks over everyone; it reminds us life is short, it is precious, do not waste any time. Beneath Heath, a group of girls dressed in their Thursday night best squeal and giggle. They seem out of place, with their little black dresses and high heels to heaven.

My date arrives twenty minutes late, a ball of excuses and summer sweat; I am already on my second Best of the Best, my favorite muddled, minty concoction. It is refreshing and strong. (When I sip my cocktail, I want to feel it. I want it to tickle my throat and warm my insides.) I am not typically a stickler for promptness, I find plenty to do to pass the time; I am happy to eavesdrop. But tonight, I am a stickler for tardiness. His excuses fall on deaf ears, and it is an effort to focus and listen. I wonder if I should call the whole thing off, right this moment, and save us both the time. I look up at Heath, and then my date, whose mouth is moving; I don’t hear his words. His dark skin and hair (my weaknesses) give him a second chance.

We chatted for three weeks (on Scruff ) before we met, but there are many details neither of us remember, so we plow through the requisite laundry list of inquiries first dates are known for. We both grew up in Vancouver, Washington; we both were raised by religious families; we both love California, though very different cities. It’s much like an interview, and I don’t particularly care for interviews. I am on my fourth drink; my waitress must sense the struggle, because the fourth tastes the strongest.

It’s a good thing the fourth is the strongest and my waitress knows me, because as the struggle continues, it veers from

pedantic to irritating. I’m so over Portland, he tells me. This town is so small, so silly, so white, so boring. Sure, I concede, our city can sometimes seem small, and it definitely is too white, but I don’t think it’s all that boring, because things are really what you make of them. You sound like a hippie, he tells me with a wave of his hand.

He loves Los Angeles and leaving Portland and he can’t wait to visit his friends there next month. And don’t even get him started on our gay community.

I try to wrap things up when potential suitors begin railing about all things queer and gay. I learned long ago I will never win the “you’re too gay” argument, no matter how infallible my logic is. You are too wrapped up in community for your own good, they declare. You’re single because you’re too gay. Why do you paint your toenails, queen? But these people come out of the woodwork now and then and especially during Pride because they always need to know which events they simply can’t miss.

The community you loathe? They’re creating the culture you indulge in.

My waitress and I make eye contact, and she knows it’s time for the check. No hurry, she says as she lays it on the table.

He wants another; I tell him I am meeting friends at Vault and I can’t be late and Chantel, the mixologist of my dreams, waits for me. It is around this time we are a bit sloppier than I’d like, and I didn’t have the foresight to lie — maybe my mother is ill or my best friend needs a ride to the airport, but it’s too late now. It’s not that he’s horrible, he isn’t. It’s just a mismatch.

I don’t like tracking my workouts down to the minute, he does. I love Portland, he hates it. I rarely tire of queer community and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life explaining myself.

It’s not that dating is so hard, but it is often exhausting; each time a date ends badly, my greatest hits album plays in my head. But I soldier on, because you won’t get anywhere if you don’t try. And let me say this: If you hate Portland, move, though you should search your soul for what’s really causing your discontent. If you go on a date, it is fine to talk about yourself, to list your amazing qualities, but do try to listen to the other person for at least part of the time. If you meet your date’s friends at Vault, do not insult them and act a braggart, especially on your first date. Such carrying on does not bode well for future romantic endeavors.

But above all else, don’t give up, no matter how futile dating seems. Don’t give up if what you want is lengthy and perhaps even lifelong companionship. No one ever got anything by giving up.

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August/September 2014 • 19

NIGHTLIFE FEATURE

WHISKEY & SYMPATHY

Dear Monika and Gula:

So there’s this gentleman who used to live here — we’ll call him Joe. Joe and I have known each other for a long time, and, when he lived here, were routinely part of each other’s social circles, though nothing particularly friendly or romantic happened between us. Last year, Joe moved to Seattle. Oddly enough, after he moved, we started talking more. Texting became phone calls, phone calls became visits, visits became sexy times. Now we’re fairly set on just seeing each other. The kicker: his life is in Seattle — work, friends — and my life is here — work, family, friends. I don’t plan to move up north and he has no desire to live in Portland again.

This isn’t a question about seeing other people or opening our relationship — at this point, I only have eyes for him. But what the hell do you do when the person you want to be in a longterm, committed relationship with lives hours away? How long is something like this sustainable? I don’t want to move, but I do not want to lose him. Tell me there’s hope for long-distance lovers? I know the obvious answer is “just go with it and see what happens,” but I’m anxious about the distance — there are so many variables when you don’t see your lover regularly. Help!

Hoping on Hawthorne

Hoping on Hawthorne:

Monika MHz

Hoping,

Is there hope for long-distance relationships? Yes. Entertainers, diplomats, monarchs, executives, academics, soldiers, their partners, and people of all kinds have traditionally been in de facto long-distance relationships for thousands of years. There is really nothing new about the long-distance relationship.

The only thing new, is that modern technology allows us to cover that distance in a much shorter time. Seattle is only three hours away from Portland thanks to trains and cars in the modern age. Seriously, it’s so easy to complain if someone lives across town, or in the suburbs, and we forget that just a hundred years ago it could be weeks or months of travel between those in a long-distance relationship.

Musicians and soldiers can be gone for months and years at a time, and many have for generations found themselves coming home to stable relationships. What you’re describing is, frankly, easy in comparison to what so many couples go through. If you both want to make this work you need to be honest and truthful about your concerns and your hopes and everything else. If you can commit to making this your new way of life this is a simple answer.

There are some things you both are going to get used to in your new travel heavy way of life, but they are all about as easy as I am at last call. If you can afford it, you gotta share time on weekends and holidays, when you can, at each other’s places. You’ve gotta get used to Skype dates, which I can tell you from experience can be adorable and fun (Skype while you watch Netflix together or eat dinner). And of course, phone sex and writing dirty letters back and forth can keep the fire going until you can see him again next.

Usually when people ask about long-distance, it’s sex that worries them. They get scared of their partner cheating on them, or vice versa. And the key here is putting the effort in to keep things alive. Write each other fanfiction about your next visit, tell him your filthiest fantasies, tell him exactly how you want to corner him in the shower next time.

If you can manage that, the time you both spend together will be hot enough to last as long as it works for you. But if you can’t commit to focus on your relationship? I don’t have to tell you that even if Heidi loves, it doesn’t mean you’ll be there next week.

Make it work.

Love, MHz

Gula

Hope in one hand and shit in the other… which one will fill up faster?

There’s hope for long-distance lovers. (That’s whatchu wanna hear.)

Or not. Sorry, no one has a crystal ball to see your love life future. Some relationships like yours are built on a situation, like a summer romance. In a summer romance you know there will be an end, so you bond really tight, share stimulating experiences, throw all your emotional eggs in one fragile basket, and when the summer is over, you go home and have the memories to swoon over until you meet your next fling. In your case you are working backwards. You met, got closer and he moved… Distance makes that heart grow fonder! You are having a long-distance summer romance. Stealing time together, seeing each other at your best (looking forward to your next tryst) and comforting each other during the hard times… on the phone. It’s hard to judge a relationship if you are both tourists in it. Have you spent time as a couple to see if you fit day after day, night after night? Have you learned how to work together? Get in a fight and find resolution? Have you swilled tons of whiskey, had some tough whiskey motions, and has he held your hair while you dry heave? If you have, things might work out for you. If you feel strongly enough about your relationship, one of you could bend your life to be with the other. Remember, the cities you live in aren’t going anywhere. Family and friends are only a few hours away… You made the trip to see your lover. Taking a chance is hard, change is hard and some people don’t like gambling. It’s playing the odds and the rolling of the relationship dice that can have huge payoffs. It’s kinda up to you to put your cards on the table and play.

I know a couple that met vacationing, one of them lived here, they dated and went back and forth from state to state, the other moved here to be with him. At first it was so romantic, they didn’t leave the house for weeks, then they hit the town together. The Portlander would go around introducing his partner, making sure he felt accepted and part of the group. Now they were seen as a solid couple, very happy. One day the new-in-town boy started to make close personal friendships with the Portland dude’s friends. Portland dude was not having it; Portland dude had the “it’s my town” attitude! Their long-distance was easy breezy, but when it came down to living day to day sharing lives, one of them could not handle it. They have since broken up but other doors have opened for both of them, they are in other relationships and everything seemed to have turn out the way it was meant to be.

You will never know what your destiny is until you take that leap. Trust your gutz, mind, and wiener. Or get some cats and dream of things that could have been.

Good luck, long-distance lover. Keep me posted on the roads you choose. I’m out!

XO,

Gula

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

Monika MHz is a DJ, queer trans Latina, and a feminist/Xicanista whose relationship status is “it’s complicated” with dubstep. Kinky, prudish, sexty, or cyber; survival, straight, queer, gay, double queer (with a trans woman), or lesbian — if it’s sex, or a mistake, she’s been there, done that. Monika is an activist working hard for marginalized populations and runs a program offering in-home HIV testing for trans women. When not writing, she’s probably off somewhere making a dick joke or peeing while sitting down, like a champ.

Look out for: MONTHLY 20 • August/September 2014

PQ Podcasts!

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.

Mouthy & pqmonthly.com

GLAPN CALENDAR

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August/September 2014 • 21

DYKES ON BIKES® & FRIENDS

NIGHTLIFE BOOKS STYLE MARRIAGE

VOICES

OK, HERE’S THE DEAL …

The Big, Shiny Key (to Jealousy)

Meeting #14 • 9am August 17, 2014 Sandoval’s Café & Cantina

By Monika MHz, PQ Monthly

Rally In The Valley, 9:30am August 23, Paradise Harley-Davidson

“I know my husband loves me so much, but jealousy makes me a mess.” She interjected that serious text into a lazy Sunday of sexting and blended margaritas. Normally I’m not one to take my cues on what to write, not from the hot and steamy sexts I’ve been having with a hot celebrity, but instead their serious thoughts on relationships. However, jealousy, and its life partner insecurity, are the kinds of topics that seem to come up a lot in my life. Writing about sex on a regular basis means I hear those sorts of questions a lot. And because I non-monogamously date around in circles that seem to have a higher than average amount of non-mon folks, it means I field lots of discussions on the subject. As a result, I’ll put the juicy details of my sext life on hold this month while we dive a bit into a topic I’ve yet to cover here on Here’s the Deal.

When I first started dating, it wasn’t just my ass that was firmer. The hold jealousy had on my life and the way I interacted with my partners was quite. I even used to refuse to date people who were non-monogamous themselves, because, as I put it, “I [didn’t] want to come in second.” Over the years I discovered that my youthful jealousy was primarily an expression of two things: insecurity and the desire to control my circumstances that manifested as a result. I was nearly paralyzed by my fear that my partners would dump me the second they found a “real” woman, who by design could satisfy some ineffable necessity I could never fulfil.

Now, I don’t think this is the case for each manifestation of jealousy. I’ve always believed that there are infinite shades of the green monster, but finding your apple of discord can be the game changer in finding ways to cope with, overcome, mediate, or express healthy jealousy. I know, to many, the idea of healthy expressions of jealousy can seem as absurd as the notion of overcoming jealousy can seem to others, but there are ways for us to approach our feelings in a constructive or happier way.

Each person, situation, and emotion is dynamic and I’ve always felt that universal applications of relationship theory by advice columnists, self-help gurus, pop-psychology, and social convention are part of why we find ourselves in such baffling and stressful relationship situations. However, there is a singular universal prescription

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I encourage that does help alleviate the former’s impact on relationships: communication.

I don’t just mean talking to your partner(s), although that’s a part of it, I mean digging deep and making yourself vulnerable enough to be honest about your feelings, desires, fears, and needs — good and bad. Doing so gives you and your partner(s) the tools necessary to confront things that may become a problem, like jealous feelings, in a non-judgmental way.

I’ve found pushing myself to have those conversations with my partners is the key to improving my relationships, and, for me, eliminating my jealous reactions entirely.

So, case closed, right? World peace. MHz cured jealousy. Well, I wish it were as simple as that. I just wish we could shift the way we talk about jealousy, especially in the context of non-monogamy.

So, here’s the deal. It seems like we cast jealousy as a motive and the executor a villain in any conversation. The person who has those feelings is wrong, and in the words of my misguided advice colleagues, you have to, “Dump the motherfucker already.” In our age of monochromatic morality, there’s no room for nuance in the way we approach nearly any topic, let alone delicate and complicated topics such as non-monogamous dating in a world where monogamy is king.

I’ll concede there are people that really aren’t suited for non-monogamy. There are those who are prone to jealous rage or hyper controlling behavior that borders on abuse — they have serious work to do on themselves before they cope with a single partner, let alone more than one. But treating all jealousy, all insecurity, and all of the manifestations of as wicked do us no favors.

Why are we jealous? Are we afraid a partner will be happy without us, find fulfilment elsewhere? Do we want them all to ourselves? Are we afraid we aren’t enough for them? Are we afraid of being alone? Are we afraid of being dumped? Are we anxious about STIs or HIV? Are we afraid of losing control? Is it FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)?

Finding out can be the big shiny key to dealing with those things in the most healthy way you and your partner(s) can.

And remember you aren’t in this alone.

Monika MHz is a queer trans Latina who makes her way as a Portlandbased 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. 22 • August/September 2014

pqmonthly.com

ARTS & CULTURE

pqmonthly.com

August/September 2014 • 23

GLAPN ARTS & CULTURE

PORTLAND LATINO GAY PRIDE 2014 PRODUCES FESTIVE EVENTS

By George T. Nicola and Liz Rodriguez, GLAPN

Portland Latino Gay Pride (PLGP) sponsored its official annual series of events Friday July 25 through Sunday July 27.

The Friday evening celebration, VOZ ALTA: La Gloria, was held at Q Center. It was described as “an evening of music and poetry that celebrates the Latino American experience through poetic narratives that feature the lives of Portland’s Latino LGBTQ community, performed by actors and orchestrated live with Latin American folk songs.”

Written and produced by PLGP board member Joaquin Lopez, this year’s VOZ ALTA spotlighted “community members who have found empowerment through music and the music of language--poetry. Featured stories include musician Edna Vazquez, poet Luna Flores, and father and son songwriters Joaquin and Salvador Lopez.”

Performers were seasoned Latina actors Nurys Herrera and Nelda Reyes, with newcomer to the stage Izzy Ventura of Equity Foundation. Susana Jacobo from the renegade Latin American folk outfit Bajo Salario was musical director.

VOZ ALTA was funded in part by the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, and the Oregon Cultural Trust. A pre-show reception was hosted

by La Bonita, a family owned Portland Mexican American restaurant.

Saturday evening featured a Hollywood Theater showing of Transvisible, a film about Bamby Salcedo, a Los Angeles Latina transgender activist who has fought tirelessly for the rights transgender people. After the film there was a panel discussion that included Bamby and Transvisible director Dante Alencastre.

Sunday afternoon’s festival featured recognitions and entertainment at the Jupiter Hotel. This year’s PLGP Scholarship Recipient Leslie Perez-Cervantes was introduced.

She plans to transfer to Linfield College this fall, and in her own words, “My dream is to become a pediatrician, so I can help low income families have excellent medical attention they deserve.” Donations and proceeds from PLGP events fund its scholarships.

The celebration included the giving of the PLGP annual Mariposa Awards for “outstanding service, commitment and contributions to our community.” The highlight of the afternoon was a spectacular performance by the local Mexican American dance group Ballet Folklorico Mexico en la Piel.

Portland Latino Gay Pride was founded in 2006, by current sponsorship chair David Martinez and Melanie Davis, owner of El Hispanic News. Several years later, Melanie also launched this publication, PQ Monthly.

Nationally and locally, Latinos have been strong supporters of LGBTQ equality. The Latino immigration rights organization Causa Oregon, maintains an LGBTQ component headed by Argentine American Christian Baeff, who is also a board member of PLGP. Numerous Latinos elected to Oregon public office have been loyal allies of LGBTQ equality. Portland Latino Gay Pride has been noteworthy in introducing Latino culture and entertainment to the general LGBTQ community, and has been an ambassador of good will to the general Latino community.

PORTLAND LATINO GAY PRIDE 2014 MARIPOSA AWARD WINNERS Immigration Counseling Service (ICS) Juan Mendez Amistad Por Siempre (APS) Foundation George T. Nicola

OREGON STATE BAR CONTINUING EDUCATION CLASS TO COVER OREGON LEGAL PROFESSION’S WORK TOWARD LGBT EQUALITY

By George T. Nicola and Kevin Clonts, GLAPN

The Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GL A PN) and OGA LL A: The LGBT Bar Association of Oregon, in partnership with the Oregon State Bar Diversity & Inclusion Department, with will present a continuing legal education (CLE) class on September 4. The class with cover the legal profession’s work toward LGBT equality in Oregon, up to, but not including, the recent last pushes that culminated in marriage equality, which will

be the topic of a separate CLE class later in the month.

The session will be conducted by a panel of leading Oregon attorneys – including Oregon’s first out judge and a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals – as well as a GLAPN historian. All the presenters will be people who openly identify as LGBT. OGALLA was founded in 1991. It seeks to “promote the fair and just treatment of all people under the law regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

For questions on the class or on OGALLA, please contact the organization at info@ogalla.org. The CLE is free, but RSVPs are required.

FEATURES

Providing social work and nursing medical case management to people living with HIV/AIDS since 1995.

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503-230-1202 • ohsu.edu/partnership

24 • August/September 2014

pqmonthly.com

VOICES VOICES

COMMUNITY FEATURE MARRIAGE

In This Heart, Part 3

By Nick Mattos, PQ Monthly

15) The screen door swings open and I step out into the bright light of the summer solstice. Right behind me, two sets of parents walk out, the mothers in smart dresses, the fathers in slacks. I stand at the bottom of the porch steps and watch as an old brown dog lazily pushes open the screen and saunters calmly to join us. The six of us look out into the field, the one that Molly’s family has tilled for decades, and see a huge throng of people facing an empty archway expectantly.

I turn back towards the screen door just as Seth pushes it open with one hand, his other intertwined with his bride-to-be’s fingers.

The time has come. The ceremony is about to begin. Beneath my blazer, I have soaked my white-collared shirt with terror sweat.

16) It is all so beautiful, of course it is — hanging in the trees beside the worn wooden barn are jewel-tone pennants made of fabric remnants. Grandparents and cousins and the odd barefoot aunt mill about the verdant family garden, sweet fragrant flowers growing amongst the zucchini vines. My closest friends sit on hay bales covered in old quilts, marveling at just how jealous those Pinterest bitches would be of the casual, organic charm of this setting. I sit on the bales with them and look up towards the house; in the window of the bedroom she grew up in, Molly slips into her great-grandmother’s wedding dress, the one she passed along to her daughter and her daughter and finally to Molly. It is all so beautiful, of course it is.

17) I mill about before the ceremony, shaking hands and hugging strangers, gripping a large leather-bound book tightly in my sweaty hands. I am doing so because, after carefully assembling my wedding officiant outfit like a good little queer should, I realized that my selected look would be equally contextual as a game show host or a lounge singer. Ruling out a clerical collar and all other traditional pastoral bling — no use in pissing off any legitimate seminarians who may be in the crowd — I realized that the only other thing that could give my look a semblance of priestly gravitas would be a volume of scripture. So, I picked the most sacred tome I could find, one that perfectly captured the spirituality and promise of the moment I was about to facilitate: a blank book, full of pristinely empty pages waiting to be marked.

18) It’s time. Molly in her great-grandmother’s dress, Seth in his grey suit, both of them facing me with my big blank book, the three of us standing barefoot and triangu-

lated around an empty space, a beloved congregation encircling us and watching expectantly for some sort of alchemy to occur.

“Hello,” I say, the wireless microphone picking up my voice, the speakers broadcasting it across the field. “Please let your eyelids close and bring your attention to your breath.” Of course we’re opening with meditation — it’s 2014 and we’re Portlanders. “Observe the path that air moves through as it enters your body and expands your lungs.”

19) I look out over the crowd — grandparents and cousins and the odd barefoot aunt breathing, the parents of the couple and my closest friends with their eyes closed, Molly and Seth in the energetic center of everything, the silent empty space between us. The gravity of the arrangement hits me, that in this silence great alchemy is indeed happening, that the empty space is in fact bliss, that the same blissful silence extends into the core of each of these beloved people like the air they trace with their awareness moving through their body with each breath.

And finally, with a great quiet ecstasy, I get it — the heart is not this slab of organ meat inside my chest and not the anxiety causing me to sweat profusely, but this spacious bliss, this silent interior field that each of us share, this unified field where all things emerge from and return to. The heart is the hub of all sacred places, and here, in the energetic center of everything, is where the miracles happen.

“When you’re ready,” I say, my voice echoing over the silent crowd, “let your eyes open, and we will begin.”

20) I drink beer out of a mason jar — after all, it’s 2014 and we’re Portlanders — and sit on a hay bale talking with a Jesuit priest.

Thank God I didn’t wear the clerical collar.

“You did great!” he tells me. “It’s a really stressful moment, officiating, and you did really well.”

“Thank you so much,” I say with genuine gratitude and relief. “I was really nervous, and it was probably even more intense than I expected it to be.”

“Oh yeah,” he says, “You’re really in the spiritual crucible up there. It really puts all your practice to the test. Can I give you one suggestion, though?”

“Sure,” I reply.

“Next time,” he laughs, “make sure you don’t forget to have them exchange rings like this time.”

The pennants above us wave, grandparents and cousins mill about, and a great quiet love suffuses everything. I laugh too — “Next time,” I concur.

Nick Mattos is a writer and yoga teacher living in SE Portland. Insanely enough, he’s already booked to officiate more weddings next summer. Reach him at nick@pqmonthly.com.

pqmonthly.com

August/September 2014 • 25

ART BRIEFS

We tear down elegant buildings and replace them with parking lots. We see daubs of pigment sell for millions, and lovely landscape paintings go for ten dollars at yard sales.

And a pair of dilapidated sandals from a famous movie star may be worth far more than the entire contents of a shoe store. These notions of value often seem arbitrary and silly, but they have a profound influence on our views of the world and its objects. In Worth/Worthless: Valuing Our Collections, the Oregon Historical Museum draws upon the rich collections of the Oregon Historical Society, providing juxtapositions of documents, artworks, and artifacts that illustrate the often puzzling differences that make things valuable or valueless. August 11 through November 8; The Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Avenue, Portland. Hours and admission vary widely; for more information, visit OHS.org Sometimes the truth is far stranger than fiction, especially when it comes to film — and this will be highly evident at NW Documentary’s Summer Homegrown DocFest, showcasing locally-produced short documentaries made during their Summer 2014 DIY Documentary workshop series. This new batch of short documentaries features an extremely eclectic and intriguing mix of themes including abandoned logging railroads, perceptions of Ramadan, tales from gay Mormon missionaries, and organic youth farms. Food, drinks, conversation with the filmmakers, and live music by Catherine Feeny and Chris Johnedis round out what is sure to be an intellectually stimulating and emotionally rich evening of short nonfiction film. 24 August; Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Boulevard, Portland. 6 PM; tickets $8, available at the door or via HollywoodTheatre.org.

Fans of M.I.A. and Santigold, listen up: SOS is your new favorite local band. The duo of Randa Leigh and Brian Vincent teamed up in 2013 after leaving their day jobs behind and isolating themselves in rural Oregon to record their debut full-length. The resultant soon-to-be-released album is a portrait of youth that explores the emotional impulses

PERSPECTIVES that control us through our twenties in a visceral and immediate way, told in cinematic fashion through Vincent’s atmospheric production while Leigh’s vocals move in and out of frame. In short: holy fuck, SOS is brilliant. Catch them while you can. 30 August; Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, Portland. Doors at 8, show at 9; tickets $10, available at MississippiStudios.com. Hear more from SOS at XOSOS.com.

Are you up to the challenge of creating something brand new? Want to enjoy never-before-seen and perhaps neveragain-heard art and music stemming from unique collaborations? Not Enough Fest is happening again this September, and they’re positively stoked to get you involved.

The festival is a showcase of the amazing, radical, funny, bizarre, important energy that queers drum up when they come together for the sake of creativity. Creating a space for queer people to express themselves — and for artists, musicians, filmmakers, spoken-word performers, and other artsy types to come together as a community — results in thrills, chills, laughs, and overwhelming brilliance. The festival is accepting submissions until the first of September, so find your most creative friend and get down on the task of making community happen. 7 September; Slabtown, 1033 NW 6th Avenue, Portland. 6 PM; door TBA. For updates and submission guidelines, visit NotEnoughPDX.tumblr.com Defunkt is consistently one of the city’s most interesting and challenging theatre companies — but it takes resources to blow our minds every year. Ergo, defunkt invites you to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of their 15th season with a party at Crush Bar. The evening shall include live performances, a silent auction, and, best of all, an opportunity to mingle with the directors, playwrights and artists involved in what may be their most ambitious season yet. 8 September; Crush Bar, 1400 SE Morrison, Portland. Party from 6 to 10, silent auction from 7 to 9. 21+ Leaves. Stones. Sunlight on water. Bird song. Space is bliss. Join local author Jill Kelly for a day of exploring

the expression of the exquisite and simple in the Portland Japanese Garden when she presents In Praise of the Small: A Writing Workshop. Participants will spend their time looking, listening, contemplating, and expressing through guided writing and drawing activities. Randa Leigh and Brian Vincent make up your new No experience in writing favorite band, SOS. or drawing is necessary — the gardens will bring ample inspiration and education. 16 September, Portland Japanese Garden, 611 SW Kingston Avenue, Portland. 10 AM – 4 PM; $55 non-members, $45 members. Participants are to bring a journal or sketchbook, pens or pencils, a brown bag lunch, and clothing appropriate for being out in the garden. For more information and registration, visit JapaneseGarden.com Finally: do you believe in peace, bitch? It’s a ways off, but we’re going to tell you about it now because we’re just that excited and you’d better save the date: Framed And Dried: A Tori Amos Tribute Night is coming to Crush Bar on October 10. You read that right: Tori. Amos. Tribute. Night.

Drag, musical performances, burlesque, spoken word, and even a raffle, all based around the theme of Our Lady of the Piano. Marla Singer, Racquel Russo, Summer Seasons, Miss Aurora, and Annarexia are among the astoundingly talented folks already signed on to participate, and yet more will be announced soon. Seriously, it’s hard to type these things without my hands shaking, it’s that fucking cool. Come and get a big loan from the girl zone. 10 October; Crush Bar, 1400 SE Morrison, Portland. 8 PM; suggested donation to the Portland Women’s Crisis Line. 21+

Your LOCAL source for reaching the multi-faceted, multicultural market, from enclaved & remote to sophisticated & mainstreamed.

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BUSINESS BRIEFS ARTS & CULTURE

EMPOWER OIL “Put it where it hurts,” says owner Trista Okel of Empower Oil. “I was inspired to make Empower Oil when I discovered that straight cannabis oil worked for pain. My Mom has severe arthritis, fibromyalgia, and mixed connective tissue disease and I really wanted to give her some relief without her having to take medications that are hard on the body and come with a myriad of side effects. However, the scent of plain cannabis oil is less than desired! So, I started mixing essential oils with it and soon discovered some really great aroma combinations. During this process, I thought why not make every element of Empower Oil beneficial to healing and pain management…and that is how Empower Oil was created.” I first met Okel at the Eden PNW 2013 event, in Seaside, out on the beach at the Bonfire event. It reminded me of my younger days, enjoying cannabis at the beach in different ways. How times have changed. Melanie, my partner was complaining of some muscle pain and Okel said, “I have something that will help you with that.” Okel showed me a small bottle that resembled roll-on perfume. She twisted the cap off and this wonderful scent wafted in the air — not the typical smell of cannabis, but of an expensive spa, which of course piqued our interest. So without hesitation, I purchased the large size of Empower Oil and made a new business acquaintance.

Melanie has a shoulder that is always sore due to an intense injury from an automobile wreck several years back. After applying the oil, Melanie felt a slight relief and after a few days of applying the oil, much of the tenderness and soreness was gone. Okel is a local Portlander and an entrepreneur who is getting a lot of press these days! Look for her upcoming write-up as one of the top-ten female cannabis entrepreneurs. To order Empower Oil and to connect with Okel, please check out her website at www.EmpowerBodyCare.com or call Okel at 503-862-8338 and “Put it where it hurts.” You will be happy you did.

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SUMMER TRAINOR, LLP “I became an attorney after I had been a social worker for several years-I loved that job but it had no ‘teeth,’” Gloria Trainor of Summer Trainor, LLP tells me. You have to love and admire a person who will change their entire career just to make sure that her advocation for her clients has bite and holding power. Trainor worked with teenagers in the juvenile justice system. Her goal was to reduce their rate of reoffending but as a social worker, Trainor had no way to ensure that her recommendations would stick. “If I see injustice and try to correct it and am unsuccessful, I now — with my law license — have access to the courts to help me meet that end,” says Trainor. Impressive, says I. Trainor became an attorney in 2008, a graduate from the University of Oregon School of Law. Her specialty is Civil Litigation. “I take plaintiff-side catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases. I help people who have had life-altering injuries or who have lost loved ones to all sorts of accidents — cyclist and pedestrian injuries, car collisions, plane crashes, medical negligence, etc. I also do family law that is LGBTQ focused. I enjoy this a lot and find that my background in social work makes family law clients feel at ease with me but my true passion is for the injury cases.” Trainor is quite thorough in her work taking a client’s complicated case and analyzing it from every angle, crafting an argument as a means to an end to help her client realize their goals. The rigorous writing and the honing of her oral arguments for use in the courtroom, using the power of persuasion in spirited negotiation is what feeds Trainor’s passion for her career as an attorney. Miranda Summer and Trainor formed Trainor Summer, LLP early in 2013. Trainor and Summer went to law school together and both craved the independence of having their own firm. Trainor Summer is going strong. When they are not changing people’s lives for the better, Trainor loves to be outdoors in our gorgeous state, enjoys craft beers and live music. If Trainor Summer, LLP can be of service to you or someone you know, please

contact them at 503-536-2172 or at Gloria@SummerTrainor. com or Miranda@summertrainor.com . Please let them know you read about them in PQ Monthly.

PORTLAND PEDAL POWER Back in May of 2009, Portland Pedal Power was launched as an experiment in sustainable delivery and marketing.

Portland Pedal Power believes that bikes can connect businesses and consumers in dense urban centers. Ken Wetherell, who founded the business, designed the PPP Pyxis, the enclosure on the back of the PPP Bikes. The Pyxis provides storage and protection from the elements for the food and other products and is equipped with head-turning signs that engage people on the streets. Portland Pedal Power is a delivery concierge and marketing company.

They provide high-touch delivery of food, groceries, and products to companies and people in central Portland. As these deliveries are being done, PPP’s fleet of 10 bikes and their riders engage in active advertising. This active advertising combines visible signage, trained riders, and distribution of materials in Portland’s highest traffic areas to capture attention and drive interest. PPP is on the streets from 6am to 7pm on weekdays and they ride on weekends and at events with advance notice. The cost is minimal, starting at $2.50, and increases based on distance and quantity. Set delivery rates are available for larger orders and they have corporate account options for businesses.

Active advertising sponsorships rates vary based on duration and number of bikes. Contact Info@PortlandPedalPower.com to inquire about how PPP can help you, where they should deliver from, or if you would like a cool pic of their rad bikes. Follow PPP on Twitter @PDXPedPow. Portland Pedal Power would love to hear from you. Watch for the PQ Monthly ads on the fleet of bikes as they distribute PQ around Portland the third Thursday of every month!

--Gabriela Kandziora

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BOOKS

PERSPECTIVES

“Results that move you!”

For open houses visit: RealtorGabriela.com Each office independently owned and operated 9755 SW Barnes Rd #560 Portland, OR 97255 Gabriela Kandziora | Gabriela@KW.com | Cell: 503.481.9870 | Office: 503.546.9955

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VOICES

MUSIC PERSPECTIVES

CULTIVATING LIFE Potted Plants Sail Through Summer

By LeAnn Locher, PQ Monthly

As we ease into the dog days of summer, I realize the flush of blooms and grandiose abundance of new growth has given way to “hanging on.”

Plants at full growth of the year, basking in the heat and the sun and holding tight.

No turning of leaves or browning of spent perennials yet, but not the excess flowers of springtime.

And so it is, I’m ever so grateful for my pots.

Pots of annua l s , p e re n n i als, and everg re e n s i n t e rmingle throughout the garden, with groupings of them on hard surfaces like the front porch and back patio, and tucked into corners and made into focal points in the garden.

I’ve been honing my approach to the pots and their plants for sometime, and while I had just about given up on them due to their need to be watered regularly, I’m glad once again I have them this time of year. They provide interest, freshness, color and texture throughout the summer, but particularly, mid to late summer, when the garden seems to need the pick-me-up the most.

What I’ve learned about planting in pots as follows.

• Go big or go home. A hot patio full of tiny little clay pots is a recipe for failure.

Larger pots hold larger amounts of soil, and don’t require as much daily watering when it gets hot and dry. Even in a small space, a large pot allows for unique plant combinations, and creates a dramatic focal point.

• Succulents are your friends.

Dry-loving succulents go a long ways in pots, and many will winter over. If you go away for a weekend, you don’t have to worry about coming home to crispy critters left in your pots. There’s a huge world of succulents, and combining several in one pot creates interesting textures and color combinations.

• Group potted plants together. One large pot of combined plants is great, but add two more in contrasting sizes and you can have an interesting vignette. My front porch currently houses a frog planter planted with sedums, a happy welcome pot of coleus and gerbera daisy, and two red sparkly shoes filled with sedums. It’s strange and welcoming. Which leads us to: • Experimentation is good. Weird is good. Pots and how you plant them or combine them can be outrageously fun. Against our bright blue garage wall, I potted an intense red Love Lies Bleeding amaranth. Pots in the form of heads, allowing the plants to be the “hair” hold a special place in my heart.

My favorite one right now has dreadlocks of sedum.

• Pots themselves are a statement.

A unique shape, large size, interesting glaze on a pot may need little extra flair with flamboyant plants. Placing it as a focal point in the garden, filled with one special plant and a glass sculpture to capture the light can be dramatic and beautiful.

• Don’t forget the mulch. Mulch serves a purpose in preventing dirt splash back onto leaves when you water, but it also can be interesting to the eye. Think about marbles, tumbled glass, polished rocks, or even filbert shells as good mulch options.

LeAnn Locher is a home arts badass and tends to her North Portland garden with her partner and their dog, Diego. You can reach her facebook. com/sassygardener or at leann@pqmonthly.com . pqmonthly.com

August/September 2014 • 29

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?

Mary Charming

Favorite movie?

Bound

How long have you lived in Portland?

14 years

Favorite word?

Totally

What is the first time you noticed that gayness existed?

At a B-52’s concert, I saw a mess of gay men dancing

Least favorite word?

Totally

What would you consider a guilty pleasure?

Tub and Tan

Favorite swear word?

Shit

Your having a dinner party of 6, whom would you invite?

Armistead Maupin, Missy Elliot, Amy Poehler, the girls from Broad City and Gabrielle Hamilton

What is your profession?

Ceramics/ DJ/ Illustrator

What would you consider a perfect meal?

My grandmother’s pot roast, brown potatoes, chocolate pie, and champagne Favorite book?

All about the Love — bell hooks

If you could with a snap of a finger what would be another profession you would like to do?

Host a cooking show Whom would you like to meet dead or alive?

Frida Kahlo

PHOTO BY JEFFREY HORVITZ

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