PQ Monthly June 2017

PROUD QUEER

THE

PRIDE EDITION

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JUNE 2017

PROUD QUEER

JUNE 2017 2 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

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PQ TEAM

PROUD QUEER

PROUD QUEER Melanie Davis

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EDITORIAL

Maya Vivas

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Ryn McCoy

Editor editor@pqmonthly.com

Monty Herron Op Ed Writer

Shaley Howard Regular Contributor

George Nicola GLAPN Historian

Suzanne Deakins, Ph.D., H.W.M. Regular Contributor GLAPN

Sossity Chiricuzio

Columnist and Feature Reporter

MARKETING Miguel Cobian VP of Marketing

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From The Editor Content warning: death, hate crimes, racism.

Pride was established to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a spontaneous act of resistance led by the most vulnerable members of the queer community. In this 2017 Pride Edition, we celebrate love and we honor those who have fought for it. We remember Orlando (page 18), as well as the 23 trans women that have been taken from us since last Pride (page 8); we celebrate the safe space that OQYS provides here in Portland for queer youth (page 4); we remind our community, as many of us attend parties and other events this month, to respect the labor of sex workers (page 6); and we appreciate the transformative potential of Pride for all of us (page 7).

This will be the second year in a row that we enter Pride month with hearts heavy from recent tragedies. Last Pride, our queer community—and in particular the queer Latinx community—was reeling from the massacre in Orlando. This year, Portland has suffered its own recent tragedies: the loss of Jacob Pedro Shroyer, also known as Jakob Jay, a local DJ, hairstylist, and dearly loved member of the LGBTQ+ community, who was killed in a “random” act of violence; and the deaths of Rick Best and Taliesen Myrddin Namkai-Meche, who—along with Micah David-Cole Fletcher, who is still hospitalized— were stabbed with a knife on the MAX during an attempt to intervene in the anti-Muslim hate speech their killer was directing at two teenage women of color, one of whom was wearing a hijab.

Last year, our June celebrations were brave and defiant, and they will be this year as well. We will be visible, so we will be vulnerable. For those who choose to stay home out of fear for their safety: we support you. The risk of existing in public spaces is greater for some of us than for others. For those who choose to go out: we support you. We will do our best to keep each other safe, and the celebration of our love and our joy will make us stronger. Those that suffer learn quickly that love is one of the most potent salves to heal our wounds. So here’s to another Pride with our wonderful community—still vibrant and thriving in spite of everything—and from the bottom of our hearts at Proud Queer: we love you.

Ryn McCoy Editor, Brilliant Media

Photographers

Dax McMillan Photographer

Nestor Miranda Photographer

Columnists & Contributors

Samantha L. Taylor, Michael James Schneider, Summer Seasons, Marco Davis, Kathryn Martini, Sally Mulligan, Katey Pants, Max Voltage, Queer Intersections

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On the cover: (clockwise from top) Sylvia Rivera, We’wha, Laverne Cox, Courage, Bessie Smith, Harvey Milk, Aya Kamikawa, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Marsha P. Johnson.

WHAT YOU’LL FIND INSIDE:

Midnight Ballerinas................................. Page 6 What Are You Proud Of?........................... Page 7 Why Are Adults Failing Youth?................... Page 14

Board Surfing......................................................... Page 15 Vanport Mosaic Festival........................................... Page 16 Love Is Love Is Love Is…............................................ Page 18 AND MUCH MORE! JUNE 2017 • 3 JANUARY/FEBRUARY

VOICES

The Oregon Queer Youth Summit A Pillar of Local Queer Community

By Cervante Pope

A strong sense of community is essential for feeling comforted and safe in life. Marginalized groups understand this the most, with youth in particular experiencing the brunt of bullying and negative interactions. For the last 14 years, the Oregon Queer Youth Summit (OQYS) has provided a safe haven for youth on a hyperlocal and regional front, inviting young persons from the coast, Eastern Oregon, California and Washington to participate. The various workshops offered at the summit throughout the years have provided a basis for education, camaraderie and solidarity work. This year was no different.

A large, diverse group of teens, tweens and young adults took over the Cascade campus of Portland Community College on May 13. Hosted by the Queer Resource Center (QRC) and sponsored by the Pride Foundation, the Oregon Youth Development Council, Sankofa Collective, Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), the Q Center, and the Sexual and Gender Minority Youth Resource Center (SMYRC), OQYS is a place where persons up to age 24 can enjoy, network and learn from others with shared experiences. The festivities began with breakfast and performances during the opening session, including a Native American smudging and blessing ceremony performed by Veronica Green.

“I feel this is important for people of color and Native people of color because they’re not represented as much, so I had to do this for my people,” says Green, a 16-year-old student at NAYA Family Center’s Early College Academy. The importance of OQYS is something Green recognizes often, given how generally unaccepting and uncomfortable growing up in their hometown of Klamath Falls, Oregon was. “The Oregon Queer Youth Summit makes me feel accepted and loved even though it’s hard to feel that for me personally,” says Green. “Being from southern Oregon, there’s not many people of color and it can be kind of racist, so I’m glad I have a space to come to be accepted as a person of color who is also queer.” Led by fellow queer youth, this year’s OQYS workshops spanned in coverage from more enjoyable activities like “Queer Love Quilting” and “Bath Bombs For Activists and Queers” to the nitty gritty of queer issues, like “Coming Out: Belonging to Ourselves” and “Recipes for Resistance.”

“OQYS has always centered youth voice and expertise, and it has always been on the most radical end of the spectrum as far as youth programming goes,” says Marissa Yang Bertucci, an adult accomplice to the summit who has assisted in training and mentoring youth for the last three years. “Youth are welcomed to bring their entire authentic selves and express their most politically radical visions for youth empowerment,” says Bertucci. “We engage with racial justice, decolonization of the nonprofit industrial complex, anti-adultism, anti-fascism, gender justice, and community care as fundamental parts of our framework.”

Despite the serious nature of the summit’s objectives, an overall positive, polite and inquisitive air reigned over the whole event. Youths new and of summits prior engaged one another with personal questions and stories. Overheard were conversations about coming out, dynamics among peers at school and future plans to hang out once the next summit comes around. The energy in the room was proof of the summit’s positive effects. “It’s helped me a lot with my leadership skills, just to be another young person out here speaking. All of us are completely driven,” says Sage Duprey, an 18-year-old youth advisor who’s been attending OQYS for three years. “This is who we are and even though we come from different backgrounds, we’re all still here, together as one, putting on an awesome event that no one has really done before.”

The Oregon Queer Youth Summit, and the Queer Prom that usually follows it, are some of the best ways to find the comfort of community so many of us need.

Bertucci encourages queer youth of all backgrounds and identities to get involved with OQYS by fundraising, participating in outreach or being on the summit planning team. “It has been one of the greatest honors of my entire life to work alongside the brilliant youth organizers and attendees of OQYS,” says Bertucci.

“Now more than ever, we are affirmed that if we create a joyful space of resistance, folks are motivated to seek us out and resist joyfully with us.”

“We already have to deal with people not accepting us, telling us we’re not human and such,” says Duprey. “It really takes this for us to come all together and be able to do workshops and be able to hang out with one another. We can all learn from somebody else.”

JUNE 2017 4 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

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HOROSCOPE

LOCAL

Star Trends

By Robert McEwen

What was the astrology for June 28, 1969?

The official Pride is coming up and the LGBTQ community is excited and active around the world. But what was happening in the universe during the event that we honor when we celebrate Pride?

The Stonewall uprising began at the Stonewall Inn on June 28th, 1969. The universe then had some very radical statements to make.

Uranus in Libra Uranus was in Libra blowing up the structures of dualistic thinking about sex.

Androgyny became expressed in Gay liberation. Androgyny came out and waved the freak flag high! The rainbow spectrum of sexual fluidity that Suzanne Deakins speaks of. Creativity being the force of expression of freedom that is the underlying dynamic.

There were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations in response to a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. These influences, along with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as a catalyst for the Stonewall riots. Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although the bar owners and managers were rarely gay. At the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the Mafia.

After the Stonewall riots, gays and lesbians in New York City faced gender, race, class, and generational obstacles to becoming a cohesive community. However, within six months, two gay activist organizations were formed in New York, concentrating on confrontational tactics, and three newspapers were established to promote rights for gays and lesbians. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world. On June 28, 1970, Gay Pride then took place in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, commemorating the anniversary of the riots. Similar marches were organized in other cities. Today, Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots.

Be creative and bold, loving and active during this time. Androgynous sexual fluidity is our natural way to express, so celebrate the love.

Astrology Readings available.

Robert McEwen, H.W., M Available for astrology readings at robbystarman@aol.com phone: 503 706-0396 pqmonthly.com PQMONTHLY.COM

JUNE 2017 • 5 JANUARY/FEBRUARY

HOROSCOPE

VOICES

Midnight Ballerinas

A Stripper’s Perspective

By Christina Cupcake, Casa Diablo

Much has been said about strippers, but unless you’re in the industry or interested in becoming a stripper yourself, you probably haven’t heard our personal perspective on our job. Because the lens through which strippers are viewed warps our experiences into a caricature, it is uniquely difficult to convey the nuance of this job.

It has taken me most of the three years I’ve been stripping to admit to myself that this is my reallife, grown-up job. I had to work through the stigmas I’d internalized so I could learn how the job is actually done and do it in a way that is healthy for me. I had to bolster my sense of self and strip in spite of being at the focal point of pervasive stereotypes. I hear the way people disparage stripping and the people who do the work: I’m often told that I am “too pretty” to be a stripper, or a man will tell me he “respects me too much” to pay me for my time or a dance. Learning how to balance my time and energy so I’m paid for the real labor I do is a necessary skill in every profession.

Stripping and the people who do it are dismissed as selfish and manipulative, but we are the supply Brandon Bailey Design/Photography via photopin. to your demand. Because I have the luxury of choosing which patrons I want to invest my time in, I choose not to work with people who demean or abuse me—this is far more than I can say for any other service industry positions I’ve had. Well-meaning folks have encouraged me to invest in acquiring a skill or certification outside the entertainment industry to give me “more options” when my career as a stripper inevitably ends. This is a facet of the perception that stripping is a last resort and that strippers are disposable: you’re just doing this to pay for college, your body will give out, you’re only valuable if you’re young (also thin, white, conventionally attractive), you’ll get addicted to drugs, you’re really just getting paid to let men abuse you, your job is frivolous and you’ll need to get a real job soon, etc.

None of these reasons for diversifying my income source have anything to do with me or my agency; they are all rooted in the idea that strippers are being exploited, that stripping can only be a means to an end, and that our ability to do our work is dependent on factors that we have no control over. Stripping has taught me to be a fierce advocate for my emotional and physical well-being, and it’s the people who learn this self-confidence who are successful, not the ones who look most like the strippers in the movies. Pair that with extraordinary financial independence and it becomes obvious why folks would use us as an easy target: how dare a femme be their own.

“But how much do you actually make?” This deeply inappropriate question is meant to allow the person asking it to determine if stripping is worth my time.

Translation: “Prove to me, woman, that you’re a commodity valuable enough to spend money on!” Strippers are classified in Oregon as independent contractors, and our income fluctuates wildly depending on the day and the club. I keep track of my average hourly income, and at the beginning of each shift, I set a minimum quota for myself to keep myself accountable and competitive. Everyone approaches this job differently, and part of the beauty of being an independent contractor is that we have the autonomy to entertain consistent with our personal values and boundaries and make as much or as little money as we need. If you’ve fallen prey to any of these preconceptions, I encourage you to ask who benefits most from the idea that strippers are less than human—and how you could benefit by humanizing us.

JUNE 2017 6 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

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VOICES

Embody

What Are You Proud Of?

Join Us!

Pride Kickoff Party

By Sossity Chiricuzio

I remember my first queer pride event vividly. It was 1989 and I was nineteen, attending college in Tucson, just learning what it really meant to be out and then, in that sudden way that such things can happen, I found myself in San Francisco for the summer. Not just strolling along Castro, reveling in the brazen gay heights of it all (though that did happen), but actually studying LGBTQ history and activism at a queer youth training camp meant to give us context and tools and a network of activism to rely on. We were not, of course, a unified front. The LGBTQ community has a long history of divergent agendas and approaches, even before you factor in sexual proclivities and issues of class and race and privilege. We did find some common ground, through hard work and deliberate communication and group protests and an entire day spent naked in the backyard and pool of a rich lesbian in Marin. We had caucuses large and small, discussion groups, and dance parties.

We watched each other, we asked questions, we made room, we apologized, we kept trying.

“

Before that day, I had never really felt beautiful, or like I could belong.

Theme: We Are the Change!

Tuesday, June 13th, 6pm.–9pm.

Lagunitas Community Room 237 NE Broadway St Suite 300, Portland

+

Our entire group was invited to march in the Pride Parade, which was overwhelming in theory and exponentially more so when we arrived on the scene and I could see and feel the tens of thousands of people all around us. Awash in emotions, inebriated on visibility or various actual intoxicants, wanting to be every kind of different or almost just the same, celebrating our differences in the bright light of day. Boas rippled, rhinestones flashed, leather shone, and rainbows rippled above it all. Before that day, the biggest queer crowd I’d ever been in was at a lesbian softball game. Before that day, I had no idea of the bounty of genders and aesthetics and pairings that were possible. Before that day, I had never felt the power of being part of a crowd of people that are all refusing to hide or apologize. Before that day, I had never really felt beautiful, or like I could belong. But that day, I was radiant. I strode tall and smiled like I’d never have to hide again. I was proud.

Some of our group had come prepared with fancy clothes and costumes, but many of us were just wearing versions of our usual. For me, this meant flowy black pants and a modified Act-Up t shirt, which seemed not only inadequate to the glittery occasion of it all, but was also becoming increasingly too warm. Many of the other dykes around me were having similar realizations, so we decided to strip off our shirts and be the black bra brigade. A small thing, but potent. Some part of my femme identity was solidified that day. Some part of my resistance. We had marched together several times already this summer—protesting local news outlets for discriminatory language, protesting a gay bar with racist gatekeeping practices, backing down a small group of homophobes at the beach who forgot to count before they started heckling—and while our solidarity felt similar, this time we were surrounded by supportive faces and comrades. This time we weren’t pushing back; we were pushing forward, full of pride at how we were learning to combine civil disobedience and radical truth telling and active listening and so many kinds of loving.

It’s been almost 30 years since then, and I’ve been to all manner of Pride activities, in small towns and big cities. Dyke marches and Trans marches and play parties and picnics and rallies. Standing at the back of the crowd, and on the main stage. Avoiding it altogether and escaping to the beach. Gathering in a back yard with chosen family. Pride is an important tradition, a link that reaches back to the ancestors who, with their sacrifices and passion and perseverance, make who we are now possible. It’s also just one small part of the year, and, in my experience and opinion, often too concerned with consuming and not nearly enough with resisting.

We absolutely deserve to celebrate, but we do so on a shaky stage if there isn’t also foundation building. We need more folks organizing spaces where we can gather with our Elders to hear stories and pay respect to their lives and work. To share resources to make possible events run by and for Queer/Trans youth. To show up to small towns to show solidarity at their Pride events.

Pride is many things, and that sometimes includes scary. The world is a frightening place right now. We need to be marching beside each other, wherever we are. We need to lift up and stand strong with folks in our community with fewer resources and privileges, and commit ourselves to holding to that all year long.

Sossity Chiricuzio is a writer and columnist based out of Portland, Oregon. She is a regular contributor for PQ Monthly and focuses on social justice, communication, community, and changing the world. You can reach her at sossity@pqmonthly.com or follow her online @sossitywrites. pqmonthly.com PQMONTHLY.COM

JUNE 2017 • 7 JANUARY/FEBRUARY

VOICES

In Loving Memory This month marks the anniversary of an uprising that led to the improved safety and quality of life many LGBTQI2SA+ people are able to enjoy today; this anniversary also urges us to honor the struggles and sacrifices of those who came before us and those who still suffer among us. Transgender women experience a greater risk of death by hate violence than any other group, and an overwhelming majority of the victims of anti-transgender violence are transgender women of color.

We will do our best to honor the memory of these transgender women of color who have been taken from us since June 2016: Sherrel Faulkner of Charlotte, North Carolina. She was 45 years old.

Brenda Bostick of New York City, New York. She was 59 years old.

Chay Reed of Miami, Florida. She was 28 years old.

Alphonza Watson of Baltimore, Maryland. She was 38 years old.

Ciara McElveen of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 25 years old.

Chyna Doll Dupree (also known as Chyna Gibson) of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 31 years old.

Keke Collier (also known as Tiara Richmond) of Chicago, Illinois. She was 24 years old.

Jaquarrius Holland (also known as Jaquarrius Brown) of Monroe, Louisiana. She was 18 years old.

JoJo Striker of Toledo, Ohio. She was 23 years old.

Mesha Caldwell of Canton, Mississippi. She was 41 years old.

Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow (of the Oglala Lakota tribe) of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

She was 28 years old.

India Monroe of Newport News, Virginia. She was 29 years old.

Noony Norwood of Richmond, Virginia. She was 30 years old.

Brandi Bledsoe of Cleveland, Ohio. She was 32 years old.

Jazz Alford of North Carolina. She was 30 years old.

Crystal Edmonds of Baltimore, Maryland. She was 32 years old.

T.T. Saffore of Chicago, Illinois. She was thought to be in her mid-twenties.

Rae’Lynn Thomas of Columbus, Ohio. She was 28 years old.

Erykah Tijerina of El Paso, Texas. She was 36 years old.

Skye Mockabee of Cleveland, Ohio. She was 26 years old.

Dee Whigam of Shubuta, Mississippi. She was 25 years old.

Deeniquia Dodds of Washington D.C. She was 22 years old.

Goddess Diamond of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 20 years old.

We will also do our best to honor the memory of these transgender white women who have been taken from us since June 2016: Simon (Sierra) Bush of Boise, Idaho. They were 18 years old.

Lexxi Sironen of Waterville, Maine. She was 43 years old.

May we never forget!

This list only includes transgender women in the US, and does not include transgender people whose deaths have not been correctly noted due to misgendering in police reports, news stories, and sometimes by the victim’s family.

JUNE 2017 8 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

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CALENDAR

VOICES CALENDAR

1

Come celebrate the start of Pride with games, prizes, food and drink, and friends at the official Portland Pride kickoff party! Tickets cover admission, food and your first pint, as well as $3 pints on tap. All proceeds support Pride Northwest and Portland Pride. Tuesday, June 13, 6–8:30 pm at Lagunitas Community Room, 237 NE Broadway St Suite 300, Portland. Tickets $10 in advance at https://pridenw.org/product/kickoff, $15 at the door.

TOP PICKS

Join moderator DJ Klyph as he prompts artist Karma Riviera, artist Fish Martinez, journalist Jenni Moore and promoter Anthony Sanchez to share their takes on the state of Portland’s local hip-hop scene. Stay to take part in an audience-focused Q&A and community discussion.

Saturday, June 10, 1 – 4 p.m. at Open Signal: Portland Community Center, 2766 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Portland. Tickets $7 in advance or at the door.

Free admission for youth. Tickets and more info at www.opensignalpdx.org/calendar/event/1551.

2

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Portland Iftar with Amer Zahr Green in the Hood: Stories of Food Justice

This roundtable event will share stories from food justice activists and advocates working on food access, urban gardening, and community health service. With communities of color continuosly facing inequalities from structural racism and socioeconomic disparity, we ask what makes a place inclusive, equitable and sustainable to marginalized communities? Saturday, June 3, 6–8:30 pm at Leaven Community, 5431 NE 20th Ave, Portland. $10 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds.

VBC ‘17: Kenton Women’s Village

As part of Village Building Convergence 2017, join Kenton Neighborhood, City Repair, PSU’s Center for Public Interest Design, and friends as we work on the site of Portland’s first sleeping pod village! We will be building berms, planters, stairs, and a fence. Monday, June 5–Wednesday, June 7, 9 am–5pm at 2221 N Argyle St, Portland. Learn more about the project at www. centerforpublicinterestdesign.org/partners-ondwelling-pod-initiative.

Stand Against White Nationalism

Hate groups across the nation are planning anti Muslim actions on June 10th. We must not let this happen in our city! We will not let nationalists come to our city and make our Muslim neighbors feel unsafe. Join Oregon Students Empowered at this rally for resistance! Saturday, June 10, 9 am at Terry D. Schrunk Plaza, 364 SW Madison Ave, Portland.

The Happening 2017: Portland’s Love/Hate Relationship with Hip-Hop pqmonthly.com PQMONTHLY.COM

Official 2017 Portland Portland Trans Pride Kickoff Party! March 2017

Join ANERA for a full-course dinner at our #RamadanSolidarity Iftar! Featuring a special performance by Palestinian-American comedian Amer Zahr, this Iftar will raise funds to send food packages to refugees and vulnerable families. Saturday, June 10, 8–10 pm at Taborspace, 5441 SE Belmont St, Portland. Tickets $50 at www.anera.org/portland, $35 students and children.

PDX Culture Keepers Festival

Oregon Folklife Network and Oregon Historical Society invite you to a festive afternoon with Portland Metro Area folk artists! These featured culture keepers will perform or demonstrate a variety of cultural traditions, from Kenyan cooking techniques to Estonian folk dance. Rounding out the program will be interactive demonstrations of Oaxacan weaving, Coquille/Coos canoe paddle carving, and intricately woven nautical rope mats. Sunday, June 11, 2 – 4 p.m. at the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave, Portland. Free admission, kid-friendly.

Organized by Greater Portland Trans Unity and the 2017 Trans March Planning Committee, the fourth annual Portland Trans March will bring much-needed visibility to the issues our communities are facing, while also highlighting the strength of our networks and the power in our collective resistance, resilience, and solidarity.Saturday, June 17, 2–5 pm at North Park Blocks, 235 NW Park Ave, Portland. Mobility vehicles provided for people who need them.

June 12, 6:30 pm at PSU Smith Memorial Student Union, 1825 SW Broadway, Portland. Free and open to the public.

Portland Gay Men’s Chorus presents The Divos

Last season, the PGMC honored women who left their mark on music history. This year, it’s the fellas’ turn! The Divos features the biggest hits by music’s most legendary male artists, including Simon and Garfunkel, Michael Jackson, Nat King Cole, Elton John, and Bruno Mars. Saturday, June 17, 7–9 pm at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, Portland. Tickets $20–52 at http:// siteline.vendini.com/site/tickets.pdxgmc.org/ events.

Portland Thorns 1st Annual Pride Night Benefit

Join Portland’s professional women’s soccer team for the first ever Portland Thorns Pride Night! We’re gonna root, rivet and show our pride in the North End section, all while supporting the Q Center and Pride NW. Saturday, June 17, 7–9 pm at Providence Park, 1844 SW Morrison St, Portland. Tickets $14 general admission, $20 reserved seating and t-shirt at http://bit.ly/2qkxPSB.

PULSE Anniversary: Honor Them With Action

We are joining in a nationwide effort to take actions that create a safer environment for LGBTQI+ communities.

Join us for a presentation by the Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety and learn what actions can be taken here in Oregon to promote responsible gun ownership and common sense gun reform. Monday, June 12, 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the Q Center, 4115 N Mississippi Ave, Portland.

Free and open to the public.

Dirty Laundry: Exposing Brand Israel

Join a panel including Dean Spade, Bina Ahmad, and Palestinian Animal League Solidarity for a look at the disturbingly successful “Brand Israel” marketing campaign, which was developed to rebrand the state of Israel as a cultural, social, and political haven for progress and creativity, divorced entirely from the narrative of Palestinian oppression and colonial occupation. Monday,

Camryn Milo Reid

Queer Rock Camp PDX Fundraiser / Camryn Milo Reid Record Release

Don’t miss the beautiful queer indie ballad folk of Portland’s own Camryn Milo Reid as he performs songs from “The Pre-T Album” at this all ages Queer Rock Camp PDX benefit! Proceeds to be split between QRC PDX and Camryn. Friday, June 23, 6–8 pm at Mississippi Pizza Pub, 3552 N Mississippi Ave, Portland. $5–10 sliding scale donation at the door, no one turned away for lack of funds.

JUNE 2017 • 9 JANUARY/FEBRUARY

CALENDAR

3 GOOD TIMES

Queer as in Fuck You Fest; Part 1

Start off Pride month by celebrating some of the best the NW queer underground has to offer! Magic Mansion (Portland Metal Supergroup); Sashay (Grindr-Core from Seattle); COCKEYE (Yr Favorite Chicanx Feminist Faggots); Meat, The Baby. (Gay Grungyish Meats Pop Punkyish); Way Worse (Punk Funk Femmes); DJ Gertrude Fine + Freddie Says Relax (Spins New Wave and Post Punk + Gay Classics). Friday, June 2, 8 pm–2 am at Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway, Portland. $5–10 sliding scale, all ages welcome.

Queer as in Fuck You Fest; Part 2

Start off Pride month by celebrating MORE of the best the NW queer underground has to offer! Creature to Creature (Legendr’y Portland Supergroup); The Bedrooms (Newer Wave/Newer Romantic/Dystopian Future); Man Repellant (Local Queeros); Planet Damn (Loud Pop 3-Piece); Kids’ Table (Queer Youth Punx); DJ Wienerslav + lezcatmom420 (Spinning Riot Grrrl, Queercore and Feminist Anthems). Saturday, June 3, 8 pm–2 am at Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway, Portland. $5–10 sliding scale, all ages welcome.

OTB Wednesday (Only the Baddest)

Amanda Lynn Deal & D. Martin Austin host 6 featured comics, 1 headliner, and 10 open mic slots. June’s headliner is none other than Belinda Carroll of Portlandia, SMUT, KINK, and Portland Queer Comedy Festival. Wednesday, June 7, 9–10:30 pm at Mister Theater, 1847 East Burnside St #101, Portland. Free admission.

JUNE 2017 10 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

Bi Bar: PRIDE PROM Edition

Bi Bar is back for another month of bi/pan/multisexual mayhem! Come in formal attire with a partner or two, or none! This is the prom you wish you had had, complete with starry night photo booth and actual alcohol and all the queer your little heart can handle. Let’s celebrate us! Tuesday, June 13, 8 pm–1 am at Crush Bar, 1400 SE Morrison St, Portland. Free admission, 21+ only.

Make It Rain: PRIDE

Join your Wednesday night star Autumn Rainz Hart and her cast as we kick off Pride Week! Performances by Autumn Rainz Hart, Lady Marlene Hart, Evelyn McCabe, Tony J. Carmichaels and Clea Rainz Luxxe; with guest appearances by Karmella Lynn Phoenixx and Venus Lynn. Wednesday, June 14, 9:30 pm at The Embers Avenue, 110 NW Broadway, Portland. Free admission.

Blowpony’s 10th annual Queer Mutiny Fest NW

FIERCENESS! F*GGOTRY! FCKRY and SISSY BUGGERY! DJs and GAY A$$ GOGOS! Featuring performances from Miss Peppermint (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9), Laila McQueen (RPDR Season 8), Portland’s own DRAVEN, and William Spalding. Saturday, June 17, 9 pm–3 am at Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St, Portland. $19 cover, 21+ only.

Queer Horror Pride: Drop Dead Gorgeous

The Hollywood Theatre’s bimonthly program QUEER HORROR kicks off Pride season with a 35mm screening of Drop Dead Gorgeous! This Pride special opens with a spectacular drag pageant featuring Portland’s fiercest queens, all hosted by premier drag clown Carla Rossi!

Thursday, June 15, 9:30 pm at Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland. Tickets $10, details at www.queer-horror.com/calendar.

Exorcism! A Holy Nun Blessing and Disco

Exorcise your demons from the past and enter 2017 Pride officially blessed! DJ will be spinning some super sexxxy beats till midnight, y’all! Friday, June 16, 7 pm– 12 am at Crush Bar, 1400 SE Morrison St, Portland. $5 suggested donation.

Climbing PoeTree with Sara Tone & Songs by C

Based in Brooklyn, NY with a dedication to the whole planet, Climbing PoeTree harnesses creativity as the antidote to destruction through their award-winning spoken word, boundary-breaking music, and multimedia hip hop theater. Wednesday, June 21, 7–11 pm at The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland. Tickets $18 at https://climbingpoetreepdx.eventbrite.com.

Magical Unicorn Ride!

Let’s celebrate our love of everything magical on bikes for Pedalpalooza and Pride! Ride as bare as you dare— just roll around in sparkles or paint your body in rainbows if you want! The more shimmery and glittery, the better.

Ride will be around 4 miles, mostly flat, and will be ending at the Portland Pride Festival on the waterfront.

Saturday, June 17, 2–4 pm at Colonel Summers Park, SE 20th Ave and Belmont St, Portland.

SLANT Live Queer Storytelling

Portland’s original 100% queer-run LGBTQ storytelling pqmonthly.com PQMONTHLY.COM

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Black Liberation

GOOD TIMES CONTINUED event returns! Don’t miss 6 LGBTQ storytellers telling seven-minute stories. Hosted by SisterBritt and featuring stories by Cicely Rodgers, Nick Sahoyah, Colin Ashante, Brooke Shelley, Chrishawn West, Carlos the Rollerblader, and more! Saturday, June 17, 6–10 pm at Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave, Portland. Tickets $13 at http://ticketf.ly/2r4OEhz, $15 at the door.

Dinner Cabaret with Poison Waters

Sit back and enjoy a three course dinner, with loads of laughs and the amazing talent of Poison Waters in her tribute to the Natalie Cole songbook. Tickets cover show, dinner and non-alcoholic beverages. Thursday, June 15, 7–10 pm at McMenamins Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St, Portland. Tickets $30 at http://bit. ly/2rVYqT7, 21+ only.

Gaylabration Presents: Make America Gay Again

Gaylabration is an annual dance party and fundraiser taking pride in celebrating the diversity of love and relationships in our community. Enjoy DJ Joe Gathreaux, The Circus Project, and Seattle Shibari on the stage. All profits support the fulfillment of the Pride NW/Portland Pride core mission. Saturday, June 17, 9 pm–3 am at Tao Event Center, 631 NE Grand Ave, Portland.

General admission $19 at http://bit.ly/2qXxy6E, or volunteer for a short shift at http://gaylabration.org/ volunteer and then enjoy the party.

Death of Glitter: The First Pride was a Riot!

We’re excited to celebrate two years of shows by honoring the original Pride: Stonewall. Featuring Anastasia Euthanasia, Marla Darling, Prince PeanutButter, BeElzzaBub Doll, Lioness, Poly-Amythist, Clare Apparently, Draven, the Glam King, Judy and Trudy Precious, Carina Borealis, Darcy Blows, Zora Phoenix, and many more! Hosted, as always, by Delta Flyer.

Saturday, June 10, 9–11 pm at Crush Bar, 1400 SE Morrison St, Portland. $5–10 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds, 21+ only.

So You Think You Can Drag! ft. Hey Qween, Big Dipper & More!

FIERCENESS! F*GGOTRY! FCKRY and SISSY BUGGERY! pqmonthly.com PQMONTHLY.COM

DJs and GAY A$$ GOGOS! Featuring performances from Miss Peppermint (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9), Laila McQueen (RPDR Season 8), Portland’s own DRAVEN, and William Spalding. Saturday, June 17, 9 pm–3 am at Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St, Portland. $19 cover, 21+ only.

Black Liberation Ride 2017 (for PoC)

Let’s come together in solidarity for a community bike ride for cyclists of color! We’ll ride a loop through North Portland, touring through a few PoC-owned coffee shops and food joints on the way. The route will be around 9 miles, at a very chill and friendly pace with multiple stops along the way. Saturday, June 17, 11 am–2 pm at Irving Park, NE 7th Ave and Fremont St, Portland.

PoC only.

World Naked Bike Ride (Un)official After Party

The bare-as-you-dare fun continues at Crush after the WNBR! Saturday, June 24, 9 pm–2:30 am at Crush Bar, 1400 SE Morrison St, Portland. Free admission, 21+ only.

Legendary Mondays

Every Monday, Bart Fitzgerald curates one of the most refreshing events of the week. If you make it through a Monday, you deserve to attend. Music by Dubblife.

Mondays, 9 pm–2 am at Swift Lounge, 1932 NE Broadway, Portland. Free and open to the public, 21+ only.

Gay Skate

Come join us for our monthly Gay Skate night every 3rd Monday! Third Mondays, 7–9 pm at Oaks Amusement Park, 7805 SE Oaks Pkwy, Portland. Admission $6.50.

Amateur Night

Poison Waters

Amateur Night in the main bar hosted by the gorgeous Godiva DeVyne. Interested dancers should arrive by 8:45 pm. Wednesdays at Stag PDX, 317 NW Broadway, Portland. Free and open to the public. 21+ only.

Throwback Thursdays

Throwback Thursday hosted by the always fashionable Drexler. The house DJ spins the best pop, hip hop, and R&B hits of the 80s, 90s, and 00s. Thursdays at Stag PDX, 317 NW Broadway, Portland. Free and open to the public. 21+ only.

¡Queer Latin Night!

Come dance with PDX Latinx Pride and Bi Brigade at Crush’s Queer Latin Night party every second Thursday of the month! Second Thursdays, 8 p.m. – 12 a.m. at Crush Bar, 1400 SE Morrison St, Portland. Free admission, 21+ only

Testify Brunch

Testify Brunch hosted by the fabulous Alexis Campbell Starr from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Show starts at 12:30 p.m.

Sundays, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Stag PDX, 317 NW Broadway, Portland. Free.

For a list of official Pride events, see our Pride Guide insert!

CALENDAR SPONSORED BY

Stag Karaoke Mondays

Get through hump day with a bonus LGBTQ drink or two. This hip, rustic-industrial hangout offers a patio, fireplaces, and ping-pong. Last Wednesday each month, 6–9 pm at Century, 930 SE Sandy Blvd, Portland. Free and open to the public. 21+ only.

Have an event you want considered? Submit your events at calendar@pqmonthly.com. Events for the June issue must be submitted by May 19st.

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We Are the Change!

We Are the Change!

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Virginia Linder wins Community Spotlight Award

By George T. Nicola The Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest

Pride Northwest is proud to recognize Justice Virginia Linder, the first woman to serve on the Oregon Supreme Court, and the first openly lesbian-identified woman to serve on any supreme court in the nation, with our 2017 Community Spotlight Award (formerly Spirit of Pride).

Justice Virginia Linder began her legal career as an Assistant Attorney General in the Appellate Division of the Oregon Department of Justice. In 1984, she was appointed Oregon’s Assistant Solicitor General. Two years later, she was appointed Oregon Solicitor General. In 1992, Colorado voters approved Amendment 2, a state constitutional amendment that prevented the state or local governments in the state from banning sexual orientation discrimination. The lawsuit that ensued, Romer v. Evans, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oregon Attorney General Ted Kulongoski asked Virginia, and Rives Kistler, at that time an Assistant Attorney General, to craft an amicus brief on Oregon’s behalf in opposition to Amendment 2. The reasoning applied in the Oregon brief was subsequently used in the majority opinion issued by Justice Anthony Kennedy, which declared Amendment 2 to be a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Kennedy then applied the same reasoning in subsequent years in rulings declaring unconstitutional laws banning private consensual adult homosexual conduct, the Defense of Marriage Act, and prohibitions against samegender marriage.

Virginia was appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals in 1997, and was elected to retain that seat in 1998 and 2004. In 2006, she was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court. She was re-elected in 2012, and retired four years later.

Pride Northwest is honored to present Virginia Linder with their 2017 Community Spotlight Award.

(For more detail, please see http://glapn.org/6049VirginiaLinderProfile.html)

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PROUD QUEER

Pride Kickoff Party Theme: We Are the Change!

Tuesday, June 13th, 6pm – 9pm Lagunitas Community Room 237 NE Broadway St Suite 300, Portland

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National Headliners Portland Pride 2017

Calpernia Addams - Trans Actress, Musician, Author and Activist (SATURDAY)

Deven Green - Award-winning comedy performer, best known for her character Mrs. Betty Bowers : America’s Best Christian.

(SATURDAY)

Skye Strickler - Singer/Songwriter and winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest Grand Prize in Pop (SATURDAY)

Thea Austin of Snap! - Singer of smash hits “Rhythm is a Dancer” and “I Got the Power” (SUNDAY)

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Tatianna - From Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars (SUNDAY)

Our Lady J - Acclaimed pianist, Singer/Songwriter and writer for the show “Transparent” (SUNDAY)

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Local / Regional Headliners Portland Pride 2017

Carla Rossi (SATURDAY)

Edna Vasquez (SUNDAY)

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Presenting the 2017 Portland Pride Parade Grand Marshal: Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest

We at Pride Northwest believe strongly in supporting and holding up the accomplishments and important work happening in the LGBTQ community, particularly the Pacific Northwest. To that end, we made the decision some years ago, to utilize the position of Grand Marshal for the Portland Pride Parade, as a way to celebrate and bring attention to people and organizations doing the work, quite often without significant resources or visibility. Previous such Grand Marshals have included Latinx Pride, PFLAG’s Portland Black Chapter, and Portland’s TwoSpirit Society.

Continuing this tradition, we are honored to announce the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN) as our 2017 Portland Pride Parade Grand Marshal! In addition to the above-mentioned reasons, Pride Northwest is especially committed to recognizing and honoring LGBTQ history. Our people have been present, and have often led, throughout history. We have, as expressed in this year’s theme, BEEN the change in this world. We have a history that should be honoredand must be preserved. GLAPN are the keepers (and often finders) of our history.

Since 1994, GLAPN has been working to discover and publicize the history of sexual minorities in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to organizing the annual Queer Heroes recognition effort, without any significant budget, they collect, preserve, document, and share as much as able. They help individuals and groups preserve their own historical data. In addition, GLAPN works to find a home for historically significant materials when they become available, including the LGBTQ collection housed within the Oregon Historical Society. GLAPN also partners with organizations in the community to publicize and celebrate the history of all LGBTQidentified minorities in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

Pride Northwest is honored to have the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest as our 2017 Grand Marshal! *Check out GLAPN’s extensive archives at their website-glapn.org

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VOICES

Always have supported LGBT rights, Always will.

Sexual Fluidity

By Suzanne Deakins

FEATURES

“He made them male and female and blessed them. The authors of the Bible assumed that God created two making one male and one female, but this statement was not a statement of plurality (creating two beings). It is a statement of inclusiveness that humanity is whole both male and female. So God created man in his own image.” This part of the western Bible has caused more pain in society than can be imagined. The word man has been misunderstood. It was originally used to mean humanity. Humans are androgynous by nature, physically and spiritually.

Each person carries the vestiges of what has traditionally been designated as male and female genitalia. This wholeness plays out in many ways. Every act of creation, writing, cooking, art, making love, singing or just being requires you use your androgynous nature. Your genitalia have little or nothing to do with your acts of creation. This androgyny is seen throughout as aspects that make up a whole.

It is this wholeness (masculine/feminine) that gives us a feeling of completion. It is this wholeness of being we experience at the moment of orgasm. An orgasmic moment can be while we are making love (or just enjoying a sexual encounter), it can be when we see a movie that affects us, making a dinner, writing, listening to music. In other words it can occur anytime we drop our pretense of being either male or female and just be. It is in this moment where we find absolute harmony and balance at a spiritual level.

“

We share the majority of our genes with all living life. All life manifests in a harmonic balance.

In a sense, for us to say I am lesbian or gay or bi or hetero—the or or or is not really so. We all are androgynous, therefore we are all genders. Meaning that neither our masculine or feminine energy stands by itself. It is this very idea of being androgynous—of being whole—that frightens the Strict Father way of thinking. For in the GLBTQ community we are neither male nor female; we are whole beings.

For most of us sexual encounters are moments of spiritual understanding of higher self, Truth, and God. Our orgasms and meeting a lover are not based on a misunderstanding of our nature, but rather a releasing of our androgynous nature from a box. When we open that Pandora’s Box, many things are let loose.

To be freed from a dark box into the light is symbolic of consciousness awakening to its progenitor. When we open the door to our true identity we cannot step back into being male or female, we can only exist as a whole being, an androgynous being knowing itself, expressing in the image of the creator source of life. Our sexual appetites are not something we choose but rather the way in which our consciousness unfolds. Saying we can choose not to be harmonious and expressive of our androgynous nature is like saying we can choose the color of our skin or eyes. To be in the image of the progenitor is to be whole, complete, without beginning or end. The consciousness we call the progenitor manifests in infinite variety. We share the majority of our genes with all living life. All life manifests in a harmonic balance. And as the grass does not choose what kind of grass it is to be, so it is with humanity.

You are an artist creating your life with love. Art is a creation of love, sexual energy is a creator of art. All life is art, therefore love. To me, pride is not about being different, but rather about being whole and loving who I am.

From “Sexual Fluidity” by Suzanne Deakins, release date fall of 2017.

Suzanne Deakins, Ph.D. is a publisher (One Spirit Press and The Q Press) and author.

Her books may be found on amazon.com. She teaches seminars on straight thinking and ontology, as well as Radical Forgiveness. She maybe reached at theqpress@ gmail.com. Watch for her new blog site www.a.small.revolution2017.com will be available soon. pqmonthly.com PQMONTHLY.COM

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THEMUTTLEYCREW.COM JUNE 2017 • 37 13 JANUARY/FEBRUARY

HOROSCOPE

VOICES

Babes in Queerland By an Anonymous Queer Student

Hello, I am a high schooler, currently in the process of becoming an adult (I’m 18). I feel so grateful for this opportunity to get my voice published, because youth are so often silenced. To be honest youth are an oppressed marginalized group, but there is a massive lack of cognizance around this issue. Bottom line: kids are abused and taken advantage of by adults constantly, they have little autonomy over their own bodies, choices, or life, and are disrespected by adults all the time. I feel like I need to take this opportunity I have been given and this platform for youth perspectives to highlight this injustice.

I am queer and non-binary. I have lived in Portland my entire life, and literally all my friends are queer. I’d like to say we have a thriving population here. I can see so many of my friends and people in my community are seriously devoted to being good human beings and creating safe spaces for those who are marginalized, like ourselves. Many of us are disabled, mentally and/or physically. Lots of us are poor or broke. Many of us struggle with addiction. Many of us are survivors—of abuse, sexual assault, or rape. These key pieces of our identities are invisible in many cases, so us youths are seriously lacking in support from adults.

“

There really isn’t a way to justify pursuing young teens when you’re in your 20s.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to some disillusioning realizations. For instance, when I was younger, I’d say about 11–16, I thought that being with older people and experimenting with drugs made me and my friends more mature. That’s how the older people taking advantage of us justified it. Really we were just kids (smart and cool kids mind you). There really isn’t a way to justify pursuing young teens when you’re in your 20s. Now that me and a lot of my friends are the ages of a lot of those older people (16–22), I realize how unhealthy those dynamics are, and how significant those age gaps can be. There is this delayed trauma I’m seeing. Even if you think you’re consenting to things—like sex or drugs—with older people, the severity of those situations can really hit you later on. You start to see the ways you’ve been manipulated and damaged, and how many adults punished you for it or failed to support you.

“

This whole mess just makes us afraid to talk to adults when we are struggling.

I am very frustrated with my new found wisdoms. I wish more adults had educated me on these concepts from an early age. I think a lot of adults think that if you are a “good kid” (which most are) you don’t have issues, or they think it isn’t their place to talk to someone else’s kid. But we are not the property of our parents.

Support the young people in your life—they don’t have to be “yours.” This whole mess just makes us afraid to talk to adults when we are struggling. Especially in schools where there are zero tolerance policies around drugs, and teachers are required to report anything illegal to police (like statutory rape). Plus queer kids often don’t have trusting relationships with their parents. If you are in a position to support a young person, there is a good chance that you may be the only adult they can turn to.

In Oregon, where sex ed is actually more comprehensive than a lot of the country, it’s still failing Oregon youth. Growing up afab all my life I’ve heard, “You are too young to date.” I was always told never to get myself “knocked up.” Meanwhile, two-thirds of pregnant teens were impregnated by someone over the age of 20. I wonder who teaches kids and men not to have sex with youth when they’re in their 20s? I did not learn about statutory rape or consent from my teachers or parents.

In fact, in the media, among celebrities, and in my personal life, large age gaps are common. Adults need to wisen up if this cycle of trauma is going to end, and stop failing youth.

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POLITICS

Board Surfing

Now that we’ve elected three new members, what does a school board actually do?

By Marissa Yang Bertucci

Driving around Portland this May, you saw more school board campaign signs perched in front yards than November presidential election yard signs. Still, when pressed about the role of our new board members, many voters have a limited understanding of what board members actually have the power to do.

For instance, the special election on May 16th included a ballot measure to increase funding to Portland Public Schools by $790 million, notably to fix dire safety problems like lead in the water, unsafe levels of radon, and asbestos. At my school in Portland, without sufficient district funding to address asbestos, our (amazing!) custodial staff has been wandering the hallways, meticulously laying down duct tape where the floor tiles were loose and letting up asbestos. Just take a second to think about that. After lots of waffling and inaction, this bond had voters wondering: uh, what’s been up with the board on this?

The main critics of that bond said things like, “Yeah, we need that funding, but I don’t trust the PPS school board to manage the money effectively.” Thankfully, voters decided to pass the bond because the overwhelming need supersedes the potential downsides of minor mismanagement. But the skepticism is legit.

So what’s up with school boards...in general? A school board is an elected body tasked with establishing the vision for a school district; according to the National School Board Association, “The school board represents the public’s voice in public education, providing citizen governance for what the public schools need and what the community wants.”

Ideally, this means that the school board is listening to what the community thinks the students should be learning, figuring out policies that affect the structure of public education. They’re supposed to balance the needs of the community, district staff like teachers and principals, and students. The board hires the superintendent and is the final authority in district policy changes, like budgets, calendars, and curriculum. School board members are typically unpaid or paid very little.

The Jacksonville Time-Union reported that “less than 2 percent of all U.S. school districts pay board members more than $20,000.” In Los Angeles, board members are paid $24,000 a year, and in Chicago, Houston, and right here in Portland, Oregon, board members are unpaid volunteers.

Portland’s school board, a panel of seven elected for four-year terms, has been the subject of a fair amount of controversy lately. When we had five thousand snow days this past winter, who voted on how many additional days to tack onto the end of the school year? Board. When Portland Public Schools student activists rallied for a dress code that didn’t lopsidedly penalize girls and students of color, who ultimately approved the changes, resulting in one of the freest dress codes in the country? Board. In 2016, when amazing student of color activists from APANO argued that Portland Public School would see more academic buy-in and better graduation rates if they would honor the histories of communities of color with ethnic studies courses, who did they lobby? Who heard their testimonies and ultimately passed the resolution to mandate offering at least one ethnic studies course at each Portland high school? Board. Who sometimes disagrees so bitterly that the longest-standing PPS board member, Pam Knowles, announced she wouldn’t work with them anymore, saying that personal agendas and overstepping had created “a divisive environment that preys on fear, not trust or collaboration”? Board. Who must have known about shortcuts in health and safety maintenance for years and allowed

“

previous superintendents and district staff to let students drink from water fountains with ineffective filters? Board. Who can’t seem to hire a damn superintendent for next year? Booooaaaard.

Portland Public Schools’ board of education has certainly been through the wringer in the public eye with scandal after scandal. Scott Bailey, who just won his May 16th bid for PPS school board position from zone 5, offered this scathing critique of the PPS board’s weak track record for implementing policy changes successfully: “This is a district that too often thinks a PowerPoint is a plan.” In addition to Scott Bailey, we elected Rita Moore to zone 4, and Julia Brim-Edwards to zone 6.

Our best hope is that these candidates deliver on their promises to help right an unstable ship here in the district. On the horizon in Portland, notably, is a shift away from K-8 schools to allow for more room in K-5 schools and separate middle schools. Some K-8 schools have fewer than 100 students at the junior high level, so they just can’t offer the same richness of programming that 6–8th grade middle schools can, like band, ceramics, or multiple foreign languages.

Questions about redrawing boundaries to shift who has access to schools can be traced back to arguably the most influential mention of school boards in United States history: the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled that schools could not be segregated and that separate is hella not equal.

The school board in Topeka, Kansas at the time still allowed their elementary schools to be segregated in accordance with a Kansas law that allowed cities with populations over 15,000 the right to segregate schools.

Schools across the nation tried bussing their students across previous neighborhood lines, or redrawing those school lines altogether. But national trends in the 1980s saw schools were resegregating, often because those neighborhoods were segregated due to housing discrimination and other indirect but still quite racially-based forms of segregation. Indeed, Ronald Brownstein with the Atlantic cited a study that revealed, “[Three]-fourths of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics attend schools where a majority of the students qualify as lowincome.”

We see that in Portland big time—some schools that appear to have “desegregated” are only more multicultural because white families are gentrifying black families out of neighborhoods. A Seattle education think tank, the Center for Reinventing Public Education, found that black students in Portland were four times as likely as white students to attend a public school scoring in the city’s bottom 20% in math—only Miami and Seattle showed worse public school racial equity through that particular assessment.

Under previous superintendent Carole Smith’s guidance, in spring of 2016, the board started to consider boundary changes that would hopefully alleviate crowding and other equity concerns. Since then, several boundary changes have been approved, mostly to balance middle schools out. Time will tell us if these changes will benefit our students of color equitably.

Can a humble school board fix lead in the water, neighborhood resource imbalances, and racist test scores? It’s with great hope and trepidation that we welcome our school board of half-newbies on for what’s sure to be a wild ride.

Our best hope is that these candidates deliver on their promises to help right an unstable ship here in the district.

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LOCAL

Vanport Mosaic Festival

By Zeloszelos Marchandt

Vanport is becoming a household name again. On May 24th, Mayor Ted Wheeler and Portland City Council proclaimed May 30th to be the Vanport Day of Remembrance during a public signing attended by several former Vanport residents. Depending on who you talk to about Vanport, the descriptions vary widely between painting a picture of utopian integration between Whites and Blacks, to a derogatory ghetto designed to serve the needs of World War II industry. Many races and ethnicities of the financially poorer classes lived in the area that became Vanport. Families, couples, groups and individuals came to work the Kaiser Shipyards, and it was Kaiser who petitioned the federal government to build the largest federal housing project in the nation in order to accommodate the lack of housing for the company’s workers. On December 12, 1942, the project was finished.

It’s said that Vanport was built in 110 days, only to infamously wash away in a matter of hours because of a broken dyke during a spring flood.

Vanport, Oregon was quickly obfuscated under the then still-enforced red line laws in Oregon that barred Blacks from buying property outside assigned areas, and also under NYC consultant Robert Moses’s cosmopolitan plans to build freeways over neighborhoods so that more viable parts of a metropolitan area could be accessed easily. But Vanport has not been completely forgotten. It has lived on in the memories of its past residents and in the hearts of activists and historians who have dedicated an entire collective to remembering Vanport.

The Vanport Mosaic, co-founded and co-directed by Renee Mitchell, Laura Lo Forti and Damaris Web, is a labor of love that began in 2016 with the intent to preserve the legacy of Vanport. By supporting the voices of the ones who lived there and giving a platform to those in communities experiencing marginalization, the stories of resiliency, personhood and humanity can live on. The Vanport Mosaic Festival, which ran May 26–29, is a free fourday event exploring the history of Vanport through live theater, documentaries, exhibits, lectures and tours. The festival has already won awards. Last year it received the Oregon Heritage Award, the Spirit of Portland Award and the Columbia Watershed’s Leadership Award for its grassroots and groundbreaking efforts to bring Oregonians together through history.

This year’s festival featured several mixed media presentations and staged readings.

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One such reading was Gambatte Be Strong, by Chisao Hata and Nikki Nojima Louis, directed by Chisao Hata, featuring Jenna Yokoyama. It spoke to the experience of Japanese immigrants and Japanese American relationships to Vanport from Japantown to the Portland Livestock Exposition, and from WWII concentration camps to the Vanport flood. Each aspect of the reading begged us to remember how—for every immigrant in Oregon and beyond—the road is paved with complexity and courage. Also shown was an excerpt from Priced Out, a new documentary by Producer Cornelius Swart and Editor/ Co-Producer Eric Maxen that gives an investigative yet personal look at how skyrocketing housing prices displace Portland’s black community and reshape the city.

Other performances featured in the festival are American Summer Squash, by Don W. Glenn, directed by Joceyln Said; and Hercules Didn’t Wade in the Water, by Michael A. Jones, directed by Damaris Webb. Both of these new one act plays circle around aspects of the American Dream, displacement and Hurricane Katrina from the African American perspective. There is a curated post show conversation after the Sunday matinee, and a coordinating display at the Surge for Social Change exhibit. For those interested in seeing these plays, they are still being performed Friday, June 2 – Sunday, June 4 at 7 p.m. at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC), 5340 N Interstate Ave, Portland. Sliding scale, $5–25. Tickets are available online at www.vanportmosaic.org/festivalevents, or at the box office at IFCC. ALBINA HISTORICAL RECORDINGS STORY HARVEST If you lived in the Albina Neighborhood between 1950 and 1970, Vanport Mosaic would love to record your memories and digitize your photos for our ongoing oral history project.

To reserve a time slot to record, please call 971-319-0156, or email info@vanportmosaic. org.

Zeloszelos Marchandt is a multi-media creative living in the Portland metropolis, with a background in Interdisciplinary Studies. They are the Evening News Director for KBOO 90.7 FM, covering local, state, national and international news.

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CALENDAR LOCAL

VOICES

Love Is Love Is Love Is…

By Melanie Davis, PQ Monthly

On June 12th, 2016, the city of Orlando, Florida, the LGBTQ, and the Latinx community faced an unthinkable crisis when a domestic terrorist entered Pulse Nightclub, killed 49 patrons, and left dozens injured. The horrifying effects of the massacre were most strongly felt in Orlando’s Latino/Latinx and LGBTQ communities. The global news coverage that followed washed the identities of those lost that tragic evening, and most Queer media failed at the intersections of this tragedy by mainstreaming the coverage and adopting a savior mentality in the wake of the need of our Queer and Trans Communities of Color.

It’s been one year of mourning those lost in the largest massacre on US soil since Wounded Knee. Many of us, myself included, are still in shock.

In March of 2017 I had the opportunity to visit Pulse Night Club and pay my respects. It could be my empathic ways but I distinctly recall getting ready that evening, and it hit me. I began to imagine the steps our 49 angels took that night. I imagined Las Reginas (The Queens) applying makeup with Latina perfection, some Celia Cruz and Tinto Puentez playing in the background as the buzz of the evening started to set in…that was until till we arrived at the sight. I was pulled from my glittery thoughts as our bus arrived at Pulse Night Club. My eyes welled up as they set on a young man and his child reading inscriptions at what is now a memorial sight for our tragically fallen mariposas.

The child, with a puzzled look and questions wrapped up in his eyes, looked to his elder for answers, and his elder remained speechless.

Paralyzed with one question: “How do we even begin to explain…”

I know this is a question mass media continues to ask themselves. Some Queer media is trying to build better and more genuine relationships with its growing diversity.

But the answer is simple: TELL THE TRUTH. This massacre continues to greatly affect Queer and Trans People of Color in the Latinx communities. In speaking with Ricardo J. Negron-Almodovar, director of Proyecto Somos Orlando, he and I share the same fear for those who were directly affected being swept under the rug so the mainstream Orlando community and mainstream Gay community can feel they have been healed because “they did something.”

According to Terry DeCarlo, the Executive Director at GLBT Community Center of Central Florida, “The critical need JUNE 2017 18 42 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

for the Latinx community now are programs and services dedicated specifically to their community.”

In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, Hispanic Federation, through its Orlando office, joined forces with local Latino-led institutions to create Proyecto Somos Orlando as a campaign to coordinate the city’s Latino social services sector and raise awareness of the need to provide the victims and their families with high-quality, culturallycompetent assistance. These years following the tragedy must be a time of healing for our nation, but especially for victims and the families of the victims. Proyecto Somos Orlando continues to address the long-term needs for mental health services that are culturally competent and bilingual. Proyecto has enabled care to be delivered to those affected directly in the communities in which they live.

Beyond emergency assistance, they have been providing case management, crisis intervention, and mental health services, among other direct needs.

Since the Presidential campaign and election, diverse communities have come under major attack. Many hold our current Administration responsible for these hateful attacks, in part because of the misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, and transphobic rhetoric they have openly shared as core values in “making our country great again.”

They are pushing individuals and society to the breaking point; this is a horrific lesson living in “Grab’em by the Pussy” America.

May these angels be the guiding light of eternal love and grace: Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old Amanda L. Alvear, 25 years old Oscar A. Aracena Montero, 26 years old Rodolfo Ayala Ayala, 33 years old Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old Angel Candelario-Padro, 28 years old Juan Chavez Martinez, 25 years old Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old Cory James Connell, 21 years old Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández, 31 years old Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old

Peter Ommy Gonzalez Cruz, 22 years old Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old Frank Hernandez, 27 years old Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old Javier Jorge Reyes, 40 years old Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 years old Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old Brenda Marquez McCool, 49 years old Gilberto R. Silva Menendez, 25 years old Kimberly Jean Morris, 37 years old Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old Luis Omar Ocasio Capo, 20 years old Geraldo A. Ortiz Jimenez, 25 years old Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez, 27 years old Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado, 35 years old Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan, 24 years old Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24 years old Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez, 37 years old Luis Sergio Vielma, 22 years old Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez, 50 years old Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old …Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is Love Is May we never forget! pqmonthly.com PQMONTHLY.COM

PROUD QUEER

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NEWS

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LOCAL

Gender “X”

Testimony by Patch

In May 2017, state officials held public hearings on the topic of a DMV proposal that would introduce a third gender option, “X,” for licenses and identification cards.

According to local news sources, Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles officials say they have no opposition to this change. The proposal is expected to be approved by the Oregon Transportation Commission this month.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has released the following information on the DMV proposal: “ORS 807.110 states that a driver license will contain a brief description of the person for purposes of identification. In accordance with national standards, Oregon’s description has contained an indicator of the person’s sex, “M” for male or “F” for female. Within the past year, an Oregon circuit court issued an order stating that a particular individual’s sex is nonbinary. By policy, DMV has accepted court orders as proof of sex-change to change the sex designation of a person on a driver license, driver permit, identification card and DMV record.

However, DMV was unable to issue a card or capture in records an indicator that would signify nonbinary, as the computer system has no indicator for a third sex designation.

“Therefore, DMV started this rulemaking in conjunction with updating systems so that an “X” in the field for sex will indicate that the sex is not specified. DMV proposes to adopt OAR 735-062-0013 to explain what information is captured as a descriptor in DMV records, which of those descriptors appear on the front of the card, how that information is provided to DMV, and the process to change such information.”

“

entrapment or denial of commerce, because of gender discrimination. So we’re here today—you are here today—to change the history of this country by allowing more than the standard two binary options on state issued ID cards; you are here today to change the lives of people who do not have representation under the current system. While to some, this change may not seem very big—I assure you that it is; while this change may not save the world, it will without a doubt save the worlds of those who need it. Before I continue, I want to be absolutely clear here: I support OAR 735-062-0013. I also want to be clear that this change is not a stopping point; this change is not a signal that we are done—this is a signal that we must continue to strive for freedoms for those of us who do not have full representation. This is a very important point that must not be lost on anyone: the addition of an “X” marker to signify “unspecified” is not full representation; the option to opt out, with no option to opt in—is still discriminatory.

“As I said previously: I am here to speak to you about visibility, but to be more specific I am here to beseech you, to understand that it behooves you to not only allow all people to opt out of gender identification on state issued ID cards—it behooves you to allow all people to opt into gender

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The addition of an ‘X’ marker to signify ‘unspecified’ is not full representation; the option to opt out, with no option to opt in— is still discriminatory.

Patch, a Portland local, shared the following testimony at the second of two public hearings in May: “Firstly, I want to thank you all for being here today. I understand that being here today is a part of your jobs, but you ultimately still have the choice of whether or not you show up, you do the work, you help us as a community move forward towards better things. I also understand that it can be difficult to be the first at something, just as you—if you move forward with this change—will be the first to grant a freedom to Americans that they have never had before in the history of our country. How do I know that it can be difficult? Because I am Patch; I am the first person, in the 231 year history since this country declared its independence, to be legally recognized as Agender. While I will admit that my steps to make this legal change for myself were just that—for myself—being in the public eye was never my intent. But I also understand its importance, and by you being here today I hope that it means you also understand the importance of visibility. It is this very thing which I wish to speak to you about today: visibility.

“As it stands, DMVs across the nation force those who do not fit into binary genders—and even some who do—to either falsify information on government paperwork (which is a crime), or not have access to state issued driver’s licenses, permits, or identification cards. And let’s be honest, not having a state issued ID doesn’t merely make life more difficult—it can literally deny a person access to employment and state benefits. In other words: the current standard practice is either pqmonthly.com PQMONTHLY.COM

identification on state issued ID cards; it behooves you to be the first people in the history of America, to go forward with this rule change—and continue forward in adding more gender identity markers on state issued ID cards. Having said that, I want to address a concern that is commonly raised in regards to adding gender identification options which have previously never been afforded to Americans. The argument in question is: other state, federal, and international departments and services, along with private businesses, may not currently be equipped to handle additional gender identification markers.

To this concern, my response is intentionally simple: it is not your job to do other people’s jobs. That is to say, you currently sit in a position of privilege where you are afforded the ability to afford other people freedoms—and it behooves you to not allow others to stop you from doing so.

“By taking this step of implementing OAR 735062-0013, and the next steps in allowing for full representation of American citizens, human beings, you allow us—those who are afforded representation by these changes—to move forward and address the other facets of our system which do not currently allow us full representation. To put that as simply as possible: your job is to afford American citizens full representation on state issued ID cards—we will take care of the rest. I want to sincerely thank you for your time and attention, as I understand how valuable they are, and—I hope that you understand how valuable the people you are able to help are, as well.”

Patch is a videogame writer and ludonarrative designer living in Portland, OR. JUNE 2017 • 45 21 JANUARY/FEBRUARY

LOCAL

Vice Clique An Old-Fashioned Gay Sex Scandal

By Robin Will, Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN)

Who can resist a good sex scandal? In November of 1912, The Portland News was selling extra editions on the street, with stories of queer sex and suicide at the YMCA. In the months that followed, 68 men were eventually implicated—in the crime of consensual sex. The Oregon Journal called the group “The Vice Clique.” Historian George Painter documents the events and their repercussions in his book, The Vice Clique: Portland’s Great Sex Scandal, self-published in December 2013.

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Here’s the background. 1912 was an election year, and, for neither the first nor the last time in Portland, one of the campaign issues was vice. An assiduous “volunteer investigator” heard from an elevator boy about somebody at the YMCA who didn’t seem quite right, and turned the name over to police. Then, a 14-year-old boy arrested for shoplifting inexplicably offered the defense that he had been sexually corrupted by several men, and included the guy at the YMCA when he started naming names. Police paid a visit to the Y, and one of the men they questioned attempted suicide by poison. The Portland News was all over it.

The News’ coverage was barely factual, as George Painter discovered when he started digging through police records, trial transcripts, and accounts from competing newspapers. He follows the lives—pre- and post-scandal— of the men who were charged or investigated, as well as the cops, the judges, the lawyers, and even the members of the Oregon Supreme Court at the time. Painter also examines the legal legacies of this uproar, which included a law that allowed for neutering of undesirables in Oregon until its repeal in 1983.

A summary is impossible, but a few points are worth mentioning in a brief review. First, the prejudice and closed-mindedness is jarring even to someone who was expecting it. We have, indeed, come a long way since 1912 in Oregon.

Second, there are some chuckles to be found among the police documents and explicit trial transcripts that Painter cites. There was naïveté expressed in court about what was anatomically possible between men, and Judge Gantenbein’s convoluted logic in pronouncing it all unnatural is laughable from this distance, although thinking of it as law is scary. Furthermore, in the mindset of 1912, apparently there was no such thing as consensual gay sex: there were only perpetrators and “boy victims.” A boy victim in one crime could become a perpetrator elsewhere, if his subsequent “victim” was younger.

Third, politicians, do-gooders and police rose

to the occasion—and used the scandal to increase the state’s power and influence. As a direct result of the Vice Clique scandal, the definition of sodomy was ludicrously broadened, and the maximum penalty tripled from 5 to 15 years. That law stood until 1971. A eugenics-andsterilization bill, which had been submitted every year since 1907, also gained traction in 1913. The rationale was, for the good of society, to keep undesirable elements from breeding, although how this might apply to homosexuals was unclear. The 1913 bill was defeated by referendum, but the legislature brought it back unchallenged in 1917, giving the state broad powers to sterilize the “feebleminded,” sexual perverts and moral degenerates—including those convicted of sodomy. The last man was sterilized under that law in 1951; the last forced sterilization of any kind happened in Oregon in 1981, and the 1917 statute wasn’t repealed until 1983.

Fourth, it’s clear that Portland had a substantial and visible population of gay men 100 years ago, in spite of everything. Painter’s book depicts an active and social gay community with known cruising spots and at least one gay bar/nightclub as a gathering place: the men’s dining room at the Louvre Restaurant.

Finally—and here’s the part that’s interesting— things turned out less horribly than one might expect. Only one of the “Portland 68” went to prison; another had his sentence overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court. Two others served time in the county jail. Some men took the opportunity to leave town. Others were investigated but never charged. And although certainly lives were changed and careers were derailed, many of the men implicated in the scandal remained in Portland and spent the rest of their lives here. Perhaps this was an early indication of the more gay-tolerant tradition that we enjoy today.

This story was originally published by PQ in March 2014.

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