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 Glory daze: Just some of the folks who have been a part qPDX over the years [Note: All of this content is old. Even this hiatus post. I am keeping this online as an historical reference and for anyone looking for information on queer Portland from the aughts and early teens. Keep on the lookout for more projects from the creator, that’s me, Alley Hector.]
I just noticed that qPDX is approaching its 2000th post. I’ve been dedicating my time and effort to serving Portland’s queer community for almost 7 years now with this project in its various forms and I’m proud of what it has done. So it is with both sadness and celebration that I announce a new chapter in how I will serve Portland’s queer community, as well as an indefinite hiatus for qPDX.
The local LGBT media landscape is constantly changing and I applaud all the efforts of various projects over the years. Though it has gone through many changes in its 30 years of publication Just Out has been a constant. We were all shocked to see it fold so quickly last December and equally surprised when it announced a resurrection under new management/ownership. After much soul searching I have decided to become a part of this new team as the Editor-in-chief of the new Just Out.
Lending my voice to this platform was an opportunity I could not pass up. My first priority has always been to serve and engage our communities and I believe this is the best way I can accomplish that. Though I will not have the autonomy that I have had with qPDX I am confident that our emerging team will put together thought-provoking articles and media from our diverse perspectives. Reader input is also always welcome.
Our goal is to keep the legacy of JO alive and draw on its rich history while taking the publication in a new direction that better fits with how we consume media and what our audience wants out of a local newsmagazine. This will begin to take shape over the course of the next weeks as we aim for a pre-Pride launch.
In the meantime, I will continue to maintain the events calendar on qPDX until JO has a fully functioning system, because I wouldn’t want you all to miss out on anything! Lyska and I will also continue to podcast with a loose schedule so that we continue to improve our patter and don’t lose sight of local subjects as we transition to JO as well.
This will certainly be an adventure and I hope you all see this as a positive step forward. The heart of qPDX is not going anywhere and I’m sure you’ll see some contributors continue on with this new project. On that note I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me and qPDX in the past including contributing writers, photographers and everyone who has marched with us at Pride or otherwise pitched in. I would also like to thank Perry Eising, who has been both SuperGay and a partner in crime, and who contributed much to the running of the site for the year when we first went independent in 2009. And thank you all for being readers or organizers of events, activism and other things we’ve covered during our run. Your work has made mine possible.
 Sorry we’ve been away for awhile folks. Working on this transition to Just Out. That’s why this podcast appears in both places. Keep listening and we’ll let you know when we have a regular weekly schedule again.
This episode we talk with author and educator Allison Moon, author of a sci fi lesbian werewolf romance Lunatic Fringe. She has a reading tonight at In Other Words and a reading and drinking event called Lit! with a great lineup tomorrow, so don’t miss either.
We then rope her in to talking with us about the Mars Hill vandalism blowup, the primary election (especially the mayoral race), and the upcoming queer documentary film festival QDoc. Plus I get excited about judging Homo’s Got Talent, especially getting to meet filmmaker David Weissman.
Oh, and I don’t think Lyska makes fun of me at all!
When Rachel Kramer Bussel was in Portland last year, she had a serendipitous experience at Powell’s Book Store.
She was at the end of putting together the book Best Sex Writing 2012: The State of Today’s Sexual Culture [Cleis Press], which she edits, and most of the pieces were already finalized. But as she was walking around she saw and bought a copy of Ms. Magazine, because of the article, Sex, Lies and Hush Moneyby Katherine Spillar. Bussel ended up getting the rights to the article, which for her was perfect since she was looking for a piece that touched on politics to round out the book.
 Rachel Kramer Bussel “I try to read a lot, but I don’t always see everything,” Bussel said. “So this was a great opportunity for me. I don’t think it’s something you can do when you are just shopping online because you don’t browse a newsstand in that way. It was only because I was standing in front of this magazine. So I’m extra excited to go back to Powell’s.”
Bussel, who is a New York-based author, editor, blogger and event organizer, will be back in Pdx to kick off her West Coast book tour for Best Sex Writing 2012 at Powell’s April 6 at 7:30PM. The event will include a reading and discussion with contributors Tim Elhajj (author of Dopefiend, contributor to Guernica), Kevin Sampsell (author of A Common Pornography) and Lidia Yuknavitch (author of The Chronology of Water). And there will be free cupcakes.
The book is a collection of nonfiction spanning from journalistic pieces such as Camille Dodero’s Village Voice article “Guys Who Like Fat Chicks” to Amber Dawn’s personal essay, “To All the Butches I Loved Between 1995 and 2005: An Open Letter about Selling Sex, Selling Out and Soldiering On.”
What it isn’t, though, is erotica. And a lot of Bussel’s readers are surprised that the anthology isn’t necessarily getting them off.
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 Every week (or so…) we introduce you to a local LGBTQ party DJ and ask them about their experiences in the scene and feature an audio mix they’ve made. You might think this week’s is late but it’s actually for a party next weekend, so we’re a little early. Stay tuned for updates.
Wam Bam Ashleyanne is not a local DJ but PDX kinda has a little thing going with our Bay area neighbor if you know what I mean. And we’re excited to have her guest appearing at the next installment of popular newish queer soul night Sugar Town. Despite some bumps in the road and yet another new venue queer folks are excited about a dance night with an alternative to pop music and the soulful spinning of resident DJ Action Slacks is just the ticket for getting a dance party out of the gay doldrums.
 DJ Wam Bam Ashleyanne When and how did you get started DJing?
I started spinning records at dance nights in London in early 2009. I had been painstakingly over-crafting mixtapes and CDs for over thirteen years at that point, and I knew that I wanted to start playing mixes live at parties, and make a connection to more people through the music that I cared about the most. A dear friend of mine had been casually playing American soul and folk records for dance nights and gigs around London and Norwich, and I approached her to teach me her magical ways around a mixer. She showed me how to bring me and my records to life, and DJing felt like such a proactive pathway to engage with my musical obsessions on. Shortly after I moved back stateside, I began DJing regularly at several all-vinyl soul nights around the bay area, and later that year, I was also chosen to broadcast my own music review show on the public station, KALX 90.7FM.
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 All the events you don’t want to miss in Portland’s gay weekend. […]
Paul Martinson, the man arrested for the hate crime against two gay men in downtown Portland last week, has responded to the allegations against him.
Paul Martinson
Martinson, 39, was charged with assaulting and intimidating Kiah Lawson, 22, and his boyfriend Sam Smith, 21, near Silverado the night of March 14. Martinson was also charged with vandalizing Smith’s car. But Martinson said he did not attack the […]
 Though I have an entire category dedicated to geeky things not limited to sci fi, technology, comics, video games etc, I don’t get to cover it nearly enough. This is a shame since I’m a pretty out nerd myself. So today I just want to clue you in to two bits of gay gamer news and up the geek cred of this site.
Mass Effect 3's Commander Shepard Firstly, a new choose your own adventure called Mass Effect 3, has given the player both homo and hetero love options for the main character Commander Shepard, including a kiss in a nightclub and a topless bedroom scene. You can check them both out below.
The game’s developers told Kotaku that it’s not a political statement, but as part of a role playing game, it makes sense for gamers to choose their character’s sexual orientation.
Ray Muzyka co-founder of Mass Effect studio BioWare, also said, “We let players take on a role and really immerse themselves on how they feel they want to be playing the game. Be true to that. Be true to your ideal of a game of choice.” Fellow BioWare founder Greg Zeschuk added, “If there’s a political bent to it, it’s very Libertarian. It’s like… yeah, we make the choices available. You decide what you want to do. We’re not pushing any particular direction with most of our stuff.”
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Two men were assaulted in downtown Portland last week in what the Portland Police Bureau is treating as a hate crime. […]
Re-posted from The National Center for Transgender Equality
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently unveiled a webpage featuring information and advice for transgender travelers going through airport security. TSA’s advice, while not comprehensive, covers a few important points:
Travelers should make sure that the gender provided when they book their flight matches the gender designation on the government-issued ID they bring to the airport. TSA Travel Document Checkers […]
 
There seems to be a renaissance among lesbian comedy and it’s an exciting time to see ladies up on stage making us laugh from the big names like Ellen Degeneres taking over JC Penny ad campaigns or locals consistently making it happen in P-Town such as Belinda Carroll. The latter will be opening for the hilarious Dana Goldberg when she comes to town Sunday March 25th at the Star Theater, in a show sponsored by Inferno/Hotflash Dances.. And you and a guest could see her for FREE if you’re clever enough to come up with a comment that convinces me you deserve the tickets.
But first, a little more about Dana. As the youngest child in a single parent household run by a Jewish mother in which two out of three kids are gay, she focuses many of her routines on her family including a great bit about the correlation between lactose intolerance and gayness. But one of my favorite lines questions why lesbians can walk about without gloves and have it not be considered indecent exposure.
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