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Zachary Quinto comes out publicly on his blog

Zachary Quinto knows that hipster glasses work for gays and straights alike.

National Coming Out Day may be over but it’s never too late to come out of the closet. So kudos to Zachary Quinto who my fellow nerds probably know either as Spock from the recent Star Trek movie or bad guy Silar from TV’s Heroes.

Quinto has been one of those many celebrities that don’t seem to be particularly closeted, but never acknowledge their homosexuality publicly, nor confirm when a direct question is asked. But Quinto decided it was important to come out announced his new openness about being gay on his own blog, saying,

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Video from La Pump’s performance at Electrogals

If you missed last week’s Electrogals conference this video won’t cover it. But at least you can get a taste by seeing video of La Pump‘s Saturday night performance of “Magnet.”


More drama for Lincoln City’s Iris Pride

Iris Pride in Lincoln City, Oregon

The Superhero themed LGBTQ Pride celebration Iris Pride in Lincoln City is the only one the Oregon coast and they need your help. They sent the following letter yesterday about residents unhappy with the city sponsorship:

Hello friends and family,

Our Sept 2011 Annual Iris Pride Festival in Lincoln City, on the fabulous Oregon Coast is over and the controversy has begun. A small group of people have become very verbal about the City of Lincoln City sponsoring this GLBT event. They want the city support to stop and are even implying the city officials be removed from their positions. Unfortunately, via letters to the editor in The News Guard (the local newspaper) as well as appearances in City Council meetings, this group in opposition of our Pride is pretty much the only one being heard from at this time.

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Get your raunchy comedy, your Rebel Grrl and your Sass Patrol ready for a weekend of the old and the new, the Bent and the blue

Claw vs. Claw plays Saturday at the 1 year anniversary of Rebel Girl

Don’t forget Electrogals, which continues all week. And check out an interview with founder Heather Perkins from earlier in the week.

Thursday

Fist: Electro queer night – New dance night at a new venue. And we like new and different don’t we? Jams from DJ Hookerface so be prepared. This is an electro night and Hooker and I used to rave a decade ago so shit’s gonna be real, and hella danceable.

Smutty Clown open mic – Here in P-Town we like to make everything dirty. So naturally, we already had dirty poetry, now we need dirty comedy. I’m a huge fan of the innuendo myself, as anyone who has spent time with me after 5 o’clock can tell you. I also appreciate sexy comedians. So who knows what to expect from those signing up but it’s hosted by Whitney Streed and Sterling Clark (basically the template they used for Portlandia‘s “…all the hot girls wear glasses… line) so you know it’ll be off to a good start.

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DJ of the Week — Mr Charming

DJ Mr Charming. Ginger Girl Photography / Amy LaBree Ferrell

Every week 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. If you’re interested in being featured contact alley@qpdx.com.

Gaycation is one of the longest running queer nights. It happens this Saturday at Holocene, and has been, for the past 5 and a half years. It’s a damn good night at one of the most interesting music clubs and still as fresh and fun as it always was. At it’s helm is Mr Charming aka Mary McAllister, who knows how to throw a good party, as most of my 20s can attest to. And this Saturday is her birthday, so you know she’s gonna bring it.

She has also come to be a friend of mine, the beginning of which I will mark with a special random video ending for those of you who stick it out through the post. It has nothing to do with anything, other than it’s October and therefore Haunted House time. So let’s view it as something of an outtake circa 2008.

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National Coming Out Day links

I believe at this point you’re pretty well aware that this blog is gay, I’m gay, Portland loves a gay gay gay. But Happy National Coming Out Day nevertheless. I’ve had other posting priorities but now that the day is here I have some guilt about not mentioning it at all, so here are some links.

Just Out‘s Guide to local Coming Out Day events – Today may be the actual day, but there are celebrations of outness all week long, so if you just can’t handle being flaming enough on a Tuesday, and I have a feeling I might be one of those people, feel free to save the glitterbombing for the weekend.

Join the #CountMeOut campaign – We all know that the most important place to come out is Facebook, ok, maybe Twitter, so the Huffington Post has some very helpful hints on how to gayify your profile pictures, along with their usual heartfelt commentary. Instructions below! (And not their official Facebook page but another local FB-related resource).

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Interview with ‘Electrogals: Gals Gone Wired’ conference founder Heather Perkins

Heather Perkins among her many instruments

This week a celebration of women in Electronic Music and Art, Electrogals: Gals Gone Wired has already begun. This long running concert series focused on bringing more attention to the scarcity of women in electronic music was started by Heather Perkins over 15 years ago while she studied electronic music at Mills College and is now a staple in the Portland electro scene. We were able to nab her from her busy conference schedule to answer some questions about the festival below. You can visit their website for info on all the participating performers and check out the full schedule in the events calendar.

qPDX: How and why did you get started with Electrogals? Do you have a mission statement or publicly stated goal?

Heather Perkins: Electrogals started in 1995 at Mills College, where I was studying Electronic Music. Although Mills is a women’s college, the grad program is co-ed, and I was surprised at how few women there were. The faculty – also mostly male – would even remark on the imbalance, and ask me for ideas on how to rectify it. And although the guys in our program were all pretty great one on one, in class there was still the pervasive culture where the guys did most of the talking and got most of the critique time for their work. So I put on a concert featuring all female composers. The title “Electrogals” was kind of a light-hearted way to seriously address the imbalance. We were active and presented our work as a group, instead of passively sitting there by ourselves and not being heard. It was also a great show, and a lot of fun.

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Transgender Awareness Month art show looking for submissions

Ally Picard, local photographer (Bloodhound Photography), nail artist (Nailed by Ally), and previous qPDX contributor has probably caught you giving your best Zoolander stare at some club night you can’t remember but had the best time at. Her work is both fun and insightful. And now she’s been given the reigns to curate an art show for the Q Center this November.

November is Transgender Awareness Month so the community […]


PLGFF film review: ‘Tomboy’

'Tomboy'

Narratives about those crossing the gender spectrum, in whatever capacity, are just beginning to enter mainstream culture. I often find myself wanting to see more well-rounded, and dare I say happy portrayals of non-gender conforming people on screen. Tomboy, a French film by Director Céline Sciamma, does not paint a wholly a rosy picture, but it does portray the young child protagonist with compassion and sincerity.

Ten year old Laure is mistaken for a boy when she moves to a new town over summer break. She embraces it fully, going by the name Michael, taking her shirt off, and even fashioning a makeshift packy out of Play-Doh. The film delves into the parentless world of children on summer vacation very well. The kids are fully fleshed out characters that are quite adorable and smart, even as they are still juvenile and innocent.

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Soccer hottie Hope Solo poses nude for the ESPN body issue (photos AND video)

Hope Solo poses nude for the ESPN Magazine Body issue out today

I may not be much of a sports buff, but when jock ladies are actually in the buff that’s a while different matter. And actually I’m riding the wave of women’s soccer enthusiasm too, just because we kick so much ass. So I may be a sports fan yet. It certainly helps when America’s favorite (lesbian, though not officially out I suppose, though I get so tired of the distinction when they’re really pretty much out) goalie, Hope Solo, poses naked for ESPN.

Solo is one of 22 athletes featured in ESPN The Magazine’s third-annual Body Issue, on stands today. She is currently in the spotlight on two fronts,  starting goal keeper for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team and current competitor in this season’s Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Who do we root for? Chaz or Hope?! Oh, the important questions in life. Well, the shallow part in me definitely says Hope after seeing these shots…

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