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  Scene from the stage production of 'Arias with a Twist' The dream of the 80s is alive in Joey Arias, or so it seems from the waxing nostalgic at the beginning of Arias with a Twist:The Docufantasy, Q Doc’s opening night documentary that follows Arias in his latest performance, a collaboration with classically trained puppeteer Basil Twist.
The first 20 minutes of interviews with Arias’ 80s hipster pals is tender, and I certainly sympathize with the sadness over the commodification of performance art, queerness and weirdness that has come about with the likes of Lady Gaga etc. Indeed, Joey Arias was already a brilliant Gaga-esque diva before Stephanie Germanotta was a glint in her parents eyes.
But as cute and tender as it is, it starts to get a bit tiresome. Luckily, the film moves on pretty quickly to its introduction of collaborator Basil Twist.
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 Twitter was all abuzz yesterday with with the news that Mayor Sam Adams has issued a press release proposing trans-inclusive health care coverage for city employees (well, that and the the Stumptown Coffee sellout). Some called him an “idiot” while others backed him up  saying that if supporting fairness made you an idiot they’d gladly be one.
You can read the entire statement below:
This week, Mayor Sam Adams is filing an ordinance for City Council on June 8 that would add trans-inclusive health care benefits, including sexual reassignment surgery, to one of the plans offered to City of Portland employees. The American Medical Association (AMA) has identified transgender health care as being medically necessary. In 2008, the AMA passed a resolution supporting public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder and opposing the “exclusions of coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder when prescribed by a physician.”
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  Joey Arias appearing in 'Arias with a Twist' QDoc, the only Queer Documentary Film Festival in the US starts in P-Town this Thursday. For its 5th anniversary the fest will feature 11 screenings and an opening party with opening night film star and drag and performance art sensation Joey Arias accompanied by local musical genius Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini. After seeing opening film Arias with a Twist I can safely say that you don’t want to miss Arias in the flesh. And in addition to the live performances the Mother’s Bistro (212 SW Stark) party will also have delicious, complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages.
Just Out has a great overview of the fest, including an interview with Joey Arias and a check-in with the organizers. We’ll have reviews of most films posted daily as well as an interview with former Hole drummer Patty Schemel, who’s film Hit So Hard screens Friday.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Equity Foundation, QDoc is offering 20 FREE tickets for EACH QDoc film for youth ages 23 and under. Youth can reserve FREE tickets in advance by emailing QDocYouth@gmail.com. Also, a limited number of FREE youth tickets will be available at the door for each film on a last-minute basis.
You can also get an idea of what to expect from QDoc’s 2011 trailer.
So stay tuned and check out the entire lineup below:
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  Meldoy Awesomazing stands above the crowd According to Ernesto Dominguez of Cascade AIDS Project, over 4,000 people braved the the grey and misty Sunday night May 29th, 2011, to hold hands on the Hawthorne Bridge. Active community member Melody Awesomazing caught photos of the swarm of love and support that was held in order to show solidarity for 2 men beaten for holding hands in a hate crime more than a week ago.
A few spoke before the crowd walked across the bridge on both sides, holding hands. Brad Forkner, one of teh 2 vistims in the attack was one, saying, “This is not the first time I have feared for my safety or my life and, sadly, I don’t expect it to be the last. What I want to talk about is a much larger cultural issue we have with making different people feel like they’re worth less than normal people, as if there is such a thing as ‘normal.’ In this instance, it was because we are gay.”
After Forkner’s speech, Basic Rights Oregon Executive Director Jeana Frazzini took to the stage, thanking Forkner and Rosevear (the other victim) for their courage and inviting the crowd to take part in a display of love and affection.
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May proved another great Blow Pony and photo snapper extraordinaire Melody Awesomazing once again caught a lot of awesomeness with her camera. Here’s just a taste of the outfits, the joy and the wonderful nastiness of the Blo Po crew.
You can view the complete set on the photos page.
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  Host Poison Waters poses with a swimsuit model Poison Waters hosted and DJ Chris Cox spun tunes as hot models strutted their stuff down Barracuda’s catwalk as a fundraiser for the Portland AIDSwalk. And lucky for us who want to ogle the men and women in beachwear (as well as fighting AIDS, of course) Garbero Photography was there to catch all the action and have been gracious enough to let us post the photos here.
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  Double Duchess perform Saturday at Blow Pony Thursday
Not Enough! benefit dance party – Last Thursday becoming a bit too tame and straight and bridge and tunnel for you? It’s our chance to queer it back up while raising some funds for Not Enough! and having a gay ol’ time.
AIDS Walk kickoff party and Swimwear fashion show –
Prom Night at the Cafeteria – Creator DJ Lunch Lady promises to a spiked punch bowl and a pregnancy scare at this wonderful reimagining of the high school night you never had (even if you did go, was it really all you dreamed?). Double bonus for not fearing expulsion and for me to use one of my favorite phrases, “I’m off like a prom dress.”
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  Max Voltage playing the violin Local music and performance maven Max Voltage, one of the minds behind the brilliant and uber gay performance series Homomentum and Homo’s Got Talent is now looking to create a queer music series. In an open letter to the community on Facebook yesterday, s/he called for contributors and volunteers. I’ve reposted the request below:
Dear Community,
I have produced queer events in Portland, OR for 10 years now. Mostly I have focused on drag/dance/cabaret shows, because I’ve always had an affinity for creating space for radical queer art-forms that don’t have a stage. I am also a life-long musician (have played violin classically since I was 5), and recently, I have had the opportunity to play, tour and collaborate with some fucking fabulous queer musicians. I’ve also begun helping book/promote/produce queer music shows in Portland, including the recent Rae Spoon/Tender Forever show, which was amazing & a really positive experience.
My next project brings together all these passions of mine… music and creating space for radical queer art: F-holes: a queer music series.
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  Yesterday Mayor Sam Adams released a statement concerning Sunday’s bias crime against 2 men holding hands:
“On Sunday evening, May 22, two men were attacked by several suspects as they walked, holding hands, from the Hawthorne Bridge on the trail to the East Bank Esplanade, on the east end of the bridge. The victims were pushed, and hit in the head, face, back and ribs. The suspects ran away after one of the victims broke away and called 911. Portland Police detectives have interviewed both victims, and a Portland Police Bias Crime Detective has been assigned to this case. Full details on the case can be found at PortlandPolice.com.
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  Photo by Dan Ostergren from the "Holding hands in solidarity" Facebook page This is the first I’m hearing of this story, but I feel it is important for the community to know, so I’m going to leave it up to the great reporting of Just Out‘s Erin Rook to detail the events on an attack on two gay men this past Sunday night. You cab read more on the Just Out website.
Brad Forkner, 23, and Christopher Rosevear, 25, were walking across the Hawthorne Bridge hand-in-hand after taking in an evening show at Darcelle’s Sunday, May 22, when they were assaulted by three men, Forkner says.
Bias crimes detective Kevin Warren said officers responded to an assault near the Eastbank Esplanade that night around 8:35 p.m. He could not confirm that the incident was being treated as a bias crime because he had not yet interviewed the victims. According to Forkner, however, officers at the scene said the circumstances suggested a bias crime.
“They deemed it a bias crime seeing how the men followed us for so long, nothing was stolen, and there seemed to be no other provocation than Christopher and I holding hands,” Forkner said. He added that the alleged attackers were yelling at them during the assault, but they couldn’t make out what the men were saying — Rosevear thought they could have been speaking another language, such as Russian.
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