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 You wouldn't believe how tough it is to find pictures of famous fashionable fat men... This month’s video podcast features plus size fashion shop Fat Fancy and the trend is quickly taking hold of the Rose City. But men, dykes, and masculine identified individuals of all sorts are also getting into the fashion game. And though there is some men’s duds at the FF plus sized gentlemen still have few options besides the big and tall section of the Men’s Warehouse.
This Thursday begins concocting the remedy with the Husky Clothing Swap / Bear Bowl at Interstate Lanes (6049 North Interstate Ave) starting at 6:30pm.
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 …with tales from the dark side of dating. It’s Not Me, It’s You takes place tonight at the Bagdad Theater (3702 SE Hawthorne) and celebrates all that is awkward, bad and downright shameful about dating. An antidote for the upcoming V-Day or a reason to be grateful for your perfect little love muffin, these storytellers have some real tales to spin. And they are all devastastingly true. Even better, I make a brief appearance in one. Let’s see if you can guess which…
We’ve all had them: dates that go terribly awry. An evening of personal stories told live onstage, unscripted, just telling you the painful truth. You’ll leave either feeling grateful for your current relationship or with the realization that being single isn’t so bad after all.
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 Q Center located at 4115 N Mississippi Ave. Photo by Ashley Bedford In last week’s Conversations form the Gayborhood, we chatted with the executive director of the Q Center, Kendall Clawson, about the Winter Gala (which was a huge, glittery success!). This week, we switch gears from the details of the annual party to the details of the daily grind at the Q, as well as Clawson’s experience meeting President Obama.
Show of hands: How many of you have actually been to the Q Center? And walking by it on Mississippi in route to the bar does not count. I’m talking about been inside—checked out books from the library, or attended bingo, cabaret or one of their multiple discussion groups. In the twenty-something generation that I am proud to be a member of, the general reaction seems to be: Wait, what? They have bingo nights?! (Yes, and better yet, it’s drag bingo!)
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Vandalized LGBTQA offices with the swastika carpet removed by police
Oh man, this is a sad state of affairs. The LGBTQ Alliance space on a liberal campus with a thriving queer community in a hippie town in a liberal state has been vandalized by spraying enormous black swastikas on the floor and on computer gear, the Oregonian reports. No signs of forced entry to the office space have […]
 Photo by Ashley Bedford After interviewing Kendall Clawson about the details of the 2nd annual Q Center Winter Gala, I just had to go check out the event myself. My girlfriend and I scrounged our closet and multiple thrifts stores in efforts to find outfits suitable to wear to a black tie affair. It was a daunting task considering my part of the closet consists mostly of converse and tattered t-shirts, but it all worked out nicely in the end and we enjoyed an exceptional night out on the town. Take a peak into the event with our Winter Gala photo gallery. (All photos taken by Ashley Bedford).
Was it all it was cracked up to be? Basically! Everything was gorgeous, and yes, extremely glittery. The 6th floor of the Nines hotel was packed with fabulous looking, borderline-celebrity queers and political figures, all who had jazzy cocktails in hand. The VIP room (which I tried to sneak into but was reminded by my virtuous girlfriend that that wasn’t the best idea) looked abuzz and downright fun.
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 Photo by Ashley Bedford Kendall Clawson, executive director of the Q center, has been referred to as Gay-prah—aka the gay Oprah—by Portland gossip extraordinaire Byron Beck. After meeting her myself in her cozy corner office at the Q, I am compelled to second that notion….to an extent.
Without a doubt, she radiates an Oprah-esque charisma, resolve and allure. But the conceitedness and ostentation? It just doesn’t exist in Clawson, whose primary concern is the LGBT community, not her own self-interest. The minute I met her, I suspected I would spend the next hour of my time doing two things: laughing and learning. And I wasn’t let down.
My chat with Clawson was so rich with info that I’ve divided the interview into two parts. This week, Clawson talks with me about the Winter Gala (pronounced GAY-la for this occasion), her favorite Portland personalities, and which character she would date from the L word.
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 Phil Busse In March, the Northwest Institute for Social Change is hosting a 10-week long program that will teach LGBTQ teens how to produce short, professional-quality films. They are looking for interested students.
Participating teens will attend media literacy and media production seminars, and then take those skills to the streets to produce a professional-quality short film that address stereotypes—whether that is a serious-minded documentary about a local civic leader or a funny narrative about a gay superhero. You can see some of these past projects and hear about teen experiences in NWISC blog.
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 Please support our brothers and sisters in Haiti! After Pat Robertson degraded himself even further by referring to Haitians as being “cursed” after entering a “pact with the devil” responses are pouring forth in support of Haiti and in opposition to religious wankers like Pat Robertson.
Also, many websites and organizations are offering opportunities to donate money and support Haitian rescue efforts, some of them local, and some of them LGBTQ specific. Please donate – these people need our help.A massive 7.2 earthquake has virtually destroyed Haiti, leaving thousands dead and missing.
Here are some ways you can donate money to aid organizations operating in Haiti.
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 The interdisciplinary academic arena that is Women’s Studies, Gender Studies or Sexuality Studies is one that is rife with opposing opinions. Indeed, that is one of its great strengths and great frustrations. I attended Smith College in the early aughts and what to call this specific department was contonually under debate, even though the decision to keep it Women’s Studies (because we had to keep the “We study women in a major way” button tradition alive..) and to focus on spotlighting the “fairer sex” had already been “decided.”
Now our local public university, Portland State, is having that discussion as well. This Thursday 21st (tomorrow) the PSU WST Dept is holding a meeting from 7:-9 pm in Smith Memorial room 296 to discuss the possibility of changing the department’s name to reflect changes both internally in the program, and externally in the field as a whole.
Here is some of the discussion so far:
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 Perry v. Schwarzenegger Federal Trial news resources January is a slow month for queer news in PDX, but there is a lot happening on the national level, with the Perry v. Schwarzenegger federal trial going down which may set the stage for queer rights and queer activism for the next, oh, decade at least, if not more, and providing a touchpoint for gay marriage in the US. Kristin Perry (left in photo) and Sandra Steir’s (onthe right) relationship and lack of recognition therof is at the heart of this lawsuit which may become gay America’s Roe v. Wade.
With me hanging out in Germany, my old stomping ground, and Al busy keeping the home fires burning we don’t have the gaymo-power to cover the trial, but we do have a list of news resources for you so you can stay up to date. Enjoy.
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