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  Bear Bear Bust ! Photo by Wayne Bund for JustOut BearTown 16 is here! June 9th to 12th Portland will be packed with bears and beary events. While not a bear myself (but as a follically powerful individual I do sympathize with feeling empowered about hairyness) I was excited to hear that Beartown this year will feature massage therapists! Well damn. If that isn’t the best idea I’ve heard in a while, as big time gay social events can be a bit tension inducing.
Apparently, however, you gotta be smart and reserve a massage slot in order to make the best of this great offer – at $1 a minute with a 15 minute minimum, it sounds like a fairly affordable treat (and probably more satisfying than other pay-by-the-minute services i can think of). BearTown this year has a packed schedule full of events such as the Meet and Greet on Thursday, June 9th, from 7-11 pm at the Eagle Portland, and a full day of events from 10-2:00 am at various locations around town. Friday’s highlights include an UnderBear dance party, a cigar social, and Cheers, Cheese and Chocolates event at the Local Lounge.
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As we mentioned here a few weeks ago, rugby star and noted ally Ben Cohen recently hung up his boots, deciding to focus on his new anti-homophobia and anti-bullying initiative, the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation.
Cohen is kick starting his project by touring the US, and on Thursday he’ll be here in Portland! He’ll be at Niketown (at SW 6th and Salmon) from 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm.
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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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  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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 For LGBT people, holding hands in public can be a safety issue If you’re in town this Sunday, consider heading to the Hawthorne bridge at 7:30 pm. In response to the attack that took place against two men who were walking across the bridge holding hands last Sunday, community members are organizing a chain handholding walk across the bridge in order to “show solidarity with those who were attacked last sunday for holding hands while crossing the Hawthorne Bridge”.
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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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  Pride season is summatime, the season of short shorts and no more teachers, dirty looks. But colleges and universities love a queer too, so they start the season off early. And PSU’s week of LGBT Pride starts tomorrow with Dawn of the Day of the Living Queer. It has quite the lineup, (including li’l ol’ me with a tiny pile of last year’s stickers). It’s supposed to be a sunny and beautiful day in the park blocks from 4-9p as Tender Forever, play/start, NO/HO/MO and more take the stage.
I just recently saw Tender Forever, aka Melanie Valera, kill it at Saratoga. With a new album and all over her emo-electro charisma, Valera is sincere and swoon-worthy. Even I was charmed by her slight French accent as she convinced the audience to catch her crowd surfing. And I did see someone filming my favorite performance trick of hers, controlling the beats with a pair of WiiMotes, but they disappeared before I could commandeer the recording for the site. (But I have another chance, and with better light!)
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  Barbara McCullough-Jones Q Center is pleased to announce the selection of Barbara McCullough-Jones as the organization’s next Executive Director. Barbara was chosen through a national search and she brings more than 20 years of executive nonprofit experience to Q Center.
Barbara was the executive director of the LGBTQ Community Center in San Jose, California, was a founding member of the LGBTQ Center in Phoenix, Arizona and also founded the Lesbian Resource Project in Tempe, Arizona. Barbara served as President of the Association of United Way Agencies and represented more than 1,400 businesses during her time there. Recently, Barbara served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Centers (Center Link).
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  Pride in Action award winners Belinda Carroll (L) and Joe LeBlanc Each year Pride NW gives out 3 awards just prior to Pride season, “Spirit of Pride” Award, Youth Award (22 years old or younger) and the “Pride In Action” Award (for volunteer work in service to the community), in addition to the Grand Marshall honor, which this year goes to La Lucha: Portland Latino Gay Pride.
This year’s Spirit of Pride award goes to former Q Center board member Bob Speltz, for some largely unrecognized behind the scenes work. According to Pride NW President Debra Porta, “As one of the original founders of the Q Center, Portland’s LGBTQ community center, Bob has been instrumental in bringing Portland’s LGBTQ community together in ways that had not happened before, and giving us a home to call our own.”
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