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  SlutWalk Portland Organizers! If you’ve been reading qPDX or any other local news website lately, you’ve been hearing a lot about the Portland SlutWalk. You may have read my article in which I bashed back against Jack Donovan’s critique of SlutWalk as a “lesbian parade” for “fat” “whores” and “feminists who are embarrassing themselves”. You may have been handed a flyer for slutwalk, the pre-party, or the decompression/after party, along with a smile by one of SlutWalk’s principal organizers: Ryan Basille, Sterling Clark, Sophia St. James. You may have heard some of the backstory – namely that SlutWalk was founded in response to a police officer in Canada doling out nuanced and socially aware advice to trainees, such as: “If women want to avoid being raped, they shouldn’t dress like sluts”. You may have heard that SlutWalk itself as gone through permit, funding, and personnel difficulties, only to triumph, like we knew it would. It’s coming. It’s almost here. And what are you going to wear? This Sunday, July 31st, SW 4th and Jefferson (Terry Shrunk Plaza), 1pm.
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  The infamous Lady Bunny performs Friday at Red Cap Thursday
Sugar Town queer soul night – Rotture’s soul night has become a staple in Portland nightlife both gay and straight. But as with many popular nights the douchebags inevitably catch on, and it can be even worse at a “straight” night. I’m not sure if this happened to the beloved soul night, but it was time for us to have our own anyway (Pansy Soul is great but Sloan’s is more for hanging out than dancing). Anyway, all of this to say I’m more than a little excited that one of the best dressed butchies I have ever seen, DJ Action Slacks, will lead us all in a little soulful 70s love starting this Thursday, and hopefully forever more. It’s free but donations for Q Patrol are welcomed.
Cafeteria turns 1 – Oh my god Freshman year is over! Now we can give swirlies to all the new queer club nights in town. And guest DJ Girlfriends will be spinnin’ in your parents’ back yard (i.e. the Vendetta patio) ’til 11, just like at the popular kids’ parties. We’ve made it folks. Sophomore year is gonna rule.
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  Jack "Macho Slut" Donovan slings mud at SlutWalk, qPDX, women everywhere but he can still manage a sneer An editorial note:
Right wing homosexual blogger Jack Donovan (otherwise known as Jack Malebranche) has spent a lot of his summer trying to discredit women who believe that suggestive attire does not invite rape. His histrionic rants are so blatantly misogynistic I’m tempted not to even address them. But he calls out Portland, he calls out individuals that have contributed to qPDX, and he calls out qPDX itself, so how can I not?
What strikes me most is his need to consistently ridicule the efforts of self-identified sluts across the US and Canada, even creating a new blog dedicated entirely to cataloging the Slutwalks. He proclaims how useless these efforts are, claiming they wouldn’t benefit the “average woman,” (as if there were such a thing) while simultaneously spending his entire Saturday making “WhOregon” t-shirts. My instinct as a blogger tells me that spending a lot of time railing against the “useless” is particularly useful in increasing his page views.
He equates not being taken seriously with rape, but between assault and a bit of mockery, I’ll take the latter. Most of us have learned to deflect hate speech, though that doesn’t afford physical safety. Even I have, on occasion, laughed at the ass crack bearing plumber, but it would sound absurd to suggest that he should have some something hard and painful shoved up his nether regions for the crime of bearing skin. So, of course, I won’t do that.
What I will say is that not everyone’s standards of beauty match Donovan’s, and all kinds of people experience sexual violence.
I will say that Portland, and any other city, is entitled to have as many parades for “lesbians,” “sluts,” “women,” and any other group, as we want.
I will acknowledge that though our writing is not always perfect, our efforts are sincere. And our ability to call each other out and yet work together again in the future may be seen as a weakness, but it is also one of our greatest strengths.
And I will give space in this blog to hear from my colleague, Perry Eising, as well as you, the reader, and my whole, diverse queer community, of which even Donovan is, for better or worse, a part.
-Alley
Perry says please note: the following opinions are mine except where indicated.
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 Vegan cheese from Heidi Ho Organics
I’ve applauded the effort of the newly formed Market Q, a community farmer’s market on busy Mississippi Ave lovingly presented by the Q Center, Ali Williams and the LGBT community. Whether because of the cool, rainy summer (I have yet to see tomatoes in my yard or in my neighborhood) the produce offerings have been slim, but the prepared food delicious. […]
  Cat Fancy performs Saturday at Fat Fancy Thursday
Reclaiming Pink a short performance by Max Voltage – The co-creator of Homomentum and Homo’s Got Talent hasn’t been heard from all summer (oh my god so long!), but Max is back with a free performance that is part of the JAW Playwrights Festival. This journey through gender and back again is sure to be the colorful and expressive performance we’ve come to expect from Voltage and I’m particularly excited to see how the Men’s restroom plays out as a stage for the piece. It continues throughout the weekend so make sure you spare a half hour somewhere along the way.
Friday
Mantrap@RedCap – Fridays at Red Cap just got a lot better with the introduction of current It Boys DJ Lunchlady and photographer Wayne Bund. Surprise performances round out the part. This week it’s Sweat/Shine and Devan McGrath, making any guy’s dream team.
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  Gaycation's Mr Charming performing at Booty back in the day...i comes full circle in the inner SE gay strip... Thursday
Don’t forget to keep your eyes in Latino Gay Pride all weekend long!
Friday
Poison Waters & friends happy hour show – Good ol’ fashioned drag divaliciousness in the relaxed atmosphere of Al’s Den at the new Crystal Hotel.
Jelly Roll – This is billed as a party for fat folkes and allies but I think it’s going to be much more than that. I hear that one of the best dressed backup dancers I’ve ever seen, Melody Awesomazing, will be performing. I can’t think of a better way to start of a weekend of chub empowerment than with her glitter facial hair and neon stockings.
Chicka–Boom–Boom – Records by ladies, spun by ladies. More info from Lyska earlier in the week.
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  Another weekend, another reason to be proud in the PacNW. Portland Pride may have been nearly a month ago now but the breakout celebrations continue. This weekend, La Lucha‘s Latino Gay Pride takes over the town with a culmination on Sunday at the Eastbank Esplanade Waterfront.
The fun starts tonight with an Voz Alta: Amor Indocumentado (Undocumented Love), an evening of music and poetry with Edna Vazquez and Joaquin Lopez (details below) and continues with dance parties both Friday and Saturday night. TGIF is the official La Lucha dance party and opener at Boxxes, while Saturday is dedicated to the chicas with a dance party across the river at Crush.
But the main event is Sunday’s epic fiesta, which lasts from noon to 9pm. There’s a host of fabulous DJs and performers such as ChiChi and Chonga the latina stoner satire duo that has has risen to drag stardom in an instant this year at 4. At 6 Under U 4 Men takes the stage and the thought of cholos in chonies makes me weak in the knees.
COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
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 DJ Freddie Fagula will be spinning at the Common Ground on Wednesday, July 13th
DJ Freddie Fagula (Do The Dark, Fruitcake, Dirtbag, and about a trillion more, busy boy) is adding a fabulous new opportunity to their DJ roster. Trans Night at Common Ground is the new venture, with Freddie spinning Hip Hop, Rn’B, underground disco and soul as part of Trans & Allies night.
Gyms and […]
  Seattle's LA Kendall will make a PDX appearance Friday at Bent Thursday
Sweet Tea – Sounds like the perfect summer refresher for those St Johns gays.
Dirtbag! – Your stellar dance party with the Smiths happy ending (is that an oxymoron?) takes up residence at my favorite Alberta dive once again.
Friday
Bent with special guests – Lifepartner will be at the decks along with Seattle superstar LA Kendall who rocks not just the dance floor but the business end, booking successful parties and performers alike. She’s also a producer/performer in her own right as one half of electro-pop-raptresses Luxury A.K. Bent is always a good time but this one will be a night to remember (or, perhaps, forget…).
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  Our little neighbor to the north really isn’t so little anymore, and it’s a pretty decent place to be a gay person, even if they did recently lose their only gay bar (hey, we lost our only lesbian bar). This weekend Vancouver, Washington celebrates their Gay Pride with Saturday in the Park.
A decidedly different approach than the debaucherous Prides of most cities, VanWa’s celebration begins with “Lyle’s Miles” 5k run and bills itself as the only family friendly Gay Pride celebration in existence. The annual charity walk/run goes through downtown Vancouver to raise money for Cascade AIDS Project, Martha’s Pantry and Global Partners for Development. The non-competitive walk/run event starts at 8:30am and is open to all.
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