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  Patty Schemel's 'Hit so Hard' screens Thursday This 5th edition of Siren Nation, a celebration of women in music, art, and film and takes over many venues throughout this weekend. They’ve had some great music acts over the years, including a Team Dresch reunion that was not to be missed. This year the fun begins with an epic looking art show at the Albina Press opening Thursday. It features over 40 local artists including the fabulous Alicia Rose and occasional qPDX photo contributor Anna Campbell. Tunes from DJ Safi will set the stage for the weekend at this all ages event.
This year also has a much more robust film portion in comparison to former years, kicking off with Hit So Hard: The Life and Near Death of Patty Schemel. It’s the perfect combo to exemplify the fest encompassing both music and film. When it premiered in Portland at QDOC last June we not only reviewed the film but interviewed the former Hole drummer. So go ahead and read or even listen to audio of Patty Schemel talking Hit So Hard to get excited because Schemel herself, along with producer Christina Soletti will be live and in person to for a special Q&A after the Thursday screening. And visit the SN site for previews and trailers of the rest of the incredible lineup including animation from local Laika studios and several films premiering in PDX for the first time.
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  All 31 2011 LGBT History Month icons We didn’t highlight the day-by-day entries of Equality Forum’s LGBT Hisotry Month featured icons. But now that the month is over you can peruse the entire list yourself which included such diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans leaders as Lady Gaga, Dan Choi and Constance McMillan.
You also now have the opportunity to add your two cents on who should be a part of this list. Less celesbians, more ancient Greeks? It’s partially up to you because Equality Forum is accepting nominations for LGBT History Month 2012 Icons. Nominations should be submitted via e-mail to nominations@equalityforum.com by Friday, December 16, 2011.
Some more info:
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  Zombie cheerleaders are a perfect outfit for 'Haunted Cafeteria' and more proof that Halloween is the gayest holiday Thursday
Haunted Cafeteria – School daze goes spooky so have your dead cheerleader costumes and Carrie style pigs blood ready for this party that has it’s little neighborhood venue bursting at the seems every month. And the man behind it all? Well, that would be our DJ of the Week, your adorable LunchLady.
Friday
Wicked Awesome cover bands party – This half dance party half cover band show is truly going to be epic. You can read all about it in yesterday’s interview with creator Freddie Fagula.
Q Center & Crush present Mas-Q-Rade – Perhaps more of a gentile or at least community feel to Halloween in the oh-so-swanky-dark tomb of Crush. They always have interesting drink specials so it will be interesting to see what they come up with for Halloween. I’m expecting smoke.
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  Wicked Awesome's Freddie Fagula There’s plenty of gay Halloween happenings this weekend but one of the most different and fun is Friday’s Wicked Awesome. This 2 level party features costumed dancing upstairs and a host of amazing cover bands downstairs. Even the music is in the spirit of dressing in disguise! But it’s still awesome, wicked awesome, because it mixes the skills of our local talent with the fun of past pop songs, and brings together those who like to dance with those who just like to listen. So basically, it’s the Halloween party for everybody. I had an amazing time last year as well as at it’s similar predecessor All Homo’s Eve. So read the interview with organizer Freddie Fagula below to find out what all the fuss is about and I’ll see you Friday. Because you’ll regret it if you don’t go.
qPDX: What gave you the idea of a Halloween party centered around cover bands?
Freddie Fagula: Olympia! Halloween cover bands show every year at the Capital Theater. So fun. All the punks and the queers and hipsters together. I moved here and had some lack-luster Halloweens in Portland and decided that was what was missing. Wicked Awesome is gay-er, but has a lot of the same spirit.
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  Adoption Mosaic, a Portland-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting the adoption community, announces the launch of an LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning) parent support group for prospective and current adoptive parents.
LGBTQ Community Creating and Sustaining Families is awarded a $5000 mini grant through the collaboration of AdoptUSKids and the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC). The grant funds the creation of new parent support groups for LGBTQ individuals considering and creating family through adoption.
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  Blow Pony in the summer of 2010 Our little queer community of Blow Pony organizers, DJs/performers, attendees and others have gotten into a big row this week, and many have been asking me to comment. Truthfully, forming a a clear opinion has been rough. I’m very much still in process about it all, but I do think it is important to address here, so I’m going to start a community conversation. I think it is also important and ok, to admit to having mixed feelings and/or evolve your opinion and I am open to discussion and refutation of my points. I may even change my mind! But I will also acknowledge my process. But this is not about me. It’s about all of us, so mostly I just want to continue the discussion. I want you, as the reader, to feel like this is a safe space to discuss and learn.
In case you haven’t been following some community members voiced concerns that Blow Pony was using the term “tranny.” Many trans and other folks consider this derogatory and there followed a heated argument about who has the right to use it, if anyone does, and who can “reclaim” it, if anyone can.
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  Little Tommy Bang Bang during a Halloween of less hard times? Friday
SugarTown outfit October – So there’s your actual Halloween costume, and then there’s just the Halloween theme itself. You can dress a pumpkin, your house or yourself but this party is a chance to bring out your worst Halloween brooch as much as that ugly Christmas sweater party is. This party is mostly about soul music, a welcome break from dancey pop, but it’s also about fashionable expression. DJ Action Slacks embodies that and the desire to match her enthusiasm for the music, the fashion, the dancing the party inspires me, and I suspect all the ST attendees, into creating an incredibly fun queer night.
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  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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  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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  Thursdays march stretched nearly the entire circuitous route from the Waterfront to pioneer square. Photo by Allison Johnson qPDX contributor Nicole McDonald was part of last Thursday’s Occupy Portland beginnings. These are some of her thoughts and pictures experiencing one of the country’s largest “Wall Street protests.”
Thursday’s Occupy Portland protest and rally was one of the largest Occupy Wall Street protests in the nation with a count of around 5,000 people. I was one of the 5,000 people in attendance at the rally and march because I consider myself to be one of the 99%. I chose to protest because last year I applied for over 200 jobs and it took me seven months to get hired at a job that was more than 6 hours a week. I also chose to protest because although I want to go back to school and finish my college degree, I can’t really afford it and am not sure if getting a degree will pay off in today’s economy. The future looks scary for many people that I know. I have several friends and family members who have been laid off of their jobs or feel unable to leave their current positions because of the economic situation. In Portland especially I think people have been hit really hard with all of these things.
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