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  Update: The CC Chamber of Commerce has officially stated that this was spam email. There have been discussions about this statement (make of that what you will) and you can read the entire announcement at the bottom of this post.
For all the ups and downs of my hometown Vancouver, Washington and its Clark County, from being named one of the most gayest cities to being made fun of in a Portlandia spoof called Vancouvria, I never would have expected emails as homophobic as these that circulated last night at the Clark County Chamber of Commerce. (Guess they won’t be promoting our Holiday Gift Guide, local as it may be).
Apparently, they were not meant for the general public, but that doesn’t negate their inherent discrimination. Change.org has additional information and a petition you can sign demanding an apology.
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 Stop AIDS in Prison Act In honor of World AIDS Day last Thursday, Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer (one of 33 cosponsors) participated in the reintroduction of the “Stop AIDS in Prison Act”. The bill was originally introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA). Previously, this bill was passed by the House by voice vote; however the Senate lacked to complete the bill prior to adjournment.
“The Stop AIDS in Prison Act will help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among prison inmates, encourage them to take personal responsibility for their health, and reduce the risk that they will transmit HIV/AIDS to other people in the community following their release from prison,” Waters stated in a press release last week.
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  "Building community one friend at a time"  Gay & Grey Portland’s Gay & Grey program recently announced that on December 7th Mya Chamberlin (Friendly House Director of services) will be speaking in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) LGBTQ Elder Housing Summit. This summit brings together advocates from across the country who are dedicated to establishing safe housing for the LGBTQ elder community.
The summit will be webcasted via the HUD website.
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  World AIDS Day 12/1/ 2011 Thursday, December 1rst, marks the 23rd annual World AIDS Day. This year will be the 30th anniversary of the first documented case of AIDS. World AIDS Day recognizes the 25 million people whom lost their lives due to the HIV and AIDS virus. Currently, there are about 33 million individuals living with the HIV virus. A recent landmark study showed that healthy people on antiretrovirals, can limit the transmission of the virus by 96%.
President Obama along with George W. Bush will be speaking at an event hosted by the ONE campaign, for a program called “The Beginning of the End of AIDS.” The LIVE broadcast (10am EST-Thursday) will also include a panel discussion with Bill Clinton, Alicia Keys, Bono and more. On a more local scale, The Equality Foundation and Pride Foundation are partnering up to support the Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon (PPSO) initiative- this will provide free HIV testing for low income LGBTQ youth. These tests will be administered by PPSO staff at the following health centers: Florence and Cottage Grove (Lane Co.), Ashland and Medford (Jackson Co.), and Grants Pass in Josephine county.
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  For those of you who are not up to date, we are about 3 weeks into Trans Awareness Month. Sunday, November 20th, Portland is recognizing Trans Day of Remembrance. This day is to commemorate those who were victims of transgendered related hate crimes.
Rita Hester was murdered on November 28th, 1998. Her murder started the “Remembering Our Dead” project, which in turn started the Trans Day of Remembrance. According to the TDOR website, more than one person per month, over the last decade, and eight people this year alone, have died due to transgender-based hate.
To help spread awareness, PSU’s Queer Resource Center is having an annual free vigil event. There will be a day of workshops and a march to honor Trans Day of Remembrance.
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  Dan Savage Gay rights activist and sex columnist Dan Savage, after being glitter bombed at the University of Oregon earlier this month, was yet again showered with sparkles in response to using transphobic language in his Savage Love column and on stage. This story has taken quite a few turns.
The Bilerico first reported the incident on November 14th, an article which Savage blogged, “actively and maliciously misrepresented” his remarks. On November 9th, Savage, who is on a tour of Universities for his upcoming MTV series, was speaking to an audience at the University of California Irvine. On his blog, Savage explains that he was answering a question from an audience member about her boyfriend who, in her words, “likes watching shemale porn.” In his response, Savage was reported to have used to problematic terms, “shemale” and “freaky tranny porn,” while also confirming that yes, the boyfriend in question was a freak. Savage has fired back to the allegations claiming, “I did say ‘shemale.’ I read the question as-written, repeated the term in my response, and then used ‘transsexual’ in place of ‘shemale’…modeling the use of less offensive terms.” He added, “I never used the phrase ‘freaky tranny porn.’ I never said the word ‘tranny’ at UCI at all.”He does admit to calling the boyfriend “a very freaky boy,” but apparently did not mean it negatively as he and his column are “pro-freak.”
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 Basic Rights Oregon announced early yesterday morning that they will not be putting the legalization of gay marriage on the ballot for the 2012 general election. During the month of October, television ads were ran in support for the initiative. However, the Oregon equality advocates stated that there is just not enough of a majority to risk such a costly campaign. BRO has been advised since the beginning of the Marriage Equality effort to not move forward in 2012 without a solid chance of victory. After an online poll, which resulted in more than a 1,000 respondents, BRO stated that the increasing support for the freedom to marry will only get better in the next two years.
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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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  Iris Pride in Lincoln City, Oregon The Superhero themed LGBTQ Pride celebration Iris Pride in Lincoln City is the only one the Oregon coast and they need your help. They sent the following letter yesterday about residents unhappy with the city sponsorship:
Hello friends and family,
Our Sept 2011 Annual Iris Pride Festival in Lincoln City, on the fabulous Oregon Coast is over and the controversy has begun. A small group of people have become very verbal about the City of Lincoln City sponsoring this GLBT event. They want the city support to stop and are even implying the city officials be removed from their positions. Unfortunately, via letters to the editor in The News Guard (the local newspaper) as well as appearances in City Council meetings, this group in opposition of our Pride is pretty much the only one being heard from at this time.
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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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