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Vegas in Space… Drag queens make glamorous aliens!

Queens... keeping the galaxy safe from boredom.

I knew it. Somewhere, deep in the solar system, is a planet where only women can gaycation. Well, mostly drag queens really, but that’s better in my opinion. In 1991, the famous San Francisco drag queen, Doris Fish, released a really low budget movie called, Vegas in Space. She’d been scraping money together for eight years before she could actualize her dream. The best part? Vegas in Space is based on a party she threw.

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SlutWalk Portland – Now sponsored by qPDX.com. July 31st.

From Slut Walk Dallas
From Slut Walk Dallas

What are some sex positive words for women? (I couldn't think of any either)

How do you feel about the term slut? Don’t like it? (why?) Whore? Bitch? Ho? Loose woman, even? When was the last time you heard the statement “he had it coming” or “she was dressed like a slut” in response to another person getting raped? When was the last time you considered a man who was sexually assaulted less of a victim because he’s not a woman?
SlutWalk is a loud and proud FUCK YOU to all of those who support pro-shame, anti-healthy-sex, pro-rape. And we need you. You’re monogamous, in a long term relationship? You have a couple of lovers? You do sex work? You’re male-indentified? You’;re shy? You’re a gay man who doesn’t interact much with women? Doesn’t matter. If you believe sex is fun and pleasure is good for you, and that rape won’t end until rapists stop raping, you need to come to SlutWalk. July 31st. 1pm. Park Blocks. Be there.

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BearTown 16 to maul Portland June 9th-12th

Bear Bear Bust
Bear Bear Bust

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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The Ethical Butcher presents Summer Beats & Bacon

Portland tickets are almost out so better move fast.

Summer Beats & Bacon is an evening for bacon connoisseurs, fiends and fans alike. It’s been over a year since the BCN/PDX Fridays! launch party, the last bacon tasting held as part of the Bacon Gospel. This latest round introduces four all new flavors bursting with summer fruit and berries, floral blooms, the heat you’ve been craving through winter’s dreary days and one flavor chosen by BCN/PDX Fridays! members to be their favorite flavor over the last year of monthly bacon fairy visits.

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QDoc Sunday film review: ‘Put This on the Map’

Put This on the Map is a documentary featuring 26 different LGBTQ youth living in East King County.  In the film the youth speak about what it means to be LGBTQ and discuss both gender expression and sexual orientation.  One of the things I enjoyed most about the film was that youth from across the LGBTQ spectrum were included.  We get to hear from youth that identify as trans, gender queer, bisexual, lesbian and gay.  They talk about their experiences with bullying, their families, coming out, school, friends, their relationships, and their hopes for the future.

The film offers good basic information but is a little too after school special-esque.  It doesn’t really delve into any specific topic as the experiences of so many youth are touched on.

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QDoc Saturday Film Review – I Am

I am is filmmaker Sonali Gulati’s coming out letter to her mother.  Eleven years after her mother’s death, Sonali explores the possibilities of how her mother might have reacted to her sexuality by returning to her childhood home in New Delhi and gathering the coming out stories of Indian queers and their parents.

Some might think a film of coming out stories from a country which only decriminalized homosexuality in 2009 would be intolerably grim.  But the film includes many heartfelt interviews with Indian parents philosophizing on parental acceptance, the meaning of unconditional love and the process of letting your children become who they are. Some of these parents showed real bravery to stick by their kids and to change their own expectations.  They’ve challenged the expectations of their extended families and a society that is very focused on heterosexual marriage.  Many are clearly still struggling with it, but there is a lot of love in this film.

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QDoc Saturday Film Review – On These Shoulders We Stand

Last night I took a friend who was visiting from New York to the airport.  We got in a great philosophical conversation about whether gay rights are the inevitable result of a free society.  At this point in history, it’s possible to view gay marriage and other advances as “just a matter of time”.  The truth is there are people who faced police brutality, unemployment, societal rejection, and death to make this conversation even possible.  There are people who still face these horrors, but that’s another film…

On These Shoulders We Stand puts us across the living room from a fabulous cross-section of the activists of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.  There’s Ivy Bottini, founder and president of NOW New York.  She was sacked when the term “Lesbian Menace” was coined.

There’s Dale Reynolds, the Hollywood leading man who founded Gay Actors RAP to fight homophobia in the film industry.  Then there’s Reverend Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church who helped organize the first Pride Parade in L.A. a year after Stonewall.

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QDoc Saturday film review: ‘The Adonis Factor’

It's hard to be pretty when being pretty makes you hard.

The Adonis Factor, a film by Christopher Hines, is a look into the objectification and beautification inherent in the gay male world. Hines also brought us the movie, The Butch Factor. Both films discuss social and personal roles and image in gay culture. However, The Adonis Factor focuses more on beauty and image expectation.

I love queer documentary. I forget how narrow my perspective can be as a lesbian, and I’m always thrilled to find new beautiful pathways, and dark alleys in which to peek. I do kind of feel, that when I opened the door on this documentary, all that stood before me were boring pant suits. The emotional standpoint attempts to create empathy towards muscle ridden gay men, and remind us all that “beauty is a curse”. I can understand that breaking your back to reach a social expectation is grueling, but I’m not so sure sitting and watching an entire documentary on this one issue is eye opening.

I found the perspective narrow. Midway through, I got a sense that these men felt their pressure to work out and starve themselves was exclusive to them. There was an attitude that maybe straight people and other queer communities don’t have it quite as rough with pressure to be perfect. I did find some of the interviews to be interesting, but I couldn’t help that “I’ll give you something to cry about” feeling welling up inside me like an angry demon ready to devastate some carbs.

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Interview with Hole drummer and ‘Hit So Hard’ subject Patty Schemel

Patty Schemel

I won’t say that I’m always particularly verbally eloquent but I was a little aghast at my rambling questions posed to Hole drummer and subject of QDoc Friday night film Hit So Hard Patty Schemel. I wasn’t necessarily nervous, but I can’t deny that Hole’s 1994 album Live Through This was second only to Team Dresch as the most played tape on my Freshman year walkman. And despite any verbosity on my part it was great to hear Schemel’s take on the documentary, and I’ve included the uncut audio below, in addition to the written interview. For a brush up on the film you can read the earlier post reviewing Hit So Hard.

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qPDX: How was it coming out publicly as a musician in the 90s? Any contrast to being out personally?

Patty: I didn’t have any concerns about it. I was out with my peers and in my band. In my band it was a safe place to do that.

q: Any public backlash?

P: None that I knew about. It was a good experience. I got a lot of kids that would say thanks for coming out.

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QDoc Friday film review: ‘The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye’

Nothing says I love you, like surgically adopting your lover's face.

The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye is a film by Marie Losier chronicling the relationship of Genesis P-Orridge and his wife Lady Jaye. Genesis took part in forming Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, and kickstarting the industrial movement. Lady Jaye was his love and collaborator. Epic romance and art were among their accomplishments… so was looking alike. Man, if you think you and your partner are codependent, check these two out! They met in a fetish dungeon, and spent years having plastic surgery to look more like one another. Basically, their one-ification was their gay baby.

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