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  Openly gay athletes are few and far between, especially in the highest levels of competition. Thanks to small-mindedness and discrimination, we queer folks have been systematically discouraged from participating in athletics. The number of openly gay professional athletes in America can literally be counted on one hand.
Three Pacifc Northwest teenagers are looking to change the queer-athletic landscape by launching a blog devoted to discussing their lives as gay high school athletes. Outsports.com recently published a coming out letter written by one of the kids to his parents.This letter (and its posting on a public website), and the blog that is to follow, are remarkable in that they come from an athlete who is so young, especially given that when elite gay athletes do come out, it is generally after they have retired.At least one of these kids fully plans on continuing his athletic career at the Division 1 college level. The fact that he doesn’t see being openly gay as any sort of impediment to his goals is a sign that our culture is changing, at least in our corner of the country, slowly but surely, one athlete at a time.
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  'Coal to Diamonds' book jacket Dynamic and always on the move, southern chanteuse Beth Ditto has a lot more to her story than just music — as if that wasn’t enough. So the buzz has begun over her much-anticipated memoir, Coal to Diamonds, even though a release date has still not been set.
Hipster dyke novelist Michelle Tea, author of occasionally shocking but sincere stories such Rent Girl, or the seminal San Francisco dyke manifesto Valencia, is helping her craft the tome. This should be an interesting mix. Gregarious but very down to earth, Ditto is usually pretty straightforward in the way she communicates, using her southern drawl to tell it like it is. Tea, on the other hand, is free and frisky as any fiction writer with her adjectives, describing details in a way that the boisterous Ditto might merely proclaim.
It is also going to solidify its readers as queer bohemian feminists with just an edge of cool. Successful in targeting an audience, it remains to be seen if reviewers will take a sort of grown up riot grrl aesthetic seriously. My hope is that they will. The rambunctious ’90s teenagers have grown into sophisticated artists with a keen third wave feminist perspective that definitely could use a little more notice and critical acclaim.
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  Best Pride backup crew! Photo by Diana Edwards So it’s been quite a week of reliving 2010. Truthfully I’m a little burned out. But before you shed all your summer skin and head into the depths of 2011 fresh and new here are a few last looks back at some of the “best” random sh** of the year…
Most asked question
What time is the dyke march? (A wink and a nod to the amusing insights of Katey Pants).
Best LGBT quote of the year
“You know if I could go back in time, I would lez it up 24 hours. Believe me, one thing I would not miss? Balls. Terrible little things.”
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 Clockwise from left: Saturn, Sally Ingus Wilder, Bulimianne Rhapsody and Kaj-Anne Pepper at Blow Pony
This what what caught your eye or sparked heated debate on these very pages in 2010.
5 – Hot gay boys do Katy Perry’s “California Girls.”
Gay version of the biggest pop hit of the summer went viral. So hot it melted your popsicle.
4 – Aden Jaric jailed after Miss Thing […]
  E Room/Weird Bar owner Kim Davis. Photo by Jamie Francis / The Oregonian Portland is a very homo-aware town but we are still small, and news travels fast. Here’s some of the things that caused the most uproar.
5 – Duende censorship, and the Pride parade route change
It was much more upsetting to witness the Rose Festival quash a chaste kiss in the Circus Project’s Duende, nearly forcing the performance to be canceled. There was nearly as much kerfuffle internally in the community when the Pride parade route was taken off the traditionally Stark Street triangle (aka Vaseline Alley). Sometimes the struggle comes from without, but the struggle within is just as powerful.
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  "It Gets Better" project founder Dan Savage (R) with husband Terry A roller coaster of emotions swept gay America this year. Here’s a snapshot.
5 – University of Michigan’s Student Body President Stalked and Harassed by State’s Assistant Attorney General
When MI Attorney General Andrew Shirvell began harassing UMich Student Body President Christ Armstrong people started to notice, mostly prominently among them CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who interviewed Shirvell on air.
4 – Constance McMillan is barred from her prom and embraced by the rest of the world
When Constance McMillan planned to take her girlfriend to prom, organizing parents canceled the event and held a gay-free dance elsewhere. But instead of cowering McMilan powered along with an ACLU lawsuit and won the support of celebrities, public figures and the world-at-large. Her Facebook fan page has over 400,00 members and she has a scholarship care of Ellen Degeneres.
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  Joan Rivers is in town Saturday and she is indeed a piece of work! Most of us are likely tired (and perhaps a little wounded) by a night out ringing in the New Year but there’s no rest for the wicked. This weekend might be a tad slower than usual but there’s plenty of not to be missed gay weekend events.
Thursday
Dirtbag! – Just recently revealed as one of the best new club nights of the year catch DB while it’s at its peak.
Drop Shop with Exstasy – Hot, hip hop, dancing sweating boys and girls. The perfect party for the breadth of your pals.
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  Lionel and Marshall in an embrace in United States of Tara The gays struggled with the boob tube this year in part because there actually are a fair amount of decent characters and story lines to choose from. So we are on that cusp of counting down the best gay shows vs. the best gay moments.
It’s also a year where we start to shift judging from “a good portrayal of LGBT life” to simply the “best TV” that just happens to contain gay elements, or are even primarily gay themed. This list has a combination.
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  Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis lock lips in "Black Swan' Film has always tended to push the boundaries of sexuality. We’re finally no longer living (completely) in the celluloid closet so there’s plenty to choose from without having to resort to claiming films like Claire of the Moon. The 90s were tough children…
5. Undertow (Contracorriente)
Heart-wrenching and real, this is the gay indie favorite around the world. Set in a Peruvian seaside town a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions.
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  ChiChi and Chonga at Cafeteria's Jocks and Nerds Edition If there’s one thing we do well here at qPDX it’s partying. And 2010 has just blown us all away, and damaged our livers beyond repair, with its bursting-at-the-seams burgeoning club scene. Dancing isn’t just for downtown anymore. Nopo has emerged as a queer nightlife hotspot alongside the already club-friendly inner Eastside. There’s something for nearly everybody, and I did my best to make an appearance, at least once, and each of them.
5 – Do the Dark/JunKtion tie
Both laid back underground neighborhood parties both Do the Dark and JunKtion had welcome breathing room in contrast to the packed parties elsewhere. But the music was excellent and the venues, Tonic and Local Lounge, were friendly and comfortable with good dance floors and chat areas alike. Oh yeah, and they always had good cheap drink specials.
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