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  Roy G Biv, aka Katey Pants, is a big fan of the bling gif qPDX is starting a new feature! Every week we will introduce you to a local LGBTQ party DJ and ask them about their experiences in the scene and feature an audio mix they’ve made. If you’re interested in being featured contact alley@qpdx.com.
This week features DJ Roy G Biv aka Katey Pants. You can catch her party Bent, which we named best new club night of 2010, this Friday September 9th. This special edition will feature a preview of multimedia performer Kaj-Anne Pepper‘s GenderFantasy. She has also appeared at many other popular club nights including Blow Pony, Gaycation and others.
When and how did you get started DJing?
In Portland; I started DJ’ing at BENT. This was nearly 2 years ago and since then I’ve learned a lot; have challenged myself; and have humbled myself a lot.
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  Best Pride 2010 backup crew! Photo by Diana Edwards So many (tiny) dogs. FryBrickLineFight v.s So-So-Burger line. What will you wear? Why do dykes on bikes always wear black? When is the Dyke March (Hint: either at 5pm or 6pm, depending on who you ask.) Official Weather. UnderU for Men sale. Why it’s not OK to be sexist, racist, or aggressive during Pride. Lovetribe snuggle tent skepticism. Splendora Gabor’s candyfloss hair. It’s not over until the drag queen sings. And: If you find a bar that does dollar mimosas (like the fabulous Invasion did a few years ago!) you tell us by tweeting something @qpdx.
Some random musings on the nature of Portland Pride. All you need to know will be revealed, but don’t quote me. I said don’t.
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  Not many have little to say about Lady Gaga. My relationship and understanding of Gaga is complicated. Mainly on a thoughtful level- she is a marketing machine, she rips off queer culture, she uses queers as pawns for fucked up companies like Target, and her intense ego mania has made her the self-declared mother of all freaks. This bullshit pisses me off.
However; I like her music. I like her videos. I enjoy following her in the news. She’s a really unhealthy piece of gay candy that I often indulge in with and without the guilt. So when I was able to get an advanced copy of Born This Way- her 3rd album outside of her monster series- I was more than excited.
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  Bell Hooks Today I have had this “Less Hate More Love” crap shoved down my throat. Now that I have your attention- let me tell you- I think the world does need a lot of love. Our society causes many of us to be broken, traumatized, fragmented, and isolated. Good politics and good practices should help us heal, bring us closer, and should inspire us to love openly. However; the idea that we should approach all of our interactions and root our analysis only in love is not only simplistic- it is anti-feminist, silencing, and counters much of what we value throughout history.
Most of my feminist upbringing and socialization is directly related to the works of bell hooks. I love bell hooks and her contributions to race, class, and gender politics are invaluable. However; in the past couple of years she has turned her attention away from political struggle to more of an individual and spiritual look of oppression. She has also not pushed herself to engage with queer/gender/sex positive theories and practices. I recall some of her analysis of BDSM and feminism to be downright sex negative. However; for a long while as a youth I took nearly everything she said as gospel and still hold her near and dear in my heart. Even some of the spiritual woo-ness that she espouses has sort of a place in revolutionary political struggle. However; that place is not in the foreground. Her most recent article Building a Community of Love upsets me for many reasons. Her revisions radical history, her conclusions of radical work, and the simplistic nature that she posits valid political struggle get to my point of why it is positing our world in a love vs. hate is damaging and ineffective.
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  Katey Pants Another essay from the astute Katey Pants:
The past month there has been a crisis of safety in the queer community. Gay bashings, rampant rumors of Nazi gangs patrolling our community, and the Westboro Baptist Churches arrogance in claiming space in our communities. The response to this violence from police and politicians in Portland has offered us- at best- bureaucratic solutions to fundamental structural problems. However, I want to posit a different view of safety, care, and community outside of state and police solutions. I hope to provide some philosophical reasoning behind this and also present concrete things that are happening in Portland and throughout the country where people everyday are creating alternatives to police to keep themselves and their communities safe.
A Moral and Practical Argument Against Calling The Police:
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  Katey Pants for Diesel Femme. Photo by Kina Williams Community member, DJ, and femme fashionista Katey Pants has never been a qPDX contributor per se but this is at least the second time I’ve asked to borrow her erudite thoughts that she has publicly posted in other forums. Girl’s got a lot to say and I hope we all have a lot to say back.
Take it away KP!
In August, 2009, city officials in Multnomah County Oregon declared August 1st-8th Transgendered-Americans Week. In conjunction, organizers held a Gender-Free –For-All rally in Portland. I was not part of the organizing of the rally but an attendee. I also consider many of the organizers to be close allies and some friends. The march started with a celebration of the enactment of the Transgendered-Americans Week and a number of speeches, made predominantly by Portland politicians. From there our short and permitted march went through a neighborhood in NE Portland, led and surrounded by police.
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Love and Rage: A guest editorial from Katey Pants
Bell Hooks
Today I have had this “Less Hate More Love” crap shoved down my throat. Now that I have your attention- let me tell you- I think the world does need a lot of love. Our society causes many of us to be broken, traumatized, fragmented, and isolated. Good politics and good practices should help us heal, bring us closer, and should inspire us to love openly. However; the idea that we should approach all of our interactions and root our analysis only in love is not only simplistic- it is anti-feminist, silencing, and counters much of what we value throughout history.
Most of my feminist upbringing and socialization is directly related to the works of bell hooks. I love bell hooks and her contributions to race, class, and gender politics are invaluable. However; in the past couple of years she has turned her attention away from political struggle to more of an individual and spiritual look of oppression. She has also not pushed herself to engage with queer/gender/sex positive theories and practices. I recall some of her analysis of BDSM and feminism to be downright sex negative. However; for a long while as a youth I took nearly everything she said as gospel and still hold her near and dear in my heart. Even some of the spiritual woo-ness that she espouses has sort of a place in revolutionary political struggle. However; that place is not in the foreground. Her most recent article Building a Community of Love upsets me for many reasons. Her revisions radical history, her conclusions of radical work, and the simplistic nature that she posits valid political struggle get to my point of why it is positing our world in a love vs. hate is damaging and ineffective.
Continue reading »