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 Mayor Sam Adams announced this morning at City Hall that the encampment of the Portland occupation is scheduled to close at 12:01 am Sunday morning. The Portland occupation has been a relatively peaceful one, setting an example for the rest of the country. However, lately there have been safety concerns from the Chief of the police (Mike Reese) and Adams himself. Chapman and Lownsdale squares will remain closed after Saturday while repairs to the parks are made. During this time and after, all city laws and park violations will be enforced. Commissioner Nick Fish and the mayor both urged people in the camp who need shelter and services to call the city’s human services hotline at 2-1-1.
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  Kayla Stone In breaking news from Just Out, it is being reported that 21-year-old Kayla Stone, a musician and activist, was assaulted in downtown Portland in an apparent gay bashing last Sunday July 3rd, according to police.
The previous night a group of men had harassed her outside of Embers on NW Broadway and Burnside, calling her “dyke” and following her for several blocks as she left. She fended them off with strong words but when she returned Saturday night the same group recognized her and began beating her without provocation. The only person she remembers very clearly is the one who threw the first punch, a Latino man with a teardrop tattoo by his eye.
Stone also says that witnesses did nothing to assist her. Even when she made her way to The Escape, the all ages gay nightclub and a stop on the Q Patrol route, Stone says she was mostly ignored. Stone said two police cars circled the block, but neither stopped to help. Eventually she,
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 The skidmore bluffs are a popular meeting place in Northeast Portland The skidmore bluffs. The place for NE queers, cyclists, hipsters and plain old fun loving folk to hang out on breezy summer nights. Ah, the killer view of the train yard, port, industrial district and the mountains and rivers beyond (I’m not joking). The wind in your hair, the noise of trains (and dogs) in your ears. Surrounded by friends and a smattering of bicycles, lovers holding hands, kids in the skatepark, badminton, frisbee, sunsets, and, a nice cold pabst in your hand. Or even, if you like things a little classy, a glass of wine. And maybe, even, a spliff.
Not for much longer. Police are cracking down on activity in the small park at the very western end of NE Skidmore. Is this the end of the bluffs as we know it?
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  Yesterday Mayor Sam Adams released a statement concerning Sunday’s bias crime against 2 men holding hands:
“On Sunday evening, May 22, two men were attacked by several suspects as they walked, holding hands, from the Hawthorne Bridge on the trail to the East Bank Esplanade, on the east end of the bridge. The victims were pushed, and hit in the head, face, back and ribs. The suspects ran away after one of the victims broke away and called 911. Portland Police detectives have interviewed both victims, and a Portland Police Bias Crime Detective has been assigned to this case. Full details on the case can be found at PortlandPolice.com.
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  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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  Sketch of the suspect Last week we told you about the man who was brutally beaten Halloween night and asked for your help in locating the perpetrator. Now we not only know the name of the victim, Tim McCubbin, but there is also a benefit concert scheduled for this Saturday to help fund his extensive medical expenses.
McCubbin reports that on top of a broken nose, and a surgery to repair his left eye socket, he has undergone several surgeries for his developed diverticulitis – an additional injury sustained while his groin was stomped while unconscious, and which has resulted in the loss of a third of his colon and two lacerations on his intestines.
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 Sketch of the suspect in the anti-gay beating Although the assault happened over a month ago on November 1st the Mercury has just broken the story of a SE Portland man who was gay-bashed while walking home after police issued an alert today.
According to the Portland police alert that went out today, a man was walking home alone from a friend’s house just after midnight on November 1st and had to cross over the scary, barbed wire-encircled pedestrian walkway that goes over the train tracks at SE 16th and Brooklyn. This is an unsettling area—there is not much light at all and neighbors built an unpermitted skatepark at the base of the walkway, in part because the land was derelict and a magnet for crime.
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  Oh my, this already feels icky. The Oregonian is reporting today that a transgender motorist is suing the Portland police for more than $200,000 for alleged groping during traffic stop. The plaintiff, Chloe Lucero, claims that the officer, unfortunately named Kevin Macho, grabbed her breasts and genitalia during a search instead of waiting for a female cop.
Macho claims that, although the alleged victim’s driver’s license states she is female that she appeared outwardly male in appearance.
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Mayor Sam Adams descended into the halls of the Q-Center to announce the newest steps the city and Portland Police are taking to promote safety for the queer community. Joined by Police Chief Mike Reese and Q-Center’s Executive Director Kendall Clawson, this marked another meeting, in the string of many since the events of Memorial day weekend to discuss safety.
Police Chief Mike Reese describes measures the […]
 Delease Carter is suing the PPB for harassment, unlawful arrest and battery. Photo from the Oregonian Delease Carter, a 21 year old student who lives in Northeast Portland and studies at Portland Community College Cascade (my old stomping ground!) is suing the city of Portland for battery and unlawful arrest.
Delease claims Portland Police Bureau officers (we don’t know which) touched breasts and genitals, slammed Delease’s head into the pavement and insulted her, all because she was walking home with friends in the middle of the street.
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