|
|
  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.
Continue reading »
 Don't mess with journalist Alice Pieszecki...I mean actress and musician Leisha Hailey I may get disappointed, but I’m never terribly shocked, when discrimination happens. What is a little more surprising is when it happens, very publicly, to the famous, influential, beautiful. But it did happen when actress and musician Leisha Hailey was kicked off a Southwest airlines flight for kissing her girlfriend then raising a fuss when asked to stop. Hailey took to Twitter to voice her outrage:
I have been discriminated against by Southwest Air. Flt. attendant said that it was a ‘family’ airline and kissing was not ok…This is an outrage. I demand a public apology by @SouthwestAir and a refund. Hate is not a family value. I will never fly this airline….We were escorted off the plane for getting upset about the issue. @SouthwestAir endorses homophobic employees. No one made her accountable. Since when is showing affection towards someone you love illegal? I want to know what Southwest Airlines considers as ‘family’.
Continue reading »
  Charles Kane now with his fiance I may be part of the sensationalizing media for even mentioning the story of the man who had sex reassignment surgery once to become a woman and then again to regain his manhood, but I can’t help but comment on his assertion that they should be banned because those who want a sex change are “completely deluded.” Unfortunately, I think it is Mr. Kane (formerly Ms. Kane and Mr. Hashimi) who is misguided.
In the 1980s a one Sam Hashimi, a powerful investment fund type, had a sex-change procedure to become “glamorous interior designer Samantha Kane,” a woman so convincing he says he had no problem attracting men.
Continue reading »
  There have always been the good times and "weirds" at the E Room Last week news of the longstanding lesbian bar, The Egyptian, revamping as the more inclusive Weird Bar flared tempers and ignited a storm of discussion. For the most part this was a healthy dialogue and the E-Weird boss Kim took the comments to heart.
Below is a response she wanted me to share with the community. It may not satisfy all the community’s curiosities or concerns but it is a real effort to explain and connect with E Room regulars and other local queers.
With an economy as slow as Portland’s currently is, there’s little room to hire truly crafted wordsmiths and artists to take care of business PR. It’s a DIY promotion atmosphere but even in a DIY-lovin’ town this tactic doesn’t always work. It is important to remember that although the E Room is an institution, those that maintain it are not. They are human.
Still…it may be time to enlist the help of humans that can write a press release, have some marketing savvy and an understanding of how language can offend.
Continue reading »
  The E Room in better times. Pride 2010 No matter what our varied and occasionally uncomfortable feelings about Portland’s only dyke bar the E Room may have been, we were all saddened when they announced their impending closure this October. But the owner(s) appeared to want to move on and did not want to accept help in the form of a “Save the E Room” fundraiser. Everything for the past couple months has been a dedicated “last” as we all continued to slow funeral procession towards its final days.
Turns out, the bar itself is not dying, only its commitment to lesbians and gays. ERoomBoss announced this today on Facebook:
Continue reading »
|
|
