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Queer youth attacked last weekend in gay bashing

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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‘Imagine’ a new underage nightclub

imagineWhen I was a wee gay in the 90s I assumed every sizeable city had an all ages queer nightclub. Alas, as shady at the City Nightclub may have been I should have been more appreciative of its dark hallways and raucous drag shows.

Indeed an incarnation of this club still exists today. It has moved to a much cheerier and open (with windows!) location on SW Park Avenue and changed its name (after a series of missteps) to The Escape.

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