Barbarella (Portland, Oregon)

LGBT culture in Portland, Oregon is an important part of Pacific Northwest culture.

History

* Portland vice scandal
* Burnside Triangle
* Jeannace June Freeman's murder of lesbian partner at Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint (1961)
* "Lesbian Roommate" obscenity trial
* Resolution Number 31510
* WomanShare and other lesbian land movements
* Ballot Measure 8 (1988), ruled unconstitutional in 1993
* 1989 Hate Crimes Law
* Tanner vs OHSU domestic partner lawsuit, 1991
* 1992 Springfield anti-equal-rights ballot measure passes
* 1992 statewide anti-gay Measure 9 rejected
* 1994 statewide anti-gay Measure 13 rejected
* 2000 statewide anti-gay Measure 9 rejected
* 2004 gay marriages briefly take place in Multnomah County, ruled illegal 2005
* 2004 statewide constitutional Measure 36 gay marriage ban
* 2007 statewide anti-discrimination bill
* 2018 The City of Portland renames a 13-block stretch of Southwest Stark Street to commemorate Harvey Milk

Events

Portland's annual pride parade is primarily organized by Pride Northwest. Peacock in the Park is another annual event, running from 1987 to 2005, and, again, from 2014 to the present. The La Femme Magnifique International Pageant is an annual drag pageant. Oaks Park Roller Skating Rink has hosted Gay Skate monthly for 30 years, as of 2021.

Queer Horror is an ongoing bi-monthly film festival that is shown at the Hollywood Theatre. The Portland Queer Film Festival, formerly known as the Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, has been running for more than twenty years and takes place at Cinema 21. The Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival screens LGBTQ documentaries.

In 2011, Hands Across Hawthorne was organized in response to an attack on two men who were holding hands on the Hawthorne Bridge, with over 4,000 attendees.

LGBT establishments and nightlife

Current and planned

Currently operating LGBT drinking establishments and nightclubs include: CC Slaughters, Crush Bar, Eagle Portland, Santé Bar, Scandals (1979), Silverado, and Stag PDX (2015). Silverado and Stag are also strip clubs. Coffin Club (formerly Lovecraft Bar) has also been described as an LGBT-friendly bar. The Sports Bra, established in 2022, is an LGBTQ-owned bar focused on women's sports. Rebel Rebel is in Old Town Chinatown.

The drag venue Darcelle XV Showplace was established by Darcelle XV in 1967 and continues to host shows regularly. Other notable drag performers from Portland include Bolivia Carmichaels, Flawless Shade, and Poison Waters.

Gay bathhouses operating in Portland include Hawks PDX (2012–present) and Steam Portland (since 2003).

Monthly Blow Pony dances were established in Portland by Airick Redwolf in 2007. Inferno monthly dance parties hosted by Hot Flash Productions owner/operators DJ Wildfire (Jenn Davis) and Armida Hanlon that first began in Portland in 2004 and are now held regularly in Portland and Seattle. Portland also hosts Bearracuda dance events regularly.

Shine Distillery and Grill has been described as a gay bar. The queer-owned vegan restaurant Mis Tacones was established as a pop-up restaurant in 2016 and relocated to a brick and mortar space in 2022. The queer-owned and operated Taqueria Los Puñales opened in 2020.

Sissy Bar, an LGBTQ video bar, is slated to open in 2022. The lesbian bar Doc Marie's opened in 2022.

Former

Defunct establishments include Egyptian Club (1995–2010), Gail's Dirty Duck Tavern, Red Cap Garage (1987–2012), Starky's, and Three Sisters Tavern (1964–2004), which also operated as a strip club. The gay bathhouse Club Portland closed in 2007. Embers Avenue, established during the 1970s, and Escape Nightclub both closed in 2017. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hobo's and Local Lounge closed in 2020 and 2021, respectively. In late 2021, Daniel Bund opened The Queen's Head, an English-style pub and lounge hosting drag shows and burlesque performances frequently. The bar closed in 2022.

The Roxy was an LGBT-friendly diner along Southwest Harvey Milk Street. The restaurant opened in 1994 and closed in March 2022. Sullivan's Gulch Bar & Grill (formerly known as Joq's Tavern, or simply Joq's) has also been described as an LGBT establishment.

Organizations

LGBT rights organization Basic Rights Oregon is based in Portland. Local LGBT-oriented organizations include Cascade AIDS Project, Q Center, and Bradley Angle which offers LGBTQ domestic violence services. Others include:

* Amazon Dragons, a lesbian competitive dragon boat team, founded in 1992.
* Pride Northwest
* A Woman's Place bookstore
* Black Lesbians and Gays United
* Dykes on Bikes PDX
* Equity Foundation (merged with Pride Foundation)
* Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest
* In Other Words Feminist Community Center
* Lesbian Community Project (1986–2008)
* Love Makes a Family (1992–?), closed
* Metropolitan Community Church
* Northwest Gender Alliance
* Oregon Bears
* Portland Association of Gay Equality
* Portland Gay Men's Chorus
* Portland Lesbian Choir
* Q Center
* Right to Privacy / Right to Pride
* Second Foundation (1970–1972)
* Portland Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
* Pride Northwest, annual pride parade organizers

Publications

LGBT publications have included ''Cascade Voice'', ''Just Out'', ''PQ Monthly'', and ''The Eagle''.

See also

* List of LGBT people from Portland, Oregon

References

External links

Keeping It Queer in Portland
on AfterEllen

Oregon Gay History
on Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest

{{Portal bar, LGBT, Oregon, Society