LGBT mag The Advocate ranked the nation’s gayest cities—it’s not pretending to be science (“number of Tegan and Sara concerts” is one data point), but the rankings have a big surprise: Portland doesn’t make the list, but Vancouver, WA ranks higher than San Francisco.
They do have two gay lesbian bars, according to the survey, while Portland is down to zero lesbian bars, I think, since the Egyptian Room is now The Weird Bar (worst. name. ever.). So anyway, Vancouver is now the gayest city in the Portland metro area?
h/t to Mercury alum Stefan Kamph for the link!
down to zero? silverado, boxxes/red cap, crush, starkey’s, etc…
oh, and steam, “Portland Oregons premiere private gay men’s bathhouse”
One of their criteria is gay politicians, for chrissakes! And come on, Portland basically IS one big Tegan and Sara concert.
Note to self: open a bar up there called “J. Edgar Couver’s.”
those were just the ones I knew about from having a gay house mate. barfly lists 20.
Yeah, I came in to point out Smirk’s glaring mistake. I think she meant to say lesbian bars. But generally speaking, there’s like six lesbian bars in the entire United States. It’s a losing business model for some reason.
Yeah. Portland has at least 10 gay bars.
I’ve been told that the Foggy Notion on Lombard, which recently opened in place of the Blue Parrot, is a lesbian bar, but I have yet to confirm that
Jim Moeller is an outstanding gay politician from SW WA and he’s cooler than our gay politicians. But no, Vancouver is not gayer than pdx.
oh, whoops, I meant “zero lesbian bars” not gay bars. There are plenty of gay bars, but I don’t know of any that are just targeted at the lesbians.
Anyone else know any?
(post updated)
Well, I totally target the lesbians. And I’mma get me a good’un, someday!
I think the writers of the original article may have Vancouver BC and Vancouver, WA confused.
The reason why lesbian bars exist (and gay bars, for that matter) are the result of being abnormal, of needing a place to go where you fit in with the norm. But you could argue that it Portland, the abnormal is normal and socially acceptable, thus every bar is a gay bar. Or, in other words, we don’t need them the way that other places do, as being gay is more socially acceptable here*.
*DISCLAIMER: I am not, repeat, AM NOT saying that Portland is a perfect gay utopia where all gays are safe and can feel right at home without any fear of discrimination or social stigma. But try living as a lesbian in middle america, and then compare it to living as a lesbian in Portland. You will get much different results.
What are the names of the two lesbian bars in Vancouver? The Northbank is a gay bar.