I love this city. Oh sure, I could crow about its changes, its failures, and the complicated nature of what it’s meant to be a queer person of color living here for over 15 years (and I certainly have before!), but sometimes it feels good to take stock of all that it has to offer—all of the pockets and pleasures I want people to know and love most—instead of breathlessly harping about the rest. Whenever I leave Portland, I’m relieved to return. And when I do? I’m usually peering out the window as the city gets larger in my view, eyes filled up, thinking: There it is, for better or worse, my gay little city!
Art Studios and Workshops
Why ghost someone when you can Ghost (featuring Patrick Swazye) someone? (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!) Seems like you can’t toss a beautifully handcrafted mug in this city without hitting a queer-owned ceramics or arts studio, and we’re lucky for the abundance of options! Curious about wheel-throwing some pottery? Take a single class at Bittersweet Studios or a series at Daffodill. Want to learn a practical life skill like patching drywall
or knife-sharpening? Look no further than MakeWith! Make a risograph print or zine at Outlet! Take a plein air painting class at Radius Arts, why don’t ya! Get off the internet, get out there, and make something with your hands! You’ll thank me for it.
Dance Nights
Someone once told me that you either go to Judy on Duty to start something or to finish something. Honestly? Too real. A cornerstone of queer nights out since way back in 2014, going to Judy feels like participating in an age-old queer rite: pulling a little look, bumping into at least two of your exes, yapping outside in a circle of your friends instead of dancing, then waking up the next morning in a group text discussing who kissed whom.
My prayers have been answered. Hosted by DJs Apen and Deadpan, Let Her Cook is a new hip-hop-centered queer dance night that’s already serving. There are a handful of queer dance nights to choose from in Portland, but more and more seem geared towards house and techno. Let Her Cook brings a breath of new air to the scene. “You heard us. No requests. Let us cook and enjoy the ride.” Let her dance to GloRilla. Let her throw it back to Megan Thee Stallion. Let her pull the millennial dance floor stank-face. Give her Lil’ Kim or give her death. Let her cook!
Hair
Want a freaky little haircut so you can flag your freaky little self? If you’re coming to Cruz Salas at Cowlick Barbershop, you’ve come to the right place. Salas specializes in short, lived in, gender-affirming cuts, but also embraces a the-weirder-the-better ethos. While you’re in their chair, they’ll offer you an ear, a beer, and if you’re lucky, maybe even a little bit of chisme. Frequently hosting no-pay haircut days for BIPOC and other queer people, Salas aims to always use their chair to prioritize taking care of community. “As someone who grew up not being comfortable in barbershops or other spaces being brown and queer myself, I do my best to provide a fun, relaxing, and trusting experience for all,” Salas.
IRL
If you’re new to the city, newly out, or maybe just looking to get out of your bubble and try something new, it can be hard to figure out where to start, especially if you’re trying to get away from the bar scene. Enter your new lifeline: Queer Social Club. Every month, Queer Social Club lists hundreds of IRL events on its website (in addition to sending out a weekly email blast) to get you outside and into the world and maybe just outside of your comfort zone, too. Crafting for mascs? T4T tea? Mall walks? Keen on bird watching? Notice that your crush got into line dancing and wanna try and twinkle those toes to impress them (NO, JUST ME?!)? Trying to avoid dating apps? Always been curious about figure drawing? There is quite literally something for everyone. See you out there!
Resource Shares
Kink is an integral part of LGBTQ+ past and present, and even if it’s not your thing, arguments for its exclusion only concede to the same homophobic and puritanical beliefs that have historically demonized queer existence. The Kinky Library is an 18+, not-for-profit, pop-up lending library that aims to promote and encourage sex education, harm reduction, and outreach to folks in BDSM, leather, and other alternative lifestyle communities. It features an extensive, privately owned collection of over 600 books, zines, and DVDs on all things freak forward. Kinky Library monthly pop-ups feature boot-blacking services, workshops, and skill-shares—all levels of experience and curiosity are welcome.
Sport
Babe, wake up, we’re getting a WNBA team in 2026! That gives you just enough time to pull up the basketball Wikipedia page and learn how the game works, or at least when and why we shout “DE-FENSE!” If you’re looking for a place to kick off your Sporty Spice era, the Sports Bra is calling your name. Opened in 2022, the ‘Bra touts the title of being the first-ever sports bar entirely dedicated to women’s sports. May as well start big!
If you’re looking for a tighter community vibe and hoping to make some new friends (or maybe even a friendly rivalry), try checking out the viewing parties hosted by Backcourt Collective at Spirit of 77. They’re holding it down for every single WNBA game this season, giving you an opportunity to watch match-ups across the league and get a little taste of Portland’s eventual opponents. Before you know it, you’ll be spouting off stat lines and trash talking like you’ve been a baller for years. Swish!
I can’t substantiate this, but there’s a certain VERY queer and chaotic energy about both the in person and online presence of Oregon’s premier collegiate baseball team, the Portland Pickles, and the very fresh USL soccer team, the Bangers FC. It’s certainly not my place to make assertions about how the mascots identify, but all I’m saying is that I’m here to accept them with open arms if they ever have anything they’d like to divulge. Hey Dillon T. Pickle; hey Saucy T. Sausage—love is love!
Getting strong rules; walking into a gym when it’s not an environment you’re used to decidedly does not. Who are all these men, why are there so many mirrors, and what the hell does that machine do? An answer to the hellscape that is a commercial gym might just be a spot like Prism Moves. At Prism Moves, there’s no diet talk, no weight-loss talk, and no dudes making loud grunting sounds or taking up too much space. In addition to regular class and open-gym memberships, the gym offers a free weekly BIPOC-only class, a series called On-Ramp designed specifically for beginners, and a space that is, frankly, gay as hell. If you’ve never listened to an entire Kim Petras album all the way through while throwing a giant medicine ball at the wall, have you ever known true catharsis?
Tattoo Shops
Aside from, duh, making you hotter, getting tattooed can be a way to manifest how you see yourself inside as an expression on the outside. It can be gender-affirming. It can be life affirming. And maybe queer tattoo artists understand this pursuit better than most—the process of remaking yourself into…yourself! Here are a few queer-owned tattoo shops to check out: Birdhouse, Constellation Collective, Inside Recess, Keepsake Collective, Midnight, Shameless, Sonny’s House, Third Space, and Wolf & Shadow.
Pride™ (Is Over If You Want It)
A quote from hallowed queer ancestor Marsha P. Johnson gets passed around a lot, especially this time of year, because of its unfortunate evergreen nature: “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” I’m wary of using the word unprecedented—its meaning lost to repetition—but what feels crystal clear is that it’s never been more prudent to dig into our communities, to build networks of support and care, and to center and fight for those furthest at the margins. Pride™ has a place: It can serve as an accessible entry point to a version of the world some people don’t even know they need yet, and a time to see many expressions of queerness represented and centered. But I have to admit, I’m failing to feel celebratory about Pride and its accompanying rainbow industrial complex when queer and trans people are in the crosshairs of an administration and rhetoric that seeks to erase us. Maybe there’s space to hold all of these things at once. It’s just that Pride was started with a brick… I think we’d do right to remember that.