Current Issue

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Won’t you be my gaybor?

598748 451038761586986 2020674852 n 500x313 Current Issue

Mark your calendars for June 13, when PQ’s Pride Press Party returns to :vendetta (4306 N Williams Ave, Portland), from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Photo by Izzy Ventura, PQ Monthly

Pride, the queer community’s prime opportunity to come together, approaches swiftly — acts get booked, businesses and groups plan their booths, folks of all persuasions start hitting the gym furiously and gussying up their homes to prepare to celebrate what it means to be queer in 2013 with their friends and families. However, all throughout the year, our community coalesces — in bars and online, individually through our art and collectively through our activism. The season of Pride is critically important, certainly; however, more and more, our community gives us reason to be proud of ourselves and the work that we do all year long.

The wonderful but unsettling fact is that the idea of the “gayborhood” is evolving — assimilating into the larger society while still setting itself apart, occupying spaces that it has never been visible in before, engaging technology to create new opportunities for individuals to connect while some of the physical spaces that provided such opportunities disappear. This can be scary or even unfortunate, certainly, but this evolution also gives us the opportunity to demonstrate that we — as queer individuals and as a community — are a dynamic, progressive force that can positively impact our local neighborhoods and the world at large.

The act of stepping up to redefine “gayborhood” to fit the situations and needs of the times can serve as an illustration that we are more than the sum of our parts, both personally and collectively. We here at PQ Monthly have ample reason to believe that this is true — and in this issue, we aim to give you reason to believe it, too.

-The PQ Monthly Team