Portland Gay Pride 2008

It was so strange to be at Pride this year without Lipstick and no Curve booth. For reasons beyond our control, Curve was not able to have a booth this year at Portland Pride. That left me with an open agenda for the weekend.

I started Saturday off meeting up with my friend Dionne at the Black Pride barbeque. A low-key family-friendly event at my favorite bar Crush. It was probably one of the friendliest events I’ve been to in a while. Saw our big fan Elita and then hug out a bit with Amanda, host of Amanda’s Jams on KBOO and her long-distance girlfriend. I met Shelley, an acupuncturist from Lake Oswego and Red, who Floyd mistook for a guy and tried to pick up. She gets it all the time, she says. No doubt, I can see both the boys and girls finding her attractive. Alissa cooked up some veggie dogs I just couldn’t stay away from and the bartenders at Crush made some tasty mojitos. We were having so much fun, we never made it to the Dyke March.


But we did head over to the Out Like That party at the Jupiter Hotel, which was a crazy scene! Check out the girl dressed in nothing more than black and white paint. Maggie couldn’t take her eyes off her. I was in the back hawking Curve magazines, but I did get out for a dance or two with my girl Alice. Dawn was trolling for women. I didn’t see her leave, so maybe she got lucky. Dionne and Tracy eventually made their way over from Black Pride and the party immediately livened up. As I headed home to around 12:30am, the girls were still lined around the block waiting to get in.

Sunday I woke up bright and gay (I stopped drinking after two mojitos--Dionne take note) and rode down to the Pride Parade with my camera on my back. I saw many friends and even ran into a bunch of the gay children I helped raise, one who told me he’d been waiting for years to tell me that I probably saved his life. And all these years I wished I could have done more for him. You just never know the impact you’re having on someone’s life.

The parade was a blast. For photos go here. It was a perfect Portland day. The sun always comes out for Pride. I meandered the waterfront, shopping for sun glasses and running into friends. How did we ever find each other in the days before text messaging?

Here I impress the girlies with my strength by ringing the bell. (Actually, I think the girls were more turned on, as was I, by the hot roller derby player who rang just before me. Yow!) And I ran into one of my favorite gay boys and writers, Marc Acito. Check out his cool blog.


All in all, 2008 was a fantastic pride. Hopefully Curve will be back with a booth next year. As good a time as I had, I did miss saying hello to all the friendly visitors who come by the booth each year.