Portland is on the list as one of the most LGBT Friendly Cites in the USA. (live in, legal)

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by kapetrich

Have you ever been to NYC?

NYC and SF are by far the most 'LGBT friendly' cities I've been to as they both have such strong historic roots to the struggle and large populations of LGBT. To me, NYC is more prominent than SF. Sheer numbers, really. This goes for most things when comparing the two cities though. They're on totally different scales (save for tech) and are really not all that comparable.

I took my brother and his partner to Portland for a weekend. They live in Manhatten. I booked the Doug Fir as I wanted to show them the 'fun', 'quirky', stereotypically 'Portland' if you know what I mean. Turns out it was one of the top 'gay hotels' in the city based on many of the gay sites they frequent. Could have fooled us.

Also, they both were keen on checking out the gay scene in Portland. To them, there wasn't one, but their perspective is skewed.

In my experience the newer LGBT culture is less about having "LGBT bars" and self segregation and more about 'blending in' as our culture becomes more tolerant. So when I'm in cities with strong historic ties to the struggle, I tend to see more 'established' and in your face LGBT culture and neighborhoods. Newer cities, or ones less associated with historical gay culture, tend to be a lot less like that in my experience, but that doesn't not necessarily mean they are or are not 'LGBT friendly'.

This was actually a big topic during our 4 days in Portland. Movements change and Portland was a good example of that for us. (I could totally be grabbing straws here, just talking really)

Portland just isn't in your face about it. It's more just like, yeah...cool, you're LGBT. That works.....and....? Which is similar to the underlying PNW culture as others have pointed out.

That pretty much sums it up. There are gay bars here and there throughout Portland, but those in the gay community don't really need to segregate themselves from straights in Portland because people there don't have any issue with it. I like the "no big deal" attitude of Portland, but I have had gay friends that hate not having a gay district to go to where they know if someone is there, then they are probably gay.

[Steve Pickering]

Every time I see someone asking about the GLBT communities and acceptance in Oregon, I tell them, unless you are on here trolling for a date, there is no reason to even bring up that you are GLBT in Oregon.

[Adamson865]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

Every time I see someone asking about the GLBT communities and acceptance in Oregon, I tell them, unless you are on here trolling for a date, there is no reason to even bring up that you are GLBT in Oregon.

SO wrong. I can recall the 9 and 13 campaigns where, outside the metro areas, support for those measures was vehement. I remember one time driving down 99E from Portland to Salem, and the moment I got south of Oregon City, the pro-9 signs completely took over all the way south. My friend's "No on 9" sign in her yard in Gaston was shot full of holes during the night - she replaced it, it was shot again, she replaced it a third time, and it was shot again. Fearful for her safety, she gave up because the local authorities were of no help. During that same period, a co-worker who lived in Molalla was advised that her "straight but not narrow" bumper sticker was not welcome at the day care center where she dropped off her child.

Yes, it's Portland and yes, it's the left coast (which I've come to appreciate a bit more now that I'm in the Big D), but Oregon definitely isn't all rainbows and kumbaya from border to border.

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

Every time I see someone asking about the GLBT communities and acceptance in Oregon, I tell them, unless you are on here trolling for a date, there is no reason to even bring up that you are GLBT in Oregon.

How does identifying yourself as a gay or lesbian person translate to dating, sex, relationships? I say that I am married every single day for some reason and I certainly am not trolling for a date. Every time I use the word, husband, to name my life partner... I am saying that I am in a STRAIGHT relationship that is validated by the government. Don't speak for all of us living in Oregon, thanks.

Originally Posted by Yankeemama

How does identifying yourself as a gay or lesbian person translate to dating, sex, relationships? I say that I am married every single day for some reason and I certainly am not trolling for a date. Every time I use the word, husband, to name my life partner... I am saying that I am in a STRAIGHT relationship that is validated by the government. Don't speak for all of us living in Oregon, thanks.

Indeed. The topic comes up indirectly on a regular basis in normal conversation. No one wants to have conversations that use only gender-neutral pronouns; it's awkward for everyone involved and makes it look like you're hiding something.

[MomofLbgtqia]

I can see the area of Portland being LBGTQIA friendly- however I am wondering if anyone has any opinion or experiences in the Hillsboro community or schools with LBGTQIA situations, experiences, issues, bias, discrimination or bullying?

[bler144]

Not personally, and I wouldn't expect issues to be widespread.

But Hillsboro is, acre-wise, a pretty large town with lots of different pockets. Are you talking about Orenco, or downtown, or where specifically?

As for bullying in schools, well...not to say it should be tolerated but it's a tale as old as time that kids get picked on for any number of differences. Kids are simultaneously the biggest idealists in one moment and the biggest jerks the next.

[Port Pitt Ash]

Originally Posted by kapetrich

Also, they both were keen on checking out the gay scene in Portland. To them, there wasn't one, but their perspective is skewed.

Odd how some of the cities with areas devoted to LGBT didn't also rank high for being LGBT friendly.

[eric351982]

Originally Posted by Yankeemama

How does identifying yourself as a gay or lesbian person translate to dating, sex, relationships? I say that I am married every single day for some reason and I certainly am not trolling for a date. Every time I use the word, husband, to name my life partner... I am saying that I am in a STRAIGHT relationship that is validated by the government. Don't speak for all of us living in Oregon, thanks.

Love it. Great point.

[Leisesturm]

I'm just asking... are the terms "husband" and "wife" defined as the dual components of a married couple or not? Can there actually be two "husbands" or two "wives" constituting a married couple, or is that just revisionist taxonomy? I could be wrong, but knowing that humans are the only creatures on the planet with written language and knowing that humans have spent a large part of their time since becoming literate, on the discipline of nomenclature, it seems strange to me that after going through all that trouble to define the sub=components of a married couple... for purposes of definition... communication... I don't know... it seems to me a step backwards to allow a side-step of "convention" for the sake of political correctness.

When you are speaking with a man and he refers to his husband, after a short beat of surprise you get the gist and can make intelligent responses to any further information on his union. When you cannot see the individual, when you do not know their name or gender and that person writes about their husband, an English speaking reader will make an assumption that may be incorrect, and this can lead to embarrassment, confusion, frustration. Was that what the framers intended? Of course not. Is it that wrong to expect that men that are married to men be called by a name that conveys their status as easily and unambiguously as "husband" does for opposite sex couples? It is above my pay grade to actually decide what this new term should be, but I submit that it cannot logically be "husband" or "wife", because these terms have, for centuries, defined something completely different.

New words and terms enter the English language every month, to define, explain, and communicate our ever evolving social and physical world, and all its minutiae. I am not understanding the unwillingness of those in same sex relationships to allow new terms and new strictures to appropriately and efficiently characterize and define these new legal unions. Or maybe none of it means anything. I'm ok with that too. I'd rather the acknowledgement that there isn't anything any more special about a man and woman forming a committed pair bond than two men or two women, than the impossible claim that the union of two men or two women is just as special as the union of one man and one woman. Does anyone but myself grasp the very subtle difference between those two statements??