“There was no organization,” Nicola says, “and everything was very closeted.” Progress was basically subterranean. )įive decades and more ago, it was a different town. (Almost, but given certain ideologies prominent in national politics, not quite. It’s almost impossible to imagine queer Portland in the shadows. An out bisexual Portlander serves as Oregon’s governor an out Portland lesbian, as state Speaker of the House.
As George Nicola, a longtime activist and historian for the Gay and Les bian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN), notes, the local power structure embraced equality long ago: “Since Bud Clark was elected in 1984, every mayor has been gay-friendly.” The city elected its first gay mayor in 2008. T oday, June’s Pride celebration is a decades-old civic tradition.
