Portland’s Gay Directory Compiles a Massive Array of Services and Business That Are LGBTQ-Inclusive

This year’s 262-page directory includes everything from kites and bail bonds to hypnotherapy, farm supplies, blinds, archery and ministers.

Rainbow flag in San Francisco. (Photo by Noodles and Beef / Flickr)

Portland's Gay Directory (gaypdx.com) makes being the new kid in town easier. Published yearly for a little over two decades, the guide—available both online and as a physical, Yellow Pages-style book—lists a massive array of services and businesses that are either LGBTQ-owned and -operated or LGBTQ-friendly.

This year's 262-page directory includes everything from kites and bail bonds to hypnotherapy, farm supplies, blinds, archery and ministers. "No matter what your background or lifestyle," reads the opening publisher's letter from Scott Montes, "we have a business that will treat you with the service and respect you deserve."

Montes took over the directory in 1998, and ran operations out of the basement of his small Southeast Hawthorne home. "I would answer the phones at all times of the day," he says. "Sometimes I'd get calls late at night from people looking to come out and just wanting information." Montes and his nine-member team updates the directory every year with help from the Portland Area Business Association, the metro area's LGBTQ chamber of commerce.

Montes says the free directory—which sees roughly 30,000 copies distributed annually—has a loyal following. "A gay couple [using the directory] knows the plumber that's coming out is going to be cool," he says, "and they're not going to be snickered at."

Click here for the full Best of Portland 2018 guide.

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