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Love letters tell brutally honest stories of unrequited love, swallowed feelings and apologetic regret with carefully considered words. WW reached out to prominent figures in Portland’s queer sphere to see what sage words of affection they had for the community, including to all the dolls and girlies holding it down, the f-slur party monsters and event organizers, the activist and civic leaders, the tastemakers and fashion vanguards, business owners, neighbors, friends and lovers making Portland sparkle.
On a personal note, I wouldn’t be who I am without the village that raised me. Specifically, the legends, statements and stars who took me under their wings, the artists who believed in me and helped nourish my craft, and the friends far and near who are now back home or in new cities. Thank you for your patience, for informing my aesthetic and showing me what it means to be unapologetically yourself.
IZOHNNY Performance art duo and producers of BOYeurism
What have you done today to make you feel proud? This question is essential, especially during Pride season—a time for celebration as activism, and uniting to protect the most vulnerable among us. Attend events that resonate with you and support local initiatives. Purchasing tickets in advance helps ensure these events happen. Community requires a commitment to avoid complicity and to give as much as you hope to receive. We share a social contract to be respectful and kind, embracing our differences with curiosity and compassion. Let’s celebrate our commonalities, keep each other safe, and protect every shade of the rainbow. May we all be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud. You are many, you are mighty, and you hold power! To Portland’s white queers: This Pride season, it’s crucial to understand true allyship and fellowship. Not being racist is insufficient; we must actively use our privilege to empower those without the same rights. Stand up for the BIPOC community. Support your trans friends and family. Don’t just post on social media—take action! If you witness injustice, DO SOMETHING! We promise we will do the same! Together, we can create a more inclusive and supportive community for everyone. Your presence and actions matter! Never stop fighting for progress!
With love,
Isaiah Esqure and Johnny Nuriel
JENNY NGUYEN Owner and founder, The Sports Bra
Oh Portland, my sweet Portland / Could you also be my “Support Land”? / Perhaps my “Sport Land”? / You raised me within your rose gardens, / and within the Rose Garden, Civic Stadium, Chiles Center / This child centered her life, her love of sport here / This child also found her love of queer here / It was cool to be weird here / and where dreams so far could seem so near here. / I wish to pen a love letter to you dear, my bittersweet City of Roses and Thorns / From the brown Danang of my mother’s womb to these gray Willamette shores / From Embers, the E-Room, Panorama, and Dots / The Roxy, Clinton Street Theater, and formerly Joq’s / A million hundred blown kisses to the bold hearts before / The queens, the gays, the dykes, the theys/ Up Broadway, down Burnside, alphabet streets stitched across its heart / All right here for me you had taught: pick-up lines to pick-up games / At Irving Park, Alberta Courts, South Park Blocks and Wallace Park / No matter where this outcasts gay heart earthly roams / this tiny big town, wet drip city will always stay my home.
OREGON STATE REP. ROB NOSSE (D-Southeast Portland)
To the queer community of Oregon: I am two years away from being 60. (I still struggle with the Q word, though I’m mostly over it and see its value as it’s more inclusive than just saying the gay community and easier in light of the whole LGBTQIA2S+.) I just want to say we have been here before, where the nation’s politics were bad, rough, mean, unhelpful, etc. I moved here in 1992 in my early 20s, barely “out” when our existence was on the Oregon ballot. We will get through this. Just like the “straight” world had to meet queer people and know queer people so we could earn the right to marry and be ourselves in the world, it has to happen for the trans and nonbinary part for our movement too. And it will. Meanwhile, we live in a state and a city that is pretty darn affirming, and we have laws and organizations and leaders in place all doing the best they can in light of national politics, and politics in other states, to keep it that way. Rejoice in the struggle—it is the only choice we have.
