LGBTQ culture in Portland, Oregon


LGBTQ culture in Portland, Oregon is an important part of Pacific Northwest culture.
Portland ranked fourth in The Advocate 2026 list of the fifteen safest American cities for LGBTQ+ travel, and in 2025, Lonely Planet featured Portland as one of the top fifty most queer-friendly cities in world in The LGBTQ+ Travel Guide.
As of 2021, Portland has the second-highest percent of LGBTQ adults per capita, with the Williams Institute reporting 6.0% of Portland adults identify as LGBT.

History

In the 2008 mayoral elections, Sam Adams was elected mayor of Portland. This made Portland the largest U.S. city at the time to elect an openly gay mayor.
On June 26, 2015, gay marriage was legalized in the United States with the Supreme Court ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges. Portland was one city where hundreds of people gathered to celebrate, and a rainbow pride flag was put up in Portland City Hall. In 2018, the City of Portland renamed a 13-block stretch of Southwest Stark Street to commemorate American gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
In 2021, Portland's first mural commemorating the LGBTQ community was installed in the Pearl District. The mural, titled Never Look Away, highlights eight LGBTQ activists, including local figures like cartoonist Rupert Kinnard, Q Center founder David Martinez, Oregon Supreme Court Justice Lynn Nakamoto, and Portland Two-Spirit Society founder Asa Wright, as well as national figures like Marsha P. Johnson. In 2023, Drag-a-thon set a Guinness World Record for the longest drag artist stage show.

Events

In 2011, Hands Across Hawthorne was organized in response to an attack on two men who were holding hands on the Hawthorne Bridge, with over 4,000 attendees.

Recurring

Portland's annual pride parade is primarily organized by Pride Northwest. Peacock in the Park is another annual event, running from 1987 to 2005, and, again, from 2014 to the present. The La Femme Magnifique International Pageant is an annual drag pageant. Oaks Park Roller Skating Rink has hosted Gay Skate monthly since 1991.
Queer Horror is a bi-monthly film festival that is shown at the Hollywood Theatre. The Portland Queer Film Festival, formerly known as the Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, has been running for more than 20 years and takes place at Cinema 21. The Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival screens LGBTQ documentaries.

Dance

Stomptown has been described by The Oregonian as "Portland's home for LGBTQ+ country-western dance" and by Portland Monthly as a recurring "queer country dance party". The event features line dancing and other types of partner dancing such as country-western two-step, swing, and waltz. In 2025, Chiara Profenna of The Oregonian said Stomptown had a "friendly, mixed-age crowd and lots of partner rotation". Profenna wrote, "Rotating partners is always optional if you come with your own partner. No partner is required to attend. The vibe was inclusive and welcoming, and most of the line dances were beginner-friendly."
File:Blow Pony, Oct. 22, 2016 PDX.jpg|thumb|left|Blow Pony at Nova PDX, 2016
Other recurring LGBTQ dance events in Portland have included Bearracuda, Blow Pony, Club Kai Kai, Lumbertwink, and Pants Off Dance Off. All of these events experienced pauses upon the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Monthly Blow Pony dances were established in Portland by Airick Redwolf in 2007. Inferno monthly dance parties hosted by Hot Flash Productions owner/operators DJ Wildfire and Armida Hanlon that first began in Portland in 2004 and are now held regularly in Portland and Seattle. Willamette Week has described Lumbertwink as a "patio party celebrating the most Pacific Northwest brand of gay subculture—flannel-fetishizing gay dudes with hairy chests who may very well 'chop wood' in their downtime". The newspaper said of the event: "Chaps of all gender dispositions fall under the lumbertwink umbrella, so you won't be drinking exclusively with the man's man-loving 'masc for masc' crowd. This is a royal opportunity for you to knock back a few with a delicately specific sliver of the queer populace." The Portland Mercury has recommended, "If you love dancing and seeing cozy clothes on fuzzy bodies of all sizes, this is for you." Lumbertwink has been held at various venues, including the Funhouse Lounge, Star Theater, and the defunct Tonic Lounge. Pants Off Dance Off is a clothing-optional dance party; the event was held at Tonic Lounge, as of 2019.

LGBTQ establishments

Currently operating LGBTQ drinking establishments and nightclubs include: Badlands Portland, CC Slaughters, Eagle Portland, Santé Bar, Scandals, Silverado, and Stag PDX. Silverado and Stag are also strip clubs, along with Fuzzy Navels. Back 2 Earth opened in 2023. Coffin Club has also been described as an LGBTQ-friendly bar. The Sports Bra, established in 2022, is LGBTQ-owned and is the only sports bar in the world that only plays women's sports. Rebel Rebel is in Old Town Chinatown. Gay bathhouses operating in Portland include Hawks PDX and Steam Portland.
The drag venue Darcelle XV Showplace was established by Darcelle XV in 1967 and continues to host shows regularly. Queer-owned restaurants include Cheese & Crack Snack Shop, Jade Rabbit, Mis Tacones, and Taqueria Los Puñales.

Defunct

Defunct establishments include Crush Bar, Egyptian Club, Gail's Dirty Duck Tavern, Red Cap Garage, Starky's, and Three Sisters Tavern, which was also a strip club. The gay bathhouse Club Portland closed in 2007. Embers Avenue and Escape Nightclub both closed in 2017. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hobo's and Local Lounge closed in 2020 and 2021, respectively. In late 2021, Daniel Bund opened The Queen's Head, an English-style pub and lounge hosting drag shows and burlesque performances frequently. The bar closed in 2022. Sissy Bar operated from 2022 to 2024. 2022 also saw the opening of the lesbian bar Doc Marie's, which closed permanently in 2025. Misfits Bar and Lounge, which closed in 2025, was described as a "laidback queer hangout".
The City Nightclub, an all ages drug and alcohol free gay and lesbian nightclub, was established in 1983 by Lanny Swerdlow. According to author Linnea Due, it was the only all ages gay and lesbian club in the United States. An attempt by the Portland Police Bureau in 1996 to shut down the club sparked a demonstration which was covered on MTV News: Unfiltered. Ultimately, the club shut down in December of 1996.
The Roxy was an LGBTQ-friendly diner along Southwest Harvey Milk Street. The restaurant opened in 1994 and closed in March 2022. Sullivan's Gulch Bar & Grill has also been described as an LGBTQ establishment. Shine Distillery and Grill, which closed in 2023, was described as a gay bar.

Barbarella

Located at Northwest 5th Avenue and Davis Street in Old Town Chinatown, Barbarella was a nightclub in a building which previously housed a "grimy" music venue called Someday Lounge, followed by the Las Vegas-inspired Fifth Avenue Lounge. The bar was part of a chain of nightclubs based in Austin, Texas. Andrew Jankowski of Willamette Week described Barbarella as "a dance club with dirt-cheap drinks, themed parties running from the '50s through the '80s and an overall vibe best described as 'a straight person's idea of a gay bar'". He compared the bar to neighboring amusement arcade Ground Kontrol, but without the video games, and said, "Barbarella's aesthetic is as delightfully kitschy and low-budget as a bar named after a campy sci-fi cult classic should be." Jankowski wrote:
On paper, Barbarella should be a sensation, particularly with central eastsiders who rarely deign to cross the river into the Old Town entertainment district. Sure, the lack of specialty drinks feels like a missed opportunity, and even the bartender recommended against ordering food. But with no cover charge and wells at or below $2 each, you'd imagine the place would be packed with people headed to or from the arcade bar, the gay strip club or the scores of other party spots in the neighborhood.
Daily Xtra described Barbarella as a "video/dance dive bar" with dance parties, disc jockeys, and queer events in its 2019 overview of "gay Portland". The venue had two dance floors and a loft. The interior featured lava lamps, pinball machines, and mid-century modern furniture. There was a painting of a topless woman on one wall, as well as two "tributes" to Jane Fonda, who starred in the 1968 science fiction film Barbarella. According to Jankowski, "The only 21st-century features are the video projections and gently rippling rainbow LED lights behind the pre-existing sheet-metal grates."
Barbarella opened on February 14, 2019, and closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The venue had hosted Mac DeMarco.

Drag

In addition to Darcelle XV, drag performers from Portland include Alexis Campbell Starr, Asia Consent, Bolivia Carmichaels, Carla Rossi, Coco Jem Holiday, Flawless Shade, Isaiah Esquire, James Majesty, Lulu Luscious, Mars, Nicole Onoscopi, Pepper Pepper, and Poison Waters.

Organizations

LGBTQ rights organization Basic Rights Oregon is based in Portland. Local LGBTQ-oriented organizations include Cascade AIDS Project, Q Center, and Bradley Angle which offers LGBTQ domestic violence services. Others include:
Shoutout is the only active LGBTQ-focused news publication based in Portland. Sus is another LGBTQ publication distributed in Portland, although it is based in Bend. Defunct LGBTQ publications include the Alternative Connection, Cascade Voice,'' the Fountain, Just Out, NW Gay Review, the Oregon Gay Rights Report, and ''PQ Monthly.''