Portland ranked fourth in The Advocate's 2026 list of the fifteen safest American cities for LGBTQ+ travel,[1] and in 2025, Lonely Planet featured Portland as one of the top fifty most queer-friendly cities in world in The LGBTQ+ Travel Guide.[2]
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.[3]
In 1992, Multnomah County became the first U.S. public employer to extend health benefits to the domestic partners of county employees, with benefits coming into effect on July 1, 1993.[7]
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.[10] In 2018, the City of Portland renamed a 13-block stretch of Southwest Stark Street to commemorate American gay rights activist Harvey Milk.[11][12][13][14]
Queer Horror is a bi-monthly film festival that is shown at the Hollywood Theatre.[23] 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.[24] The Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival screens LGBTQ documentaries.[25]
Dance
Stomptown has been described by The Oregonian as "Portland's home for LGBTQ+ country-western dance"[26] and by Portland Monthly as a recurring "queer country dance party".[27] The event features line dancing and other types of partner dancing such as country-western two-step, swing, and waltz.[26][27] 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."[26]
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.[28] 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 (Jenn Davis) and Armida Hanlon that first began in Portland in 2004 and are now held regularly in Portland and Seattle.[29][30]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".[31] 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."[31] The Portland Mercury has recommended, "If you love dancing and seeing cozy clothes on fuzzy bodies of all sizes, this is for you."[32] Lumbertwink has been held at various venues, including the Funhouse Lounge, Star Theater, and the defunct Tonic Lounge.[32] Pants Off Dance Off is a clothing-optional dance party;[33] the event was held at Tonic Lounge, as of 2019.[34][35]
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.[citation needed]
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 (formerly known as Joq's Tavern,[52][53] or simply Joq's) has also been described as an LGBTQ establishment. Shine Distillery and Grill, which closed in 2023, was described as a gay bar.
Located at Northwest 5th Avenue and Davis Street in Old Town Chinatown, Barbarella (sometimes called Barbarella PDX) 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'".[54] 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."[54] 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.[54]
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".[55] 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."[54]
Shoutout is the only active LGBTQ-focused news publication based in Portland.[63][64]Sus is another LGBTQ publication distributed in Portland, although it is based in Bend.[65] Defunct LGBTQ publications include the Alternative Connection,[66][67]Cascade Voice (later renamed the Eagle),[68][69]the Fountain,[70]Just Out,[71]NW Gay Review, the Oregon Gay Rights Report, and PQ Monthly.[67][72]
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Rainbow flag displayed in the Burnside Triangle, 2006
Gay Skate at Oaks Park Roller Skating Rink, 2022
Entrances to Darcelle XV Showplace and CC Slaughters, 2012
Exterior of Embers Avenue, 2014
Oregon Bears representation at the Portland pride parade, 2015
Exterior of the Q Center, 2014
Portland Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence outside Starky's in 2009
Activist and drag artist Poison Waters is celebrated at a Portland Trail Blazers game, 2025
