Hi everyone!

It's finally warm and sunny out! Yay! Hopefully this will stick around until next weekend because we've got so much going on with Pride 2010! Here's the line up:

Friday, June 18th
SMYRC and CHATpdx are partnering for an awesome evening of fun, games, glitter, food, unicorns, rainbows, and most importantly: FREE rapid HIV testing (the mouth swab kind) to kick off Pride Weekend!

You don't need to bring anything or make an appointment; simply stop by SMYRC during our drop in hours and talk to one of our staff. You can get a quick HIV test done by someone who is friendly, confidential, supportive and knowledgeable; play some games; learn about safer sex (and get all the safer sex materials you want!) and/or just hang out with your friends!

For more info on the event and on CHATpdx, go to the Facebook event page.

Saturday, June 19th
It's the first annual Gayest Day of the Year Bike Ride, a neighborhood bike ride and community celebration! This event is free!

Join us for donuts and ice cream and snacks and music and performers and glitter and fun. Bike decorating starts at noon, the ride starts around one. Ice cream social at the QCenter around 2ish! You don't need to have a bike to attend! All forms of non-motor transportation welcomed, as well as folks who just want to cheer the ride on from the sidelines.

Then, stick around for regular drop in from 4pm-9pm where we'll be making signs and banners to carry with us in the Pride Parade on Sunday.

Sunday, June 20th
Parade Day! March with SMYRC and show Portland your pride!

Meet us at the Northwest Park Blocks on NW 13th between Flanders and Everett. Meet up beween 9am and 11am. The parade kicks off at 11:30 and we'll be dancin' it up in the streets all the way to Pride Fest on the Waterfront. Once there, don't forget to stop by the SMYRC booth and the Teen Oasis booth (a youth run, youth only booth with games, free food, safer sex supplies and more!) And cheer on your friends on the Cafe Stage from 5-6pm for our SMYRC youth open mic. There are still some slots available if you'd like to perform.

Phew! What a fun-filled, gaytastic weekend we've got coming up! Come by drop in all this week and help us get ready for Pride weekend by making SMYRC buttons, screenprinting t-shirts, and making signs and banners!

Hello all…

Next Wednesday we’ve got two great meetings happening…

Steering Committee, 6pm: We’ve got two guests coming in to Steering Committee next week. Joe, who is organizing the Butch Voices Conference which is coming up in Portland on October 2nd, is coming to talk about how you can get involved in the conference, as a participant and as an organizer! Here’s a preview:

“I’m hoping to get participants, attendees and submissions from youth who identify along the butch and transmasculine spectrum regarding issues that affect them, as well as from their allies and family members. We had a great turnout in Oakland, CA last year with an age range from 16 to 73, covering a wide array of races, walks of life, and locations across the US and Canada. I’d like to get the youth involved here in Portland, where hopefully together we can make this event accessible and pertinent to making this something they would benefit from as well. I figured I would talk a bit about what BUTCH Voices is about, and the event we held in Oakland to give them an idea of what we’ve accomplished already and to give them an idea of what we’re hoping Portland can be on a smaller more regional scale.”

Also coming to Steering Committee is Meredith Williams, a PhD student looking to talk to gender non-conforming folks of all types! This is a PAID study and she’ll be at Steering Committee answering any questions folks have about this study. Here’s a preview of what she’s presenting:
“I am conducting a study of gender non-conforming youth and young adults (age 15-24) about their gender development and their family relationships. I plan to use this research to help inform policies and programs that cater to the unique needs of gender non-conforming youth. The interviews last about two hours, are confidential (no names will be collected), and participants will be compensated $25 for your time.

I will be conducting interviews in Portland June 6-8, 2010. If you are willing to share your story with me, please contact me and I’ll
schedule an interview time. You don’t have to use your name, and I will not keep your contact information. You can get more information at: http://transgenderyouthstudy.com/ “

Teen Oasis Planning Meeting, 7pm: Come plan for the youth run, youth only booth at Pride this year! Queer games, queer history, safer sex supplies and more is just the beginning of what folks have started planning for this rad booth.

And here’s some info on one more paid study just for good measure!

“My name is Kelly Maynes and I am a student at Pacific University in the School of Professional Psychology. I am writing this email to you in regard to your interest in participating in a research project that is being led by Dr. Dan Munoz (SEE BELOW EMAIL), a professor here at Pacific U. Dr. Munoz conducts a great deal of gender and sexuality-focused research with the goal of promoting the care for the LGBTQ community within the field of psychology. A current project that is being conducted within our lab involves the body satisfaction of individuals who identify as FTM . There is a great deal of research that focuses on the factors that influence body image and body satisfaction of heterosexual individuals (predominately female); however, there is a paucity of research that focuses on the body image and body satisfaction levels of individuals who identify as transsexual/trans/ FTM , etc.

One goal of this project is to learn more about factors that influence body image and body satisfaction ratings of other populations and extend this information to the community of mental health professionals. I am more than happy to respond to any questions or concerns that you might have. My phone number is 631-806-3327 , please do not hesitate to email or call.

I’m Dan Munoz, professor of psychology at Pacific University’s doctoral program in Portland. We are doing a study looking at the impact of the different stages of transition has on body image in Female-to-Male persons. The whole process is filling out some questionnaires on body image, gender, and eating behaviors. The whole process should take about 30 minutes, we are not asking for any names or identifying information so it will be completely anonymous and participants will be paid $5 in cash for their participation.”

See you next week folks! Have a great weekend!

Hi folks!

Pride is right around the corner and SMYRC planning is underway!

One way to be involved is to sign up to perform at Pride Fest on the Cafe Stage! SMYRC’s stage time is Sunday, June 20th from 5pm to 6pm. It will be an open mic format, with ten slots available for folks to perform in, each slot about 5 minutes in length. Drag performances, monologues, poetry, music, puppetry, interpretive dance and just about anything else you can dream up are all welcome to be performed!

If you are interested in performing, send me an email, call or text 503.969.2266, or stop by drop in and let me know and I’ll put you on the list! In the event that more than 10 people want to perform, we’ll put everyone’s names in a hat at 4:45pm that day and draw 10 names and that will decide who is performing.

And remember, even though we won’t be at SMYRC, you will be representing SMYRC and so all SMYRC performance community agreements apply: Keep it respectful to all genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, religions, ages and abilities! No glorification of drugs, alcohol or violence. Have fun! Strut your stuff!

We’re also looking for a few folks to talk on the Main Stage and share their experiences with SMYRC, with coming out, or what community means to them. The main stage time is really a time to show the larger PDX queer communities how important and amazing of a place SMYRC is! We don’t know the details yet on when that time slot is, but let me know if you are interested!