QTBIPOC Portland

 As we built the Queer Lives Archive, and began exploring ways to discuss the issues surrounding toxic masculinity in society, we were prompted by a small local project that asked how to engage local voices if one were to create a prompted call center from a local pay telephone. We loved the symbolism, and began thinking about this very thing. The telephone installation would live in North Portland, and we automatically thought about the Black, Latinx and Asian/Pacific Islander stories tied to this area of the city, and how these African, Mexican-Indigenous, Latin American and Pacific Islander voices could be honored and amplified. 

 We are fortunate to be connected with an array of queer folk in those communities, who not only live in these areas, but whose works, art and leadership have influenced many other disenfranchised folk, including many of us working on this very project. 

We asked each person to tell us a few things:

Who in their life made you feel fully supported and how did that manifest itself?
When have you felt truly seen and validated by a stranger in a public space?
How would you like life to look for queer people of color in Portland in the next few years?
What do you think people need to know to support queer people of color in our city?