Our boys have better uniforms...

Here is an image from the Speakeasy Saints first City of Salem league softball game last Thursday, April 16.

Even though they didn't win, notice how our teams uniforms (red & white) actually match! Go boys!

Please join the Saints as they play their next double header game at Wallace Marine Park, Field #2 this Thursday, April 23, starting at 8:30pm.

Fundraiser for Women's Crisis Service

April Special Fund Raiser for Mid-Valley Women's Crisis Service at Southside Speakeasy.

Every Friday in April, the Southside Speakeasy will donate $1 of each cover charge to Mid-Valley Women's Crisis Service in recognition of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. They will also be collecting old cell phones & chargers plus items from the Crisis Service wish list. You can check out the wish list by going to: http://www.mvwcs.com/ Wish list will also be posted at Southside.

About the Mid-Valley Women's Crisis Service:

The Mid-Valley Women's Crisis Service offers a safe refuge and support to women and children who survive domestic and sexual violence. Our programs and services inform survivors of their options and support them in their choices. A cornerstone of our philosophy is respect for the survivor's rights including the right to decide whether to report to the police the crime or crimes committed against her. We work with survivors of any race, color, creed, religious belief, or sexual orientation.

Visit their website to find out more: http://www.mvwcs.com/

Information from http://lavenderwomyn.typepad.com/latest_news/

Silverton Mayor gets more TV time

Silverton transgender Mayor may get reality television show.

http://statesmanjournal.com/article/20090407/UPDATE/90407026&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Garage sale for the Saints

It's been many years since young gay men in Salem where able to go on the field and play with sticks and balls but the Southside Speakeasy Saints gay men's softball team is here and ready to play ball!

At the boys' first benefit event last week, it was clear that times are changing, a new generation of energetic young people are getting involved in the Salem GLBT community, taking charge and giving back at the same time. The Saints have created a "family". A family that provides support, friendship and an outlet for young people to have meaning for what they do and a purpose to get involved in the community besides going out and partying on the weekends.

I encourage the Salem community to get behind the Saints and show them that they have our full support. Come to the games, be their cheerleaders and support them in showing the ENTIRE Salem community that gay guys can do more than dress up in drag and put on parades.

Benefit Garage Sale:

• Sat., April 11th, 7:30am-3:00pm
• 245 Idlywood Dr., Salem
• Books, furniture, clothes, household items, baby stuff, etc.
• Benefits the team uniforms & equipment

First Game:

• Thurs., April 16th,
• 6:10pm vs. Journey
• 7:20pm vs. Westside Station
• @ Wallace Marine Park, 200 Glen Creek Rd. NW

GO SAINTS! Please check in with Gay in Salem regularly for the latest Saints Softball news.

Celebrate PRIDE in April

The Triangle Alliance club of Western Oregon University invites students, staff and the community to their Pride festivities starting April 13th culminating with the National Day of Silence and a Night of Noise on the 17th.

Only a short drive from Salem, the Monmouth student group organization aims at creating a place for members and allies of the GLBTQ community to feel safe, welcome, and connected amongst the WOU campus. They offer a variety of activities throughout the year that they invite the community to including the annual student run Drag Show, and the Black & Red ball.



For more information, contact President Melissa Lee, mlee06@wou.edu.

BRO seeking restauranteurs

Basic Rights Oregon is pleased to invite you to participate in our 10th Annual Bites for Rights event, being held this year on Thursday, June 18th, 2009.

This event provides an unparalleled visibility opportunity for your establishment to represent itself as a fair-minded one, and asks folks to “make a day of it” by patronizing your establishment and supporting Basic Rights Oregon at the same time! And in the past ten years, Bites for Rights has raised over $100,000.00 – it’s amazing to see how much progress has been made in those 10 years.

Oregon is a much more fair state than it was when we began this event, but our work is far from over and your ongoing participation is critical to our success. With your help, we will protect our youth and make our schools safe again, we will pass critical protections for transgender Oregonians, and we will work to bring about marriage equality in Oregon.

By agreeing to participate, you are agreeing to donate 15% of your gross proceeds from Thursday, June 18th, 2009 to Basic Rights Oregon’s fight for equality for ALL Oregonians. In exchange for your participation, Basic Rights Oregon will publicize your support with the following:

• Statewide advertisements (print and web-media)
• Promotion on our website (over 10,000 unique hits per month)
• Inclusion in our weekly e-mail update (over 12,000 subscribers)
• Posters and flyers around the state to increase visibility of your establishment’s participation

If interested in being involved, please contact Andrew Hogan at the Basic Rights Oregon office, 503-222-6151 (x.100) or by email, andrew@basicrights.org by May 31 to be included in any print advertising for the event.

Please check back with GAY IN SALEM as time nears for a list of Salem establishments participating in Bites for Rights.

Celebrating Pride in Corvallis!

The first Annual Corvallis Pride Celebration will be held Saturday, June 27th in Central Park. The First Annual Corvallis Pride Celebration Event Planning had a meeting recently. Chelsea and Tristan who are the organizers are doing an incredible amazing job, It really blew me away all the great ideas they are planning. They are planning a Parade, entertainment, food, children's activities and many other fun things. If you would like to help in anyway either small or big please contact them. They are specifically looking for someone to organize the younger children's area. I would be willing to help someone with this on that day, but can not take on the lead job. If you are interested please contact them at the following email. This event sounds very exciting and will be the day after the annual Stonewall Ball. Contact Chelsea at corvallispride@gmail.com

News courtesy of http://lavenderwomyn.typepad.com/latest_news/

Business profile: Journey's

Journey's, a recently opened gay owned business in beautiful downtown Salem is here for your metaphysical needs!

The store, which also houses Inspiration & Associates counseling, along with classrooms and offices for massage, readings and hypnotherapy is aimed at healing and wellness and offers a wide variety of products such as books, magazines, home decor, greeting cards, jewelry, tea, bath salts, hand made soaps, hand made canes, music, games, clothes, wall hangings, crystals, insence, candles & much more.

Journey's has many events going on that they would like to invite the community to.

• Fridays: Elyn Selu Reiki and Readings, $20.00 - $80.00
  Also Karen Stevenson - Psychic and Tarot Reader


• Saturday April 4th: "Jeffrey Peirce and The Old Ways" This class has turned out to be a big hit. Join us from 11:00 to noon-ish. Donations accepted.


• Also Saturday Angel readings with Jackey Day 10:00am - 3:00pm, $10.00 - $40.00, Elyn Selu for Reiki and Readings 2:00 - 6:00pm, $20.00 - $80.00


• Massage with Bill Clubb, All next week


• Upcoming Events & Classes, Pre-Register Now:


• Thursday April 9th, Full Moon Rage Release, 6:30 - 8:00pm, Donations


• Saturday April 11th, Native Flute with Michael Weinstein, $25.00


• Also April 11th, Chakra Balance and Cleansing Taught by Karen Stevenson, 10:00am - 3:30pm, $50.00


• Wednesday April 15th, Your Realistic Intuitive Style, Taught by Margaret Lemay, 6:00 - 8:00pm, $30.00
  

Much, Much More on the website. http://www.urjourneys.net/

Or call Journey's at 503-991-5091456 Court St NE, Salem, OR 97301

She's back!

She's baaaaaack! The return of R'Deena's regular scheduled first Sunday's 100% charity drag shows! No cover! Great entertainment! Great cause!

Salem's new gay bar off to a bang!

Is Salem ready to be a two-bar town? We'll soon find out! FLIPSIDE, which started in the summer of last year by two local ladies renting out the recently closed Razzles II under-age club one Friday a month, has just completed their first full-time weekend in their downtown establishment and will continue to open on Friday & Saturday nights depending on success with hopes to open more days and hours.

FLIPSIDE offers $3 well drinks and free appetizer-type food all night long as well as one of the best dance floors in Salem with relaxing couches, VIP areas, stripper poles & cages in the dance area. They have been host to foam parties, 80's nights & drag shows and have other ideas for themed nights.

The Flipside is located at 285 Liberty St., downtown Salem in the Liberty Plaza bottom level (Starbucks entrance) and offers free secure parking in the Liberty Plaza Parkade. Currently they are open Fridays & Saturdays, 8pm-2am ($3 cover, all night) and can be found online at http://www.myspace.com/ourflipside.

Southside Speakeasy for "Best in Salem"

Southside Speakeasy & Dance Pub, Salem's only full-time gay-owned and operated bar and night-club is very proud to be nominated this year for "Best Place to Dance" and "Best General Bar" in the Statesman Journal's annual "Best of the Mid-Valley" contest.

They ask the community to help support them and vote for them on the Statesman's website following the instructions below and reminding you that you can vote once per day thru April 10.

-Follow this link to www.StatesmanJournal.com/bestof
-Click on the gold button for "Entertainment"
-Find "Best General Bar" and using the drop down, select the Southside Speakeasy!
-Find "Best Place to Dance" and using the drop down, select the Southside Speakeasy!
-Then be sure to click "Submit Votes!" at the bottom to finish and complete your voting for the day!

GLBT content @ Salem Film Fest!

The 2009 Salem Film Festival, to be held April 17-26, 2009 features 10 days of innovative and independent films spanning genres from drama
to comedy, documentary to animation, shorts to feature-length presentations.
Among the many films being shown, highlighted are a few of special interest to the GLBT crowd.

Visit http://www.salemfilmfestival.com/ for ticket info and listings of all movies, dates, news and information on how you can get involved!

-THE LOST COAST
Pacific NW Premiere!
Directed by Gabriel Fleming
United States, 74 Minutes, Drama
FRI., APR 17, 8:30pm

The Lost Coast examines the haunting and emotional conflicts that arise when three old high-school friends reunite one Halloween night in San Francisco. Now twenty-somethings without much direction in life, they intend to party the night away. Jasper joins Lily and Mark as they venture into the Castro District, where the revelry is underway. Mark, who dated Lily in high school, now flaunts his homosexuality; Lily is barely able to hide her bitterness. And Jasper, though engaged to be married, has memories of his own regarding Mark: a sexual encounter on a camping trip to the California coast that left Mark longing for more and Jasper in denial. It’s no wonder that while embarking on a quest to score Ecstasy they find only rising tensions as submerged feelings resurface. Over the course of their evening in San Francisco the three are forced to confront this past, which has held them all in suspended animation. The Lost Coast expertly explores the complexities of sexuality, repression and isolation with a quiet, measured grace.

-PEDRO
Directed by Nick oceano United States,
90 Minutes Drama
FRI., APR 24, 6:15pm & SUN APR 26, 3:00pm
Filmmaker Alex Loynaz in attendance
Film Hosted by Scott Hossner

Penned by Milk’s Oscar winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, Pedro celebrates the extraordinary life of Pedro Zamora, who, as a roommate on MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco in 1994, fought tirelessly to promote AIDS awareness and inspired tolerance toward the LGBT community. For such a relatively short life, Pedro lived an epic one. The film spans from his birth in Cuba as the youngest of eight children, to his immigration to the United States, his transformation into an AIDS activist, to entering the nation’s collective consciousness through televisions across America. Readily apparent is the fact that Pedro was not only a man of action but also one of great heart and soul, as shown by his deep relationships with his fellow costars, his partner and his close-knit family. His death at age 22 provoked a worldwide outpouring of grief and Oceano’s film is a warm-hearted tribute to the extreme level of passion and honesty with which he lived his life.

-READY? OK!
Directed by James Vasquez United States,
91 Minutes Comedy
SAT., APR 25, 12:15pm

As a harried single mother in Normal Heights, USA, Andrea is having a tough time of it. Although her son Joshua is a smart, happy and enthusiastic ten-year-old, she worries that he’s on the wrong track. With each summons to the Mother Superior’s office at Joshua’s private school, Andrea searches for answers to a nagging problem: how can she convince him that aspiring to be on the cheerleading squad, relishing the art of the French braid and calling Maria von Trapp his most influential role model is just not what little boys do? In this quirky and touching take on the modern family, one woman must strip away all her illusions to seek a kind of peace with herself and her son. With comically truthful performances and a healthy dash of wacky farce, Ready? OK! explores a family on the verge of either destruction or elevation. Sometimes all it takes to figure things out is a deep breath and the perfect cheer.