(Originally Published on The Huffington Post on 6/15/2012)

Happy Pride Month, everybody! I am preparing to be neck-deep in an array of Portland’s gape ride festivities this coming weekend, then I’m flying east to New York City with my man to promote my new single, relax, and do Pride all over again. There is much to celebrate this year! For me, this time is about honoring our love, valuing who we are as people, and remembering the brave LGBT folks who have paved the way for us.

For this (third) round of “Queer Celebrities Need Love, Too” I chatted with pop legend Fred Schneider (The B-52s, The Superions), Bravo’s Chris March (Project Runway, Mad Fashion), transgender rapper Katastrophe, electrorock lovechild Seth Bogart (Gravy Train!!!!, Hunx and His Punx), queercore pioneer turned folk powerhouse Kaia Wilson (Team Dresch, The Butchies), Joan Jett‘s indie rock prodigies Girl in a Coma, self-proclaimed drag terrorist Christeene, artist/author Slava Mogutin, and English singer/songwriter Scott Matthews. They all answered the same five questions about what queer pride means to them:

1. If you could sum up in one word what it means for you to have queer pride, what would it be?

2. How will you celebrate pride this year?

3. Would you ever be in a relationship with someone who was still in the closet and planned on remaining that way?

4. In thinking about your own experience with relationships and just what exactly we are celebrating this Pride Month, please tell us about the first time in your life when you felt proud of who you are and of your queer love.

5. If that personal pride experience were adapted into a film, what song would be the soundtrack to that scene?

I wrote a couple of the articles in this year’s Annual Portland Mercury Queer Guide. One is called “Your Nuptials Are Illegal: Five Above-the-Law Ways to Protect Your Partnership in (and from) Oregon” and the other is called “Location Is Everything: The Best Places to Get Same-Sex Married“. Pick it up on stands tomorrow in Portland, or read the transcript(s) below…

From The Portland Mercury Queer Guide: (6/14/2012)

“Location Is Everything: The Best Places to Get Same-Sex Married” (in Portland)

It could be argued that where one gets married is as important as whom one wishes to marry—particularly when it comes to same-sex weddings. Everybody has their own idea about what makes a great ceremony, but here are a few locations where you can tie the knot in town without worrying about someone kicking your ass on your big day. Read the rest of this entry »