Alan Hart (1890-1962)

Alan L. Hart was an Oregon physician, researcher, and writer and one of the first female-to-male tr…

Alan L. Hart was an Oregon physician, researcher, and writer and one of the first female-to-male transgender persons to undergo a hysterectomy in the United States and live the remainder of his life as a man. Alberta Lucille Hart was born on October 4, 1890, in Hall’s Summit, Kansas, the …

Basic Rights Oregon

Established in 1996, Basic Rights Oregon is a statewide political organization in Oregon that works…

Established in 1996, Basic Rights Oregon is a statewide political organization in Oregon that works on the behalf of LGBTQ rights (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer). Its mission is to ensure that LGBTQ Oregonians “experience equality by building a broad and inclusive politically powerful movement, shifting public opinion, and achieving …

Bruce Guenther (1948-)

An influential art historian, curator, and author, Bruce Guenther has contributed to the cultural l…

An influential art historian, curator, and author, Bruce Guenther has contributed to the cultural life of Oregon and the Northwest for more than five decades. During his fourteen-year tenure as curator at the Portland Art Museum (PAM), he actively promoted local and regional artists, exposed Oregon audiences to national and …

Daniel Rives Kistler (1949–)

Rives Kistler served on the Oregon Supreme Court for fifteen years, from 2003 to 2018. His work on …

Rives Kistler served on the Oregon Supreme Court for fifteen years, from 2003 to 2018. His work on the court was marked by his willingness to undertake meticulous reasoning in legally complex cases, including Klamath Irrigation Dist. v. United States (2010), relating to water rights in the Klamath River Basin; …

Gay and lesbian rights movement

Before Stonewall Before New York’s Stonewall Riots in 1969, the history of gay rights in Oregon, a…

Before Stonewall Before New York’s Stonewall Riots in 1969, the history of gay rights in Oregon, as in the United States generally, was one of curtailment. For example, in the nineteenth century when Oregon formed as a territory and then a state, lawmakers adopted a statute criminalizing sodomy, whether consensual …

Gus Van Sant (1952-)

Gus Van Sant, Oregon’s most celebrated filmmaker, has lived and worked in Portland for more than th…

Gus Van Sant, Oregon’s most celebrated filmmaker, has lived and worked in Portland for more than thirty years. Portland is the setting for several of his independent films, which portray the Bohemian youth culture of the city and its grittier landmarks, including rail yards, warehouses, rooftops, and skate parks. Portland …

Johnnie Ray (1927-1990)

Johnnie Ray was completely different from anything that went before him. . . . I consider Johnnie R…

Johnnie Ray was completely different from anything that went before him. . . . I consider Johnnie Ray to be the father of rock and roll.—Tony Bennett In the early 1950s, Johnnie Ray was arguably the biggest musical star in the world. His emotional singing and sexually suggestive performances …

Marie Equi (1872-1952)

Dr. Marie Equi was a fiercely independent Oregon physician who was engaged in the political turmoil…

Dr. Marie Equi was a fiercely independent Oregon physician who was engaged in the political turmoil and social change of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She was a fearless advocate for woman's suffrage, reproductive rights, labor rights, and free speech, and her raucous protests against imperialism and war …

Minor White (1908-1976)

Minor White was an American photographer, teacher, and writer whose career began in Oregon during t…

Minor White was an American photographer, teacher, and writer whose career began in Oregon during the New Deal (1937-1942), when he documented historic buildings and landscapes and taught photography. In 1952, he was the editor of Aperture, a journal of photography he founded with Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, …

Oregon Queer History Collective (Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest)

The Oregon Queer History Collective, formerly known as the  Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific N…

The Oregon Queer History Collective, formerly known as the  Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest, was founded in October 1994 by a small group of community historians in Portland. At the time, it was the only gay and lesbian organization of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, …

Otto Frederick "Fred" Eckhardt (1926–2015)

Friends and fans called Fred Eckhardt a muse, an icon, a founding father, and the “cosmic giggle of…

Friends and fans called Fred Eckhardt a muse, an icon, a founding father, and the “cosmic giggle of craft beer.” Based in Portland, he was an author, educator, home brewer, and beer historian known for his knowledge of beer styles and craft beer culture. He influenced home and commercial …

Portland Gay Men's Chorus

The Portland Gay Men's Chorus (PGMC) was founded in April 1980 to perform a concert as part of that…

The Portland Gay Men's Chorus (PGMC) was founded in April 1980 to perform a concert as part of that year's local Gay Pride Festival. Twenty men responded to an ad published by Gary Coleman in the local community paper, The Fountain. That June, the group organized and elected officers, …

Stu Rasmussen (1948-2021)

In a state heralded for its tolerance, Stu Rasmussen stood out. The charismatic city council member…

In a state heralded for its tolerance, Stu Rasmussen stood out. The charismatic city council member of Silverton—serving terms in 1984-1996 and 2004-2008—was the first openly transgender mayor in the United States. He/she (the pronoun that Rasmussen prefers) once described himself/herself as “a dude, a heterosexual man who appears …

Walter Cole (Darcelle) (1930-2023)

When Walter Cole was discharged from the military in the late 1950s, he had little idea that his al…

When Walter Cole was discharged from the military in the late 1950s, he had little idea that his alter ego, the female impersonator Darcelle, would emerge and that he would become the proprietor of the longest-running drag cabaret on the West Coast. Born in 1930, Cole spent his childhood in …