Portland, Oregon's LGBT News Magazine Goes Out of Business After 29 Years

Sad news for the Northwest. Portland, Oregon's LGBT paper Just Out has ceased publication:

Effective December 26, 2011, Just Out newsmagazine, serving Portland’s LGBTQ community since 1983, is no longer in business. Three years of recession have taken their toll.'

The publication's Facebook page:

It is with great sadness that I have to announce today that Just Out newspaper, having put up a helluva fight against this dammed "Great Recession", will be unable to continue publishing. Our 12/9 issue was/is our last publication. Thank you for being our "Friends" and for reading Just Out, these past 29 years...

...About the notion that Just Out will/might continue as an online version. In a word: NO.

Online versions of newspapers serve as a complement to the print edition, not a replacement for. There is not yet a model in place that can produce sufficient revenues to pay for the people who write the news. Online news doesn't just float down from the sky. To maintain credibility articles online still must ...be researched, edited, copy edited, fact checked and filtered of opinion and bias. This work is done by professional writers who merit a decent wage for their work. Revenues to pay staff comes in the form of ad sales, be it print or web. In Portland at least, there are not sufficient revenues from any newspaper web site to support expenses separate from the print issue----and nearly all of these are struggling.

If Lady Gaga Was a Gay Menorah, She Might Look Like This: VIDEO

The Portland Gay Men's Chorus took on Lady Gaga for the holidays.

Check out a clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Lady Gaga, Google, Penguin, Palm Springs

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Unlike her mother, Mariah Carey's infant daughter doesn't like her picture taken.

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Google defends itself from criticism it has faced from members of the LGBT community.

Efforts underway to save solitary penguin stranded in New Zealand and sent it back to Antarctica.

The American man behind the Gay Girl in Damascus hoax may have posed as a second Syrian lesbian.

Five people were wounded around the corner from San Francisco's gay Pride in a shooting unrelated to the event.

Gay man and good samaritan attacked by anti-gay men in Portland

Palm Springs has the highest concentration of gay couples in California: "With about 115 same-sex couples for every 1,000 households, Palm Springs ranks ahead of other notably gay-friendly cities like San Francisco and West Hollywood, according to an analysis of census data by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law, based at the University of California, Los Angeles."

VIDEO: 4,000 People Hold Hands Across Portland Bridge in Epic Show of Solidarity Against Anti-Gay Hate

On Sunday night, more than 4,000 people showed up to a Facebook-organized demonstration against last week's anti-gay hate crime in Portland, Oregon and held hands across the Hawthorne bridge where the attack occurred.

Earlier I reported that volunteer patrols had started in the area.

Just Out reports:

Demonstrators packed into the space beneath the west side of the bridge at about 7:30 p.m., spilling over onto the ramp and stairs to hear from the attack’s survivors, Brad Forkner and Christopher Rosevear. Afterward, the crowd filed down both sides of the bridge with hands held. Despite being tightly packed together, some attendees could not fit on the bridge.

Just Out reported the crowd was 4,000 people strong.

The protest was organized by BRO, Q Center, Cascade AIDS Project and Pride Northwest. Basic Rights Oregon Executive Director Jeana Frazzini, Mayor Sam Adams, and the couple who was attacked were among those who spoke at the demo.

Watch a fantastic video from David McFatridge, AFTER THE JUMP...

Watch: Volunteer Patrols Begin in Portland After Anti-Gay Attack

In response to the attack on a gay couple on Portland, Oregon's Hawthorne Bridge last week, volunteer patrols have begun on weekends from 11 pm to 2 am in the area. The patrols consist of four-person groups that keep a watchful eye for suspicious activity. They are also seeking volunteers.

Watch KATU's report, AFTER THE JUMP...

Two Portland, Oregon Men Attacked in Anti-Gay Assault

Two gay men in Portland, Oregon, Brad Forkner and Christopher Rosevear, were attacked in a bias-related assault while walking across the Hawthorne bridge. The men were holding hands, according to The Oregonian:

As they neared the pathway down to the Esplanade, Forkner felt someone push him, knocking him against a railing. Then, he said, fists.  He pulled out a cell phone and called 911 as the attackers hit Rosevear a few more times, Forkner said. They then ran off. 

Forkner said he couldn't tell what the attackers were saying. He didn't hear clearly anti-gay epithets. They were yelling, I don't know what, he said, adding that they may have been speaking another language. So much was happening and I couldn't catch onto what was happening. 

There were witnesses to the attack but they did not act. Rosevear received stitches at the hospital. The Q Center, an LGBT community group in Portland, said they are starting patrols of the area.

Watch KGW's report on the attacks, AFTER THE JUMP...