#it's nice. about 80% of the pushback is because people feel upset and threatened by having it Shoved In Their Face

[crimeronan]

portland is the go-to city to make fun of online because to right-wingers it's full of degenerates and to left-wingers it's full of the Annoying (TM) type of queer people. this is why everyone found the fake portland polycule meme so believable, because they desperately wanted to believe in the mythos of a portland queer who's This Obnoxious.

but i DO need people who've never been here to know that this image is seeded in an actually-very-nice truth: queerness is Literally Inescapable here.

like. any given starbucks will have 30% to 70% of their baristas using nametags with they pronouns. you'll find progressive (if performative) signage in a dozen storefronts along any given street. it's the only place i've lived where i've met people who ACTUALLY ask EVERYONE for their pronouns, not just the "clockable" folks. i'm hard-pressed to go a week without interacting with trans women who are hostesses, bank tellers, receptionists, sephora consultants, etc.

right now i'm in a writing critique group that's spun off from a larger group of writers -- this one is made up about 50% of women (and one nonbinary rafi) & 50% men invited by said women (and nonbinary rafi) bc they passed the vibe check.

rafi and i are the only queer people in this group. but last week one of the men pitched a sci-fi story whose protag is a polyamorous woman sourcing bodies for the AI members of her polycule so they can be together irl.

i am NOT out as polyamorous and have never mentioned polyamory. this guy is in his late 60s or early 70s and is retired with his wife. he has an adult daughter. his outlook on polyamory and non-traditional relationship structures is nothing but positive.

i do not think i'd find this so easily living back in new hampshire!