Home / gay topics / Portland gay bars
1979 | downtown
Scandals, “Portland’s gay Cheers,” is the last queer vestige of the city’s long-gone Vaseline Alley and sits next door to the ghost of forever-famous queer diner the Roxy, which devastatingly shuttered in 2022.
Featured Events: Slutty Patio Cookout, big city disco, Gayme on
Est.
served with ranch or bbq dipping sauce
Happy Pride Month!
various locations
Queer women and nonbinary DJs spin each month in a sapphic heaven of impeccable musical and artistic taste.
Inspired by the Oakland restaurant Gay4U Vegan Eats, Reynoso and Bañuelos offer free food to trans people of color upon request. 2022 | buckman
Doc Marie’s opened in 2022 as Portland’s first devoted lesbian bar in over a decade. Their pop-up-turned-restaurant Mis Tacones serves up plant-based tacos, tortas, nachos, and asada seitan Cali burritos with hand-pressed tortillas and plenty of panache.
If you don’t meet the city’s coolest leather daddies, gaymers, leather-clad lesbians, or at least one person in a pup hood, go back and try again. The welcoming, unpretentious vibe extends to all members of the LGBTQ+ community. Part cocktail bar and part dance club, it’s an approachable introduction to LGBTQ+ nightlife, which is why it’s most Portlanders’ first gay bar.
Long before Darcelle set the Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest drag queen, long before former Portland Monthly editors Fiona McCann and Eden Dawn joined the team that shattered Guinness’s longest continuous drag show world record, audiences relied on Darcelle’s for stiff drinks and drag revues that defied Portland’s homophobic legal code more than 50 years ago.
From Meals 4 Heels to Taqueria Los Puñales, we've rounded up some of our favorite queer-owned bars, restaurants, and cafes in Portland. Here’s hoping a fairy godmother will swoop in and save it at the last moment.
Featured Events: Towel Tuesdays, Underwear Wednesdays, Trans-uhh-Licious thursdays
est.
(1015 SE Stark, speed-ocappuccino.square.site)
Chef-owner Jenny Nguyen opened this women-focused sports bar and restaurant with a name inspired by a long-standing joke between her and her friends. The duo also owns Stem Wine Bar, which offers tastings, wine flights, and weekend tarot readings.
The entire LGBTQ+ community should, in the best bars, feel safe and free to let loose, have fun, and maybe nibble on something tasty, on menu or off. 2012 | Sumner
This queer oasis in the Parkrose-Sumner neighborhood—blocks from a popular bingo hall and the scenic Catholic shrine the Grotto—is the PDX airport’s closest destination for a long, gay layover.
This list is by no means exhaustive, as parties are always starting up in Portland, but it’s a great start for your queer nightlife adventures.
Not all queer gatherings have a permanent home, so we’ve assembled a rundown of the city’s robust scene of recurring pop-up parties alongside our favorite brick-and-mortar establishments.