Landmark LGBTQ+ publication now online!

Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor and a partnership with the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN) and the Oregon Historical Society Library, Just Out: “Oregon’s lesbian and gay newsmagazine” is now available to view on our website.  

Just Out was published and distributed for free twice a month in Portland, Oregon from 1983–2013 and we have issues available from 1983-2011. We’d like to say a special thank you to the former editors of Just Out, Marty Davis and Jonathan Kipp, for allowing us to digitize and make this great publication open access! 

Just Out covered news surrounding the LGBTQ community in the Pacific Northwest. It had a distinct editorial voice and provided a place for LGBTQ people to discuss issues that mattered to them without the censorship of traditional newsrooms. Reading Just Out today gives you a unique look at the LGBTQ community in Portland, and Oregon’s slow path toward acceptance.  

Just Out had iconic illustrated covers like this issue from July 6th 1984 about military homophobia, and this issue from January 1st 1987 about spirituality:  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along with its substantive articles covering everything from local politics, to HIV/AIDS response to national news, Just Out maintained an active Letters page. Sometimes the letters were from disgruntled, homophobic readers (in which case the next issue would be full of sometimes snarky, sometimes heartfelt responses). Other times the letters were from Queer people in Portland organizing events or looking for community. The letters were as diverse as the magazine itself: serious, funny, broad or extremely local to Portland. Many letters focused on AIDS, either people’s response to proposed policies, activism, scientific breakthroughs, or simply how they were coping with an AIDS diagnosis. As the world struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic, we can look back on these letters and learn how the Queer community supported each other through a past epidemic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a much lighter note, here’s a letter encouraging Pope John Paul II to stay away from San Francisco:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just Out is a rich resource for researching Portland’s Queer community between 1983 and 2013 and we are excited that we were able to digitize it and make it available on our website.  

Blog post compiled and edited by Allia Service, University of Oregon undergraduate student and Libraries student employee