Last week, I had the chance to play one of my songs at the Queer Open Mic night at Artichoke Music in Portland, Oregon. It happens on the fourth Wednesday of every month, and is a super welcoming environment to share your music or poetry. They also have an acoustic open mic, hip-hop open mic, and more!

You can find more great events in the Pacific Northwest at Queer Social Club, an online calendar that compiles events in Portland and Seattle. I had the chance to meet the team at their birthday party in Portland, and we’re sponsoring one of their upcoming newsletters. Check out the latest events or add your own:

Queer Social Club
Queer Social Club

Speaking of events, next week we’re hosting our first virtual hangout for Remote Queer members. If you’re on this email list, you’re in!

Ask Saul and Matt anything about working remotely, being a queer person in tech, moving to Australia, or whatever else is on your mind. We also want to hear from you about what tools and resources would make this community better. Virtual co-working sessions? In-person meetups? Come hang out and let us know!

Remote Queer - Virtual Hangout · Luma
Remote Queer - Virtual Hangout
Saul @ RQ

Book Recommendation: Hotshot

We get it: virtual hangouts can be awkward. But there are lots of benefits to being part of an online community. Through Lex Roman’s Legends network, I had the chance to chat with Rey Katz of Amplify Respect — a newsletter about “using respectful language to help understand ourselves and each other.”

We’ll be collaborating in a few different ways over the next few months, starting with this book review that Rey passed along:

💡
“River Selby’s memoir Hotshot: A Life on Fire is about working as a wildland firefighter in a male-dominated industry, woven with a deep understanding of what fire does to ecosystems, and the colonial, destructive history of fire suppression contrasted with Indigenous knowledge. I think this is a very queer book without making a big deal of that, in the best way possible. Selby shares their struggles with body image, bulimia, relationships, and sexist harassment, from an understated non-binary perspective. Especially if you travel in the American West or want to learn about wildfires, I highly recommend reading Hotshot, forthcoming on August 12, 2025.”
Hotshot: A Life on Fire
A Life on Fire
Atlantic Monthly PressAtlantic Monthly Press

—Recommended by Rey, Amplify Respect

News Roundup

If you haven’t yet, check out our recent posts on the Remote Queer blog, including 7 Cybersecurity Tools to Reduce Spam and Ads, What It’s Really Like to Get a Bolivian Visa in 2025, and 6 Queer-Friendly Financial Advisors to Help You Survive (and Thrive) Under Capitalism:

6 Queer-Friendly Financial Advisors to Help You Survive (and Thrive) Under Capitalism
As a freelancer, there’s hardly a day that goes by when I don’t have to think about money. And until something better comes along, us queer folks have to find ways to get by under capitalism without compromising our values. For some of us, that might look like
Remote QueerRemote Queer

We also loved this recent post by O. Rose Broderick on how to change your byline as a trans journalist. Whether or not you’re trans, it’s a super-useful resource on what to do when your byline no longer matches your current identity:

How Trans Journalists Can Stay Safe and Well While Changing Their Bylines - The Open Notebook
Changing a name is a very personal decision. Unfortunately for trans journalists, it’s a decision that has to occur in public. Changing a byline can mitigate the abuse and harassment that trans journalists routinely face and help them honor their gender identity. Amid an increasingly hostile environment for trans people, their perspectives and stories have never been more important. Here are some strategies for staying safe and maintaining well-being while changing your byline as a trans journalist.
The Open NotebookO. Rose Broderick

And here’s our friend Dr. Paris Buttfield-Addison (co-founder of the Yarn Spinner game engine) weighing in on the recent delisting of NSFW games on Itch.io:

We’re all adults here
The recent delisting of over 17,000 games from the independent platform Itch.io wasn’t a content moderation decision made by the platform itself. It was an act of financial coercion. Instigated by an Australian activist group and carried out by payment processors like Mastercard, it sets a dangerous precedent for all creative fields online. The stated goal of the campaign was to combat media that glorifies sexual violence. An aim that sounds laudable, making it difficult to argue against in public.
hey.parisDr Paris Buttfield-Addison

Thanks for reading! Until next time,

Saul @ RQ

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