Seattle Pride

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Seattle Pride
Seattle Pride Fest 2024 main stage.jpg
PrideFest 2024 main stage at the Seattle Center
StatusActive
Genre Pride parade and festival
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s) Seattle, Washington
CountryUnited States
Inaugurated1974
Attendance300,000+ [1]
Website seattlepride.org

Seattle Pride refers to a series of events which are held annually throughout the month of June to celebrate LGBT Pride in Seattle, Washington. Seattle Pride also refers to the nonprofit organization Seattle Out and Proud which coordinates and promotes LGBTQIA+ events and programs in Seattle year-round including the Seattle Pride Parade.

Contents

History

The first Gay Pride Week in Seattle was held from June 24 to 30, 1974, by the city's lesbian and gay community. It included an open house hosted by the Stonewall Recovery Center, a discussion on transsexuality at the University of Washington Hub Ballroom, and a memorial service for victims of the 1973 UpStairs Lounge arson attack in New Orleans. The city's Gay Community Center opened on June 28 and was followed the next day by a 200-person picnic at Occidental Park in Pioneer Square. The picnic moved to Volunteer Park in the afternoon and returned to Occidental Park for an evening street dance with 150 people. [2] On June 30, Gay Pride Week concluded with a spontaneous and unplanned "Gay-In" at the Seattle Center's International Fountain. [3]

The local band Lavender Country, noted as the first known openly gay country music act, also performed during the 1974 festival. [4] The band also later performed a reunion show at Seattle Pride in 2000, following a resurgence of interest when their album was archived at the Country Music Hall of Fame. [5]

The city's first official Gay Pride Week was declared in 1977 by Mayor Wes Uhlman. With a broader acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community came a rise in organized "anti-gay forces" determined to repeal many ordinances that protected LGBTQ+ rights. During the 1978 Pride Week, more than 3,000 participants marched in protest on the parade route that ran from Occidental Square in Pioneer Square to Westlake Park by way of First Avenue. Voters defeated the initiative, preserving the many political gains of that decade. [6] The Parade route remained in place until the early 1980s when it began trading years with Capitol Hill, until it was "permanently" moved to Broadway. In 1992, Gay Pride week was expanded to include bisexual and transgender identities (LGBT). [7] In 2006, the Seattle Pride Parade moved from Capitol Hill back to Downtown Seattle where it originated. [8]

Seattle Pride

Seattle Pride is a nonprofit organization that coordinates and promotes LGBTQIA+ events and programs in Seattle year-round. The organization aims to create unity, honor diversity, and achieve equal human rights throughout the region and the world [9] through a variety of programs including its Pride Speaks speaker series, [10] Vote with Pride [11] voter engagement program, and its community grant and sponsorship program. [12]

The organization is best known as the producer of the Seattle Pride Parade, [13] held on the last Sunday in June to honor Stonewall, marking the start of the gay rights movement in the United States. The event attracts 300,000-plus spectators annually with more than 200 groups marching in support of LGBTQIA+ Pride [14] down 4th Avenue in Downtown Seattle.

The organization is also known as the producer of the Seattle Pride in the Park Festival held on the first Saturday in June in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. The free family-friendly event features performances by LGBTQIA+ performers, kids activities, booths, and food trucks. [15]

The 2013 Pride Parade was notable for the participation of uniformed members of the Boy Scouts of America, celebrating the recent decision by that organization to allow openly gay boys to join as Scouts. [16] In 2020 and 2021, the organization held virtual Pride Month celebrations in lieu of the Seattle Pride Parade and Seattle Pride in the Park Festival in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [17]

PrideFest

Dyke March at 2017's PrideFest 2017 Dyke March at Seattle's Capitol Hill.jpg
Dyke March at 2017's PrideFest

Seattle PrideFest is held annually at the Seattle Center over Pride Weekend. The festival takes place on the last Sunday in June between noon and 8 pm, immediately following the Pride Parade. [18] This event formerly took place in neighboring Capitol Hill's Volunteer Park, but outgrew that residential location. It was decided in 2006 to move the annual parade to downtown and festival to the Seattle Center to better accommodate the growing attendance. [19]

In 2007, sponsor Seattle Out and Proud was threatened with bankruptcy because the downtown event had been so expensive. [20] [21] Egan Orion of One Degree Events took over the Seattle Pride Festival just six weeks before the event was held, in order to save the event and help preserve the move to the Center the year before. The event was compressed from three days to one, and organizers negotiated a plan with the city to pay an outstanding debt from the 2006 event. [22] The 2008 PrideFest had record numbers at the Seattle Center with over 50,000 people attending on a 95 degree day in June, with over 100 vendors and dozens of sponsors participating. The 2013 event featured more than 100 performers on five stages. [18]

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Seattle has a notably large LGBT community, and the city of Seattle has protected gay and lesbian workers since the passage of the Fair Employment Practice Ordinance in 1973. Seattle's LGBT culture has been celebrated at Seattle Pride which began in 1977 as Gay Pride Week. Gay cabaret traveled in a circuit including Seattle and San Francisco since the 1930s. Seattle had gay-friendly clubs and bars since the 1930s including The Casino in Underground Seattle at Pioneer Square which allowed same-sex dancing since 1930, and upstairs from it, The Double Header, in continuous operation since 1933 or 1934 until 2015, was thought to be the oldest gay bar in the United States.

References

  1. ↑ "Thousands crowd into downtown Seattle for annual Pride parade". June 24, 2018.
  2. ↑ Lange, Greg (March 13, 2003). "Lesbians and gays celebrate Seattle's first Gay Pride Week from June 24 to 30, 1974". HistoryLink . Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  3. ↑ Paul, Crystal (June 30, 2024). "How Seattle Pride started 50 years ago, and what it means today". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
  4. ↑ Murakami, Kery (June 24, 2004). "More doors open to gays today". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved July 1, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ "Gay community resources, organizations and events" Archived July 23, 2013, at archive.today . Kitsap Sun , June 25, 2000.
  6. ↑ Diltz, Colin (June 23, 2016). "1978: Seattle Gay Pride Week march and rally opposes Initiative 13". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
  7. ↑ McDonald, Teddy (June 6, 2022). "Celebrating Pride at the Port of Seattle". Port of Seattle.
  8. ↑ Phair, Vonnai (June 24, 2021). "What Pride means to 5 Seattle-area residents". The Seattle Times. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  9. ↑ "About Seattle Pride". Seattlepride. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Pride Speaks". Seattlepride. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Vote with Pride is Back!". Seattlepride. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Grant & Sponsorship Opportunities with Seattle Pride". Seattlepride. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Seattle Pride Parade". Seattlepride. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Celebrate a landmark Pride at rainbow array of Seattle-area events". The Seattle Times. June 19, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Seattle Pride kicks off June with Pride in the Park, and more fun around Seattle". The Seattle Times. June 2, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Thousands turn out for 2013 Seattle PrideFest". KOMO News. June 30, 2013. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  17. ↑ Paul, Crystal (June 1, 2021). "Seattle Pride will be virtual again in 2021. But organizers have devised ways to make it more interactive". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  18. 1 2 "Events". Seattle Pridefest. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  19. ↑ Toler, Lindsay (June 28, 2009). "Seattle Pride seeks to whittle 2006 debt during weekend fest". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
  20. ↑ "Thousands gather for Seattle's Pride Fest". KOMO News. June 24, 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  21. ↑ Turnbull, Lornet; Pian Chan, Sharon (April 24, 2007). "Seattle Pride organization disbanding, filing for bankruptcy". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Seattle Center will host this year's Pride festival; event to be just 1 day". Seattle Times. March 3, 2007. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
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