Seattle Pride refers to a series of events which are held annually throughout the month of June to celebrate LGBTQ Pride in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. 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.

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 The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Hub Ballroom, and a memorial service for victims of the 1973 UpStairs Lounge arson attack in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. The city's Gay Community Center opened on June 28 and was followed the next day by a 200-person picnic at

Occidental Park Occidental Park, also referred to as Occidental Square (north of S. Main Street) and Occidental Mall (south of S. Main Street), is a 0.6 acre (2,400 m2) public park located in the Pioneer Square district of Seattle, Washington. Description an ...

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. On June 30, Gay Pride Week concluded with a spontaneous and unplanned "Gay-In" at the

Seattle Center The Seattle Center is an entertainment, education, tourism and performing arts center located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Constructed for the Century 21 Exposition, 1962 W ...

International Fountain The International Fountain, designed by Tokyo-based architects Kazuyuki Matsushita and Hideki Shimizu during 1961–1962 for the Century 21 Exposition (also known as the Seattle World's Fair), is a concrete fountain and sculpture installed in Sea ...

. The local band

Lavender Country Lavender Country was an American country music band formed in 1972 whose self-titled 1973 album is the first known gay-themed album in country music history. Based in Seattle, Washington, the band originally consisted of lead singer and guitari ...

, noted as the first known openly gay

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

act, also performed during the 1974 festival. 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 The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...

."Gay community resources, organizations and events"
. ''

Kitsap Sun The ''Kitsap Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Bremerton, Washington, United States. It covers general news and serves Kitsap, Jefferson, and Mason counties on the west side of Puget Sound. History Publication of The ''Sun'' began i ...

'', June 25, 2000. 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. 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). In 2006, the Seattle Pride Parade moved from Capitol Hill back to Downtown Seattle where it originated.

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 through a variety of programs including its Pride Speaks speaker series, Vote with Pride voter engagement program, and its community grant and sponsorship program. The organization is best known as the producer of the Seattle Pride Parade, 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 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. The 2013 Pride Parade was notable for the participation of uniformed members of the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

, celebrating the recent decision by that organization to allow openly gay boys to join as Scouts. 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.

PrideFest

Seattle PrideFest is held annually at the

over Pride Weekend. The festival takes place on the last Sunday in June between noon and 8 pm, immediately following the Pride Parade. This event formerly took place in neighboring

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

'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. In 2007, sponsor Seattle Out and Proud was threatened with bankruptcy because the downtown event had been so expensive. 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. 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.

References

External links

Website
of Seattle Out and Proud
Website
of PrideFest {{Pride parades Annual events in Washington (state) Festivals in Seattle LGBTQ culture in Seattle Pride parades in Washington (state) 1974 establishments in Washington (state)