(Image: seattlereddress.org)

This year, for the first time, the Seattle Red Dress Party is being held on Capitol Hill. Seattle PrideFest is putting on the event in the Century Ballroom at 10th Ave and E Pine on March 31st.

“Especially with the massive development on Capitol Hill, I think queer people are feeling at times a little without a home,” Egan Orion, festival director for PrideFest told CHS. “Anything that we can do … to help them reassert their traditional home … that is part of our mission.”

Attendees of the Red Dress Party have worn red dresses, of course, but this year organizers have loosened the, um, dress code a bit. Orion said attendees are still encouraged to keep the tradition, especially cisgender men, but other fancy red attire (e.g. a suit) is allowed and welcomed. It is not meant to be a costume party Orion said, and red is the color of choice as it’s the international symbol of HIV/AIDS awareness.

“For the record, I don’t like wearing dresses,” Orion said. “… And I’ll be wearing a dress.”

But for transgender people and others who have worked hard to move away from the silos of normative behavior, opening up the dress codes presents more options — and more fun.

Last year, Seattle PrideFest took over the Red Dress Party after its hiatus in 2015. PrideFest has been a supporter of the Red Dress Party since 2008, which Orion believes is when the event began in the city.

“Our goal with that first one was basically just to take the formula that (the founders) had created and just reproduce that,” Orion said.

The event has previously been held in South Lake Union and more recently at Fremont Studios. While the Century Ballroom is smaller than Fremont Studios, it is also less expensive so more of the funds raised can be donated to nonprofits fighting HIV and AIDS.

Orion expects to raise twice as much as the event last year, which brought in $20,000. Half of the funds go to PrideFest to produce its main event in June. The remaining money goes to End AIDS Washington, “a collaboration of community-based organizations, government agencies and educational and research institutions working together to reduce new infections in Washington by 50% by 2020.”

General admission tickets are $75 and VIP tickets are $125. You can learn more at seattlereddress.org.