(Image: City of Seattle)
City officials and community leaders gathered at Seattle City Hall this weekend to again raise the colors of the Pride flag above the city.
This June’s Pride celebrations come amid a rush of recent challenges to the city’s queer communities.
Jaelynn Scott of Capitol Hill’s Lavender Rights Project acknowledged “the leadership of the young people who were on the frontlines at Denny Blaine, Cal Anderson, and recent events at City Hall” in celebrating the flag raising event. “We are so proud of you,” Scott said to the assembled crowd. “Our liberation will be led by this movement of youth right now.”
Saturday’s ceremony follows political attacks on Seattle and Mayor Bruce Harrell over the city’s handling of Christian fundamentalist and anti-trans rallies that have provoked counter-protests and demonstrations on Capitol Hill and at City Hall.
“We are a welcoming city. We are, in Seattle, the second largest home to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters,” Harrell said Saturday. “And the attack on our transgender neighbors, those who we love, is an attack on all of us. Make no mistake about that.”
CHS reported here on the latest updates around the Cal Anderson and City Hall protests and the city denying an effort by religious group organizers to return to the popular Capitol Hill park later this summer. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has threatened an investigation into “allegations of targeted violence against religious groups at the Seattle concert.”
Meanwhile, the group Friends of Denny Blaine continues to seek community solutions after a wave of criticism pushed the Seattle Police Department to end patrols of the Denny Blaine nude beach and the park that has continued to be a significant gathering place for queer and naturist communities despite increased complaints and legal threats from residents.
Seattle’s Pride celebrations begin this week with the first events including a neighborhood clean-up in Cal Anderson and the annual Pride in the Park event in Volunteer Park. You can find more Capitol Hill Pride events on the CHS Calendar.
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I obviously disagree with their viewpoint but kind of can’t stand the politicians who seem to think the issue was with the christians in the park. The issue were the masked hooligans throwing shit at cops, trying to make a free speech situation into a violent one.
Taxpayer Gay, indeed, those hooligans with the SPD badges need to learn how to do their job and not create these violent outcomes, yet again. Like arresting the domestic terrorist who was in the crowd of so called Christians from out of town.
Instead SPD overreacted to a balloon popping and using that as an excuse to attack citizens of Seattle, some of whom where actual Christians who understood the red text in the bible using their free speech rights to protest the false christians from out of town.
I am so sick of the bad faith here. Screw the cops. Screw the council and mayor.
How is your therapy going?
And there you have it.