June is usually a good month for me - summer starts, school gets out, Pride happens. This year has been especially good.
I play rugby for the Seattle Quake, our local gay men's club. I've taken the summer off for rest and recovery, but I'm still hanging out with the guys. A group of us attended the Quake rugby team's match in Olympia on June 14 and decided that we needed to go to Portland for their Pride since we were already pointed in that direction.
I don't get to Portland as often as I should, especially as it's only three hours away. But it's a great city. I usually have an interesting time and this was no exception.
On Saturday night the bars were packed. What is it with gay men and bars and Pride? Packed bars are typical elements of every Pride event I've attended, regardless of which city. Not that I'm complaining, of course.
After a night of carousing and trying to convince some of the locals to start a gay rugby club in Portland, I crashed at a friend's house for a few hours. Up early for breakfast and shopping before the parade.
We managed to stake out a worthy spot in the shade to watch the parade. And the parade was great. It lasted about 90 minutes. There were the usual - and predictable - floats, made up from gay community groups, bars and clubs and gay organizations. There were politicians in the parade, churches and sports clubs. Nothing really stood out as being terribly distinctive, though.
While enjoyable, the parade reminded me of Seattle's own Pride march.
Except in one important respect: Portland's Pride parade ran smack through the center of the city. Right through downtown Portland. In fact, the parade route wandered all through town, passing through gay sections as well as non-gay neighborhoods.
The rally after the parade was held in a waterfront park. Similar to Seattle's, the rally offered food booths, information booths staffed by gay organizations, politicians talked to the crowd and merchandise was sold that has nothing to do with being gay.
Again, there was one noticeable difference from Seattle: A large beer garden was located right next to the stage area. We could hear the speakers on the stage while having a beer and chatting with our friends.
Fast forward a few weeks....
Since I attended Portland's Pride, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned sodomy laws around the nation and Canada has gone with same-sex marriage. There was a lot of Pride to celebrate, in Seattle, in Portland - anywhere.
On Saturday night, the night before Seattle's Pride Parade and Rally, I was out with friends celebrating. I noticed that at least four bars on the Hill had blocked neighboring streets for beer gardens and the festive atmosphere was all over the Hill.
Sunday and the alarm clock at 8 a.m. were not my friends. Also, I had to go check in Team Seattle's group and organize people as they showed up. I'm not the world's best organizer and I had given some people the wrong location to meet. I ran around for three hours getting people together and ready to go. It all worked out. When all was said and done, we marched the usual route, down Broadway from Pike Street to Volunteer Park. No winding route as in Portland, no march through downtown. The march was great, tons of people and I almost relaxed for a minute or two.
At the park, I managed to stroll around and visit some booths. Same as Portland: food, politicians, organizations, sports clubs, merchandise. The only thing missing was a beer garden. If I had wanted to partake I would have had to go down the street to an off-site location a block from the park, a five-minute walk from where the booths were located. I understand that there were problems last year with permitting a beer garden in Volunteer Park, both with the Parks Department and some vocal neighbors.
After going to both Prides within two weeks, I've come to realize that Seattle Pride could use a face lift. I love what the Freedom Day Committee did with this year's march, but I think we could be, and need to be, more political. As was explained to me by the FDC last year, we have a march, not a parade. Pride is a political statement and not just a celebration.
As has been proposed by many, we should move the march to go from Capitol Hill, through downtown to the Seattle Center. Or maybe we could go to Myrtle Edwards park. Somewhere different, somewhere in the heart of the city and somewhere not already associated with the gay community. We have a lot to celebrate in our lives these days, and next June shouldn't be any different.
Let's just make Pride a little more political.
Gregg Pattle writes occasionally about gay issues for the Capitol Hill Times. He can be reached c/o editor@capitolhilltimes.com .[[In-content Ad]]
