About 60 people, two television news teams and the Seattle Pride Committee faced off on the evening of Sunday, July 17, as the committee listened to comments about the committee's announced intention of moving the Gay Pride march and festival downtown next year.
It was a big crowd, larger than expected for a committee that rarely sees more than two or three visitors in attendance. The seven committee members wore matching black T-shirts with the Seattle Pride logo over the left breast. All were jammed into a room with no windows on a warm night. Fans hummed steadily while the crowd drank water and warmed to the topic.
Most of those speaking said, in different ways, in different words, that the idea stank. A petition opposing the move, with more than 8,000 names (a stack of paper about as thick as the white and yellow pages of the phone book), was thunked down on the table in front of the committee.
As proposed, the 2006 Gay Pride march (it is technically a civil rights demonstration, not a parade) would travel down Fourth Avenue and end at the Space Needle. The booths and activities that have packed Volunteer Park on the last Saturday and Sunday of June around the annual march would be set up at the Seattle Center. Reasons for the move were presented in a two-page handout, and the committee declined to make any statement beforehand to allow all the speakers, limited to three minutes each, to get a turn.
Although not everyone present at the meeting room at the Lifelong AIDS Alliance building at 10th Avenue and East Seneca Street spoke, the 20 or so who did were, with a few exceptions, opposed to moving the event from Capitol Hill.
Some of the speakers berated the committee for this and that, invariably provoking a regular meeting attendee (not a committee member) to cry out satirically, "I'll volunteer if you will!" None of those speakers accepted the challenge. The unpaid committee is chronically understaffed and in need of volunteers.
Objections came generally in five categories: negative impact on the Broadway business district; abandoning the heart [Capitol Hill] of Seattle's LGBT community; security for gay people downtown after there has been drinking; the ability of the community to mount the Pride event in a much larger area; and the possibility of dividing the LGBT community, resulting in one march downtown and one on Broadway.
Carl Derrick, who often attends the committee meetings, said he did not expect to see so many people. He strongly suggested that the community be more involved, not just show up when they have one issue that interests them. He also dismissed the notion that "straight" Seattle would not welcome the gay community at Seattle Center.
"If they don't like me at Seattle Center ..." he said, pausing to look at his hands, "uh, which finger is it?"
Michelle, who said she lives near Third Avenue and Lenora Street, said the committee should not take the idea of security lightly. She said there are a lot of street people in the area who are intolerant and violent.
"They would rather see you dead," she said, adding a string of stories she said describes the kind of violent behavior one can expect near Seattle Center. "You will have gay bashing like you've never seen."
Mike Moss, who said he does not care about the location one way or another, was taken aback by the emotion and energy going into the controversy.
"Where we're going to party should be the last thing on our minds," he said, alluding to issues surrounding gay marriage and strong attacks on the gay community from the politically far right.
Don Young commended the committee for the hard work it has done, adding that "Seattle needs to grow up." He was one of the minority present favoring the downtown move. Young said the Gay Pride event is not about being comfortable, it is about taking it to the streets and being out.
"It is not about Capitol Hill, it is about Seattle," he said.
After everyone had had a chance to speak the committee answered questions and explained itself to some extent, despite heckling.
Dale Kershner, this year's Pride marketing director, told the group that yes, the committee has the permits necessary to move the Seattle Pride events to the Seattle Center, but that there has been no money spent on the move. He said it is his position that the matter has not been decided and the committee and board members will discuss the matter in light of the testimony they heard.
He added that he does not necessarily believe that a majority of the LGBT community oppose the move downtown. He said that he expected to hear from the opposition at this meeting but those present still only represented a portion of the community. He reminded them that the gay community lives all over Seattle, King County and beyond. Those voices need to be heard, too.
After the meeting, Kershner said he felt "a little bit attacked."
Pride co-chair Frank Leonzal, said he was a bit shocked to see so many people on hand. He said he hoped the various people who said they will become more involved in Seattle Pride would do so, and more people would show up at meetings.
"It helped me focus my personal perceptions," Leonzal said, adding that he has been waffling on the issue himself.
"The committee does need to stop and look at it before we proceed any further," he said.
The committee meets the third Sunday of each month from 5 to 8 p.m. in the conference room of the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, 1002 E. Seneca St.
Freelance writer Korte Brueckmann lives on Capitol Hill and can be reached at editor@ capitolhilltimes.com.
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