A parade which draws in excess of 130,000 people and has become a joyous, rainbow-hued symbol of both inclusion and the start of summer. Since then Seattle Pride has never quite lost touch with its activist roots, even as it turned into a month of events and parties that ends with a parade through Downtown.
The city's first official pride festival took place in 1977 when the mayor endorsed what was then called Gay Pride Week, just one year after Seattle voters narrowly defeated a measure to strip LGBTQ+ people of equal housing/voting rights. The early events were explicit civil rights protests in defense of sexual freedom, and couldn't have come at a more crucial time. a clash with police in New York City in 1969 that many consider a catalyst in the gay rights movement. The parade consists of extravagant floats and people marching in groups based on shared interests such as sexual orientations. The spotlight is on progress at the 2019 Phoenix Pride festival and parade. This year, it starts from Yoyogi Park at 14:00 on April 28, with the route running through Shibuya and Harajuku.
at least according to some of the smartest drag queens we know, anyway. The pride parade is always the main event of the TRP festivities. Seattle's Pride festival started small - the inaugural event in 1974 culminated with just 50 or so people dancing around/in Seattle Center's International Fountain - but has grown dramatically in the 45 years since it began, becoming one of the country's most popular LGBTQ+ events.
