Q-Seattle Events: Tacky Tourist Clubs

It's not much of a surprise, but a recent announcement [.pdf document] sent to the LGBT Center's mailing list makes a second Pride march event official.

The announcement sent "To all LGBT organizations and their friends, all unions and professional groups, all individuals and families, all elected officials, all groups of employees from corporations" doesn't explain much about the nature of the event, except to say that the second parade will be "A chance to celebrate our community and make a political statement that we're here and proud of it!"

Although the release uses the term "Pride on Broadway" more often, its official name is the "Raise Your Voice March."

The RYV March starts at 6 pm, on Saturday evening, June 24. The staging area and starting point for the march is the Seattle Central Community College campus at Pine and Broadway.

The organizers of the march don't have their own website, but seem to be using the LGBT Center site to relay information.

They do have an email address at which they're taking free registrations by groups that plan to march. The order of line-up in the parade will be determined by the date of the registration email sent to PrideOnBroadway@hotmail.com. In your registration email, be sure to include your group's name, contact person, email address, and phone number.

The release emphasizes the "traditional" nature of the second event:

• "...here's your chance to celebrate Pride on Broadway, just like we always have."
• "We will march as we always do, right up Broadway.
• "The parade route will move north on Broadway as it traditionally has, proceeding to Volunteer Park.

Of course, there's another tradition being invoked here. That's the kind of Seattle-process political tradition that responds to an unpopular decision by creating some kind of alternative that makes both methods less successful. We famously and expensively engaged in that traditional method with dueling transit systems. Over 20 years ago, we also had deuling Pride events, with two marches/parades on different days.

Oh, the joy of tradition, eh?

Technorati tags: Gay Gay pride Seattle Pride Pride on Broadway Seattle

Labels: Gay events, LGBTQ, Seattle Pride