#StraightNotNarrow

Highlights of Seattle Pride 2016.

Pride, gun control, immigration reform, education reform, all intertwined on a beautiful sunny activist day.

Yesterday, on the one year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, some 500,000 people gathered in downtown Seattle for the annual Pride Parade and Pride Fest. For a moment, the many challenging issues facing our world feel to the wayside (as if they’ve already been handily defeated), and the widest variety of people celebrated their shared humanity in the soaking sunshine.

Without regard to race, gender, sexual identity, age, ability or any of the other factors that otherwise “separate” people, the scene surged with positive energy and uplifting spirit. From the very cute, very young parade participants to the float representing protective LGBT elder services to the variety of gender-fluid apparel and presentation to the unlimited variety present – it was a display of the BEST that our society, our world can be (if there was one overwhelming unifying feature, it was surely the ubiquitous Prince and Madonna tunes throughout the day). And wonderful to have Seattle's mayor, our governor, elected officials, the police, every imaginable high-tech company, and all the wonderful agencies out demonstrating support throughout the day. 

Along the way, quite naturally, we saw continued advocacy on a range of interests that are obviously tangled together especially of late: LGBTQ rights, sensible gun control, women’s health care access, education reform, comprehensive immigration concerns – an complete array of progressive political undertakings. It’s reassuring to know that the many different efforts I’ve addressed all fill the same bucket of working toward improving the world; even if none are yet entirely completed. 

Perhaps most significantly – late in the day, well after returning home, I learned that there were no arrests made during the entire event. That in itself seems quite remarkable. More so – a powerful statement about what Pride means to so many of us who only wish to do what’s right by our fellow human beings. It’s a small – not insignificant – reminder that together, we can move the world from what it is to what it ought to be.