-20,426 days ago,
in the heart of Greenwich Village in lower Manhattan,
LGBTQ+ people, specifically Black trans women,
fought back against government sponsored persecution
against our community at the Stonewall Inn.
20,426 days later
and our community is still fighting back
against persecution every day.
Pride was born out of a protest.
Pride remains a protest.
My name is Landon Labosky. I use he/him pronouns,
and I am incredibly honored to be a commissioner
on the LGBTQ+ Commission for the City of Seattle.
I want to welcome you here as we usher in our 51st Pride Month
here in the Emerald City.
[ Applause ]
The city of Seattle is widely known as a refuge
for the queer community.
I myself came here to be in community
with my queer siblings,
leaving a state where government policies sought
to erase the existence of us.
Today's event reaffirms that the city of Seattle is an inclusive,
welcoming community for all people who seek that refuge.
I want to thank you for being a part of that commitment.
We have a short program planned and many esteemed speakers,
including Mayor Bruce Harrell,
LGBTQ+ Commissioners Ashley Ford and Kody Allen,
the executive directors of queer-focused nonprofits
Lavender Rights Project and Seattle's LGBTQ+ Center,
as well as City council members Joy Hollingsworth
and Alexis Mercedes Reinke.
There will also be a post-event reception
in the Bertha Knight Landes Room inside City Hall.
We're also very excited to see Council President Sara Nelson,
Council member Kettle, Rivera, and Solomon joining us today.
Our first speaker is Mayor Bruce Harrell.
Bruce Harrell was born and raised in Seattle,
worked as an attorney before serving on city council,
and is now Seattle's first Asian American,
first biracial, and second Black mayor.
In 2021, Bruce was elected mayor of Seattle
on a commitment to address the homelessness crisis,
to ensure public safety for all,
and to restore trust, hope, and unity
in local government and civic life.
Please welcome Mayor Bruce Harrell.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you, Landon.
Okay, I'm going to give a rousing,
inspirational speech as a family here quickly.
Ashley, you're on deck. Okay.
I really want to talk about the war we are in together.
Make no mistake about it,
what we saw last week is only the beginning
of the iceberg in the very near future,
on what we are up against as a community.
We have to know our history when we talk about LGBTQ+ issues,
being a welcoming city.
We have to know our history.
1969, The Stonewall Uprising.
When a woman named Brenda Howard
is credited with coming up with the notion of pride
for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.
In this city, in 1975,
our city defined, as a protected class, sexual orientation
and then went a step further in 1999,
to state gender identity as a protected class.
The state in 2006 goes further
to incorporate that on a statewide basis.
That is who we are here. We are a welcoming city.
[ Applause ]
We are in Seattle,
the second largest home to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.
And the attack on our transgender neighbors,
those who we love, is an attack on all of us.
Make no mistake about that.
[ Applause ]
We will not mince words.
When our state defined us as a welcoming state,
our city as a welcoming city,
if they mess with you, they mess with us.
They mess with our family.
Make no mistake about it.
Our warfare, our weapons of our warfare will not be physical.
They will be emotional. They'll be based on love.
That's who we are.
I will take my hits as your mayor if I stand up for you,
I'll take those hits all day long.
We look at the history of people
who are offending our values here.
But I remind you, we are strong.
Andrew, we're strong, brother.
Ashley, we are strong.
And we're stronger when we stand together.
I'm very proud to see the Seattle City Council
with us right now.
And I know there are candidates here.
I'm here on an official capacity,
so I can't give shout outs to anyone
but anyone who's willing to serve,
even those challenging me.
It doesn't -- it makes me no difference.
I'm true to this game.
I've been here my entire life.
Born a couple of miles from here.
Anyone trying to protect our values will be my friend.
Now, let me close by saying this.
17% of our residents here identify as LGBTQ.
As I said earlier, second only to San Francisco.
We will not let anyone bully us.
When we look at what's happening,
the work that we're doing in the Seattle LGBTQ Center,
the Lambert House, UTOPIA Washington,
GenPride, and others,
when we talk about this year being louder,
we're in this fight together.
We were born out of a struggle, so we will win.
It's as simple as that.
When folks come here offending us, remember we will win.
Here in Seattle, we are winners.
[ Applause ]
And speaking of winners --
I'm talking through the rain.
Ashley Ford. Come on up here, Ashley.
I want them to see you while I'm talking to you.
A known community builder, experienced fundraiser --
we love fundraisers --
currently working as the Development Director at the Washington Bus.
All of you know who The Washington Bus is,
a nonprofit building political power for young people.
A fierce leader dedicated to disrupting harmful systems.
Building capacity for young people to thrive.
She's been on the LGBTQ Commission
since participating in the YMCA Get Engaged program.
True to what we're trying to do,
serving as co-chair of the last year and a half.
Welcome, Ashley Ford. [ Clapping ]
[ Applause ]
I'll move all this.
-Thank you. Perfect. Thank you, Mayor Harrell.
Good afternoon, y'all.
Thank you for bearing with the rain.
True Seattle weather here.
I'm standing before you all today after an incredibly
difficult week for our community.
While this event today is meant to be a celebration,
if anything,
the events that have unfolded in this city spaces,
and this last week, they're a stark reminder
that the first pride was not a celebration,
but in fact, a protest, a riot against police brutality
in our queer spaces,
We're reminded that pride is more than just flags,
parades, parties, and cute outfits.
We're reminded that we still have a lot of work
to do here in Seattle,
especially if we want to live up to our declaration
that this is a welcoming city for queer and trans people.
Pride began with people who were tired of being beaten,
silenced, shoved into the shadows.
Pride was and still is a riot, a protest.
What happened in our city this week was not just a moment,
but in fact a rupture that really tore through the facade.
And I say that intentionally -- facade --
of safety and inclusivity.
It was a rupture that exposed what a lot of us already knew.
We knew that queer and trans people,
especially Black, brown, disabled, poor,
unhoused, queer folks are still fighting
for the most basic right to exist
and peace in public spaces.
We're not guaranteed the same protections as people,
provoking a reaction from us.
Seattle is a place unlike any other, and many of us,
including myself,
have come here seeking refuge from the same hateful rhetoric
that we saw in this plaza just below us a couple of days ago.
As political tensions rise around the country,
it's clear that we are not immune from what we like
to think of as a progressive haven,
a blue bubble here in Seattle.
We have work to do.
This week, what we saw was unacceptable.
And I say this not to sow division, but to demand better.
Because love isn't just love, it's action.
Allyship isn't just a hashtag, it's funding.
It's protection.
We need de-escalation, not militarization.
We need community investment, not community trauma.
And we need leadership with backbone, not just optics.
Today we raise this flag in celebration,
but also in resistance.
We raise it for the ones who came before us
and those who didn't survive.
We raise it for trans kids being targeted in schoolrooms
and in sports fields across this country,
in our own very backyard.
For queer elders who still live in fear.
For those of us who don't feel safe calling 911,
walking home at night, or simply being ourselves in public.
From Stonewall to Cal Anderson to Denny-Blaine,
our spaces and our bodies are a sign of resistance, of hope.
I promise you we will not be erased.
We will not be mocked.
We will not be shoved back into some closet.
[ Applause ]
We won't be pushed into being some acceptable version
of ourselves that makes other people more comfortable.
On the LGBTQ Commission,
we're fiercely dedicated to our charge
that requires us to advise the mayor, city council,
city departments on LGBTQ issues.
We invite you all today here to continue engaging with us
as we continue this fight.
Our meetings are public. We have them monthly.
We want you all to come to them
and tell us what you want us to bring to the city.
We want you also to keep us accountable
to what community actually wants.
So please, we invite you to come out and really engage with us.
We really look forward to that.
I'm now going to hand it over to one of our
community speakers, who I'm really excited to recognize.
Nakita Venus is the executive director
of Seattle's LGBTQ center.
They're deeply committed to the joy,
healing, and liberation of their communities,
particularly fellow queer, trans, people of color,
their experiences as an educator,
advocate to LGBTQ+ survivors of violence,
and as a death care worker center their value
of self-determination.
Please welcome Nakita.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Paper versus rain, we'll see which wins.
All right. Thank you, everyone, for being here.
And thank you so much to the LGBTQ+ Commission
for inviting me to share a few words with you all.
My name is Nakita Venus. I use they/them pronouns.
I am the proud descendant of immigrants
and the child of unionized nurses.
I am the executive director of Seattle's LGBTQ+ Center,
and this year actually marks the center's 30th year anniversary.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Our work began with grassroots organizers providing HIV tests
at the height of the AIDS epidemic,
when our government would not.
We have grown into what you see today,
a community center and clinic
providing over 13 different programs and services
dedicated to centering the needs of our most marginalized,
namely trans and Black and brown adults and youth.
And we plan to be here for the next 30 years.
It was not long ago when we had the opportunity
to host the signing of an ordinance
stating that we are a welcoming city,
indicating to those who live here
and those looking for refuge,
that we are a place that will fight for their rights
to access gender affirming care and reproductive health care.
That we -- thank you. Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
...That we will protect the health care workers
doing their damnedest to care for adults and youth
in need of these services.
But we cannot claim to be a welcoming city
when the SPD harassed trans women
for lawfully enjoying their day on the beach.
We cannot make that claim when the city permits an anti-trans
and anti-abortion hate group in our city's known LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
It was clear last weekend
that the police only escalated the situation
and protected the people who incite violence,
directly, placing our communities in harm's way.
We need to redistribute resources
to community members and organizations
who are trained in providing care
and decreasing harm and de-escalation.
Having community crisis responders is a start,
but it does not work when you make a call for a welfare check
and the police are the first and sometimes only ones
to respond and arrive.
I would now like to address those of us with privilege,
with structural power.
Those who have claimed to be our allies.
We need to intervene when we see and hear hateful rhetorics,
whether it be at home, at work or on the streets.
We have already seen how people feel emboldened
in their hate by continued widespread political attacks
on our queer and trans communities,
and I fear how this may increase as we are going into Pride.
So my question is -- what are you,
our elected officials and us, our community leaders,
going to do about it?
I would now like to take a moment to address
my community directly and saying,
as we are entering Pride,
I want everybody to know that your queerness is exquisite,
that your transness is a gift that deserves to be cherished
and protected,
that there is euphoria to be found in our existence.
It is our collective joy and care
that has carried us through the decades-long fight for liberation.
Your health and well-being are important.
Your pleasure is important.
You deserve rest and you deserve uninterrupted joy.
Let's remember our history of organizing.
Pride's history is rooted in resistance and protest,
specifically anti-police violence protests
led by trans women.
We cannot change intentional systems of oppression
by disregarding the safety and wisdom of our most vulnerable.
So all of that being said,
in the time that I have with you all,
fighting for 2SLGBTQ+ rights
is fighting for immigrant rights,
it's fighting for accessible and sustainable housing,
it's fighting for sex worker rights.
Let us be proud and loud in our pride in who we are
and our allies, louder in their support.
So now I would like to introduce our next speaker.
I have the great pleasure and honor
of introducing Miss Jaelynn Scott,
who is the Executive Director of Lavender Rights Project.
Lavender Rights Project is one of the largest
transgender organizations in this country
and the largest Black trans organizations in the US,
proudly headquartered right here in Seattle on Capitol Hill.
Lavender Rights Project is committed to
dismantling oppressive systems
that disproportionately harm Black communities through policy
and legal advocacy,
movement lawyering, and community organizing.
Please welcome Miss Jaelynn Scott.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you.
I want to, I'll try to be quick,
which is not a talent for me,
but I want to begin by thanking the City Council first
for affirming Seattle as a welcoming city.
I really want to thank Mayor Harrell for your statement
in response to recent events.
Unapologetic and clearly naming the intentionality
behind right wing extremists and activists.
And they are pushing narratives that are, in your words,
inherently opposed to our city's values.
I want to proclaim this Pride from Lavender Rights Project
that we are saying there will be no Project 2025 in Seattle.
[ Cheers and applause ]
In this moment, I also want to acknowledge
the leadership of the young people
who were on the front lines at Denny-Blaine,
Cal Anderson, and recent events at City Hall.
We are so proud of you.
Our liberation will be led by this movement of youth right now.
I want to lift Seattle metro area's Black and brown organizations
who work daily to protect our community.
Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network.
Please know them. Learn about them.
Alphabet Alliance of Color, Queer the Land,
Swathes
Liberation Medicine School, POCAAN,
Creative Justice, Y-WE, Entre Hermanos, UTOPIA.
If we are making any plans for our community,
we need to have all of them at the table.
[ Applause ]
We have been saying that this was coming since 2016,
the first election.
Our voices were the loudest in 2020
and we saw beautiful progress,
progress towards a public safety plan
that would support all of our communities.
Can we go back and remember what motivated those policy changes?
I'm not saying we have to keep everything,
but can we go back to the intention
because it was preparing us for when? Right now.
Y'all, it's Pride and I don't feel very
happy and joyful in this moment.
But I'm gonna get it. This month we are going to find joy.
I want to find pride in Seattle that is just weird and queer,
with our shaved heads and our pink mohawks
and our booty shorts and our pearls on,
and our heels going to the grocery store
for absolutely no reason, looking fabulous.
Right?
This is our Seattle. Pride in the joy
that the community space that Cal Anderson brings.
Every time I drive by,
I remember who I am,
who I am as a trans woman.
They want to shame us out of who we are as Seattle.
This month, Pride is not just for queer people and trans people.
It's for everyone who feels a little weird in Seattle,
which is all of us, I think,
and it is pride for the queerness of this city.
I hope we continue to take seriously
the real public safety, and it is a public safety threat,
which is the rise of white Christian nationalism
and right wing extremists.
Not in Texas, although it's happening there.
It's happening right here.
It's happening in our legislature.
It's happening on school boards.
is happening in neighborhood groups.
Bigots aren't wearing black boots with bald heads.
They're cloaked in religion and politics.
But underneath that is a vicious hate.
Seattle's Black, native, immigrant, trans women, or femmes
are the scapegoat, and we're most at risk.
We are committed, as an organization,
Lavender Rights Project, to organize with the youth,
with Black and brown LGBTQ serving organizations,
community groups, and any of you all who will have us,
to develop a holistic safety plan for our community
that protects my family.
We ask that the city work with our communities
to find ways to love on its residents,
to love on its people,
and to be able to have free expression,
free speech without the threat of incarceration
or physical altercations with the police,
especially in this moment of heightened tension.
We're ready to get to work with y'all.
We are ready. No Project 2025 in my city.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
I want to introduce a wonderful council member
who has reached out continually to our organization,
who makes sure to touch bases
with Black and brown communities of color,
trans communities of color,
to prioritize the needs of the most impacted.
I am so impressed by council member Alexis Mercedes Rinck
and their work so far.
It's been absolutely beautiful.
We feel seen, we feel heard and
I can't wait to hear from you.
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I'm so honored. Oh my gosh.
-Good for the biceps. -Oh, yeah. I love that spirit.
Well, good -- No, I was going to say good morning.
It's afternoon now. Good afternoon, everybody.
It may be raining, but I'll tell you what,
you cannot rain on this parade.
[ Cheers ]
My name is Alexis Mercedes Rinck,
and I am so honored to be here. I use she/her pronouns,
and I proudly represent the office of Position 8,
or as we like to call it, the People's Office.
And I am a proud queer woman.
[ Cheers]
And I started my coming out journey at the tender age of 12,
and I was so lucky to have queer elders in my life
to walk alongside me and support me in that journey.
And in this time,
I am thinking about children across this country
who are just starting their journey and how we support them.
Today we raise this flag not just as a symbol,
but as a promise.
A promise that Seattle remains a city
where every person can live authentically and safely,
regardless of who they love or how they identify.
I know this past week has been painful for the LGBTQIA 2-Spirit community.
When outside groups come to our city spreading messages of hate,
and when our neighbors feel compelled to put their bodies
on the line in response,
it reminds us that our work is far from over.
But let me be clear -- Seattle's values will not be intimidated
or diminished by those who seek to divide us.
And this flag will fly high
because of the LGBTQIA 2-Spirit community
Our resilience, our joy,
and our contributions to this city
is what makes Seattle stronger.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And we have more work to do
in our policies, in our public safety approach.
But today we will stand together in solidarity.
And when this flag raises in our Seattle sky,
it carries the dreams of every young person finally free
to be themselves.
It carries the hopes of every family built on love,
and it carries the unbreakable spirit of a community
that refuses to be silenced.
And with that, I thank you. I thank you for being here,
sitting in the rain.
May we continue to carry our resilience this month
and in the years to come as we move together.
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]