June 1, 2024
Happy Pride Month! How to get involved, get support or give support
This June, Seattle Pride celebrates a massive milestone: the 50th anniversary of Pride festivities in Seattle, established in 1974 as a rallying cry for gay rights and queer visibility after the Stonewall uprising of 1969.
At the University of Washington, organized support and celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community goes back even further.
In 1967, UW Professor Nicholas Heer co-founded the Dorian Society, the first organization in Seattle to support gay rights and foster queer community. In 1969, Dorian House, operated by a UW counselor and staffed by UW students, began providing counseling services to gay and lesbian folks (eventually becoming the Seattle Counseling Center).
And in the early 1970s, UW students organized the Gay Student Association and the more radical Gay Liberation Front.
More than half a century on, Seattle Pride Month is one of the city’s largest and most beloved annual events. For this year’s celebration, Seattle Pride has chosen a theme that connects the storied past and vibrant present in one simple word—Now!—and invites us to join them in “exploring, celebrating and remembering our cultural history and stewarding the legacy of the trailblazers who demanded our rights, then and now.”
Now, then, here is a guide to some of the organizations representing, events celebrating and resources serving LGBTQIA+ communities at the UW and beyond.
Events
Pride Month kicked off early with Seattle Pride in the Park and Run & Walk with Pride. But there’s much more upcoming:
Pride Month Flag Raising
June 3 / noon-12:30 p.m. / UW Medicine
Join UW Medicine in kicking off Pride Month by raising the rainbow flag at UW Medical Center – Montlake, UW Medical Center – Northwest, Harborview Medical Center and Valley Medical Center.
Lavender Graduation
June 4 / 5:30-7 p.m. / wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House
Celebrate the achievements and contributions of UW’s graduating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning students.
Pride Art Walk
June 6 / 5-10 p.m. / Pioneer Square
Come together where the original Seattle Pride was first organized and celebrate the future of art and youth in our community.
Pride Month Lunch & Learn
June 18 / noon-1 p.m. / Zoom
Engage with the Pride Foundation, PFLAG and Ingersoll Gender Center and their efforts to foster open, safe and inclusive spaces for all identities and orientations. Hosted by the UW Combined Fund Drive.
Trans Pride Seattle
June 28 / 5-10 p.m. / Volunteer Park
Stop by the UW Medicine booth at this annual event organized by Gender Justice League in collaboration with hundreds of local organizers, volunteers, and groups who support the Seattle-area TwoSpirit, Trans & Gender Diverse (2STGD) community.
PrideFest Capitol Hill
June 29 / noon-8 p.m. / Capitol Hill
Come for a massive block party featuring music, dancing, beer gardens, local businesses and family and youth programming. This celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community will span six blocks of Broadway and Cal Anderson Park.
Walk with UW in the Pride Parade
June 30 / 11 a.m.-3 p.m. / downtown Seattle
Join the Q Center and Q Faculty and Staff Association or UW Medicine contingents to march in the annual Pride Parade, starting at 4th & Pike in downtown Seattle and ending at 2nd Ave. & Denny Way in time to join in the fun at…
PrideFest Seattle Center
June 30 / noon-8 p.m. / Seattle Center
After the parade, take in day 2 of Seattle’s biggest celebration with four stages of food and drink, national and local acts, arts and crafts and family programming. All events are free and open to the public.
Tacoma Pride Festival
July 13 / noon-6 p.m. / Tacoma
The street festival will be an all ages event that will include a mainstage, hosted by Alma Tacoma, with queer and BIPOC entertainment, a beer garden, Makers Market and so much more!
Find many more Pride Month community events at the Seattle Pride website.
Community
Q Center – professionally supported resource, advocacy and mentoring center for students, faculty, staff and alumni of all sexual and gender orientations, identities and expressions. Provides drop-in counseling, a mentoring and peer program, gender and racial identity discussion groups, access to gender affirming and menstruation items, safe spaces and a LGBTQIA+ library.
Q Faculty, Staff & Allies Association – fostering a campus climate where all queer faculty, staff and allies are valued and respected, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Promotes education and dialogue, cultural diversity, leadership and advancement, recruiting and retention, social networking, exchange of ideas and provision of LGBTQIA+ resources.
UW Medicine LGBTQ+ – collection of resources, events and community building for queer members of the UW Medicine community.
Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity – creating pathways for diverse populations at the UW to access postsecondary opportunities, nurturing and supporting their academic success and cultivating a campus climate that enriches the educational experience for all.
UW Human Resources DEI – guide to policies, trainings, hiring, resources and demographics.
UW Tacoma Office of Equity and Inclusion – resources, events and incident reporting.
UW Bothell Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – fostering a beloved community for students, staff and faculty to thrive and transform the UW and our greater community.
UW Medicine Office of Healthcare Equity – dedicated to transforming care with the belief that healthcare is a fundamental human right and that everyone should have the same access and opportunities for the best possible outcomes.
Resources
LGBTQ+ Resources at the UW – supports a culture of inclusion and has provided protections from discrimination and harassment for individuals based on their sexual orientation long before such rights were recognized by federal or state law.
Gender-Neutral Restrooms – guidance, locations and interactive maps of gender-inclusive restrooms on all three UW campuses.
Transgender Resources – UW Human Resources offers everything employees and their managers need to know to go about a gender transition.
UW Diversity Resources – for faculty and staff, alumni, administrators, students and UW colleges and schools.
UW Aging with Pride study – landmark federally funded research project designed to better understand the aging, health, and well-being of sexual- and gender-diverse midlife and older adults. Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen, Ph.D., professor and director of Healthy Generations Hartford Center of Excellence at the University of Washington, initiated and has been leading the study since 2009.
UW Libraries – a wealth of LGBTQIA+ literature and resources, including the LGBTQ History Research Guide features several new additions including the Archives of Sexuality & Gender, LGBT Magazine Archive, Queer Pasts and much more. Queer Joy: is a curated list of graphic novels, novels, poetry, manga, movies and TV, including trigger warnings along with keywords and descriptions.
Special Collections houses oral histories from the Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Project and the LGBTQIA+ Archival Pride Resources.
The UW Tacoma Library has an excellent list of community resources, including this Gender and Sexuality subject guide.
Rainbow Book Month showcases LGBTQIA+ book awards and bibliographies from the American Library Association.
Support
Consider making a one-time contribution or setting up payroll deduction to UW Combined Fund Drive member organizations working to positively impact the lives and well-being of LGBTQ+ people:
The Q Center – professionally supported resource, advocacy and mentoring center for queer students and concerns at UW, providing consulting to departments plus coordinates numerous programs, social organizations and educational initiatives for queer students (charity code: 0493258).
Ingersoll Gender Center – strengthening the autonomy of the transgender and gender nonconforming communities through facilitated peer support groups, medical provider referrals and community advocacy (charity code: 0316214).
PFLAG – promoting the health and well being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, their families and friends through support, education and advocacy (charity code: 0524061).
Seattle LGBTQ+ Center (formerly Gay City) – cultivates access and connections in our communities through advocacy, accessibility, intersectionality, sex and body positivity, stewardship and transparency (charity code: 0315949).
Human Rights Campaign – envisioning a world where every member of the LGBTQIA+ family has the freedom to live their truth without fear, and with equality under the law (charity code: 0315683).
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) – promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation (charity code: 0456944).
GLSEN: Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network – supporting the 8 of 10 LGBTQ+ students who are bullied or harassed by making schools safer for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity (charity code: 1479258).
Camp Ten Trees – providing residential summer camp sessions for LGBTQIA+ and allied youth and for children of LGBTQIA+ families — giving them a place to build skills, strengthen resiliency and make lifelong friends (charity code: 1468090).
Entre Hermanos – improving the health and well-being of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Latine communities in a safe and culturally appropriate environment (charity code: 0524060).
The Trevor Project – providing life-saving, life-affirming programs and services to LGBTQIA+ youth to create safe, accepting and inclusive environments over the phone, online and through text (charity code: 1479131).
Lambert House – empowering lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth through the development of leadership, social and life skills (charity code: 0320828).
