Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
cheezedoodle
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/15/05
#1Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:38pm
This is sad - parade only. Hope it's not going to be a trend.
Organizers for Seattle's gay pride events have decided to scrap the festival but keep the parade. Seattle Out and Proud, which is $102,000 in debt to the city, originally voted to cancel the entire celebration, file for bankruptcy, and dissolve, the Seattle Times reported Wednesday.
The announcement to keep the parade came after a vote on Tuesday, hours after the decision was announced to shelve the entire observance. According to the report, board member Troy Campbell said that community support persuaded the board to go ahead with the parade.
"We feel the parade should go on as planned," he told the Times. "It is something that has always turned a profit and that will allow us to chip away at the debt and not walk away from it."
Out and Proud's staff consists of a dozen volunteers, with no paid employees, and the group rents an office for storage.
Seattle has had an annual pride celebration since 1975. It was originally held in Seattle's Volunteer Park, with a parade along Broadway in the city's predominately gay neighborhood, Capitol Hill. The festivities were moved to Seattle Center and the parade to the downtown area to increase exposure. Last year an estimated 200,000 people attended the events. (The Advocate)
Before the parade passes by
#2re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:50pmThis has been a scandal here all year, the mismanagement, bickering and backstabbing of this event has been crazy. I'm certain that those who want the event to stay on Capitol Hill will make it happen once again in Volunteer Park.
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. - Randy Pausch
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#2re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 4/26/07 at 12:53pm
"Mismanagement, bickering and backstabbing"
Yup, that's my Seattle experience! All done passive-agressively, of course. In fact, I can't believe someone in Seattle would come out of their shell to actually work up a bicker.
So did that Monorail/light rail thing ever pan out??
#3re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 4/26/07 at 2:22pm
Are you kidding? That would've been progressive. After four approval votes, it was finally voted down on the fifth attempt. Now we are debating ad nauseum how to replace the falling eyesore that is the Alaksan Way Viaduct and whether to replace the 4-lane 520 bridge with a 6-lane one, because we all know how practical the 4-lane one is.
Just a bit bitter here.
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. - Randy Pausch
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#4re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 4/26/07 at 3:27pmOh, honey...they've been at that one since before I was living there!
#5re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 1:11pm
Update: Seattle now is going to have 2 marches on Saturday down Broadway (Capitol Hill, the "gay area") and the parade on Sunday downtown. A festival on Saturday in Capitol Hill, and a party on Sunday at the Seattle Center.
3 different groups. 3 different events. So much for a united community.
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. - Randy Pausch
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#6re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 1:19pm
Ah. Three Parades! What fun! I always loved Chicago's united community. After some Lesbians decided that they felt "Unwelcome" at the official Pride Parade (Because, as I recall, a male spectator shouted "You go, Girl!" at a female marcher), they started a "Dyke March." So much more inclusive.
Updated On: 5/17/07 at 01:19 PM
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#7re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 1:25pmAre you serious, JoeKV? Oh, dear. The gays and their once impeccable organization...what happened to it?
cheezedoodle
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/15/05
#8re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 1:29pmWe have both a Dyke march and a Trans march in San Francisco. It is not a rivalry - but a show of pride within the larger community, and a way for these groups to celebrate within their own community as well as participating in the larger celebration on Sunday.
#9re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 1:32pm
The Saturday evening march is the Dyke march, and that has been going on for years. The issues with the daytime parades is that SOaP moved the parade downtown last year, and the businesses on Broadway on Capitol Hill, and the community that still lives on B'way, got angry. Then the whole fiasco with SOaP and money happened, another group stepped up to hold the parade on B'way, then SOaP came back with the parade on Sunday downtown.
It's a mess.
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. - Randy Pausch
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#10re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 1:42pm
Nah, in Chciago it's a rivalry-- well more a direct confrontation. From the "Dyke march" press release:
"We are a response to male-dominated, corporate-sponsored Pride events. The Chicago Dyke March is not a parade; it is a direct action demonstration and a celebration of dyke visibility.”
cheezedoodle
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/15/05
#11re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 1:44pm
Dyke visibility huh? I wonder why I never see any of them when I visit Chicago. Maybe it's like groundhogs day - they only come out once a year in Chicago.
#12re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 2:38pm
DC has a Dyke march as well.
I remember at least one Dyke march in NYC when I was still living there. Their theme was, "Ignite the Riot". My reaction, "WTF?"
#13re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 3:59pm
cheeze, don't they have the 'Dyke March' the Friday before Pride, and as I recall they went from Castro down Market? Or is this a different thing....considering I haven't lived there since 1999 it very well could be.
Funny how thing don't change. back in 1971, my first year of college, U Oregon had GPA, Gay Peoples Alliance, which was all men, and one woman. There was a woman's group, but there was no communication between groups.
W, GPA, decided to ask them for a joint meeting, thinking that together we could accomplish a lot more.
The meeting did not go well, with the gals complaining about the guys and vice-versa.
I just remember sitting there and thinking we're ALL after the same thing, just some of the issues were different.
sad....
cheezedoodle
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/15/05
#14re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 4:04pm
Sort of Elph - it is on Saturday just before the Pink Saturday block party. They do leave from the Castro and it ends in Dolores park where there is a rally, and entertainment and an evening picnic. Then everyone meets back up in the castro for Pink Saturday. The Trans march is still on Friday - I could be wrong though, as I am usually at the leather/uniform ball that night. 
#15re: Seattle Out and Proud to declare bankruptcy, cancel some events
Posted: 5/17/07 at 4:07pm
ah, got it. Maybe nefore it was Friday as I don't remember the Trans march at all.
Ah, the good ole days.
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