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Capitol Hill business owners align to keep Gay Pride on Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill business owners align to keep Gay Pride on Capitol Hill
by Robert Raketty - SGN Staff Writer Capitol Hill business owners this week amped up their campaign to keep Seattles LGBT Pride Parade/March and Rally on Capitol Hill. Last week, the SGN broke the story that the Seattle Pride Committee has tentatively booked a large portion of Seattle Center for next years Pride festivities as part of the committees plan to make Pride into a four-day event (June 22-25) to be held in the heart of downtown Seattle. However, Capitol Hill business owners, particularly those along Broadway, immediately went into action to organize a Keep the March on the Hill campaign and began collecting signatures to present to the Seattle Pride Committee at the Rally this Sunday (June 26). Posters calling for the March to stay on the Hill are displayed in windows of businesses all along Broadway and 15th Ave. and petitions for customers to sign are on the front counters of many businesses. Pride Committee Marking Director Dale Kirshner told the SGN last week that the committee had been considering a move off Capitol Hill for the last three years or so, but approved the plan only three or four months ago. We certainly recognize Capitol Hill as being historically and traditionally the center [of the LGBT community, said Kirshner. The intention isnt to yank that rug out from Capitol Hill, but to allow the Festival to grow and become the kind of thing that it can be. We started working with the Mayors office and the visitors bureau this year and they are really excited about helping Pride go to another level. According to Carl Medeiros, owner of the Panache Clothing Co. on Broadway, business owners throughout Capitol Hill are having a lot of success in collecting signatures to keep Pride on the Hill. He pointed out that he isnt opposed wholesale to having Pride celebrations at Seattle Center, but that the Parade/March must be kept in the Gay neighborhood where it belongs. The response has been overwhelming and the support has been incredible, Medeiros told the SGN. Most businesses on Broadway are participating. I think the Pride Committee will be surprised by the organizing being done around this. Sometimes it takes something like this to bring everyone together. In addition to petitions, 1,000 t-shirts, 6,000 mini-fans and huge banners have been prepared for Sundays march, Medeiros said. The 4,000 Pride gift packs being handed out by local retailers which include Mardi Gras beads, a party popper and coupons also include a message about the controversy. A small army of petition signature gatherers will be stationed along the Pride March route, according to Medeiros. COMMUNITY LEFT IN THE DARK Capitol Hill business owners interviewed by the SGN this week say they are miffed that the SPC left them in the dark about plans to move Gay Pride off the Hill. I am surprised that the Pride Committee didnt think about how it would affect the Capitol Hill neighborhood and the businesses that reside here, said Eladio Preciado, owner of Julias on Broadway. One of the things I asked them was, Why werent we invited to your meetings? They said we could have come, but we would have to figure out when these meetings are. It is like a secret meeting and they dont let us know If they really care about the Gay community and what the businesses thought up here, they should have at least came and said something to us or at least invite us to their meetings. Lisa Chang, owner of Trendy Wendy and the Broadway Boutique, said her customers are wholeheartedly against the move and many have signed the petition. The customers are completely flabbergasted that they would even think about moving it off the Hill. There is no way, she said. A lot of people who come and watch it if it is not anywhere on the Hill have told me they are not going to watch. They dont see the point of it. It will no longer be a tradition for them to come up here and do that. Personally, I think the idea is completely worthless and will take apart the pride in the Gay community versus actually celebrating the pride in the community here. It is not even about the businesses here. It is about that community up here on the Hill, where Gay Pride has always been appreciated. Charlotte Lefevre, coordinator of the Seattle Museum of Mysteries, believes that Capitol Hill is where the march and festival belong. Capitol Hill is a special area. I just cant see it having the same charm anywhere else, she said. Businesses on Capitol Hill, and especially on Broadway, have been very much a part of the Gay community. If they take it away from Broadway, it would be a travesty. It would just totally take away the charm. We are a nonprofit museum on the north end of Broadway. We have researched quite a bit of the history here and are convinced that Capitol Hill is a very special place. I believe that Capitol Hill is the only area of Seattle where a person can walk down the street and it doesnt matter what they look like or who they are. It is a wonderful example of celebrating humanity and celebrating our diversity. I truly now believe it is special THERES SAFETY ON THE HILL I work on Broadway and I live on Broadway I like Broadway because of its traditions and its people everything. I opened my business on Broadway because I know the people and I like the way things are here. That is why I did it, says Pakio Navarez, owner of Galore on Broadway. I think it is a bad idea to move it off of Broadway, because I believe that there are a lot of people who live in small towns outside of Seattle, such as Eastern Washington and they are closeted all year round. I dont think they are going to feel comfortable downtown. They are not going to be able to celebrate who they are for this one day. Preciado said that he is also concerned about the safety of Pride participants attending an event outside of very Gay friendly Capitol Hill. You are going to change it from being a Gay-friendly parade to, potentially, a parade that Gay people are afraid to go to. Capitol Hill feels safe. If you move it outside Capitol Hill, you dont know what is going to happen, he said. The Gay basing that happened in front of Timberline last summeris just two blocks off the Hill. They want to bring a bunch of Gay people to an area that is traditionally straight. The Pride Committee is asking for trouble. Daniel X. Berjac, who operates a chiropractic practice on Broadway, said he fears that moving the Gay Pride March and Festival off Capitol Hill could hasten the perception that Capitol Hill is becoming less Gay-friendly. I think moving it is going to move the businesses that gear themselves toward Gay Pride, not just during Gay Pride but all year round, to cater less to that audience, he said. I think it is going to take away from the businesses that have always supported the Gay community. The Seattle Center is going to be seen as the place for Gay Pride from now on. Several of the Capitol Hill business owners told the SGN that they believe that the SPC is also looking to end the long tradition of free Gay Pride events and may be looking to charge an entrance fee in the future. I do believe that there efforts to move the Gay Pride March out of the Capitol Hill neighborhood seems to be for revenues sake, said Lefevre. That is why I think it is important that people stand up and be heard. It is very much in line with the free speech and demonstrations that have been a part of this neighborhoods history. I think that is important. Lindsay Cunningham, owner of Spotlight Fashions and Headdress Design Center on Broadway, said that he moved to Capitol Hill because it is known as the Gay area and believes the March and Festival belong in the neighborhood. However, he suggested that the SPC consider a compromise. I dont know if they are trying to move the money from here to there, but I think they should keep things here, he said. They can add more days in other areas of town so it spreads the Gay dollars around, but keep the main parade event up here. Gay Pride marches began in Seattle in 1977 and ran from Occidental Park to Westlake Center in Downtown Seattle. In 1980, the march moved to Broadway. It moved back to Downtown a year later. The march moved to Broadway again in 1982, where it has remained ever since. PHOTO CAPTION Front row: Charlotte Lefevre (Museum of Mysteries); Philip Lipson (Museum of Mysteries); middle row: Carl Medeiros (Panache Clothing Company); Eladio Preciado (Julias); Pakio Navarez (Galore); Lisa Chang (Trendy Wendy and Broadway Boutique); back row: Karstan Betd (Julias); Lindsay Cunningham (Spotlight Fashions). Photo by Robert Raketty