Remember June 2024? Me neither. That was at least a decade ago. But sliding into Pride Month, it’s palpably different this year.

In the final week that we were making this issue, we covered two far-right, anti-LGBTQ rallies in our own backyard. A group called Mayday USA intentionally came into our historically queer neighborhood, set up a Bumbershoot-sized stage, and preached the sanctity of “biological gender” and “family values.”

Hundreds of Seattleites showed up to protest the rally, and the photo on our cover was taken at that protest. The person in pink watched the police advance on hundreds of protesters with clubs out and visors pulled down. In response, they waited for the police to be directly behind them, threw their backpack down, planted themself in the grass, and pulled out their phone in selfie position. The protesters roared; the cops stumbled.

Bring that energy into Pride this year. Show up. Fuck shit up. Be a little vain. Be safe. Run faster than the cops.

Don’t know where to start? Use this issue as your guide. We have three solid pages just of Pride parties and events—93 of them. (Plus our “One Gay Thing to Do Every Day” June calendar, if you like being told what to do.)

If you’re feeling a little shy, take Stranger Staff Writer Nathalie Graham as your inspiration. For the Queer Issue edition of her Playdate column, she joined the Quake, Seattle’s gay rugby team, in full drag king makeup, and found out what it’s like to be thrown into the air shorts first.

If this Pride is your time to learn a new skill, we’re full of them: We asked a leatherdyke and a leather daddy for a 101 on fisting any hole you’d like. (And we found out what’s up with RFK Jr.’s war on poppers, in case you’re looking for a little help.) And if you’re looking to get out of a hole instead of in one, Stranger contributor Milo Kusold taught us how to manage our personal finances in end-stage capitalism.

Like anything, it’s not all fun. Stranger Staff Writer Vivian McCall and I also dug into why 500 bigots showed up on our doorstep while we were making the rest of this issue—and we walk you through the rising radical Christian movement that is rushing to wage spiritual warfare in the four-year window Trump is giving them.

It’s part of what makes June 2025 so markedly different. And it’s why we chose this cover. Claim your joy, choose your fighter. We’ll see you out there.

Hannah Murphy Winter
Editor-In-Chief

COVER PHOTO BY NATE GOWDY

This Issue Brought to You By...

A List of Good Things That Got Us Through Another Wild Press Cycle

The baby ducks at Green Lake

The song “Serving Kant” by Eurovision contestant Miriana Conte

Sequim

“POWERFUL deep healing frequency” videos on YouTube that probably don’t really do anything but make me feel better

That yerba mate that comes in the glass bottle

Primal Scream’s 1991 masterpiece Screamadelica

Carson’s biscuits and gravy

Adderall

The quarks inside of protons and neutrons

Hello Kitty Island Adventure for Nintendo Switch

The Guemes Island foot ferry

Husbands and Spaceface at the Tractor Tavern

GT’s “Watermelon Wonder” kombucha

Sasami’s Neumos show (especially her sick French horn solo)

“Rock Creek Park” by The Blackbyrds

The bathtub in our new office’s bathroom. Just nice to know it’s there.

The bath mat next to the aforementioned bathtub that was left by previous tenants that we’re apparently just rolling with?

Clyde Peterson’s hamburger painting by Derek Erdman

Addison Rae’s “Headphones On”

生煎包

Yelling at cops

Attorney General Nick Brown’s handsome face

Makeup remover Defeating a King Gleeok

Lacrosse ball (for DIY massages)

Emily’s tiny backpack collection