If you head out to a Pride parade and party in the park this weekend, you’ll see big, cheery banners for major corporate sponsors. But behind the rainbows, those same sponsors also send tens of thousands of dollars to politicians who work to strip queer people of their rights.

Those sponsors include Alaska Air Group, which in 2020 used a political action committee to send at least $30,000 to elected officials who oppose marriage equality, nondiscrimination, and allowing trans people to serve openly in the military. 

Through their PAC, Seattle Pride sponsor Chateau Ste. Michelle sent at least $26,000 to conservative homophobes in Congress over the last two years.

Seattle Pride sponsor T-Mobile was particularly generous, sending around $100,000 to members of Congress who have voted to block The Equality Act, ban adoption by same-sex parents, and amend the U.S. Constitution to ban marriage equality.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

NEW OPENINGS AND RETURNS

Alki Phở & Bar
Owners Lynda Nguyen and Bien Le launched this Vietnamese restaurant in the former J&J Public House space on June 13, with a menu that includes fried rice, stir-fried noodles, phở, vermicelli bowls, salads, sandwiches, and more.
West Seattle
Pickup, dine-in

You never know how 4th of July is gonna go around here, and especially with this weird Year Without a Spring we’ve had so far. However. The forecast is professing a rare, perfect Independence Day weekend in Seattle, with temps in the high 70s and zero rain whatsoever, and we want to believe. We’ve put together a fully loaded guide to outdoorsy activities to help you maximize the lovely holiday weather, just in case this is actually true…but look. If it rains, it’s not our fault. Here’s hoping these venues know the Seattle score and plan on partying anyway, rain OR shine. 

IN SEATTLE

Seafair Summer Fourth

North End of Lake Union
The classic, the original. They don’t even bother putting “July” in the event name, because everybody knows what’s up. This is Seafair’s annual big-ass fireworks show at Gas Works Park, with the pyrotechnics exploding up above Lake Union and “choreographed” (that’s so cute) to a very loud pre-recorded musical score. There’ll also be two beer gardens, scads of food vendors, live bands, and a glow-in-the-dark dance party that ends when the fireworks begin. As long as it doesn’t rain—not our fault if it does!!—this event will almost certainly be a mob scene, so you may wanna get a fresh COVID booster beforehand and definitely wear your mask, even though it’s outside. The park spans 19 acres, though, so maybe you can find a secret nook with a visible patch of sky to watch the show from. Gas Works is the best place in the city to find sexy secret nooks, for real.
(Mon July 4, Gas Works Park, Wallingford, $0–$70)

Fuck the Supreme Court

I don't need to tell you that things are so fucked up right now. Watching this country's violent right-wing swing to overt fascism is absolutely gut-wrenching. Grieve for but a moment and then act! We got us.

Tonight, Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights is holding a protest at Westlake Park at 5:00 p.m. Over at the Federal Building, the Women's March will also hold a protest in support of abortion at 5:00 p.m. If you can't make it, give money to local abortion support networks like Northwest Abortion Access Fund, Surge Reproductive Justice, and Cascades Abortion Support Collective. 

This morning, the jizz of this country’s all-powerful conservative circle-jerk, the Supreme Court, decided that pregnant people should no longer have the constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling also put decisions such as Griswold (contraception), Lawrence (anal "bedroom laws"), and Obergefell (gay marriage) on the chopping block if Justice Clarence Thomas gets his way. Of course, people will still have abortions, they will just die more often when they do. Good call.

This is especially bad news for the nine states that have pre-Roe bans, which the Court has now made enforceable, and the 13 states that passed “trigger bans,” which will almost immediately ban abortion with this ruling.

Anyway, Democrats, despite failing to codify the right before the decision, have made their opposition vocal this morning. 

Finally, FINALLY, Seattleites can switch off their SAD lamps and scale back on the vitamin D supplements...the sun has emerged and is ready to light up your weekend, along with events from Seattle Pride Parade to Taking Black Pride: Seachella and from Indigiqueer Festival to CatVideoFest.

FRIDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Amendola vs. Blades ft. Cyro Baptista and Skerik
For over a decade, Hammond B3 organist Wil Blades and jazz drummer Scott Amendola have been churning out funk-ified jazz fusion jams that have left audiences wondering, "how are all of those sounds coming from just two people?" The duo will return to town alongside Brazilian percussionist/composer Cyro Baptista and local saxophonist Skerik.
(Triple Door, Downtown, $10)

Holy cats, do you know what's happening on the Hill this weekend?

“What? Pride??”

Oh, yeah, that—and it's also the glorious return of CatVideoFest, the brainchild of Seattle-born Will Braden (who, full disclosure, I went to school with for my entire childhood). Will might be better known to some as the “lying filmmaker” of the Henri, le Chat Noir videos, and he took the time to chat with me about what it's like to be a grown man who watches cat videos for a living, and what we can expect from him this weekend.

At next Tuesday's Public Safety Committee hearing, the Seattle City Council will get its latest update on plans from the Mayor's Office to invest in police alternatives. The process of laying out those plans, which dates back to the initial calls to defund the police under the Jenny Durkan administration, has taken so long that other cities have lapped Seattle in developing unarmed crisis response programs. This lag created a public safety gap that Seattle's leaders have yet to fill with more cops or other alternatives.

According to Shannon Cheng, a police accountability advocate with People Power Washington, for the last two years city officials have been reluctant to shift responsibilities out of the Seattle Police Department due to concerns about facing a particular labor grievance from the police union. 

If the City wanted to hire non-cops to direct traffic at sporting events, for instance, the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) could potentially block the move by calling foul on the City for "skimming," a practice where bosses shift work from one worker’s plate to another agency or an outside contractor. 

However, a labor lawyer argues that Seattle could win that fight in the name of fulfilling its Charter duties, and city leaders now finally seem ready to get aggressive on this issue.

As expected, the church that is the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade today, June 24, 2022. The constitutional right to an abortion has officially entered history. This decision, which was similar to the one leaked in May, gives governors the right to impose pregnancy on people, and it was made by a court that politically represents a handful of rural white people who believe Jesus was the same color as them. The decision contravenes American sentiment, according to a CNN poll showing that 66% of the country "did not want the Supreme Court to completely overturn its decision." We live in the age of radical minority rule. Because our civilization is in moral and economic decline, because wealth is more and more concentrated and centralized, and because our president is only trying to do something about gas prices, we can very much expect things to get worse. The 1970s will indeed look like the good times.

The U.S. Supreme Court took the dramatic step of overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide https://t.co/6zlfKo4fVV pic.twitter.com/ygVUeWOAWm

— Reuters (@Reuters) June 24, 2022

What we experienced today is the kind of weather that those who love summer and those who love winter (such as myself) can enjoy together. The sun is not beating on us, and the breezes are just wonderful and so numerous. The trees everywhere are animated. They are talking among themselves. Leaves to leaves. Can I brush your branch or trunk? Damn, I already have. Forgive me. I could not help myself. You know me. It's not like me. It's all of this air moving me. Did you know yellow is the color of sun rays?

Beautiful day for a boat ride ☀️🕶@KSeattleWeather pic.twitter.com/oHvAHzoABV

— Chad Bell (@chadcbell) June 23, 2022

The Stranger, Seattle’s award-winning news and arts publication, is seeking a new editor.

The Stranger aims to cover Seattle in smart, engaging, challenging, and surprising ways. We ask tough questions, provide well-researched answers, and offer unique insights into the political and cultural lives of our city.

This editor will supervise five writers and another editor, and also work closely with the publisher and marketing team to promote our online publication.

3...2...1…Blast off! Celestial rapper Kid Cudi will stop by planet Earth on his To The Moon tour. Genre-blending gem Santigold has also announced a tour supporting her upcoming album, Spirituals. Plus, dream pop outfit Cigarettes After Sex will bring their ethereal tunes to Showbox SoDo this fall.

ON SALE FRIDAY, JUNE 24

MUSIC

Alexander 23: Aftershock Tour
The Showbox (Sat Oct 8)

Oh, right, comics.

Apologies for the little gap in comic reviews for the last few weeks. I got hit with a weird wave of vertigo—the medical condition, not the DC imprint—and I’ve been slowly regaining my land legs ever since. The best guess at what happened is that I “sit funny,” to use a technical term, and my years of slouching have caused a muscle tension that compressed a bunch of stuff in my ear and made me lose balance. I don’t know how a tense shoulder blade connects to the tiny spirals in my ears, but honestly, everything in the human body is such a mystery to me that if someone in a lab coat told me that clipping my toenails causes snoring I’d just nod credulously and go looking for a nail file.

Anyway. I’m feeling better now. Only falling over a little bit. Able to read, and able to write, to the extent that I was ever able to. Comic reviews may now resume. Don’t all cheer at once.

Without much notice to the public, a police alternative pilot program has been operating on Seattle’s streets for the last two years. Through a partnership with JustCARE, a local public safety firm called We Deliver Care has been protecting outreach workers who are serving people experiencing homelessness. They’ve also been providing de-escalation services for people in crisis, and they’ve been doing it all without the involvement of a uniformed cop.

Now, with JustCARE’s future in question due to uncertainty around how city leaders will find funding, this promising program could also be on the chopping block. With the City still struggling to fully staff the police department, letting We Deliver Care fall by the wayside would remove a ready-made solution for providing public safety in the absence of police.