I’m a solo polyamorous hetero-romantic pansexual cisgendered man. My serious romantic relationships have all been with cis women, but most of my sex partners are men. Since I bottom when I am with men, most people think I must be closeted or suffer from “internalized homophobia.” This has caused tension with the women I date, ranging anywhere from women not wanting to be with me because they think I am “living a lie” to a recent situation where I was repeatedly “outed” by a bi female poly partner who told people (friends, random gay men) that I was “into guys” and “bi.”

A straight man detests condoms with all his heart. Even the thought of putting on one of those little rubbers makes him deflate like the ears on a two-day-old balloon rabbit. Is this a fetish of some kind? It prevents him from having sex and it’s bumming him out.

There seems to be a fair bit of confusion about silicone sex toys and lube. Can silicone lube harm silicone sex toys? Or do they love each other so much? Dan hops on the phone with Searah Deysach from Chicago’s Early to Bed sex toy store to set the record straight. 

(MUSIC) A first-call session musician in the '00s, NYC harpist Brandee Younger built her rep by playing with major figures such as Lauryn Hill, Ravi Coltrane, and BADBADNOTGOOD. Now Younger has blossomed into a jazz star in the 2020s, with her breakthrough coming via the collaborative LP with...

Sammamish Planning Commissioner and Tanoor owner Wassim Fayed celebrated Pride the best way he knew how: By launching into a homophobic screed at a public meeting.

On June 1, Fayed described queer people as “wealthy,” “well-connected” disease-spreaders who infest and “poison” the minds of children in schools and through movies and television. He invoked his faith-based belief that people choose to be gay against God’s intentions, which is ridiculous. Everyone knows we choose to be gay to please the devil.

Pacific Northwest Ballet closed out its 50th season with a bang: one gorgeous, sweeping stage debut and two high-octane world premieres full of sparkle and spectacle. 

The lighting, costumes, and fresh choreography were stunning (for the most part), but it was the skill, swag, and sheer athleticism that PNB's dancers displayed on opening night that left me with the sense of a company entering a new era of excellence, one defined by diversity, experimentation, and some old-fashioned razzle-dazzle. The show, aptly titled Worlds to Come, runs through June 11, and you should reserve your tickets now. 

Seattle City Council votes on whether to relaunch drug war: The Council decides today whether to empower Republican City Attorney Ann Davison to prosecute people for drug possession and public drug use. I wrote about how this policy will pull resources away from drug trafficking cases that the police chief and Davison et al say they want to focus on. In a memo to the Council on Monday, staff described how little information Davison's provided about how she would use the new City law. The memo also showed that the County had more robust resources for providing treatment to people through the criminal justice system. I'll be following the vote at 2 pm today.

Seattle Public School district leaders talk safety concerns with parents: After several shootings around Garfield High School, Seattle school district leaders held a closed-door meeting with parents and staff on Monday night, according to KING 5. Superintendent Brent Jones promised the district planned to increase signage about safety protocols, make classroom doors lock from the inside, and roll out an app where students can report safety concerns anonymously. 

(PRIDE) Collide-O-Scope is the brilliant brain baby of Shane Wahlund and Michael Anderson, two local filmmakers and pop culture know-it-alls who cut, clip, and splice their way through hours and hours of music videos, movies, television shows, old commercials, and other footage to piece together spellbinding...

The first full week of June is coming in hot, bringing equally hot events from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to A Boogie wit da Hoodie and from The Black Trans Comedy Showcase: a PRIDE Fundraiser for Lavender Rights Project to Brewology.

MONDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Allie Crow Buckley
If you're like me and can't stop listening to Weyes Blood's And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, then consider adding Allie Crow Buckley’s latest album, Utopian Fantasy, into your rotation. Both artists craft ethereal folk with witchy lyricism and Joni Mitchell-esque vocal chops. However, what sets Buckley apart is her addition of upbeat percussion (à la Haim), making the album optimal for summertime. My personal favorite track off the album is the otherworldly harpsichord-driven ballad "Cupid and Psyche." She will support the album alongside Portland folk-rock singer-songwriter Kendall Lujan. AUDREY VANN
(Sunset Tavern, Ballard)

As the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike continues into its second month, it is disheartening to note the continued silence from the Seattle Film Commission on this critical issue, especially in the wake of the Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters Supreme Court decision.

The WGA strike stems from the ongoing disputes between writers and major television studios over fair compensation and reasonable working conditions in the era of streaming platforms and digital content. Though the New York and Los Angeles-based picket lines may feel far away from Seattle, they have a deep ripple effect on the local film industry, one that will be compounded by the looming potential strikes of other vital industry unions, including the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA). 

Postdocs and Researchers at the University of Washington are days away from our strike date, June 7. We love our research and we don’t want to go on strike, but if UW leaves us no choice, then we have to stand up for ourselves because, like every worker in the state of Washington, we deserve a living wage.

I’m a Postdoctoral Scholar in Mechanical Engineering, and I study how microplastic particles are mixed in the surface layer of the ocean. I love my work. But my wages aren’t keeping up with rent and costs of living. You might not have heard of a Postdoc before, but you're likely familiar with the struggle if you're one of the millions of employees statewide who also need help staying afloat while the costs of living increase.

On Tuesday the Seattle City Council plans to skip its normal committee process and instead rush a vote to allow City Attorney Ann Davison to prosecute people for drug addiction, likely creating a flood of new low-level cases for the backlogged criminal justice system.

While the Council mulls over whether to start charging people with drug possession and public use for the first time in Seattle, agencies such as the beleaguered Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory brace for an unknown number of law enforcement requests asking the lab’s forensic scientists to spend hours analyzing small amounts of drugs to prove low-level cases, taking time and resources away from analyzing evidence to catch drug dealers and traffickers, which the City names as its top priority.

Fazilat Soukhakian is an Iranian artist, photographer, scholar, and storyteller whose work depicts the stories of bravery and strength of those marginalized by society, highlighting the act of overcoming struggle and inspiring others. She is currently an Associate Professor of Photography at Utah State University. In our interview, we talk about following dreams, challenging injustice, and creating a better future for LGBTQ+ people.

You started your career as a photojournalist in Iran, and became one of very few female photojournalists. Can you tell me about pioneering this career within a tremendously patriarchal society?

Unvaccinated retribution: Over 180 ex-employees—from state troopers and fish biologists to nurses and the ex-Washington State University football coach—are plaintiffs in around a dozen lawsuits alleging they were unjustly fired for refusing to get vaccinated. So far, judges seem to be siding with Gov. Jay Inslee and his strict vaccine mandate, a rule that may have helped Washington keep its COVID-19 death rate so low. However, a new spate of lawsuits now center on "workers who asked for and received religious exemptions... but who were nevertheless fired or forced to quit because agencies said they could not be safely accommodated," the Seattle Times reports.

Yeah, obviously: In the wake of last year's Roe v. Wade reversal, Planned Parenthood in Washington state—a place that is resolutely not going full "Handmaid's Tale"—saw a 60% increase in birth control appointments. There was an uptick in long-lasting birth control options, too, with many women seeking IUDs which can prevent pregnancies for up to 10 years.

Looking for queer havens for celebrating this Pride Month? We've rounded up this list of LGBTQ bars, clubs, and shops in Seattle and have listed their current opening status, so you can plot out your party plans.