[Partially adapted from email travelogue, sent Monday, June 30 at 7:20 p.m.]

Sunday, June 29: Seattle Pride Parade

I actually marched in the Pride Parade this year—Shobhit, being a board member of SAG-AFTRA Seattle Local, decided to march with that group, which itself marched as part of the MLK Labor union contingent, which represents many local unions, including SAG-AFTRA.

The above photo, one of my favorites that I took, has nothing to do with any of that, except that we passed that drag queen in one of the staging areas where we went to find our group.

Shout out to PCC Corner Market, opening July 15! If you live or work close by, come and spend all your money here or I'll never speak to you again.

Roughly a month and a half later, our central office will also be moving to a newly designed office space directly adjacent to it—in space that was originally part of the Downtown PCC that was in operation for two years, between January 2022 and January 2024.

—Holy shit. Oh my god. You know what just occurred to me, while I was writing this very caption? Over the time at our current office, several different years I came to view the Space Needle fireworks on New Year's Eve. And you know what? The new PCC office's single window facing the street—where the kitchen will be—will overlook the Pride Parade! Maybe I can go there to watch, from the bar seating facing the window? Listen, this is just an idea. Don't tell anybody! Although, something else just occurred to me: the Pride Parade route officially begins at 4th & Union, which means this block itself is technically staging area. But! Once those contingents go ahead, we'll see people pass by from other staging areas just like they were part of the regular parade. I'm going to have to think on this. But given the easy access to bathrooms that it will give me, I'm starting to get a little jazzed about 2026.

Shoutout to the Fairmont Olympic Hotel! Which had easy access to bathrooms less than a block from our contingent's staging area, and also had this wonderful Pride display of glass candle holders in their front window. The rainbow colors in the window and above the heart refer to the traditional Pride Flag, its origins connected to Harvey Milk, who urged San Francisco drag queen Gilbert Baker to design a symbol of pride for the gay community in 1978, the very same year Harvey Milk was assassinated, creating an increased demand for the flags. The heart, on the other hand, features the colors of the Trans Pride Flag, designed by Monica Helms in 1999 and debuted at Phoenix Pride in 2000—it's now the internationally recognized flag of the transgender community. It's also even more inclusive than many people realize: the blue and pink stripes represent the traditional colors for baby boys and baby girls, respectively; and the white stripe in the center represents people who are intersex, transitioning or nonbinary.

I have been heartened by the visibility of trans people, and particularly trans support, through Pride month this year, at least in Seattle. There is unfortunately a pretty transphobic faction even within the gay, lesbian and bisexual community, and of course they exist everywhere, but where I live it gets fervent pushback that mostly overwhelms that noise, and I love that.

The SAG-AFTRA group, before marching started. I might have gotten into the shot myself—the guy on the far right, Clark, is the brother-in-law of the woman next to him, who is in SAG-AFTRA; he's also her brother's partner and I can't remember his name nor can I find him in this photo; maybe this was when he also went to find a bathroom. My point is, Clark is not in SAG-AFTRA and he's still in the photo. But I am not in the photo, because I wanted to get my own shot! Shobhit is near the middle, in the turquoise shorts. Someone later turned Shobhit's SAG-AFTRA Pride T-shirt into a crop top for him. The person to Shobhit's right is Ry, who also happens to be running for Mayor of Seattle.

This float, which I saw rounding the corner in the staging area when I was rushing back to our contingent after going back to the Fairmont to retrieve the backpack I suddenly realized I had left in the men's room toilet stall (thank god it was still there!), really cracked me up.

I love this photo so, so very much—it might be my favorite of the 155 shots I took on Pride Sunday, or even out of the entire 314 shots I have for Seattle Pride 2025: That woman on the left is Deborah Horne, reporter for KIRO 7 News, who has been reporting on the Seattle Pride Parade, she says, for at least 10 years now. Shobhit caught her attention when we were passing by, and she interviewed him briefly—another acquaintance of Shobhit's a former owner of one of the businesses on the retail level of our condo building, later texted him: I saw you on TV! I'm still not sure where she saw him; I have already spent an inordinate amount looking for an interview with him in KIRO's two-hour broadcast of the Parade (though the parade itself lasted four and a half hours) that is still available online, and I don't see him anywhere in it. Still, I took a few photos while Shobhit chatted with her, and he even took a moment to plug my SGN piece about WorldPride Washington D.C., which was very sweet.

Gabriel and Lea also marched in the parade, with Brooks Running, where Lea works. They did this thing where they would all line up for sporadic sprints up the street.

What's funny about the above shot is, I later learned, Lea saw me waiting for them and pointed me out to Gabriel, who could not make me out—and you can really feel him squinting to try.

It's been a long time since Pride featured the amount of high camp that I really wish it still had—but this one float really delivered the goods, by the local plumber, Bob Oates Plumbing Sewer & Rooter. This is a local business that clearly understood the assignment.

It was just a happy accident that I happened to snap a photo when someone was bending over in front of that giant toilet. I'm almost disappointed there wasn't a butt crack visible.

The MLK Labor contingent was in the first bloc of the parade, so we reached Seattle Center by 12:45, after the parade officially started at 11 a.m. We walked around PrideFest Seattle Center for a bit, but then walked back to watch the rest of the parade, which lasted until 3:30—we left to go back again to Seattle Center shortly before it ended, around 3:10. But there was a point when we spied open space on the curb across the street, and we rushed over to sit there.

I took this portrait shot of Shobhit at that spot, and I just think it turned out really well.

Sunday, June 29: TPS Pride After Party

This is Crystal Yingling, Executive Director of Theatre Puget Sound, for which Shobhit is now the Finance Manager (which necessitated his stepping off that board; they haven't updated their website). I loved this outfit and so I asked for a pose.

TPS hosted a "Pride Afterparty" in the Center Theatre in Seattle Center's Armory building—it's in the basement level, and the venue they use for shows. Shobhit and I went in there just a couple of times, briefly. Yet again: probably a bit too early. There wasn't much going on. But it was technically one more Pride event I went to this weekend!

Sunday, June 29: PrideFest Seattle Center

As noted earlier, Shobhit and I went into PrideFest Seattle Center twice; the first time, we asked someone to take this photo of us in front of the giant PRIDE sign. Shobhit had stripped down to his rainbow shorts, which he later wore to frolic in the International Fountain; you can see here his crop-topped SAG-AFTRA Pride T-shirt.

Later we met up again with Gabriel and Lea, and even spontaneously went out for dinner at nearby Citizen Collective. It was a pleasant capper to a lovely Pride Weekend.

* * * * *

What follows (along with this photo, above) is now additional content just for this post, not included in the travelogue I'm sending via email today:

I'll start by saying that I don't usually adapt travelogues for Seattle Pride into blog posts, preferring to write standalone posts for separate events—which, for the most part, I did for all the 2025 events leading up to the day before yesterday. But, in this instance, it helped to do it this way in the interest of saving time, as I prefer to post about this before Pride Month is officially over; today is its last day; and this evening I will otherwise be busy, both at a movie with Laney and then writing the review afterward.

But furthermore, and maybe more important, I really liked all the background, history and links I already wrote out in the captions for the Pride Parade section of the travelogue email, and rather than try to rewrite it all a second time or in a different way, I figured I would just transfer them. I'm generally pretty pleased with the final product with this one, and like having a record of it as it mostly existed in email here.

It feels appropriate to add a bit more about the time Shobhit and I hung out with Lea and Gabriel yesterday, though—something that was a bit of a surprise. Just like last year, Gabriel and Lea were in the beer garden by the mainstage at PrideFest Seattle Center, and he texted me to ask that we come by and say hi for at least a minute. This year, we also had the TPS Afterparty, and I honestly wasn't sure how much more time we might spend there—we had already stopped by, but we were thinking we might go back again. I told Shobhit Gabriel was asking that we come say hi, and Shobhit said okay—he actually seemed perfectly amenable to it, no real irritation evident. Maybe because we had nothing else pressing, and at this point Shobhit had already managed to get wet in the fountain (last year, as Gabriel put it, we "peaced out" while he was chatting separately with coworkers in the beer garden, and even I was a little annoyed so we left to go over to the fountain, which we hadn't had a chance to do yet at that point).

So, we went over to the beer garden at about 3:45. I had budgeted zero money for Pride Weekend, expecting to manage getting through the weekend without having to spend anything, especially after the unexpected expense of our new TV. I did check the cocktail menu, thinking maybe I could handle becoming just a bit more over budget even though I already am, but I really balked at spending $15 for a cocktail there. But, then Gabriel offered to buy me a drink, and because I have no shame, I said, "I'm certainly let you buy me a drink!"

I got a tequila and pineapple, which was tasty—if heavy with ice in a size glass that made it far too small to be worth fifteen bucks, but whatever! Shobhit would not let them buy him a drink, and I think Gabriel suspected at first that it was connected to their difficult history with each other—I immediately told Gabriel that Shobhit is like this no matter who it is. "Shobhit is really uncomfortable accepting anyone's generosity," I said. "I am not." Gabriel readily agreed.

Shobhit later went to buy himself a drink, and I'm not entirely certain exactly what went down, but I think Lea still managed to convince him to let her pay for it. When we went out to eat later, Shobhit really tried to insist on paying for all of us as repayment for them covering our drinks, which they quite understandably would not allow—that cost would be far too disproportionate. Shobhit offered to buy a large nachos order we could all share, and Gabriel and Lea did allow that, and they did have some of it. Whew! Glad we got through all those negotiations.

Anyway. Everyone got along just fine, which was a relief. Unlike last year, Shobhit did not bring up anything clearly meant to needle anyone or start an argument; the whole time we hung out was quite pleasant. That said, whether this is a direct product of Shobhit's and my time spent in therapy, or if it's just a random day when he managed to be agreeable, I have no idea. I feel like either scenario is equally likely.

Lea showed us her new and first-ever tattoo, which we learned was related to something very difficult they recently went through. Then a very specific thing happened, and it was subtle but something I clocked immediately: Shobhit said to Lea, "How are you doing?" —and Lea immediately grabbed Gabriel's arm and said, "We're doing okay." I really don't think Shobhit was deliberately trying to ignore or exclude Gabriel in that question, though; I think it's just a product, unfortunate though it is, of cultural conditioning: the misguided idea that only the woman went through a horrible trauma, and the man not as much.

Then, it was Shobhit's idea to go out for dinner. "Are you hungry?" Gabriel immediately responded that he was extremely hungry, and after only brief discussion of where to go, we landed on a place Gabriel had already recently suggested to me: Citizen Collective. I took a photo of a hot guy in a jockstrap that could be seen through white mesh shorts (I love me some mesh clothing on hot men—I suppose Shobhit was correct that this guy wasn't that hot, but his outfit still was) as we left the beer garden, and that was taken at 4:23, so that means we spent about 40 minutes there. It was about a half mile walk from there to Citizen, and I took the above photo when Gabriel was walking out to catch their Uber (which he had not used since he and Tess were in Mexico last fall, so it was still listing money in pesos)—that's him in the middle-distance, a Trans Pride flag hanging from his pocket. Anyway that photo was taken at 6:39, so that means we actually hung out together about three hours yesterday. These details are important! To me, anyway. I think it may have been the longest Shobhit has hung out with them since we went to their place to watch Fast & Furious, which was . . . July 10, 2021.

Of course, it made a difference that we managed a neutral location that was outdoors. Citizen Collective is Seattle's Switzerland. (Suddenly I am remembering when Gabriel and Suzy got in an argument in college and tried to drag me into it, and I wanted to say "I'm Switzerland!" but remembered the country wrong and said to them, "I'm Afghanistan!" And of course they both looked at me like: What?)

Now, shifting gears a bit: thanks to Laney spraining her ankle on Friday, this was the first year since 2022 that Laney could not join me for any Pride events. In 2022 and 2021 she was on the road, and 2020 was the first year of covid; so this the first year since 2019 that she was in town and was expected to be otherwise available and in the end she wasn't. That was a bit of a bummer, but here's the flip side: it was really nice having Shobhit available to go with to everything, the entire weekend—that hasn't happened since I don't know when! 2008, it looks like. That's specific to Seattle Pride, though; any time I travel to another city for Pride (Washington, D.C.; Vancouver, B.C.; Sydney, Australia; years before that a couple of times in Los Angeles and once in New York City), it's just all Shobhit, all the time. Anyway it was just cool to have my husband with me at literally everything I went to this year—I mean, he's the one I'm actually gay with, after all! (I almost said, "He's the one who actually fucks me every once in a while, after all!"—but I decided against it.)

Shobhit did note, on our way home from Citizen Collective, that Gabriel and Lea would be getting a Social Review point—something Gabriel, ironically, takes great care in telegraphing he doesn't care about—but that, of course, he will too. He asked if he is far ahead and I said I didn't know; I just checked though, and indeed he is: the new quarter only started on June 21, but he's already got six points, and as of yet Laney only has one. She could have had three, but she twisted her ankle! I am seeing a movie with her after work today, though, and there's plenty of time for her to catch up. Shobhit will have to be careful! Laney is truly the only person he has to care about when it comes to the Social Review, and he didn't have to care about her at all over the weekend.

But okay, in her honor, here's one for the lesbians!

Of course I still have to end with a hot guy though. I actually complained last year about the parade being kind of dull, but I didn't quite feel that way this year—I'm sure marching made a difference, even though we still came back to watch afterward, almost to the end. But we did not have to sit for the entire 4.5-hour length, which is honestly a little insane. Lots of eye candy to go around, though!

[posted 2:33pm]