I've been over Seattle's pride for a few years now. It's just a giant parade of advertisers. Remember when, gee I don't know, GAY people and gay civics groups used to march in the parade? Not beer trucks and other advertisers who just want to ride the gay pride marketing demographic? It's never been the same since it left Broadway anyway. Instead of a huge ridiculous mega event how about a smaller, less expensive event that has gays and gay groups as the core? Oh well, whatever, I won't be going anyway. Vancouver BC pride is way more fun. It has some commercialism, they all do, but at least most of their floats are civic groups.

boring parade is boring

I still don't understand how the grand marshals aren't Murray, Pederson, and Jinkins, that's fucked up. Have the parade organizers been living under a rock in regards to Washington State politics?

@1, there were beer trucks in the first parade I ever saw, circa 1981.

I'd be curious, though, to see SOaP publish their books. It sounds like most of the expenses go to the other group, while SOaP rakes in most of the money? Seems odd. A little transparency can make all these questions go away.

Pride, Inc.®

This is asinine. Ed Murray should be the Grand Marshal. Make Alaska Airlines and Starbucks pay out the ass to advertise in the parade. Let in supportive elected officials in for free. The parade sucks anyway. I'll probably just go fishing that weekend.

Bullshit!!!!! It's all bullshit!!!! The gay bars control Seattle's gay scene. Try finding a real festival at Seattle Center. You will only find that you will have to go back to Cap Hill and pay to enter. Fuck Off!!!!!!All the bars in Seattle are trying to make as much as they can off our gay's. Fuck Off, Again!!!!How about pooling our money to make the best damn pride festival in the world, Bitches!!!!!!It's about being out and proud you fucking assholes!!!!

@1, Yes, the parade was so much more pure when it was on Broadway, sponsored by the Freedom Socialist Party (where, whoever screamed the longest and loudest at their meetings, won), and it was, officially, a "March and Protest". When every year, I would arrange with K&L for a beer truck to promote the charity I worked with.

That ship sailed long ago, dearie, mostly because the pier it was moored to rotted away. Take your revisionist history to Vancouver and try to peddle it there.

As for this year's controversy, what would the Pride Parade be without something for someone to be outraged about? I'm of the mind to make all the politicians pay, even the most supportive. What's $1200 to be seen in the biggest, most politically engaged parade of the year?

@8 revisionist history? No idea what you're talking about, dear. All I know is pride used to be fun here, now it's not. So thanks, I will go peddle in Vancouver, see ya'll up there in August.

This is such a NON-story.

The pricing info has been on the SOaP website for months and apparently not one politician has complained about this...until now, after registration for the parade has closed.

Let's move this non-discussion along as briskly as possible so we can start bitching about the Pride Flag not being on the Space Needle...

Obviously SOaP has no problem throwing Murray, Pedersen, and Jinkins under the bus... the Governor is the only elected official invited as the grand marshal.

oooooh!! cat fight!!

You'll have to forgive my jadedness on this issue, but I've been listening to the same arguments for twenty-five years.....

1.) The parade is too boring. It's just politicians, beer trucks, and groups of employees walking.

2.) The politicians are just there to pander to us.

3.) The drag queens, leather men and Dykes on Bikes make us all look like freaks, and don't represent "the community"

4.) The whole thing is just a celebration of alcohol, and the bars are exploiting us. We should be using this energy on (insert crisis here)

And, since the parade moved downtown, there is the additional argument that it has somehow been "diluted" or something by removing it from Broadway, where it was impossibly crowded.

At the end of the day, It's just a parade, like Seafair, or St. Patrick's Day, or the thing Macy's throws at Thanksgiving. Other towns do it much better, some do it much worse. Many places would kill to have the crowds and municipal support that Seattle has.

Relax and enjoy it for what it is. Or despise it and stay away. At least this new "controversy" is something different to wring ones hands over.

Agreed with @14 (this sooo much) and @15. While I don't necessarily agree with the decision of SOaP, I don't know the whole story and I definitely wouldn't want to deal with this crap. I challenge anyone to try and do better and satisfy everyone at the same time.

Catalina, you shine so bright on this! Honestly, politicians complaining they have to dip into their campaign war chests to spend a wee bit on a parade slot, when they could be saving those precious contributions to buy some more ads or yard signs or glossy flyers headed straight for the recycling bin...really, it is just so very sad.

I think the parade is great. It's a day to enjoy with my gay and straight friends.

I have marched in the parade with various factions at least twice on Broadway and twice downtown and I know what it takes to make it happen: time to prepare your contingent (float/banners/flyers), orgnaizing volunteers, getting up really early after celebrating all night and waiting in queue way down on 4th Ave waiting to march. I did it because it was fun and for the community.

I am now content to simply enjoy the show.

Please appreciate those who are dedicated each year.

Am I the only one who is sad that Seattle's Parade lost it's coolness when it moved from the Hill to 4th Ave? I totally thought the move would be good for the parade and it is bigger and in some ways better.

But it has become a parade of mostly corporate ad's and apparently higher drama and bitching. Like last year, I'll skip the parade and hang out at the beer garden getting groped by hot guys.

There is certainly a disconnect between people's perception of political organizations and reality. For those who think elected officials and political organizations have deep war chests, think again. No, majority of them are not like Presidential campaigns or HRC. If SOaP is indeed fair about the affordability, elected officials and political organizations with an annual budget less than $250k should qualify for the $200 registration fee just like the local nonprofits! And most elected officials and political organizations, believe it or not, would qualify for that! Most people that march with political organizations are volunteers. Just because you see lots of people passionately support a cause or a candidate does not mean it is ok for SOaP to gouge them!

What StellaLuna said. This is a ridiculous way to treat the people who have worked so hard for the LGTB community.

I don't need a parade anymore to be proud of who I am or to go out and party my Gallifraynian butt off. I'm proud EVERY day of the year.

At $1200, shouldn't the political orgs and elected officials qualify as parade sponsors? They should get to march first and have their logos plastered proudly by SOaP!

' pride goeth before a fall'

riz wins again.

@23, I'm pretty sure they make actual sponsors cough up more than that. To get a sense of it, a couple years ago the PrideFest, to keep it all admission free, was charging $3K for the lowest level of sponsorship. Here's the brochure - in 2008 getting the big sponsor benefits, which included pride of place in The Stranger's marketing materials for it, were in the tens of thousands....this link will download a PDF of the sponsor packet back then:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%…

Get with it SOaP! Not only are you insulting these elected officials WE voted for to represent us and also make history, but have you seen a salary of what these guys make? The government isn't quite the cushy Amazon.com kind of money. It first started when you moved it off Broadway (big mistake) and it is coming quite apparent that this is becoming more about money and less about community.

What a joke. SOaP needs to get with it, these elected officials are who WE voted for, yet you insult them with this price hike? Have you seen a senators salary? Not all that flossy. Moving pride off Broadway was your first fail, now it is just a 4 hour infomercial. This is about community, not sponsors.

"We're here,
we're a clusterfuck,
get used to it!"

Our parade pales in comparison to any other major city. It has become 3 hours of groups marching with banners, and companies trying to sell us stuff. There's nothing to see here any more. Maybe I'm old and jaded after 20 years of attending, but it just feels like there is less and less to see every year. We're not even trying to be interesting.

And I also agree that the politicians that are fighting for gay rights should be leading the parade, not paying to be in it.

Here's the right thing to do: SOaP should invite Murray, Pedersen, and Jinkins to march along with the Governor as the grand marshal. Is that going to offend the Governor? I doubt it. It's the right thing for our community to do to acknowledge all those who worked hard to bring us the right to marry. The more SOaP hesitates or remains defensive, the more publicity this will brew.

I don't have a dog in this fight - I'm not part of this community and I've only been to Pride twice in my many years in Seattle. But I will say that the parade organizers look terrible from the outside. Why would you alienate the people who are working the hardest for your cause? It makes no sense at all. Hopefully it was all a naive miscalculation and the organizers are right now planning how to walk it back.

I love how every year SO&P does something really fucking stupid. It is a tradition. It makes Pride interesting. I wonder what they will do next year. Perhaps they will volunteer to cut-up and sell the giant pride flag scraps that used to fly on the Space Needle. Oh wait, that was last year.

Our parade is one of the largest and best attended. Seattle just isn't as festive as other cities.

So far as fees, low if they can but high if required. I reckon businesses pay less because they generally sponsor at pridefest, too

OMG, Torchlight Parade entry fee is $115 for non-commercial entities...

http://www.seafair.com/news.aspx?ID=187&…