For those not sure about certain acronym terms-or maybe those who would like to know but are hesitant to ask because it seems they should already know-here's a primer:
Pride events affirming the LGBTQIA+ community will be ongoing in June throughout the city, country and world. The first "gay liberation" parades and rallies were held in June 1970, to protest and mark the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York, prompted by local police raiding the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in lower Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood.
The early parades were organized by activists and coalitions, with the movement gaining momentum and support across the U.S. over the next decades. The first Seattle celebration was in 1974 with Gay Pride Week events from June 24 through June 30. By the 1980s, "gay pride" universally replaced "gay liberation" to represent a more inclusive term.
As a sports franchise that views "community as bedrock" to its mission and purpose, the Kraken marked Pride Month last June with a series of stories and videos, highlighted by a
video panel discussion about hockey and the LGBTQIA+ community
. The panel was sponsored by the Kraken's first founding partner and exclusive life insurance partner, Symetra.
"The energy in this town about NHL hockey] is crazy," said Trinity Parker, Symetra senior vice president of marketing, communication and public affairs, during last June's video panel. "It's so exciting. We want to be a part of that.
"At Symetra, we are incredibly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. We have outspoken views about gender and pay equity and inclusion across the board. Any partnerships we have will be with organizations with which we have aligned values,"
Another story featured last June covered the founding of the
[Seattle Pride Hockey Association
with Steven Thompson and Joey Cole as the driving forces behind the new association. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed plans to stage an inaugural Seattle Pride Classic tournament, but hasn't deterred Thompson, Cole, other leaders and SPHA members.
Check back with us for an update story about the SPHA next week, plus more details about the inaugural SPHA tournament now scheduled for the weekend of June 19 and 20 at Olympicview Arena in Mountlake Terrace. We will be covering the invitational in real time. There will additional coverage related to LGBTQIA+ and hockey during the month.
Seattle Pride's "Virtual Pride: Resilience" event
will feature a number of musical acts (Big Freedia, Mary Lambert, Perfume Genius, mxmtoon) performing on the Hopin app platform June 26 and 27 (6 to 8 p.m. both nights) to "commemorate the past, celebrate new wins for equality and get encouragement for the work yet to come ... and, quite frankly, it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun." Check out the full schedule
here
.
