Trans* Pride Seattle 2014

For the second year in a row, Gender Justice League brings the community together for a festive, fun, and embracing Trans* Pride Seattle! Trans* Pride Seattle is an annual event organized by Gender Justice League in affiliation with Seattle Out & Proud and in association with local organizations who support the Seattle-area trans* and gender non-conforming community. Supporting organizations for Trans* Pride Seattle 2014 include the GBSA, Café Vita, Molly Moons, The Pride Foundation and Gay City Health Project. Trans* Pride Seattle is open to everyone who believes trans* and gender non-conforming people deserve to live lives free from violence, discrimination, stigmatization, poverty, hatred, rejection, medical abuse and neglect, and mental pathologization. We encourage the participation by groups, organizations, and individuals in the trans* and gender non-conforming community and those offering services directly to our community. The Mission The goal of Trans* Pride Seattle is to increase the strength of the trans* and gender non-conforming community and its allies, both within and beyond Seattle, through increased visibility, decreased isolation, increased connection and love, and the celebration of our amazing lives. We are all heroes for surviving in a society that continuously tells us that our bodies and minds are perverse. Together as a community we do more than survive, we thrive; creating collective endeavors that support our needs as parents, children, friends, lovers, students and workers; building space within the various communities to which we belong to participate fully, as our entire selves; and fighting for freedom, rights and respect in society. Trans* Pride Seattle is a vital step in this journey. Trans* Pride Seattle seeks to show our numbers, share our ideas, and call for an end to the violence, discrimination, stigmatization, poverty, hatred, rejection, medical abuse and neglect, and mental pathologization that trans* and gender non-conforming people face. We aim to increase the visibility and acceptance of Seattle’s transgender and gender non-conforming community by recruiting allies and engaging the wider community on trans* issues while celebrating our rich diversity, strength, and beauty. The Date Trans* Pride Seattle takes place on the Friday before Seattle’s Pride Festivities (the last weekend in June). Trans* Pride Seattle 2014 will take place on June 27th. The March starts at 6:00pm (assembly beginning at 5pm), with festivities in Cal Anderson running from 6:45pm to 10:00pm. The March Trans* Pride Seattle will start with a march. We will begin assembling for the march at 5:00pm in front of Seattle Central Community College at Broadway and Howell. At 6:00pm we will begin to march south on Broadway to Pike Street, where we will turn left and march east to 11th Avenue. From there we will turn left again and march north to Cal Anderson Park. We will enter the park at 11th and Olive Street. The March will end with a rally and celebration in Cal Anderson Park. The Rally We are very excited to be presenting a spectacular selection of trans* speakers and musicians. Speakers include: leader, role model and activist, CeCe McDonald; scholar, poet and filmmaker, Kai M. Green; and the Filipina-Ashkenazic mixed-class trans dyke mestiza, writer, religion scholar, medic, and survivor, Elena Rose. Seattle’s own “The Nasty Habits” will be rocking out the tunes. A few speakers from select organizations will also be taking the stage to discuss their work and the services and opportunities they offer. In addition, there will be an information and resource fair with a wide variety of community groups and organizations doing outreach. There’ll also be food trucks and our beloved community out in full force! And You Last year’s Trans* Pride Seattle was a smashing success, with participation by thousands of community members and allies. We received the support and involvement of a wide range of community organization as well as coverage by local, national and international media. Let’s continue the tradition and make 2014’s Trans* Pride Seattle an unforgettable gathering, celebration and rallying cry heard around the world. Please help us out by donating http://www.transprideseattle.org/donate/ and join us in volunteering http://www.transprideseattle.org/volunteer/ . Accessibility Policy In order to make Trans* Pride Seattle a healthy, accessible place for everyone, we are enacting a smoke-free, scent-free policy Smoke and many scents aggravate a large number of health conditions including asthma, migraines, multiple chemical sensitivities and compromised immune systems. A lot of people are forced to choose between missing out on community events or getting headaches, dizziness, sore throats, nausea, rashes and a whole bunch of other negative reactions. Were changing that and we need your help. Please don’t smoke while you’re at Trans* Pride Seattle. If you have to smoke, do it at least 25 feet away from the area between the stage and the bathrooms and the East and West edge of the park, take at least 10 minutes to air out, and wash your hands when you get back. There will be unscented soap in the bathrooms. Also, on the day of the event please refrain from using scented grooming products (including cologne, perfume, essential oils, and some soap, shampoo, and lotions) as well as scented sunscreen and insect repellant. So many products have scents in them that aren’t listed on the label that the safest policy is: if it doesn’t explicitly state “scent-free” or “fragrance-free,” it isn’t. We recognize that for a lot of people, going smoke-free and scent-free is a big change. We appreciate this. And the effort on your part is a way of showing love for our community. It creates a safe space for people whose medical conditions make the outside world a perilous place. As trans people we need a safe, loving space to call our own. Thank you for helping us make that place a reality. For more information on chemical sensitivities see http://www.ei-resource.org/illness-information/environmental-illnesses/multiple-chemical-sensitivity-(mcs)/ and http://www.chemicalsensitivityfoundation.org/. “Fragrance-free” and ”low-scent” alternatives to heavily scented personal grooming products are available, and alternatives can be made from basic ingredients for far less than even discount, mainstream products. For more information on fragrance-free and low-scent alternatives see http://thinkbeforeyoustink.com/howtogofragrancefree.html and http://www.brownstargirl.org/1/post/2012/03/fragrance-free-femme-of-colour-realness-draft-15.html If you have any accessibility needs please contact Jessica Littenberg at JessicaL@genderjusticeleague.org