Cascadia PRIDE 2023

First Nations participant in Pride Parade, Vancouver, BC Canada, 2002

The Cascadia Movement has been an active supporter of LGBTQ rights since the beginning. We have spent June 2023 celebrating alongside our LGBTQIA+ friends, family, and neighbors as we combat an increase in anti-LGBTQ bills in the United States. Our movement isn’t environment, conservation, or sustainability-focused but people and place-oriented. This vision of the future includes all people within our place and, therefore, is a social movement of change.

Whilst it feels like we are moving in reverse we want to remind everyone of how far we have come as a bioregion. Our LGBTQ+ history throughout Cascadia has a painful past but has evolved into a place where people can move to, create roots, and build their communities knowing they will be accepted as their true selves. We have some of the most influential LGBTQ human rights activists in history and, as a bioregion, have continued their legacies by voting in favor of the rights of LGBTQ+, women, and BIPOC.

As time has progressed, support of minority groups has increased, with the majority of those living within Cascadia supporting equal rights. There has also been a significant increase in attendance at pride events and voting in favor of legislation that supports minorities. And while BC Canada has a lead on the work being done in the US, our US Cascadian states have surpassed the boundaries of our corner by sharing our belief system of inclusivity, equity, and individuality spread across the country.

“A critical component of each bioregion is the human culture which has developed within and is integral to that area. This essential human element is what distinguishes the concept of bioregion from similar ecological entities which traditionally treat humans and their cultures as interlopers rather than as integral components of a natural community.”

— Frank Traina, “Perspectives in Bioregional Education”

The head of the first Gay Pride Week march in Seattle (1977) Negative No. 2002.46.2379.5, Robert H. Miller Collection, Museum of History & Industry

The head of the first Gay Pride Week
march in Seattle (1977)
Negative No. 2002.46.2379.5, Robert H. Miller
Collection, Museum of History & Industry

First Nations participant in the 2002 Gay/Lesbian Pride Parade. Vancouver BC 2002

First Nations participant in the 2002 Gay/Lesbian Pride Parade. Vancouver BC 2002

Gay Liberation Front flier, approximately 1970s Seattle, WA

Gay Liberation Front flier, approximately 1970s Seattle, WA

Revelers holding hands in celebration during Gay Pride week at the Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington, June 30, 1974

Revelers holding hands in celebration during Gay Pride week at the Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington, June 30, 1974

Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE) demonstrates to protest censorship by the Vancouver Sun. Vancouver BC 1979

Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE) demonstrates to protest censorship by the Vancouver Sun. Vancouver BC 1979

National and international athletics of the Celebration '90 Gay Games III march in the Vancouver Pride Parade. Vancouver BC 1990

National and international athletics of the Celebration ’90 Gay Games III march in the Vancouver Pride Parade. Vancouver BC 1990

Hallowe'en costume party at Odyssey Nightclub. Vancouver BC 1988

Hallowe’en costume party at Odyssey Nightclub. Vancouver BC 1988

Out and About Hiking Club rafting on the Thompson River. Okanagan 1987

Out and About Hiking Club rafting on the Thompson River. Okanagan 1987

Queer Muslim group Salamat march in the Gay/Lesbian Pride Parade. Vancouver BC 2001

Queer Muslim group Salamat march in the Gay/Lesbian Pride Parade. Vancouver BC 2001

Francis Renault 1893-1955 Renault's given name was Antonio Auriemma. He was born in Naples, Italy before his family resettled in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was raised. In the early days of his career, he worked in Vaudeville as Francis Rena

Francis Renault 1893-1955

Renault’s given name was Antonio Auriemma. He was born in Naples, Italy before his family resettled in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was raised. In the early days of his career, he worked in Vaudeville as Francis Renault and got his break when he replaced female impersonator Julian Eltinge in a touring version of his Broadway show. Unlike Eltinge, Renault would wear his female costumes in public where he was touring. While it created publicity for the show, he was arrested several times. In 1913 he performed in Atlanta and contested local ordinance banning cross-dressing.

Crowd of anti-Initiative 13 protesters at rally in Westlake Park (1978) Negative No. 2002.46.2379.4, Robert H. Miller Collection, Museum of History & Industry

Crowd of anti-Initiative 13 protesters at
rally in Westlake Park (1978)
Negative No. 2002.46.2379.4, Robert H. Miller
Collection, Museum of History & Industry

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