SOAP press release on 2007 Pride

SOAP press release on 2007 Pride:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 02, 2007

ANNOUNCING ’07 PRIDE EVENTS

Seattle – Seattle Out and Proud (SOaP), organizers of Seattle Pride, is proud to announce that the 33rd Annual Pride parade & festival will be held on Sunday, June 24th 2007.

“SOaP was able to negotiate a plan with Seattle Center that will take care of our past bill with them and move Seattle Pride into the future with the Center as a long-term home,” said Seattle Out and Proud President Eric Albert-Gauthier. As part of that plan, SOaP has brought in Independent Event Solutions (IES), a local special event promoter / organizer to help us produce the event at Seattle Center . SOaP and its board will maintain full control of the programming and vision of the festival, but will have professionals to help execute these in a top rate, financially stable fashion.

The parade will take place downtown on Fourth Avenue ending at Seattle Center with the festival. The date has been secured, and the event will happen at Seattle Center this year and into the future.

Aside from professional production, SOaP has also brought in a professional sponsorship firm, Baccetti Consulting, who will dramatically increase the sponsorship income.

SOaP's board will now be working hard to unite the whole community around Seattle Pride '07. We need the community to support the event and the event to support the community. With the burden of the event production lifted from us, we will be able to devote more time and resources to making the parade more exciting, raising funds for the parade and the Pride celebration at the Center, building community partnerships, and thinking of new ways to celebrate Seattle 's LGBT community over the whole month of June.

“We apologize for the hard road we have had to go down with the whole community to get to this point. We have made some mistakes, but have done so with the best intentions. We have worked hard, struggled, fought, cried, and have learned a lot in the process,” said Seattle Out and Proud Vice President Weston Sprigg. We'd like to thank Seattle Center and the LGBT community for their 'tough love' and for helping us move into the future with a better plan. We expect to be held to a high standard and believe the community has every right to expect SOaP to represent you in the best possible light. As always with a struggle, we are coming out stronger, wiser, and more capable of doing great things.

We already have a lot to celebrate in 2007 with the Washington State Senate passing the Domestic Partnership bill. We hope this will lead to full equal rights for the LGBT community. SOaP believes that Seattle Pride will not only be a great celebration of progress towards this goal, but will also play an important role in it.

Please visit www.SeattlePride.org for more information, updates, and to join us in making 2007 the best Pride Celebration the Northwest has ever seen. Seattle Pride 2007 - Come Together!

For information on Seattle Out and Proud, Contact Eric Albert-Gauthier at ealbert-gauthier@seattlepride.org , 206.910.6576, www.seattlepride.org.