Seattle Gay Pride Starts With Historic Flag Raising

Yesterday officials from the Greater Seattle Business Association joined state and city officials to make history, hoisting the rainbow flag high atop Seattle's landmark Space Needle for the first time ever. The flag will stand as a beacon of the city's support of the LGBT community throughout the Gay Pride Celebration.

As I sit on the patio of my boyfriend's 15th floor downtown apartment which looks west with a bird's eye view of the city and the Needle, a tremendous sense of pride in our progressive city overcomes me. Welcome to all who have come to our city to celebrate with us. We stand together!

Photo courtesy of Seattle Gay News photographer James Whitley

Welcome to the Emerald City!

The Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) and the City of Seattle welcome you to the new Travel Gay Seattle blog. Our goal is to become the definitive source for LGBT travelers interested in visiting our gay friendly city. For more visitor information or to make travel arrangements, visit http://www.travelgayseattle.com/

Thanks for checking us out; let us know what you think of the city and our site!

Barrio Restaurant: Modern Mexican on Seattle's Capitol Hill

Contributed By John Wong (excerpted from May/June 2010 issue of GSBA's "Perspective" newsletter)

A couple of friends recently asked me to join them for dinner at Barrio, a new Mexican restaurant on Seattle's Capitol Hill (aka "gayborhood"). When they said Mexican, I was expecting sombreros, a lot of green and red, and a menu where they take the same ingredients, cook it in different ways and call it different names. I was pleasantly surprised!

Barrio blends Old World and modern elements to create a rich atmosphere in very subdued lighting. When I opened the menu, the first thing I saw was tacos and enchiladas and I thought, "Yep. Regular Mexican food." I read on and was immediately drawn to the smoky shredded pork tacos with golden raisins, almonds, caramelized onion-poblano rajas, jack cheese and guajillo pepper-tomato sauce. And I could order it in the “cazuelas” mode where the ingredients are put on a platter and you build your own tacos with warm homemade corn tortillas.  

Seattle Breaks Top Ten

Did you know in 2010 Seattle broke into the Top Ten in LGBT travel destinations, according to the 2010 Community Marketing Survey? Interesting, considering the city has the second highest percentage of openly gay residents in the country.