Capitol Hill now has 11 rainbow crosswalks at six the intersections of Pike St, Pine St, Broadway, 10th Ave, and 11th Ave—just in time for Pride Weekend. Mayor Ed Murray unveiled the new crosswalk this morning to celebrate the occasion. Capitol Hill has long been Seattle’s preeminent gayborhood with a vast network of advocacy, social, and support services serving the queer and trans communities. Seattle joins a number of other cities, including San Francisco, Vancouver, Philadelphia, West Hollywood, Key West, Sacramento, Sydney, and Stockholm that sport rainbow crosswalks.
A campaign to install a crosswalk at the same locations in 2013, lead by the community group Social Outreach Seattle, was unsuccessful–reportedly due to complications with SDOT and the installation of the new First Hill Streetcar tracks.
The crosswalk installations comes at a time when queer and trans residents of the Hill have experienced an alarming spike in hate crimes. Many are seeking to reclaim the neighborhood as a safe and welcoming place, and hope the rainbow will serve as a bright reminder of the neighborhood’s culture and character.
For more photos from today’s big rainbow crosswalk reveal, check out Gordon Werner’s Flickr stream.
Ben Crowther
Ben is a Seattle area native, living with his husband downtown since 2013. He started in queer grassroots organizing in 2009 and quickly developed a love for all things political and wonky. When he’s not reading news articles, he can be found excitedly pointing out new buses or prime plots for redevelopment to his uninterested friends who really just want to get to dinner. Ben served as The Urbanist's Policy and Legislative Affairs Director from 2015 to 2018 and primarily writes about political issues.