Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Homophobia's Got To Go!

I had been watching the buzz go around Facebook about a protest that had been organized by the infamous Westboro Baptist Church (headed by Alan Phelps) at the Seattle Pride Picnic. Local gay rights activists were planning a counter-protest the theme of which was, "Let's keep it classy." Sass and wit were highly encouraged. I loved the energy of the posts that I saw - everyone talking about fighting hate with love and rainbows. Lovely!

Chris and I decided that this was a great opportunity to cross something off my list:

 20. Participate in a Protest


We arrived at Volunteer Park to meet up with the counter-protest. They had arranged to gather twenty minutes before the arrival of Westboro. It was quite a sight! Lots of amusing signs:

 A part of the fabulous crowd for the counter-protest

Another view of the protest

Chris ran around taking pictures, while I joined in the groups enthusiastic chorus, "Hey hey! Ho ho! Homophobia's got to go!"

I wished I had brought my own sign!

PRIDE!

There were a ton of pretty fantastic individuals around. One of my favorites was a sexy Gaga-channeling lipstick lesbian that I absolutely had to pose with.

She makes me wish I had an excuse

to run around in my underwear in public, too.

This sign was just too good not to post.

I thought this group of loving Christians deserved notice. 

After about 45 minutes of anticipation, it became clear that Westboro just wasn't going to show. Our counter-protest had morphed into a demonstration of Gay Pride. How appropriate for Pride Week!

The crowd was told to disperse and enjoy the picnic, so Chris and I took a turn around the park, including the conservatory. I love it when I get a little window into Chris's passionate relationship with vegetation. He knows fascinating things about many of the plants, whereas I generally run around and comment on which plants look like various sexual organs. I think he and I strike a good balance there.

So crude....

After wandering around the picnic for a moment we checked out the lovely host, Miss Gaysha Starr, a drag queen with a headdress that was so big it looked like it could comfortably house a family of raccoons. Unfortunately we were a bit too far away from the stage to capture a shot of that madness.

We decided we were hungry and wanted to drive over to Pike Street for some NY style pizza. On our way over we got stuck behind SlutWalk - a protest against a comment made by a Toronto police officer. He claimed that women could avoid being raped by not dressing like "sluts."

The nerve!! It is such a tragedy that this kind of attitude often makes victims of sexual assault wonder if it had somehow been their fault. Rape is an act of violence that has absolutely nothing to do with how sexually appealing someone may or may not be. The fault lies entirely with the rapist, never the rape survivor.

But enough of that rant - Chris and I were on to happy and delicious things! While devouring our delectable pepperoni pizza at Big Mario's, Chris declared that we needed to take a pizza tour. This meant two more stops to compare pizza. The challenge was set!

A shot of the front of Big Mario's

Love the vibe inside Big Mario's!

We decided to stop into Cupcake Royale during the interlude, where we for some reason decided it was a good idea to buy six cupcakes since we had a coupon, as well as the new location of the Elliott Bay Bookstore while our tummys created some extra room for round two. We spent an hour or so hunting down some of the best children's books for Chris to send his nephew as a birthday present. Sometimes I think I will write books for children one day. I imagine I get the same look on my face when I'm sitting on the floor reading a children's story as Chris does when he's fondling flora.

Our second stop was Piecora's. Chris ordered a pizza with lots of meat on it and I ordered a slice with artichoke and pesto. Chris mocked me for my pizza choice.

Piecora's!

I am excited for my first taste of Piecora's pizza

Aww... its like Lady and the Tramp, but greasier...

We tried so hard to get a picture of this weird woman who was sitting behind Chris reading her bible. Chris jokingly asked our server if our pizza came with complimentary copies of the good book, causing me to nearly shoot beer out of my nostrils.

We both decided that Big Mario's definitely had Piecora's beat in the NY style pizza department.

During our second break between stuffing our faces, we wandered around in Capitol Hill for a while. We discovered a high end sex shop with lots of fancy toys and thrilling accessories. Chris and I were making a purchase, and the girl behind the counter was telling us all about the product and the warranty and the care and the battery life and the feedback she's heard about it and how it compares to other products and how many she's sold and all the different colors it comes in.... when suddenly, to my great dismay, nature came furiously knocking. Somewhere between the first pizza, the six cupcakes, and the second pizza something had gone very very wrong. I know... its shocking. It suddenly seemed as though the girl had been talking for eight hours and she was never going to stop. I stood there acutely aware that I had probably lost most of my color and was sweaty and panting - I can only guess what the girl must have been thinking of me at that moment - perhaps I was just super excited about our purchase? Nightmare! We finally got out of there and I told Chris we needed to find a place for me to pray to the porcelain god immediately.

Third and final pizza stop - Via Tribunali

Fast forward a bit and I decide to celebrate the fact that I am somehow still alive by eating more pizza at Via Tribunali. And adding a beer to the mix. I felt it was the best plan.

Feeling better now!

Chris is ready for more

I adore him :)

Chris wanted to interview our waitress, whose name was Jen. Small world - it turned out that she was on the same professional dance team as the woman who has been teaching Chris how to salsa dance! I love the ease with which Chris engages people in conversation and we get to learn things we would have never known otherwise. I pretty much couldn't move at the end of that meal. I had, just barely, survived our day of eating way too much pizza. I felt very accomplished.

Love it.

Overall, I'd say the day had brought a fantastic array of adventures, all due to crossing something off my list. This is going to be so much fun!