Seattle, WA, August 5, 2007—A diverse community, civic organizations, and business leaders gathered together for the first ever Seattle Black Pride (SBP), July 21-23rd held in Seattle, to celebrate the importance of empowering, educating, and entertaining the Black same-gender loving communities.

SBP Board President, Kiantha Duncan-Woods notes, "Today, I am proud. Not just proud of the success of this past weekend, but proud to be part of a community that expressed the need to have programming and celebrations specific to our culture and who demonstrated their willingness to show up and make it happen."

Over 750 persons attended the important 3-day celebration, held at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, Langston Hughes Community Arts Center and Pratt Park honoring art, culture, education and entertainment.

Enhancing the festivities were interactive community panel discussions, gospel praise and worship, live performances, two dance parties, family barbecue, local and national entertainment, and our first film festival showcasing cutting edge shorts and feature films, reflecting the many facets of the Black LGBTQ community.

Panelists were on-hand from Equal Rights in Washington, Human Rights Campaign, National Black Justice Coalition, and Entre Hermanos, and included Ms. Jasmyne Cannick, one of the founding members of the National Black Justice Coalition—the nation's only Black gay civil rights group—and Ms. Donna Payne, Human Rights Campaign's key representatives at the national and state levels, who works closely with a number of civil rights organizations across the country to increase visibility of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender participation within people of color communities.

Educational workshops included: HIV/AIDS and free confidential HIV & STD testing by POCAAN, "Woman's Health: Sister Help Thyself" with Verbena and "Diabetes: The Debilitator," with Dr. Steven Stein.

"SBP helped all of us understand why it is important for Seattle/Tacoma residents to commemorate and participate," added Kiantha Duncan-Woods; "2006 was just the beginning of what is to come. Not only will we continue to develop this annual Black Pride event, but we will also provide programming specific to the African American LGBTQ community year round. We encourage our allies to join forces with us; we encourage sponsors to invest in our community; and we encourage the members of our LGBTQ family at large to continue to support our efforts."

We look forward to seeing you at Seattle Black Pride 2007 July 19th-22nd.

Seattle Black Pride is a not-for-profit organization that organizes the annual Black Pride event in Seattle to commemorate and celebrate all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and groups. SBP welcomes participation of all, regardless of age, creed, gender, gender identification, HIV status, national origin, physical or mental developmental ability, race, religion or sexual orientation. For more information, sponsor sites, and SBP membership logon to: www.seattleblackpride.org.