Daily digest: Pride feels urgent this year 🏳️‍🌈 + Spokane police nab phones & celebrating Indigenous history

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In Seattle, Pride feels more urgent this year 🏳️‍🌈

For Cascade PBS News, I wrote about the fear and empowerment queer folks in Seattle are feeling during Pride this year. The celebration of LGBTQ+ identity has always been both a protest and a party, and this year feels more urgent, especially for trans folks.

“I am feeling fearful but empowered. I’m feeling hopeful but also down. So I guess you could say: I’m existing.” --DeAunt’e Damper, LGBTQ+ chair of the Seattle chapter of the NAACP

The Tyee reports on how Pride celebrations in small towns in British Columbia are critical in offering hope and pushing back against hate. Meanwhile, the Oregon legislature passed a resolution in support of Black drag performers, which included a performance on the House floor. Most members of the Republican party didn't show up, because they hate it when people different from them have some harmless fun.

The US started an unconstitutional war.

The president who promised to end forever wars in the Middle East dropped some massive bombs on Iran without Congressional approval and sent the US into yet another costly war in the region. People in Oregon and Seattle rallied to say no to war with Iran.

Spokane police still have protester's phones

After protests against ICE over a week ago in Spokane, Spokan Police confiscated the phones of some 40 protesters, and some people still haven't received them back, RANGE Media reports. I've written in the past for the American Bar Association about how courts have ruled that cops can't search phones without a warrant, so they'd better give those back soon. In related news, the Oregon House passed a bill limiting the US president's ability to deploy the Oregon National Guard as it has in reaction to protests against ICE.

Nanaimo talks about limits on invasive species

The city of Nanaimo, BC is debating legislation that would limit the sale of certain invasive species – such as English ivy – which are threatening native plants and habitats across Cascadia. Wondering what species to avoid planting? Epic Gardening has a great feature on 28 Invasive Plants to Avoid in the Pacific Northwest.

Celebrating Indigenous History Month with Films

The Tyee has a great collection of documentaries and other films about issues important to First Nations in a celebration of Canada's Indigenous History Month. In related news, the Seattle Times has a great feature on the rush to preserve ancient Indigenous village sites and shell middens on Puget Sound as climate change and sea level rise threaten to inundate them.

--Andrew Engelson