WE BELIEVE IN EQUALITY FOR ALL

Our Vision

Our Vision

A safe, informed, and welcoming queer community representative of the diverse Eastside population.

Our Mission

PAB provides resources, offers advocacy opportunities, and curates art and culture-focused events that are aligned with and accountable to the needs of our diverse Eastside queer community. We do this to build connections and foster safety, so 2SLGBTQIA+ people are empowered, included, and represented close to home.

Our Values

Advocacy & Justice:

We do not hesitate to advocate for our community needs — clearly, compassionately, and unapologetically with policymakers, city leaders, and institutions.

What this means to us:
This means speaking out for those who may not yet have the power, platform, or safety to speak for themselves. It’s about collective liberation — honoring and acting on the shared wisdom of those who’ve come before us, including our elders, movement leaders, and community organizers. We actively listen to and respect the lived experiences of the marginalized communities we serve and honor the labor it takes to share those stories. Justice also means holding leaders accountable to the people and communities they claim to serve.

We live this by:
Engaging with power holders — policymakers, city leaders, and institutions — to amplify community needs. Our partnerships are rooted in more than just our own work; we advocate through an intersectional lens that honors all of our layered identities and collective struggles. We pay attention to where support is lacking, and we focus our energy on closing those gaps, especially for those most impacted by inequities.

Accessibility & Dignity:

Every event and resource is planned with care for those who are too often left out.

What this means to us:
We believe that everyone deserves access — to resources, spaces, joy, and community — with dignity and without barriers. Accessibility is expansive: physical, financial, sensory, cultural, linguistic, and geographical. It also means that no one should have to explain or justify themselves in order to belong or receive accommodations. Dignity means being seen as worthy from the start. We lead with empathy, holding space for people’s varied experiences, needs, and the ways they move through the world.

We live this by:
Making intentional choices to ensure our spaces are truly accessible — from ADA-compliant venues to translated materials, and sliding scale ticketing. We create connective spaces and clearly communicate when events may not be sober, youth-friendly or neurodivergent-accessible. We prioritize comfort, inclusion, and flexibility, creating sensory-friendly and low-social-pressure environments.

Community-Minded:

Everyone should feel a sense of ownership and belonging in our organization, with room to help shape the work we do.

What this means to us:
To be community-minded means recognizing that the people we serve are the experts. Our work is co-created — by the community, for the community — with awareness of how national, state, and local realities directly impact our day-to-day lives here on the Eastside. Everyone should feel a sense of ownership and belonging in our organization, with room to help shape the work we do. This also means being culturally competent, understanding people’s fears, hopes, histories, and needs with both humility and respect.

We live this by:
Staying deeply connected to our community’s pulse by gathering feedback, listening openly, and responding quickly to emerging needs. We offer a wide variety of events — from joyful celebrations to quiet gatherings — that reflect our community’s full range of identities, ages, abilities, and cultures. When our community speaks, we act. We build spaces that are direct responses to what our people tell us they need, not assumptions.

Integrity & Transparency:

We take the time to answer questions, communicate our process, and share where individual donations go — because trust is earned.

What this means to us:
It means aligning our words, actions, and values — even when it’s hard. We show up honestly and take ownership of our active learning, being brave enough to have difficult conversations when needed. Transparency isn’t just a policy; it’s a daily practice. We strive to listen more than we speak, to hold space for discomfort, and to remain accountable to our community in both quiet moments and public commitments.

We live this by:
Offering open office hours to connect directly with our leadership, and we seek feedback through annual and event-specific surveys. We maintain clear and accessible grievance policies that center on those most impacted and create safety in speaking up. We take the time to answer questions, communicate our process, and share where individual donations go — because trust is earned, and we honor every gift of time, energy, or money we receive.

Uplifting & Affirming:

We affirm people by modeling authenticity, welcoming people as they are, and reminding them that their full selves are welcome here.

What this means to us:
Queer joy is a radical act — and we make space for it unapologetically. We believe people should be able to show up fully, authentically, and with celebration. Whether it’s a personal win or a community victory we pause to uplift it. Our spaces are grounded in the belief that our community deserves more than survival — we deserve to thrive, to be seen, and to celebrate together.

We live this by:
Creating spaces that foster play, creativity, and joy — even when our work is rooted in serious realities. Whether the moment is tender or celebratory, we lead from a place of light and hope. We affirm people by modeling authenticity, welcoming people as they are, and reminding them that their full selves are welcome here. Our joy is part of our resistance — and we make room for it.

Adaptable & Sustainable:

Sustainability doesn’t mean staying the same, it means growing wisely, we evolve by listening to our community.

What this means to us:
Sustainability doesn’t mean staying the same — it means growing wisely. We evolve by listening to our community, adapting to new information, and being open to doing things differently. We are committed to consistency and reliability, working towards sharing collective responsibility throughout our community. We believe in delegation, celebrating strengths, and setting healthy boundaries that allow us — and our work — to be sustained over time.

We live this by:
Growing through partnerships, working alongside local government, organizations, and businesses to build shared solutions. We remain flexible and responsive, always willing to reassess and create new pathways. We work towards distributing work in a way that respects people’s capacities and builds excitement. As a grassroots organization, we stay close to our values and nimble in our actions — a strong pillar of support that knows how to shift when needed.

WE STAND WITH BLACK LIVES

PAB is committed to learning and taking actions to continue to become anti-racist. These countless murders of souls like Tyre Nichols, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade and Dijon Kizzee are inexcusable and preventable. We stand with Black lives, experiences, values, and groups that help BIPOC and demand accountability in our biased and violent system.

Donate to support our local Lavender Rights Project, a low-to-no cost legal advocacy group for Black gender diverse people. Along with their housing and legal support, they have an invaluable Gender-Based Violence Prevention Program.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

PAB acknowledges that the work being done on what we call the Eastside is and has always been the unceded ancestral lands and waters of the past and present Duwamish *dxʷdəwʔabš, Snoqualmie *s·dukʷalbixʷ, Stillaguamish *stuləgʷábš and Tulalip *dxʷlilap peoples. Gender fluid and gender diverse people have existed in Indigenous communities since time immemorial, until white colonizers brought concepts of gender binary and limited sexuality, bringing along subsequent oppression through violence. We stand in solidarity and honor the first peoples who still occupy and safeguard these lands. As Guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. PAB is committed to transparent actions as individuals and as a group to celebrate, respect, and elevate the voices, experiences and histories of Native peoples as we advocate and take action working towards the liberation of all people existing beyond the confines of the ongoing damages of colonialism.

This Land Acknowledgement is one small step in the vast amount of work needed to improve our support and allyship with Indigenous communities in their home and beyond. Please connect, learn and support the Native tribes whose land we live and work on. PAB pays Real Rent to the Duwamish Tribe, and communicates with 2 Spirit community members to learn, listen and take action to elevate the needs shared by these Tribes.
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Duwamish Tribe : The Duwamish have yet to be justly compensated for their land, resources and livelihoods. Consider becoming a Real Renter, where you can show your solidarity with those who are still continuing to honor and bring light to their ancient heritage.

Snoqualmie Tribe : Learn about the Ancestral Lands Movement and see how you can stand in solidarity with our land owner, and help the land and it’s people take care of this sacred space, which has been negatively impacted by increased recreation. Take the pledge.

Stillaguamish Tribe : Learn about the history of the People of the River and the native lands that they continue to care for and preserve.

Tulalip Tribe : Consider supporting the Tulalip Foundation, which helps survivors of domestic violence, supports projects and programs that assist community members in gaining access to the tribal judicial system, succeed in education, as well as enhance and restore the cultures and traditions of Tulalip Tribes.

*These spellings are in the Native American language of Lushootseed.
Find out whose land you’re on.

WE LEAD WITH 2S FOR A REASON

At Pride Across the Bridge, we intentionally utilize the acronym 2SLGBTQIA+, placing Two-Spirit (2S) at the front. This choice is about recognition, respect, and actively interrupting patterns of erasure.

Two-Spirit people have existed long before colonization introduced the language many of us now use to describe gender identity and sexuality. Two-Spirit is not interchangeable with LGBTQ+ identities; it is a culturally specific identity held by Indigenous peoples across North America, where Two-Spirit people have long held respected roles as healers, leaders, caretakers, and visionaries within their communities. These identities were honored across many Indigenous nations prior to colonization, which sought to erase them through violence, assimilation, and the enforcement of rigid, binary systems.

The souls of our Indigenous Two-Spirit neighbors are a core part of our history. The erasure of Indigenous people, and specifically Two-Spirit people, continues today, including within queer spaces.

Too often, Two-Spirit people are folded into the “Q” or the “+,” often due to lack of awareness or education, and treated like an afterthought instead of being recognized for the sacred beings that they are. While the acronym LGBTQIA+ is meant to be expansive, it can also unintentionally flatten identities that deserve to be named and understood on their own terms. When 2S is not included, or is placed at the end, PAB believes it reinforces the same patterns of erasure through invisibility of Two-Spirit historical significance.

Two-Spirit people are foundational, they have always been here, and that their presence, leadership, and experiences come with a history that deserves recognition and respect.

As a community organization serving the Eastside, we recognize that we are operating on Indigenous land, and that our work exists within a broader history that has not treated Indigenous communities with dignity or respect. Naming 2S, and deepening the understanding our communities have of their Indigenous neighbors are one of the ways we push back against that harm.

We know that language alone is not enough. This choice must be paired with action: building relationships, creating space for Indigenous voices, supporting Indigenous-led work, and continuing to learn. But language is a starting point, and it shapes how we think, who we center, and what we prioritize.

COLLECTIVE CARING

Pride Across the Bridge (PAB) creates spaces rooted in care, connection, and accountability. These spaces are shaped by all of us, our team, our volunteers, and our community. We ask everyone who joins us to show up with care for the people around them, recognizing the incredible diversity of lived experiences that come into PAB spaces. This means practicing consent, being mindful of how we take up space, and contributing to an environment where people are respected, supported, and empowered.

We recognize that not everyone experiences space the same way. We are intentional about centering those who are most often pushed out, especially our trans, nonbinary, BIPOC, disabled, immigrant, youth, and elder community members. This awareness guides how we build and hold our spaces.

PAB takes all forms of mistreatment, harassment, microaggressions, discrimination, ADA concerns, and other misconduct seriously. If something doesn’t feel right, you are free to directly address the person, or you can also reach out to the board of directors at PAB directly or through our anonymous grievance form. We are here to listen, support you, and work toward a resolution with care and respect for everyone involved.

We are committed to listening, learning, and adapting based on community feedback and lived experiences. When something doesn’t feel right, we take it seriously and work towards accountability. The history that we are building on the Eastside is something we are building together. Care, communication, and accountability are shared responsibilities, and each of us plays a role in shaping what this space feels like.

We are always working toward spaces that feel more accessible, more affirming, and more grounded in belonging, and we are committed to doing that work alongside our community.