More than 2,000 people have signed onto
a petition asking Seattle's Space Needle to fly a rainbow flag to
celebrate Gay Pride this June.
The Space Needle flew a giant Gay Pride
flag for the first time last year.
“[We] are not flying the flag this
year,” Space Needle spokeswoman Mary Bacarella said in a statement
on Friday.
The organization went on to suggest its
nothing personal: “We don't make a habit of flying flags on top of
the Space Needle and we make an effort not to fly any flags on a
recurring basis.”
Bacarella added that last year's flag
has been given to Seattle Out & Proud, which will be marching
with it in this year's Gay Pride parade, and added that the Space
Needle was working on “a major fundraiser to benefit the LGBT
community” in collaboration with Seattle Out & Proud.
“Seattle has the country's 2nd
largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community,”
the
Change.org petition reads. “When the Space Needle raised the
Pride flag they made the LGBT community feel truly welcome in their
home city. Not only did residents celebrate the Pride flag on the
needle, but people rejoiced from around the world as news broke about
the Space Needle's strong support for LGBT people. The message was
clear: Seattle is a welcoming city for all.”
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
ran photos of 10 previous flags the Space Needle has flown, including
one celebrating the release of Microsoft's Windows XP operating
system.