Jay Inslee's announcement that Washington state will completely reopen by June 30, although some wish they would have had more definite information earlier for planning purposes and worry about future rollbacks. Others, though, were able to reopen or have plans to open soon, effectively extending Pride month festivities into July.īusiness owners are cautiously buoyed by Gov. Seattle’s queer bar scene has been precarious in recent years and 2020 struck the final blow to several long-standing LGBTQ haunts including Re-bar and R Place, which lost its lease and is still in search of a new location. According to a survey by the Washington Hospitality Association, 2,369 bars and restaurants across the state closed permanently over the first six months of the pandemic, 1,023 of those in King County alone. The last year was devastating for the hospitality industry statewide.

“It was awful, it was traumatic, but it was an opportunity to make change.” “Your life was ripped away from you,” she told the room.

After her number, she takes the mic and the mood shifts as she begins to address the reason we haven’t been able to enjoy a live show like this in so long. “I live for the applause, applause, applause” Lady Gaga confesses through pumping speakers as 7-foot-tall Dolly, née Derik Kleinhesselink, works the room in black stilettos and a pink wig.