Seattle’s LGBTQ community members say they hope that this Friday’s World Cup “Pride Match” between Egypt and Iran, two countries where homosexuality is criminalized, can be an opportunity to change minds.
Seattle, WA
Seattle Mariners Trade Targets: Rays who could address M's needs
As the first-place Seattle Mariners open a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday at Tropicana Field, they might get an up-close look at some potential trade targets.
Morosi: The familiar Mariners trade partner to keep an eye on
The Rays have struggled to a 38-40 record this season, which has them 13 games back in the American League East and four games out of the AL’s third and final wild card spot. According to FanGraphs, their playoff odds are just 16.8%. That puts them in position to be a potential seller at the trade deadline.
During an appearance on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Monday, 10 Tampa Bay sports director Evan Closky discussed the Rays’ status as a potential seller and mentioned some possible players the Mariners could target to bolster their roster.
“The probability of (the Rays) making the playoffs is still less than 18 percent, so putting that in the grand scheme of things, the Rays are a very smart front office and they understand that this is a seller’s market this season,” Closky said. “So I think it would behoove them to sell if the right deal presents itself. And considering that a lot of teams are going to be in the hunt, they might be able to get some guys for an overpriced amount and really build themselves for the next few seasons. I know the Rays would love a guy like (highly rated Mariners prospect) Harry Ford, because they need a catcher so badly.”
Potential Rays hitters to target
Closky mentioned 25-year-old third baseman Isaac Paredes as a great match for Seattle. Paredes, who is under club control through 2027, hit 31 home runs last season and is batting .280/.365/.459 with 11 homers and an .824 OPS in 73 games this season. He also has just a 16.6% strikeout rate, which ranks 19th out of 71 qualified hitters in the AL, according to FanGraphs. That could be of particular interest for the Mariners, who have an MLB-worst 27.3% strikeout rate.
“If the Mariners can figure out a way to get Isaac Paredes, I do think that that is a perfect guy for them to grab, because he’s somebody who doesn’t strike out often, makes contact, has power,” Closky said. “He does everything that this team lacks a little bit with the bats, considering half of the Seattle Mariners lineup is the three true outcomes of home run, walk, strikeout.”
Another possible target is 32-year-old first baseman Yandy Díaz, who hit a career-high .330 with 22 homers during an All-Star season last year. This season, he’s .271/.331/.384 with six homers and a .715 OPS in 77 games. He has an even lower strikeout rate than Paredes, ranking sixth among AL qualifying hitters at just 13.8%. Díaz is in the second season of a three-year, $24 million deal that includes a club option for 2026.
“I don’t think anybody’s necessarily like off the table,” Closky said. “Now, Yandy Diaz is an amazing player, someone who I’m sure they’re gonna want the next couple of seasons. He’s cheap in the grand scheme of things, but for a very revenue-focused team like the Tampa Bay Rays, that’s very important. … So (I’m) not saying that Yandy’s off the table, but you might have to overpay for him.”
Potential Rays relievers to target
The Mariners could also look to add an arm or two to their bullpen, which has been hampered by injuries this season. Closky said the two relievers the Rays would be most likely to trade are 33-year-old right-hander Shawn Armstrong and 31-year-old right-hander Phil Maton.
Armstrong is a 10-year MLB veteran who spent parts of the 2018 and 2019 seasons in Seattle. He has a 3.53 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in 35 2/3 innings this season, with 39 strikeouts and 13 walks.
Maton, who spent the past three seasons with the Houston Astros, is an eight-year MLB veteran who signed a one-year deal with Tampa Bay in February. He had a strong 2023 season in Houston, posting a 3.00 ERA and 1.12 WHIP with 74 strikeouts and 25 walks in 66 innings. However, he has struggled to a 5.28 ERA and 1.52 WHIP in 29 innings with the Rays this season.
“The two (relievers) that I think are probably gonna go by the deadline are Shawn Armstrong and Phil Maton, so if the Mariners wanted to work out a bigger deal with the Rays, I would imagine maybe those pieces get kicked in along with it,” Closky said. “They are some pieces in the bullpen who you throw into a bigger deal and sweeten the pot a little bit.”
Listen to the full conversation with 10 Tampa Bay sports director Evan Closky at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating a shooting that left a 17-year-old boy injured early Thursday morning in the High Point neighborhood.
At about 12:48 a.m., dispatchers received multiple reports of rapid gunfire near Sylvan Way Southwest and Southwest Morgan Street.
Officers arrived and found a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the hip area. Medics transported the teen to Harborview Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Before officers located the victim, they found a car that had crashed and become disabled near Sylvan Way Southwest and Delridge Way Southwest. Police said multiple suspects were seen running from the vehicle through a nearby Home Depot parking lot.
Officers cordoned off the area and searched for the suspects with assistance from the K-9 Unit, but were unable to locate them. Police recovered the vehicle and impounded it for processing.
During the incident, gunfire struck at least three vehicles and two buildings. No other injuries were reported.
Officers processed multiple nearby scenes and recovered evidence before clearing the area. Detectives with the Gun Violence Reduction Unit will lead the investigation.
Seattle, WA
Council eyes street barricades in fight against violence, sex trafficking in north Seattle
SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council is expected to vote next week on a plan that would give the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) the authority to close off street access for public safety reasons.
The proposal comes after months of outcry from residents in north Seattle who say sex traffickers and sex buyers are looping through the streets surrounding Aurora Avenue North.
The street-closure proposal passed the council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday and is expected to be voted on by the full council next week.
“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the crime has gotten much worse, much more violent, and much more predator,” said District 5 councilmember Debora Juarez. “I think that we do have the authority to shut down a street for bullets flying and endangering the lives of those who live there.”
Frustrated neighbors have installed their own homemade barricades after a spate of gun violence between sex traffickers in May.
RELATED | SDOT removes street barricades near Aurora Ave; neighbors doubtful of temporary measures
Councilmember Bob Kettle says street closures will help tamp down sex buying in certain areas, but he emphasizes it must be accompanied by an increase in outreach and enforcement.
“We have to have a sustained effort,” Kettle told KOMO News. “My concern is for every action, there’s a reaction. We need to take this flex and then really attack it … because if we do just a bit and our attention wanders, we could have this conversation three months from now and we’re talking about the same thing.”
A 15-year-old boy was shot near 95th Street and Aurora Avenue North around 10:45 p.m. last night. The teen initially claimed he had been shot while walking down the street, but investigators now say he was shot by a passenger in his car.
RELATED | Seattle police say ‘drive-by’ on Aurora Ave. was actually passenger shooting teen driver
Kettle credited the city’s Real Time Crime Center cameras with helping investigators quickly piece together the events of the shooting.
“Just as important to finding out what happened, the cameras help police determine what did not happen,” Kettle said.
According to Seattle police data, reports of shootings and shots fired in the north precinct area are at their lowest levels since 2021.
Through the end of May, there were 48 total reports of shootings or shots fired, with one fatal shooting and seven nonfatal injury shootings.
That’s down from 63 total reports of shootings and shots fired – one fatal and seven injuries – in 2025; and 64 shootings or shots fired reports – one fatal and 17 injuries – in 2024.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, councilmembers pointed out residents are calling for a new police precinct to be built on Aurora Avenue.
Ten years ago, a new North Precinct building was slated to be built at 130th Avenue and Aurora Avenue North to replace the existing precinct building, which was decades old and did not have enough space for the department’s needs.
Led by former councilmember Kshama Sawant, the “Block the Bunker” movement successfully got the North Precinct replacement project killed in city council.
Kettle said the city’s current financial issues make it essentially impossible to bring back a project similar to the one the previous council defeated.
“We have to connect the dots back,” Kettle said. “If we want to know why we are where we are today, we have to look at decisions made over the last two councils.”
Seattle, WA
Iran and Egypt to play in Seattle ‘Pride Match’ despite earlier complaints | The Jerusalem Post
Seattle revels in its reputation as a welcoming place and Pride flags are visible all over the city, all year round. Its June Pride weekend is one of the biggest in the United States.
So, ahead of December’s World Cup draw, it was only natural that local organizers designated the June 26 match to be held in the city as a “Pride Match.”
Then the draw happened — and the two teams scheduled to play the game were Egypt and Iran.
Egypt’s Football Association urged global soccer governing body FIFA to prevent any Pride-related activities, arguing such events clashed with the Muslim-majority country’s cultural and religious values. The governing body in Iran, where same-sex relations can carry the death penalty, filed an objection with FIFA.
Some in Seattle have doubts over the teams in the ‘Pride Match’
But in Seattle, there is no question that the Pride Match will go ahead as planned.
“The World Cup is going to come and go in three weeks,” Hedda McLendon, from Seattle’s local World Cup organizing committee, told Reuters. “The Pride celebration … has happened on this weekend for 50-plus years.
“It is going to happen this weekend, it is going to happen long after the World Cup.”
Some in the city’s LGBTQ community had mixed feelings given the participants, said Jon Cairns, 49, manager of local LGBTQ+ club Kremwerk.
Cairns, however, said his own view was that it provided a platform to promote acceptance that only the world’s biggest sporting event could offer.
“My reaction is let’s have them,” he told Reuters. “International sports is one of the biggest brokers historically of social change and individual rights and freedoms worldwide, including in the U.S.”
He cited black U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens’ four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany and Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ raised-fist protest in 1968 as moments where “only international sports could reach that big of an audience.”
“They’re not going to turn off the World Cup on state television in Iran or Egypt to block out a Pride flag in the audience,” Cairns said.
The Pride Match is “a host city initiative” and separate of FIFA, a spokesperson for soccer’s governing body told Reuters.
Seattle’s LGBTQ community sees an opportunity
Egypt and Iran’s involvement in the Pride Match is not the first time the World Cup has grappled with stark differences in attitudes between hosts and visitors.
In 2022 World Cup host Qatar, the emir said visitors should “respect our culture” when asked about gay people attending the tournament.
FIFA threatened yellow cards for captains wearing the “OneLove” armband, citing its rules against political slogans. Teams including England and the Netherlands that had been planning to wear the armbands to protest Qatar’s laws against same-sex relationships abandoned the plan.
For Ryan Webster, a 40-year-old lifestyle manager who was at Kremwerk the weekend before Pride, Seattle’s “Pride Match” was an opportunity to show solidarity with people in countries where their sexuality was outlawed.
“I’m choosing to believe that this is our moment to allow the members of the LGBTQ community that come from those countries to have the opportunity to celebrate themselves in totality that they might not have otherwise,” he said outside the club, which will host a watch party for Friday’s game.
Inside, ‘Venus Fengz’ lip-synced to Cher’s “Believe” before introducing fellow drag performers to the stage, clapped and cheered by a raucous crowd.
Fengz, who only wanted to provide their stage name, said Pride coinciding with the World Cup would bring increased visibility, anticipating perhaps some new audience members.
“I think it’s always great for us to be able to share space and share places with people who don’t have the same experiences as us,” they told Reuters.
“Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person and show grace where you can and know that everyone is a human learning (from) different experiences, but also it can get hard — because you’re on the shorter end of the stick, always trying to have to explain yourself around people who don’t grow up with the same worldview.”
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