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
What Seattle Seahawks GM said about team's O-line plans
The Seattle Seahawks have been one of the most active teams in free agency this year.
Key Seahawks player may miss start of 2025, GM says
But much to frustration of Seahawks fans, those moves haven’t done much to address the team’s glaring needs along the interior offensive line.
Seattle’s lone O-line signing has been former Baltimore Ravens backup tackle/guard Josh Jones, who projects more as a depth piece than a potential full-time starter.
And in the meantime, the interior O-line market has thinned dramatically since the free agent negotiating period began on March 10. According to NFL.com, each of the top eight free agent interior offensive linemen have signed elsewhere.
During his weekly appearance Thursday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob, Seahawks general manager John Schneider was asked a handful of questions about the O-line. Here are a few highlights from what he said.
A patient approach
Schneider said the Seahawks are continuing to bring in offensive linemen for free-agent visits.
Earlier this week, guards Teven Jenkins, Dillon Radunz and Lucas Patrick each reportedly met with Seattle. Jenkins has since signed with the Cleveland Browns.
“We had probably five guys in (for visits) this week,” Schneider said. “We’ll have another guy in this weekend. (We’ll) have the (doctors) spend time with them, keep negotiating with the agent and have the coaches spending a bunch of time with them and seeing if it’s a true fit.”
However, Schneider said it’s difficult to find surefire O-line starters at this stage of the free agency cycle.
“You can’t just throw money at marginal play,” Schneider said. “We want to be a championship team. We don’t want to be an average team. And so we can sign guys that can fill a specific role, but it’s not at a point right now where you’re gonna go sign a guy that’s for sure going to be your starting left guard or right guard. That’s just what it is. I wish I could tell you different.”
Schneider also touched on the Seahawks not signing a top free agent lineman during last week’s initial free agency surge.
According to ESPN’s Brady Henderson, Schneider confirmed to reporters last week that Seattle pursued highly touted guard Will Fries in free agency. Schneider said the Seahawks wanted to bring in Fries for a physical after the former Indianapolis Colts guard suffered a season-ending broken tibia this past October.
However, teams weren’t allowed to conduct physicals on free agents until the new league year began on March 12. Fries ended up signing a massive deal with the Minnesota Vikings on March 11.
“Those first three days (of free agency), it provides a lot of opportunity for risk and error because you’re not able to … (bring in players) on visits,” Schneider told Wyman and Bob.
“(On visits), they can sit down with the coaches and we can have our doctors evaluate them, see where they’re at in their career, what their durability grade would be, what a final medical exam would be, how they’re interacting with the coaches, how are they treating the staff. … Those interactions are really important.”
In-house ‘upside’ and the draft
Schneider also continued to express confidence in Seattle’s young group of interior offensive linemen, which includes center Olu Oluwatimi and guards Anthony Bradford, Christian Haynes and Sataoa Lamuea.
Oluwatimi and Bradford were 2023 draft picks, while Haynes and Laumea were 2024 draft picks. Bradford made 11 starts at right guard last season before suffering an ankle injury. He was replaced by Laumea, who started the final six games. Oluwatimi made eight starts at center after Connor Williams’ abrupt midseason retirement.
Schneider said he thinks that young group of linemen can benefit from a more balanced offense, which is what the Seahawks are expected to have this season under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
“When you’re throwing the heck out of the ball, it’s pretty hard to gain confidence when you’re not running off the ball,” Schneider said. “And that’s what happened with the young group of guys last year, quite frankly. We were throwing the crud out of it (and) we didn’t really establish the running game. You gain confidence when you come off the ball and you can block your guy, instead of being on your heels all the time.”
Schneider said it’s encouraging that Kubiak, new offensive line coach John Benton and incoming run game coordinator/senior offensive advisor Rick Dennison were excited to work with Seattle’s young linemen.
Schneider also pointed to this year’s draft class, which is widely regarded to feature a strong crop of offensive linemen. According to ESPN, 16 of the top 100 draft prospects are offensive linemen – including six interior linemen. The Seahawks have 10 draft picks, including five in the top 92.
“The draft is strong. It feels like a really nice group,” Schneider said. “And we like the guys we drafted last year – the younger guys that we have in that room. And our coaches were excited to come here and work with those guys as well. (They) saw an upside in them.”
The John Schneider Show airs on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob each Thursday at 4 p.m. leading up to the first round of the NFL Draft on April 24. Hear this week’s edition in the podcast at this link or in the audio player near the top of this post.
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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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