Seattle paper PI reports that Seattle Out and Proud, organizers of the city's Gay Pride celebration, have decided against holding this year's festivities in the usual downtown digs, stating that hosting a big ol' gay extravaganza wouldn't be "financially prudent" at the present time. (And you know things ain't right when people start talking like that about Gay Pride!)

The problems this group has are internal problems," said George Bakan, Editor of The Seattle Gay News. "They need to sit down and solve them before they take on any events."

With a reported debt of $100,000 still unpaid from Gay Pride 2006, Seattle Out and Proud reportedly "would have to pay $50,000 of its debt immediately, then pay back $25,000 each year for two years."

And you can forget about any drink tickets this year, boys...

Gay Pride Parade Out of Downtown, Seattle Center This Year [SeattlePI]

Jorge Soto Vega may feel safer in the United States, but that doesn't mean he is safer. Consider this: two men have been sentenced to prison for two separate gay murders. The first concerns a Seattle business man named Kevin Shaw. A judge has ruled that 24-year old Michael Maiava did, in fact, murder Shaw and should be imprisoned for 48-years. In her ruling, Judge Theresa Doyle said:

The crime here was an unprovoked, cruel, completely in this court's opinion, senseless murder of a man who by all accounts was really a lovely person.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, Jason Fiske has been sentenced to 22-years behind bars for his role in the 2005 killing of another gay Kevin: Kevin Hale. It seems Fiske and his friend Adam Hernandez met Hale at a bar and took offense to Hale's homo-advances. Naturally they had to defend their hetero-honor by taking Hale to a park and strangling him.

Hernandez pleaded guilty to manslaughter and theft last year and got thrown in the slammer for eight years. For his part, Fiske copped a deal and pleaded guilty to manslaughter, for which he got twelve years - the extra ten come from a robbery charge.

And people wonder why we don't leave our homes...

In the next few weeks we’re going to ask you to say hello to our new interns. First up is Lance. Lance lives in Seattle and brings another West Coast perspective to the site. He’ll be writing, reporting, and searching for stories. Since he is 3,000 miles away from Queerty headquarters he’ll sadly miss traditional intern responsibilities like getting us coffee or cleaning the windows. Rather than listen to us, we’ll let Lance describe himself:

“My name is Lance. I work for a corporation; one of those huge nationwide corporations where you have an employee id number and use words like "metrics" and "collaborate" at least five times daily. I'm also a really gay black man. I'm 23 years old and entering my last quarter at the University of Washington where I'm completing my degree in Sociology. Working for the corporation sort of just happened to me—a means to and end to support my gay lifestyle while getting my degree. Who else is going to pay for my Prada man bag? Yet, it's been a really great experience in the big scheme of things and has fueled my passion for writing. Having lived in Mississippi , southern Germany, and now in Seattle with my gay black self, I've cultivated somewhat of a unique perspective and have a couple things on my mind for sharing. I love my gays and I'm passionate about issues that affect us. And I do mean all issues; from ensuring that none of us have unibrows to ensuring that we have equal rights. They're both equally important, right? Plus, I'm a pop culture fanatic. Reading blogs is my religion. Ultimately, I'd like a writing career that could combine the two: my love for those things sociological in scope coupled with my desire to read every article in the world having to do with Jake Gyllenhaal and his new ‘it’ dog.”

If you’re a Seattle-based musical act, shop, theater, promoter, whatever, then Lance is your man. His email is lance@queerty.com

Say hello, send him ideas, and welcome him aboard.

• A new survey lets the cat out of the bag over homo TV habits. Gay men are all aflutter over A&E and Bravo and dykes love their HBO and ESPN.

• Matthew Shepard's mom is speaking at a college in Montana and the entire campus is all worked up. But these party poopers are celebrating with protests and bomb threats. Welcome to Unabomber country.

• Still no lessons learned from Matt's senseless murder. Another homophobic attack left a London man dead this past weekend.

• A gay editor at the Village Voice (redundant, we know) is suing the publication for sexual harassment. The man alleges lewd jokes were made involving "gay men, lesbians, a Vietnamese worker, and a pregnant employee." Wait. Now we need to know the first part of the joke. We think it might be "A Vietnamese worker, a pregnant employee, and a lesbian walk into a bar to bitch slap a completely humorless gay editor?" Hysterical.

• Andy Towle has some shots from GQ of lusty teen NHLer Sidney Crosby. We like what we see. Drool over him now before he ends the season bruised and toothless.

• Happy birthday to our celluloid-loving faggy brothers and sisters in Seattle. The city's gay and lesbian film festival is 10 years old but thanks to makeup and good lighting doesn't look a day over 5.

Marc Jacobs may heart Lil’ Kim, but we heart Ian. No, no Ian is not our new boyfriend. He is not the lead singer of our new favorite band. Ian is a store and it is basically, fierce.

Seattle has always been home to unique style and a thriving arts culture. Anyone remember grunge? It is also home to one of our favorite boutiques. The shop carries designers as diverse as Nice Collective, G Star, Martin Margiela, and DSquared2, brands you won’t find in Macy’s.

Fodor’s says, “Ian is a fabulous place to shop if you're a trendy young man or woman with a healthy bank account.” Best bet is to check in often and look for sales. Our last trip to Seattle we got some great deals that did not break the bank.