History of the LGBTQ community in Seattle

Recorded history of the LGBTQ community in Seattle begins with the Washington Sodomy Law of 1893. In the 1920s and 1930s there were several establishments in Seattle which were open to homosexuals. The Double Header, opened in 1934, may have been the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States until it closed in December 2015. On 19 November 1958, an injunction instructed the city police not to question customers of gay bars unless there was a "good cause" in connection with an actual investigation. In the 1960s, Seattle came to be seen as providing an accepting environment, and an increasing number of gay and lesbians were drawn to the city. In 1967 University of Washington's Professor Nick Heer founded the Dorian Society, the first group in Seattle to support LGBTQ rights.

Seattle's LGBTQ community is the second largest in the United States after San Francisco with 12.9% of the city identifying as LGBTQ. The Capitol Hill neighborhood in particular is considered by many the "center of gay life" in Seattle, with gay-friendly businesses and nightlife, and a resource center.

Post-Statehood

The Washington Territory was admitted into statehood by the United States as Washington State on November 11, 1889,^[1] bringing Seattle with it.

The Washington Sodomy Law was adopted in 1893, and in the same year, a King County court sentenced Charles Wesley to seven years at hard labor for "intent to know" Eddie Kalberg, "a male person".^[2]

Bars, cabarets, clubs, and dancefloors

In the 1920s and 1930s, early establishments open to homosexuals were concentrated in areas of ill repute. Pioneer Square, also known as "Skid Road" or "Fairyville," with its bars, clubs, and cabarets probably was the center of early public gay life in Seattle. The Casino, opened in 1930 on the corner of Washington Street and 2nd Avenue, was known as "the only place on the West Coast that was open and free for gay people", and where same-sex dancing was allowed. The Double Header above The Casino, opened in 1934, was possibly the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States until it closed at the end of December 2015. The Spinning Wheel on Union Street and 2nd Avenue, was a cabaret featuring female impersonators. Both were open to both gay and straight clientele during the 1930s. The Greyhound bus depot, Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the restrooms in the University Plaza Hotel and at the University of Washington were also known as meeting spots for gay men.^[3]

The Garden of Allah was the most popular homosexual Seattle cabaret in the 1940s and 1950s. Regular vaudeville and drag shows were held there with singers dressed in drag. It was a hotspot in the post war period with service-persons, but in the 1960s the military made most gay establishments in Seattle off-limits. In the 1960s and 1970s new gay Seattle hotspots such as the Mocambo,^[4] the Golden Horseshoe and the Golden Crown opened. In the 1970s vaudeville had changed and Seattle began the trend of courts, public drag clubs "with 'emperors' and 'empresses' where "lip –synching would remove the need for singing talent and open the way to any man who could dance, quip, or even just costume. Performances would change, with ever-more flamboyant costuming, more energetic and choreographed dancing and even laser shows."^[5]

In the 1950s and 1960s, Seattle's dance clubs served as important points for the gay community to meet and strategize, which according to Gary Atkins, author of Gay Seattle. Stories of Exile and Belonging, may be likened to the African-Americans who used churches to organize during the civil rights movement.

During the 1950s, when anti-sodomy laws were still in effect in the United States, gay bars, clubs and bathhouses became scrutinized. Owners of such establishments would frequently bribe law enforcement to ensure their survival as well as prevent harassment of their mostly gay clientele and escape legal consequences themselves. Seattle city officials believed that the city was not doing enough to enforce laws discriminating against homosexuality and feared that eventually it would be as openly acceptable as in cities such as San Francisco. As a result of the political upheaval regarding Seattle gay bars, the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board sent fourteen gay establishments letters threatening to bar them from military personnel. In 1966, the Seattle police chief suggested restrictions on gay bars such as withholding their liquor licenses.

The Dorian Society

In 1965 a group of openly gay men were contacted by Rev. Mineo Katagiri to talk with religious leaders in the city. The first radio interview with openly gay men was broadcast on KRAB radio by members of that group. The Dorian Society was formed in 1967. The book Gay Seattle goes into detail about this group.

The Dorian Society founded in 1967 by Nick Heer, a professor at the University of Washington was the first group in Seattle to publicly support gay rights and which published a newsletter about current issues and events in the gay community. The name was a reference to the Doric Hellenic warriors of Ancient Greece who considered homosexuality glamorous and the society was modelled on New Zealand's Dorian Society. Their mission was to create a more respectable image of the Seattle homosexual. They also wanted the reform the Seattle sodomy laws. In response to their efforts a Seattle Times headline stated on September 21, 1966, Tolerant Reputation: Seattle homosexual problem reported to be 'out of hand.' This article stated the Seattle police wanted to suppress the LBGT community, partially by removing liquor licenses at gay bars. In May 1967 The Daily of the University of Washington did a series on the gay community, which for the first time represented the community in a more positive light. Much of this positivity had to with the vigilant PR and work of the Dorian Society.

Post-Stonewall

The Stonewall riots on June 28, 1969 sparked the Gay Liberation movement at a national scale.^[6] At this time the Seattle LGBTQ community advocated collectively^[7] for public acceptance and equal rights,^[8] aligning with national trends at the time. Local organizations formed around this time, including a chapter of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Women's Alliance.^[9]

Singer v. Hara

On September 20, 1971, John Singer, later known as Faygele ben Miriam, and fellow activist Paul Barwick applied for a marriage license at the King County Administration Building in Seattle,^[10] not being keen on actually getting married but wanting "to make a point about having the same rights as heterosexuals."^[11] Their request was refused by then-county auditor (later County Assessor) Lloyd Hara. They were among the first same-sex couples in the United States to apply for a marriage license, causing a flurry of media coverage and leading to a lawsuit,^[12] Singer v. Hara, which ended in 1974 with a unanimous rejection by the Washington State Court of Appeals.^[13]

Pride Week

Main article: Seattle Pride

From June 24 to June 30, 1974, Seattle's lesbians and gays celebrated the city's first Gay Pride Week. It was the first event in the region in which the gay community as a whole came out of its collective closet. On June 28, 1974, the Gay Community Center at 1726 16th Avenue E held a grand opening. On June 29, 1974, a Saturday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that about 200 attended a picnic at Occidental Park in Pioneer Square. Entertainment included music and a "Gayrilla theater." Banners from the stage read "Proud to be lesbian, Proud to be gay." In the afternoon, activities moved to Volunteer Park and included roller-skating and a sing along at the top of the Volunteer Park Water Tower. That evening, a street dance was held in Occidental Park that featured music by Blue Moon and Sue Isaacs. On June 30, 1974, Gay Pride Week concluded with a "Gay-In" at the Seattle Center that featured "zany dress, general frivolity, carousing and a circle dance around the main International fountain."

In 1995, A new transgender rights organization called The T People created the first Transgender Pride party and demonstration in Seattle. Slogan: "MAXIMUM FUN & MAXIMUM FREEDOM for people of all genders or no gender at all." Individual volunteers secured permits, assembled local Trans political speakers and performers of music, poetry, and standup comedy. The MC, wearing a black fishnet bare midriff top and leather motorcycle jacket ripped the current edition of alternative newspaper The Stranger in half, deriding the cover story which provocatively asked if the Queer identity had, with social improvement, become obsolete. The gathering of about 200 people took place on a rainy June day across the street from Seattle Central Community College on Broadway, atop the Capitol Hill neighborhood. This event distinguished itself with an explicit anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and eco-feminist political call to action. An accompanying essay titled "Shades of Gray & Sunlight" ran in the official Pride guide.

Since 2011, Seattle Gay Pride Parade and Festival has drawn more than 350,000 people annually.^[14]

HIV/AIDS epidemic

In the beginning of the AIDS epidemic there was a lot of denial that Seattle would get hit by the AIDS virus^{[citation needed]}, but the community quickly organized. Many activist say now that Seattle's gay community has one of the strongest HIV/AIDS networks.^{[citation needed]}

The first person to publicly be diagnosed with AIDS in Seattle was James Flanigan.^[15][16] This diagnosis became somewhat of a wake up call for the rest of the gay community. In October 1983 men were writing the Seattle Gay News telling the community to wake up and start to protect themselves.^{[citation needed]}

As the AIDS crisis grew, many organizations formed in Seattle to fight the disease, care for AIDS patients, raise money for medical research, and protest the stigmas and lack of government intervention. In 1983 and 1984 the Chicken Soup Brigade was created by Josh Joshua. Chicken Soup became the backbone of the gay community with groups of volunteers cooking and caring for those who were ill with HIV. In 1983 (possibly 1982) the Northwest AIDS Foundation was founded to help the local community deal with the epidemic.^[17] By 1986 they had offices open at 619 3rd Avenue. The Northwest AIDS Foundation raised money for those living with AIDS, helped people claim federal disability benefits like SSI and SSDI, and ran safe-sex education campaigns for gay men, including Seattle's first ever safe-sex campaign: "Rules of the Road".^[17] In 1987 Lifelong AIDS Alliance created the "Jars in Bars" program that allows community volunteers to engage in education outreach regarding AIDS and enables patrons of Capitol Hill bars to donate to their cause. After the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in October 1987, Seattle formed a chapter of ACT UP. Seattle's ACT UP chapter organized protests and worked to fund AIDS care and research.^[18]

Seattle's most major HIV focused organization is likely Lifelong AIDS Alliance. Lifelong is a non-profit organization which provides services for people living with AIDS, and is simultaneously active in the LGBT community by holding support groups and awareness events such as Gay Bingo.^[19] Lifelong has merged with a number of non-profit organizations during its lifetime, including the Northwest AIDS Foundation, the Chicken Soup Brigade, and Evergreen Wellness Advocates.^[17]

Shanti/Seattle was created to train volunteers to understand the emotional stages of HIV/AIDS. Another key organization is the Dunshee House, which was originally born from the Dorian Society. Dunshee House organizes all levels and types of support groups for HIV seropositive people.

While many Seattle organizations providing AIDS support were grassroots community movements, some were operated by large health institutions. The Madison Clinic was opened in 1985 by the publicly-owned Harborview Medical Center on First Hill. It was "one of the country’s first hospital-based clinics dedicated to HIV and AIDS care."^[20] In 1992 the Bailey-Boushay House - the first AIDS hospice care center in the United States - opened in Seattle's Madison Valley neighborhood.^[20] It is operated by Virginia Mason Medical Center.

Other health issues

In the later 1990s and early 2000s media announced a dangerous sense of malaise and complacency in the gay community generally over safe-sex practices.^{[citation needed]} AIDS was becoming more "normalized", risky sexual practices were increasing and gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia cases all rose. A combination of effectiveness in anti-retroviral therapies and increase in use of intravenous drugs influenced a rise in sexually transmitted infections (STI). In early 1999, King County Public Health reported an "alarming" increase in sexually transmitted infections amongst men who have sex with men. The "watershed moment" occurred in 2003 when King County Public Health released a report saying that STI had increased in gay/bisexual men by 40% over the past year.

In an article, Michael Brown notes that the geography is intertwined with politics. Seattle's sexual playgrounds were all geographically concentrated and were open at times that other establishments weren't. Seattle's preventative efforts may also have been part of the issue.^[21]

Same-Sex marriages and beyond

Main articles: Domestic partnership in Washington State and Same-sex marriage in Washington state

Same-sex marriage was legalized for all of Washington State on December 6, 2012, after the law signed by Governor Christine Gregoire was blocked by a voter referendum for most of that year.^[22][23] This formal recognition of same-sex partnership came after more than a decade of incremental legal challenges to a 1998 statute defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Today, sodomy laws have been repealed by the Supreme Court, and Seattle has generally become more affirming of LGBT people. More recently, gay bars and clubs have enjoyed a central prominence for community organizing. The Seattle mayor and other city officials have become more receptive to the gay community.

Hate crimes

Despite the general atmosphere of tolerance towards the LGBT community in Seattle, there have been instances of homophobic hate crimes, particularly in Capitol Hill and in open public spaces such as Volunteer Park. In one case, in January 2009, eleven gay bars and clubs in Seattle were sent letters threatening ricin attacks.^[24]

See also

• LGBTQ portal

• LGBTQ culture in Seattle
• LGBTQ rights in Washington (state)
• LGBTQ rights in the United States
• Equal Rights Washington
• Washington House Bill 2661