History of the LGBTQ community in Seattle: Difference between revisions

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Whilst History of the LGBT community in Seattle goes back to the the founding of the city, it was the 1960s when there was an influx of gay men and women to the city which was seen as providing a tolerant environment and where for example on 19 November 1958 an injunction instructed the city police not to question customers in gay bars unless there was "good cause" in connection with an actual investigation.^[1] Seattle now has the second largest community in the United States after San Francisco. The centre of LBGT life in Seattle is the neighbourhood of Capitol Hill.

In 1967 University of Washington's Professor Nick Heer founded the Dorian Society which was the first group in Seattle to support gay rights and which published a newsletter about current issues 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 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 vigilant PR and work of the Dorian Society.

Hate crime

Despite the tolerance of Seattle's population towards the LGBT community the have been recorded instances of tolerance history of homophobia related hate crimes, particularly in Capitol Hill and around and in public open spaces such as Volunteer Park.

In 1975 a Seattle gay youth was walking through Volunteer Park and was set on fire by two attackers. One attacker was quoted saying, “We want you faggots out of Capitol Hill”
In 1976, outside of Seattle, about 10 miles (16 km) away from Port Angeles a farm in Elwha which supported homosexuality was firebombed with a Molotov cocktail.
August 3rd 2001, a homophobic hate crime occur at the Seattle Club.
In January of 2009 eleven gay bars in Seattle were sent letters threatening ricin attacks. ^[2]

In the 1975 Seattle Gay News reported that members of the Seattle Police Department heckled and harassed LGBT people walking through gay social areas and parks ^{[citation needed]} and alleged that the police were unreceptive to some of the 9-1-1 calls regarding hate crimes ^{[citation needed]} even though in the 1970s the police created a group to work with members of the gay community. The Q Safety Patrol was formed for both prevention and mediation.

Claiming Space: The Mapping of Seattle's Gay Meeting Locations

In 1996 Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project compiled a chronological map of locations that were used a public gay space in Seattle. The proceeding section will outline some important locations chronologically.

1930s/1940s	1950s/1960s	1970s
The Spinning Wheel 1334 1/2 Union St.- Opened mid 30s featured female impersonators and cabaret.	The Grand Union 104 4th Ave S. (mid to late 50s)- One of the earliest lesbian bars.	Time Out Cafe 2311 5th Ave- A popular cafe for lesbians in the 70s.
The Double Header 407 2nd Ave (1934-present)- Oldest continuously operating gay bar in the country. Gay clientele have come here since World War II.	Centurian Books 903 Pine St.- Male oriented paperbacks and other paraphernalia for the "discriminating few" were sold her.	Gay Community Center 102 Cherry St.- First GCC opened Oct 15th 1971. Major meeting space. Also housed Gay Community Social Services for queer projects.

1980s/1990s	1970s cont	1980S/1990s cont
ACT-UP- Staged a major demonstration in the 90s at Pike Place to demand greater fund raising for AIDS research & care.	Stonewall- Founded in 71' in Wallingford, Stonewall was the first gay residential treatment center in the country.	Alice B. Theater- 11th Ave, begun as the Gay Theater Project, first performance at New City Theater in 1983.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt- Quilt made its final stop in Seattle Center on its national tour.	KRAB Radio Broadcasting Studio- Harvard Ave E, between 70s and 80s hosted Lesbian Feminist Radio Collective.	Lambert House- Started 91', first drop in center for LGBT youth.

LGBT culture

Vaudeville

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 talented singers dressed in drag. Intriguingly this became a hotspot in the post war period, even with service-persons. In the 1960s the military made most gay establishments in Seattle off-limits. Later, in the 1970s vaudeville became something a little different. Seattle began the trend of courts.

By the 1970s public drag clubs called courts, with “emperors” and “empresses” …[and] Lip –synching would removed 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.

The 70s introduced new gay Seattle hotspots such as Mocambo, the Golden Horseshoe and the Golden Crown.

Dancefloors, bars and clubs

Seattle dance floors in general were considered a way to meet and organize the community, particularly in the 1950s and 60s. Gary Atkins says it’s analogous to how African Americans used churches to organize during the civil rights movement. Earlier, in the 1950s the gay bars, clubs and bathhouses saw a lot of backlash. At this time the century old sodomy law was still in place and bar owners were openly paying off the police to not question their establishments (based on the fact their patrons were mostly gay). Seattle city officials believed that the city was too “soft” on homosexuality and they didn’t want to see Seattle become San Francisco. As a result of the political upheaval regarding Seattle gay bars, the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board sent 14 gay establishments’ letters threatening to make them off-limits to military personnel. In 1966, the Seattle police chief suggested restrictions on gay bars such as withholding their liquor licenses. The current mayor, Dorm Braman also instructed the police to “discourage the inflow” of homosexuals to Seattle.

More recently gay bars and clubs have enjoyed being a central place of community organizing. For example, in 1987 Life Long AIDS Alliance created the Jars in Bars program which allows community volunteers to get involved doing educational outreach about AIDS and enables patrons of Capitol Hill bars to donate to a meaningful cause. The Seattle mayor and other city officials are also much more receptive to the gay community. Mayor Greg Nickles considers the January 2009 ricin threats a very serious problem. For more information on the ricin threats please watch this VIDEO [1]

Pride Week

Seattle's first Gay Pride Week was in 1977 and was to commemorate the Stonewall riots. The activities originally included a "Gay-In" at Seattle Center. Zaney dress was encouraged and circle dance around the International Fountain was performed, a tradition which still continues. Many parties, events, concerts are staged during during Pride Week including and Run and Walk with Pride, cruises, feeds and the Pride Fest that is similar to the "Gay-in" of the past. Seattle's Pride Parade which runs between Union Street and 4th Avenue was started in 1984.

Gay Bingo

Gay Bingo is a fundraiser for Life Long AIDS Alliance and MOMS Pharmacy. It's been an event that's run continually for the past 16 years held in the South Lake Union Naval reserve building. Each one is themed and is hosted by one of Seattle's local drag queens. It's consistently a sell out event. It's also hosted by The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a well known drag group who are also dedicated to community education and developement.

References

^ Atkins, G. (2003). Gay Seattle: Stories of exile and belonging Seattle: University of Washington Press.
^ Seattle Times

Seattle gay standard. (2000). Seattle, WA: Seattle Gay Standard.
Gay Community Center (Seattle, Wash.). (1976). Seattle gay news. Seattle, Wash: Gay Community Center.
Seattle Gay News, "Seattle History:The Macambo." Seattle Gay News 3624 10 2008 9 Mar 2009 <http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews36_43/page11.cfm>
Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project. (1996). A historical map of lesbian and gay Seattle. Seattle, Wash: The Project.
Collins, Andrew. "Seattle Gay Pride 2009." About: Gay and Lesbian Travel. About.com. 10 Mar 2009 <http://gaytravel.about.com/od/gaypridefestivals/qt/Seattle_Pride.htm>.
Brown, M. (2006). Sexual citizenship, political obligation and disease ecology in gay Seattle. Political Geography. 25 (8), 874.

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 Seattle's first Gay Pride Week was in 1977 and was to commemorate the [[Stonewall riots]]. The activities originally included a "Gay-In" at [[Seattle Center]]. Zaney dress was encouraged and circle dance around the International Fountain was performed, a tradition which still continues. Many parties, events, concerts are staged during during Pride Week including and Run and Walk with Pride, cruises, feeds and the Pride Fest that is similar to the "Gay-in" of the past. Seattle's [[Pride Parade]] which runs between Union Street and 4th Avenue was started in 1984.
-==Health issues==
+===Gay Bingo===
+Gay Bingo is a fundraiser for Life Long AIDS Alliance and MOMS Pharmacy. It's been an event that's run continually for the past 16 years held in the South Lake Union Naval reserve building. Each one is themed and is hosted by one of Seattle's local drag queens. It's consistently a sell out event. It's also hosted by [[The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence]], a well known drag group who are also dedicated to community education and developement.
-Seattle in the later 1990s and early 2000s hinted (mostly via media) a sense of complacency and malice towards safe sex practices. AIDS was becoming more “normalized” 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 STIs. The “watershed moment” occurred in 2003 when King County Public Health released a report saying that STIs had increased in gay/bisexual men by 40% over the past year. This caused much blame and discussion within the LGBT media sources. When looking at this history of these health issues 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. Notably, even today many gay health interventions are decidedly pro-sex and may not enforce safety forcefully enough.
-Seattle has many resources and a great deal of awareness surrounding.The most major HIV focused organization is likely Life Long AIDS Alliance[http://www.lifelongaidsalliance.org]. Life Long organizes 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.
-Another key organization is the Dunshee House which was originally born from Seattle's first gay awareness group, the Dorian Society. Dunshee House[http://www.dunsheehouse.org/]organizes all levels and types of support groups for HIV seropositive people. Also, Bailey Boushay house is an AIDS hospice care center run through Virginia Mason Hospital.
-Historically, the first person to publicly be diagnosed with AIDS in Seattle was James Flanigan. This diagnosis became somewhat of a wake up call for the rest of the gay community. In October of 1983 men were writing the Seattle Gay News telling the community to wake up and start to protect themselves. Seattle's ACT UP chapter also started organizing protests and doing work to get funding for AIDS care and research. In 83 and 84 the Chicken Soup Brigade (today part of the Life Long AIDS Alliance) was created by Josh Joshua. Chicken Soup became the backbone of the gay community with groups of volunteers cooking and caring for their housebound contemporaries who were very ill with HIV. Shanti/Seattle was also created to train volunteers to understand the emotional stages of HIV/AIDS. Overall, in the beginning there was a lot of denial that Seattle would not get hit by the AIDS virus but the community quickly organized and many activist say now that Seattle's gay community has one of the strongest HIV/AIDS networks.
 ==References==