Initiative 13 - Oral Histories

Initiative 13 - Oral Histories

Don Moreland on Initiative 13

I was in California at that time working on Proposition Six. And both Initiative 13 here in Seattle and Proposition Six were the first two gay initiatives where the gay side won. That’s really important to understand. This is the first time we faced the voters and -- both in California and in Seattle -- the gay side -- had won. Proposition Six was anti-gay teacher but it went far beyond that. It went to day care workers, or people dealing with kids in any way who were gay or lesbian. Whereas in Seattle it was much more of a civil rights question, so maybe Seattle was the really first victory, if you want to put it that way, but they both occurred on the same night.

Don Moreland, interview by NWLGHMP, tape recording, Renton, WA, 2 February 2006.

Roger Winters on Initiative 13/Proposition 6

... The Briggs initiative in California happened the very same time and was voted down the very same night. This was an anti-gay teacher measure in California which got most of the attention. But this writer in Saturday Review said it was Seattle that she would call the “El Alamein” of the gay-rights movement. El Alamein was a battle that turned the tide in World War I. So he [sic] said the El Alamein -- where a series of defeats was turned to a great victory, and the movement turned around because after the Seattle experience and after the winning in that locality, the Anita Bryant effort kind of fizzled out.

Roger Winters, interview by NWLGHMP, tape recording, Seattle, WA, 30 August 1997.

1970s Politics

Seattle, WA: Queen City Comes Out: Exploring Seattle's Lesbian and Gay History

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