Seattle, WA: Queen City Comes Out: Exploring Seattle's Lesbian and Gay History
Queen City Comes Out: Exploring Seattle's Lesbian and Gay History
The Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project is a non-profit group founded in 1994 to research, interpret and communicate the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the Pacific Northwest for the purpose of study, education and enjoyment. Recognizing the need to document and preserve LGBT history, the History Project:
- Collects and records oral histories;
- Locates photographs, object and ephemera;
- Works with archives to insure the preservation of these materials;
- Communicates the local LGBT community history through public programs such as exhibits, publications, presentations, and walking tours.
The History Project is all volunteer group with members representing a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds, such as: museum studies, education, history, anthropology, geography, and historic preservation.
Queen City Comes Out: Exploring Seattle's Lesbian and Gay History provides highlights of LGBT history in Seattle drawn from the History Project members’ collective research conducted over the last 15 years. This is an overview of the early history of taverns in Pioneer Square, the formation of early organizations that led to the flourishing of lesbian and gay community in the 1970s, and the early responses to the challenges of the 1980s & 90s.
Exhibit Pages
1970s - Community Organizations
1980s-90s - Challenges and Triumphs
Timeline
1934: The Double Header Tavern opens in Seattle's Pioneer Square, reputed to be the oldest continually open gay bar in the U.S.
1946: The Garden of Allah, Seattle's first gay-owned gay bar opens.
1950s: The Casino, an after-hours bottle club also known as “Madame Peabody's School of the Dance” or simply “The Dance,” establishes its reputation on the West Coast as a place where same-sex dancing is allowed.
1967: Bar owner MacIver Wells tips off the Seattle Times, which breaks the story of police extortion of gay bars, leading to county and federal investigations continuing into the 1970s.
1967: The Dorian Society, an independent homophile organization, founded.
1967 (November): Dorian Society member Peter Wichern appears as an openly gay man on the cover of Seattle Magazine.
1969: Seattle Counseling Services for Sexual Minorities is founded, the first organization of its kind in the country.
1971: Seattle's first Gay Community Center is established near Pioneer Square.
1971: The Gay Women's Resource Center is founded; will later become the Lesbian Resource Center.
1973: Seattle City Council extends anti-discrimination protection to lesbians and gays in employment.
1973: Shelly's Leg, Seattle's first disco opens in Pioneer Square. 1974: Lesbian Mothers' National Defense Fund founded.
1975: Housing ordinance banning discrimination against gays and lesbians is approved.
1976: A gay civil rights bill is submitted to the Washington state legislature for the first time.
1977 (June): Seattle Mayer Wes Uhlman declares, the first official “Gay Pride Week” in the city.
1978: After a fervent campaign, Seattle voters defeat Initiative 13, which would have repealed Seattle's housing and employment protections for lesbians and gays. This victory occurred on the same night as the anti-gay Proposition 6 in California.
1982: First case of AIDS reported in King County, Washington.
1983: Seattle AIDS Support Group founded.
1984: Ingersoll Gender Center is incorporated, a support and counseling venue for the transgender community. 1987: Cal Anderson is appointed State Representative for Seattle's 43rd District, becoming the first openly gay legislator in Washington State.
1989: Seattle chapter of ACT UP founded.
1991: Sherry Harris, the first openly lesbian African-American to be voted into public office, is elected to the Seattle City Council.
1991: Lambert House founded, the nation's first drop-in center for GLBT youth.
1992: Bailey/Boushay House opens, the nation's first residential care facility for people with AIDS.
1999: “Gender Identity” is added as a protective class in Seattle's nondiscrimination ordinances.
2006: After 30 years of activism a statewide gay rights bill passes in the Washington State legislature.
References
Atkins, Gary L. Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging. 2003. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project. 2002. Mosaic 1: Life Stories – From Isolation to Community. Seattle: Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project.
Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project. 2004. Claiming Space: Seattle's Lesbian and Gay Historical Geography. Seattle: Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project.
Paulson, Don, with Roger Simpson. 1996. An Evening at the Garden of Allah, A Gay Cabaret in Seattle. New York: Columbia University Press.
Categories
Washington State, Seattle, Pioneer Square, Gay, Lesbian, Bar, Lounge, Cabaret, Bathhouse, Tavern, Dancing, Disco, Initiative 13, Lesbian Resource Center, Pride Parade, Homophile, Organizations, AIDS, Oral History
Contact
Contact the History Project at: gayhistnw@aol.com
Visit the History Project's website: [1]
All content of this page copyrighted by NWLGHMP. <comments />
