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Nancy King remembers how the Lesbian Resource Center and other Seattle-based organizations, were instrumental to her "coming out": "I was 41 when I got. Where previously there had been little or no social recognition, there were now a number of visible ways to associate outside the heterosexual norm. With increased social visibility, gay men and lesbian women, some of them for the first time, recognized shared experiences, needs, and desires. The popular bar Shelly’s Leg opened late in 1973, and was famous for its enormous sign and huge letters declaring itself to be "A Gay Bar Provided for Seattle’s Gay Community and their Guests." More active, outspoken, and visible than ever, queers were now poised to command public acknowledgement and collective acceptance, which they had long been denied. Group, university, and privately sponsored support groups, social events, bookstores, newspapers, and social services all sprang up around all the same neighborhoods.Įstablishments that catered to a gay or lesbian clientele more than tripled from the number in business during the post-World War II period. Social life bloomed during these years of early activism. Naturally, an ever growing political and social service environment encouraged residential neighborhoods and social establishments to flourish as well. Lesbians commonly lived in the University and Wallingford neighborhoods, with gay men concentrated around downtown. As consciousness around Gay and Lesbian civil rights exploded, groups targeted numerous political objectives, focused on various special interests, and began to uncover for the first time the diversity of communities within the community as a whole.Īlthough activism may have come out of the University District area, services during the 1970s were directed toward queers living and socializing in Pioneer Square, the University District, and later Capitol Hill. Other organizations to start and flourish in the 1970s include the Gay Women’s Alliance the Feminist Karate Union the Gay Women’s Resource Center (now the Lesbian Resource Center) Seattle Gay Alliance Union of Sexual Minorities Stonewall Recovery Center Lesbian Mother’s National Defense Fund the Metropolitan Community Church the Seattle Counseling Center for Sexual Minorities Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and the Seattle Municipal Elections Committee. Working with Seattle Gay Alliance and the Gay Student Organization, Gay Liberation Front opened the first Gay Community Center in Seattle on September 15, 1971, in Pioneer Square ( The Daily, 1971 cited in Mesec). In the early 1970s, UW students also organized the Gay Student Association and the more radical Gay Liberation Front. In 1969, Dorian House began to provide counseling services to gay and lesbian students and non-students on Capitol Hill, and was operated by a University of Washington counselor and staffed by UW students. Within one year, there were at least 300 similar groups across the nation, including the first politically active gay and lesbian groups in Seattle.Īpart from the pioneering Dorian Society (founded in Seattle in 1967), the first Seattleites to organize politically as gays and lesbians were connected to the University of Washington. Within a few months, Gay Liberation Front organizations sprang up in New York, Los Angeles, around the Bay Area. According to Rey Sylvia Lee Rivera, "everything just clicked" that night (Marcus). Even those who were there don't know why. The rebellion was not organized, and there were no particular leaders.
FIRST GAY PRIDE PARADE SEATTLE FREE
White attendees are welcome but will be charged a $10–$50 reparations fee to keep the event free for the Black and Brown community.The Stonewall Rebellion of late June 1969, in which New York City patrons of the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street spontaneously rioted against routine police harassment, is often thought of as the first act of collective queer resistance, and the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement. It'll feature movies, food, performances, art healing spaces, music, a vaccine clinic, and socially distanced dancing. Jun 26 This event aims to center Black and Brown queer and and trans voices. Organizers are also considering an in-person event later in the summer. Jun 26 The annual walk to honor “queer women and dyke-identified people” is a virtual performance showcase this year. Beyond that expect speakers, panels, and group activities (some of the most popular aspects of last year’s online Pride, says executive director Krystal Marx) with a variety of subjects, from policing to ending conversion therapy. Jun 26 & 27 The city’s staple Pride will remain all online this year, but the fest brought in a solid music lineup: Big Freedia, along with Perfume Genius, mxmtoon, and Mary Lambert.