Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Winner of a 2004 Washington State Book Award
Winner of a 2004 Alpha Sigma Nu (ASN) Jesuit Book Award
In 1893, the Washington State legislature quietly began passing a set of laws that essentially made homosexuality, and eventually even the discussion of homosexuality, a crime. A century later Mike Lowry became the first governor of the state to address the annual lesbian and gay pride rally in Seattle. Gay Seattle traces the evolution of Seattle’s gay community in those 100 turbulent years, telling through a century of stories how gays and lesbians have sought to achieve a sense of belonging in Seattle.
Gary Atkins recounts the demonization of gays by social crusaders around the turn of the century, the earliest prosecutions for sodomy, the official harassment and discrimination through most of the twentieth century, and the medical discrimination and commitment to mental hospitals that continued into the 1970s as homosexuality was diagnosed as a disease that could be "cured."
Places of refuge from this imposed social exile were created in underground theater and dance clubs: the Gold Rush-era burlesque shows, modern drag theater, and in mid-century the emergence of openly gay bars, from the Casino to Shelley’s Leg. Many of these were subjected to steady exploitation by corrupt police - until bar owner MacIver Wells and two Seattle Times reporters exposed the racket.
The increasingly public presence of gays in Seattle was accompanied by the gradual coalescence of social services and self-help organizations such as the Dorian Society, gay businesses and advocacy groups including the Greater Seattle Business Association, and the stormy relationship between the Vatican, Seattle's Catholic hierarchy, and gay worshippers.
Atkins’ narrative reveals the complex and often frustrating process of claiming a civic life, showing how gays and lesbians have engaged in a multilayered struggle for social acceptance against the forces of state and city politics, the police, the media, and public opinion. The emergence of mainstream political activism in the 1970s, and ultimately the election of Cal Anderson and other openly gay officials to the state legislature and city council, were momentous events, yet shadowed by the devastating rise of AIDS and its effect on the homosexual community as a whole.
These stories of exile and belonging draw on numerous original interviews as well as case studies of individuals and organizations that played important roles in the history of Seattle’s gay and lesbian community. Collectively, they are a powerful testament to the endurance and fortitude of this minority community, revealing the ways a previously hidden sexual minority "comes out" as a people and establishes a public presence in the face of challenges from within and without.
Related to Gay Seattle
Related ebooks
Men without Maps: Some Gay Males of the Generation before Stonewall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvery True Pleasure: LGBTQ Tales of North Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore Wilde: Sex between Men in Britain’s Age of Reform Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouthern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBordered Lives: Transgender Portraits from Mexico Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boystown: Sex and Community in Chicago Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnd Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOutside the XY Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Edge: Travels of an Appalachian Leather Bear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Binding the God: Ursine Essays From the Mountain South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gay Man's Guide To Heterosexuality Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Officially Gay: The Political Construction Of Sexuality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrans New York: Photos and Stories of Transgender New Yorkers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abominations: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5LGBTQ Cincinnati Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRadical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, and Their Children in the United States since World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRednecks, Queers, and Country Music Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fashionably Late: Gay, Bi, and Trans Men Who Came Out Later in Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRainbow Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOut: LGBTQ Poland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow We Got Our Sexual Orientation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lost Autobiography of Samuel Steward: Recollections of an Extraordinary Twentieth-Century Gay Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Departing from Deviance: A History of Homosexual Rights and Emancipatory Science in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGirl in the Dream: Stephanie (Sydney) Castle Heal, A Transgender Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUp from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStraight Jobs Gay Lives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Law For You
Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Estate & Trust Administration For Dummies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegal Words You Should Know: Over 1,000 Essential Terms to Understand Contracts, Wills, and the Legal System Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The ZERO Percent: Secrets of the United States, the Power of Trust, Nationality, Banking and ZERO TAXES! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Everything Guide To Being A Paralegal: Winning Secrets to a Successful Career! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text with Exercises Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wills and Trusts Kit For Dummies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Win Your Case: How to Present, Persuade, and Prevail--Every Place, Every Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Everything Executor and Trustee Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to Estate and Trust Administration Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The LLC and Corporation Start-Up Guide: Your Complete Guide to Launching the Right Business Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Socratic Method: A Practitioner's Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Law For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paralegal's Handbook: A Complete Reference for All Your Daily Tasks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/58 Living Trust Forms: Legal Self-Help Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Think Like a Lawyer--and Why: A Common-Sense Guide to Everyday Dilemmas Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jews Don’t Count Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Win In Court Every Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pro Se Litigant's Civil Litigation Handbook: How to Represent Yourself in a Civil Lawsuit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No Stone Unturned: The True Story of the World's Premier Forensic Investigators Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mueller Report: Final Special Counsel Report of President Donald Trump and Russia Collusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Executor's Guide, The: Settling a Loved One's Estate or Trust Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Gay Seattle
9 ratings0 reviews