Seattle LGBTQ Organizations and Periodicals Timeline

The Dorian Society

The Dorian Society was the first and only homophile organization in Seattle, officially founded in 1967. University of Washington Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Nicholas Heer served as the first president. Heer had been active in the homophile movement in Boston before moving to Seattle. The Dorian Society’s membership was predominantly middle-class white men. The Dorian Society targeted heterosexual allies by portraying homosexuals as respectable citizens. While advocating the repeal of Washington State’s anti-sodomy law and increased services for homosexuals, Dorian Society members also encouraged members of the gay community to conduct themselves responsibly in public. In 1969, the organization established a “Dorian House” on Capitol Hill, which was the first gay institution in Seattle that was neither a bar nor a bathhouse. Seattle Counseling Services for Sexual Minorities began in the Dorian House the same year. The Dorian Society produced the newsletter Columns, the foundation of Seattle Gay News.

Queen City Business Guild

Gay bar and bathhouse owners formed the Queen City Business Guild in the 1960s. While relatively inactive prior to the gay liberation movement, the guild supported the creation of Seattle’s Imperial Court, a drag organization, and assisted the Gay Community Center in organizing a gay campground in the Cascades.

Freedom Socialist Party

The Freedom Socialist Party was an anti-racist, socialist feminist organization founded in 1966. The party supported the gay liberation movement, and included many gay men in its ranks in its early years. The Freedom Socialist Party met in Freeway Hall in the University District. Today, FSP is located at “New Freeway Hall” in Columbia City. Their website is www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/seattle.

Radical Women

Radical Women is a socialist feminist organization founded in the late 1960s that grew out of the Freedom Socialist Party, but only included women. Radical Women identified the root of gay and female oppression in the heterosexual monogamous family, which they viewed as the basic social unit necessary to support a capitalist political economy. That is, they viewed capitalism and patriarchy as inextricably linked and sought the defeat of both. Radical Women continues today with socialist feminist politics that also take into account racial oppression and gender identity issues. Their current home is “New Freeway Hall,” located in Columbia City, and their website is www.radicalwomen.org/seattle.shtml

Seattle Counseling Services for Sexual Minorities

Founded by Bob Deisher as Seattle Counseling Service in the Dorian House on Malden Avenue in 1969 when homosexuality was still considered a mental illness, SCS provided a space for people to talk to volunteer counselors. In 1970, 264 people came into the SCS house for counseling while over two thousand phoned into the center for counseling. Today, Seattle Counseling Services for Sexual Minorities continues to provide counseling with a wider understanding of sexual minority and gender identity issues. Today, SCSSM is located on Melrose Ave and Pine Street on the southwestern slope of Capitol Hill. Their website is www.seattlecounseling.org/.

Seattle Gay Liberation Front

Formed in June 1970, the Seattle chapter of the Gay Liberation Front argued for societal change rather than the inclusion of gay people as respectable members of society. The organization stressed that people should have the right to choose their sexuality, sex, and gender and publicly express their gender and sexuality as they please. The GLF sought to end the nuclear family as the basic unit of social organization and argued that children be raised without assigning gender roles to them. Beyond sexual politics, the Gay Liberation Front included “the liberation of all oppressed peoples” in its political action statement, endorsing radical racial minority, feminist, anti-war and other activists challenging imperialism and sexism.

Gay Women’s Alliance

The Gay Women’s Alliance was born out of the Gay Liberation Front in December 1970 to address the specific concerns of lesbians, who did not feel fully at home in either women’s liberation or gay liberation. They asserted the need for coalitional activism particularly with the women’s movement and were supportive of gay liberation.

Gay Community Center

Founded by Paul Barwick, John Singer (later named Faygele benMiriam), and Robert Perry in 1971 on Cherry Street and First Avenue Seattle near the historical center of gay bars and bathhouses in Pioneer Square, the Gay Community Center offered a space where gay men and lesbians could socialize without alcohol. More than two thousand people came by the center by the end of 1971. Rising rent forced the center to close at the end of 1972, but a new Gay Community Center opened on 16th Avenue on Capitol Hill during Gay Pride Week 1974. The new center featured a library, job and housing notices, a twenty-four-hour hotline, and a food and clothing donation service.

Lesbian Resource Center

Founded by the Gay Women’s Alliance as the Gay Women’s Resource Center at the University District YWCA in 1971, the center provided services for gay women and offered a space for lesbians to socialize without alcohol, much like the space the Gay Community Center had provided for gay Seattleites, though predominantly gay men. Lesbians had access to lists of sympathetic doctors and businesses friendly to gay women at the center. “Rap groups” formed at the center, following the model of the consciousness raising groups that were at the heart of the women’s liberation movement at the University of Washington and the surrounding neighborhood.

Stonewall Recovery

Founded by Bill DuBay and David Baird in 1971, Stonewall served as a treatment center for gay drug addicts. Stonewall used group therapy and strict supervision to ensure recovery from addiction and other emotional trauma specific to the experiences of gay men and lesbians at the time. Stonewall fought for the right to serve as a center for gay parolees from Walla Walla State Penitentiary. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services certified Stonewall as a drug treatment center in 1972. Stonewall moved into a former Carmelite nunnery in 1974, but the cost of repairs to the nunnery proved too great, and Stonewall dissolved in September 1976 after two failed attempts to find a new home in the greater Seattle area. Stonewall served about 500 patients before it dissolved.

Seattle Gay Alliance

Founded by Dorian Society members who were more open to the strategies of the Gay Liberation Front, the Seattle Gay Alliance brought members of the older generation and younger generation of gay activists together beginning in 1971. SGA publicly contested sexual double standards, advocating that gay couples should have the same right to public displays of affection as straight couples.

Metropolitan Community Church

Evangelical preacher Robert Sirico founded a branch of the Metropolitan Community Church in Seattle after coming out in 1972. Troy Perry had founded the first Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles in 1968 for gay Christians. The MCC shared space with a United Methodist congregation near the Dorian House in the 1970s. Today, the Emerald City Metropolitan Community Church holds services at the University Temple United Methodist Church in the University District. Their website is mccseattle.org.

Office for Women’s Rights

Established by the City Council Council with the passage of the city’s 1973 Fair Employment Practices Ordinance, the Office of Women’s Rights was responsible for adjudicating cases of discrimination against women and sexual minorities. When sexual minorities were added to Seattl’e housing nondiscrimination ordinance in 1975, the Office of Women’s Rights took on cases of housing discrimination against women and sexual minorities too. Inititiative 13 threatened to disband the Office of Women’s Rights in 1978, but Seattle voters defeated the initative. The Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays was first housed within the Office for Women’s Rights.

Stonewall Committee

The Stonewall Committee was a coalition of gay men and lesbians that organized Seattle’s early Gay Pride Marches. These early marches held in Downtown Seattle stressed the importance of gay men and lesbians making their voices heard in solidarity with all oppressed peoples, including workers and people of color.

Lesbian Mothers National Defense Fund

Founded by Geraldine Cole in Seattle in 1974, the Lesbian Mothers National Defense Fund provided aid to lesbians involved with child custody cases. Since most cases of lesbian motherhood in the 1970s involved women married to men who came out as lesbians, it was difficult for lesbian mothers to win custody battles with their husbands given the negative views of gay people in most parts of the country at the time.

The Dorian Group

Founded by Charlie Brydon in 1975, The Dorian Group mobilized predominantly white, professional class gay men and lesbians to articulate a civil rights politics that did not critique society-at-large in the way gay liberationists and lesbian feminists did up to that point. The Dorian Group quickly became the most visible gay rights organization at City Hall. By 1977, The Dorian Group was engaging in Washington State politics, seeking the passage of a statewide nondiscrimination bill covering sexual minorities in housing and employment. By 1980, The Dorian Group had become a member organization of the New York-based National Gay Task Force and the Washington, DC- based National Gay Rights Lobby.

Union of Sexual Minorities

The Union of Sexual Minorities carried the politics of the Gay Liberation Front into the late 1970s, raising awareness around a variety of issues that its members viewed as related to a racist and sexist society. They openly discussed and publicized critiques of the United States as the primary source of imperialism and capitalism in the twentieth century. Their newsletter The Other Side raised awareness around issues affecting sexual minorities as well as issues affecting racial minorities and colonized peoples. A conversation among members of the Union of Sexual Minorities and Mujer, a Chicana feminist organization in Seattle, prompted Mujer to openly oppose Initiative 13 and assert that gay people existed in all racial groups.

Washington Coalition for Sexual Minority Rights

The Washington Coalition for Sexual Minority Rights formed as a coalition to replace the Seattle Gay Alliance after its dissolution with a more radial perspective than The Dorian Group in the late 1970s. The coalition did was made up of constituent organizations, including Seattle Counseling Service, the Gay Community Center, the National Organization of Women, the Feminist Coordinating Council, the Freedom Socialist Party, Radical Women, and the Union of Sexual Minorities. WCfSMR meetings regarding David Estes and Dennis Falk’s petition for an initiative to overturn Seattle’s nondiscrimination clauses covering sexual minorities spawned the Seattle Committee Against Thirteen and Women Against Thirteen.

SEAMEC

Founded as the Seattle Municipal Elections Committee in 1977, SEAMEC has worked to register gay people to vote and has developed a candidate ranking system to publicize were candidates fall on LGBTQ issues. Today, the organization calls itself the Seattle Metropolitan Elections Committee, ranking candidates from the greater Seattle area rather than just the city itself. Their website is //voteseamec.org/.

Citizens to Retain Fair Employment

Citizens to Retain Fair Employment (CRFE) formed in 1978 to fight what became Initiative 13, an effort to repeal Seattle’s nondiscrimination ordinances covering sexual minorities in housing and employment. Closely associated with The Dorian Group, CRFE recruited allies in City Hall and in the state legislature in Olympia in its efforts to convince Seattle voters to vote “no” on Initiative 13. CRFE’s campaign literature stressed that everyone’s privacy was at stake if Initiative 13 passed, making the campaign less about discrimination against people and more about the universal right to privacy.

Seattle Committee Against Thirteen

The Seattle Committee Against Thirteen (SCAT) formed in 1978 to fight what became Initiative 13, an effort to repeal Seattle’s nondiscrimination ordinances covering sexual minorities in housing and employment. Attracting activists rooted in or sympathetic to gay liberation, SCAT sought to make discrimination against gay people central to the campaign to defeat Initiative 13 unlike CRFE. They stressed that everybody knew someone who was gay, whether they knew it at the time or not, and that taking away the rights of sexual minorities was a slippery slope toward taking rights for all minority groups. Their grassroots campaign targeted minority neighborhoods and forged a connection between Initiative 13 and Initiative 15, which granted police officers greater discretion to use firearms with its passage.

Women Against Thirteen

Women Against Thirteen (WAT) formed in 1978 to defeat Initiative 13. WAT’s activism focused on the initiative’s proposal to disband Seattle’s Office of Women’s Rights, which enforced cases of discrimination against women and sexual minorities in housing and employment. Their outreach did not only target women, however. By eliminating the Office of Women’s Rights, cases of discrimination against women were to be placed under the purview of the Office of Human Rights, which already handled cases of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, age, political beliefs, religion, and ability. Like SCAT, WAT targeted racial minorities, arguing that the Office of Human Rights already had a large enough caseload without adding cases involving women.

Seattle Gay Clinic

The Seattle Gay Clinic was founded in 1979 as a safe space for gay men to get screened for STDs. Prior to its founding, many gay men in Seattle had unpleasant experiences with Seattle-King County Department of Public Health’s VD clinic, reporting instances of moral judgment from nurses there. The volunteers at SGC were predominantly gay men who were sympathetic to gay patients and sex positive. Many local AIDS organizations were founded out of the Seattle Gay Clinic, including the Chicken Soup Brigade and the Northwest AIDS Foundation.

Ingersoll Gender Center

Founded by Marsha Botzer in 1979, the Ingersoll Gender Center has served transgender, trans*, gender variant, and genderqueer people as a support center ever since. The center incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1984. The center hosts an All-Trans Support Group every Wednesday evening and has helped members of the community find sensitive healthcare providers.

Greater Seattle Business Association

Organized by Stan Hill in 1981, the Greater Seattle Business Association formed to promote gay businesses in the Seattle area. Thirty-three gay business owners signed on as charter members. GSBA produced an annual directory of gay businesses to assist members of the gay community in patronizing gay-owned businesses. GSBA sought to foster the creation of a gay business district along Broadway in the 1980s. In the early 1990s, the GSBA board began to allow allied businesses to join the organization. Today, GSBA is the largest and most active LGBT business chamber in the United States, counting almost 1,000 businesses as members. GSBA’s offices are located on East Pine Street on Capitol Hill, and their website is www.thegsba.org.

Shanti/Seattle

Modeled after the original Shanti group in San Francisco, Shanti/Seattle formed in 1983 as an emotional support network for people living with AIDS. Volunteer counselors received training and were matched with patients and met at the patients’ convenience, usually in their home or at their hospital bedside. Shanti prided itself on providing counseling to patients regardless of how advanced their case of AIDS was.

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence formed in San Francisco as a collective of queer nuns committed to erasing stigma, increasing queer visibility, and assisting marginal members of the LGBTQ community. Since the early AIDS epidemic, when a Seattle chapter formed, the Sisters have promoted safer sex practices while maintaining a sex positive attitude in the face AIDS. The Seattle chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is the Abbey of St. Joan.

Shanti/Seattle

Modeled after the original Shanti group in San Francisco, Shanti/Seattle formed in 1983 as an emotional support network for people living with AIDS. Volunteer counselors received training and were matched with patients and met at the patients’ convenience, usually in their home or at their hospital bedside. Shanti prided itself on providing counseling to patients regardless of how advanced their case of AIDS was.

Northwest AIDS Foundation/Lifelong AIDS Alliance

The Northwest AIDS Foundation was formed out of the Seattle Gay Clinic in 1983 to raise money to help those affected by AIDS. After 1985, the Northwest AIDS Foundation began a “Rules of the Road” safe sex campaign to encourage condom use among gay men, the first of several safe sex campaigns in Seattle. Today, Lifelong AIDS Alliance performs the education and care functions of the Northwest AIDS Foundation and the Chicken Soup Brigade put together. Their website is www.llaa.org.

Seattle AIDS Support Group/Seattle Area Support Groups and Community Center

Founded by Josh Joshua, Stan Henry, and Ann McCaffray in 1984, the Seattle AIDS Support Group provided a space for people living with AIDS to meet and discuss their new lives living with the disease. SASG fostered a sense of camaraderie amongst those who attended meetings. Today, under the name Seattle Area Support Groups and Community Center, SAGS has expanded to offer various support groups targeting the LGBTQ community and people living with HIV/AIDS, including various Alcoholics Anonymous and groups, spiritual groups, social groups and events such as book clubs and game nights, and other substance abuse and addiction support groups. SAGS is located in a house on 17th Avenue East on Capitol Hill, and their website is sasgcc.org.

Blood Sisters

Blood Sisters was founded by in 1985 by a group of lesbian activists, organizing blood drives in solidarity with gay men suffering from AIDS.

AIDS Prevention Project

The Seattle-King County Department of Public Health established the AIDS Prevention Project in 1985. Bob Wood served as the Medical Director, and Tim Burak served as the Project Coordinator. The APP work closesly with the Northwest AIDS Foundation and the People of Color Against AIDS Network in reaching out to communities subject to higher transmission rates of HIV, including gay men and intravenous drug users. The APP worked with local bathhouse owners to distribute condoms and information about HIV transmission, viewing bathhouses as cites of education for men engaging in risky sexual behavior rather than sites of transmission that needed to be shut down as happened in other cities. The APP succeeded in obtaining many private and public grants to experiment with AIDS prevention programs. Most notably, the APP was one of five programs in the coutnry receiving federal funds for the Center for Disease Control’s Community Demonstration Project for AIDS Prevention and Risk Reduction.

Mayor’s Lesbian and Gay Task Force

The Mayor’s Lesbian and Gay Task Force was founded in 1985 to advise the mayor on issues relating to the gay community beyond AIDS. The MLGTF included eleven members representing the Greater Seattle Business Association, Stonewall Recovery, the Northwest AIDS Foundation, the Lesbian Resource Center, and other organizations and committees. When the City Council approved the creation of a Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays in 1989, the Mayor’s Lesbian and Gay Task Force ceased to exist.

Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network

The Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network was formed in 1985. The organization worked with service providers and city officials to increase awareness of bisexual issues. The testified in hearings of the Seattle Commission on Children and Youth and the Seattle Women’s Commission in 1988, and they began printing a bimonthly newsletter North BI Northwest that same year.

The Pride Foundation

Established through the Greater Seattle Business Association in 1986, the Pride Foundation has served as a donor-based philanthropic organization, funding community nonprofit organizations. While originally focused on supporting organizations in the greater Seattle area, the Pride Foundation now funds organizations across the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, and provides scholarships, grants, and fellowships to support LGBTQ students, scholars, and community organizers and advocates. Their website is www.pridefoundation.org.

People of Color Against AIDS Network

Founded in 1987, the People of Color Against AIDS Network has advocated on behalf of AIDS victims of color, including African Americans, Asians, and Latinos. They have fought for more equitable access to health care and resources for people of color living with AIDS and engaged in their own safe sex campaign targeting communities of color around Seattle.

Northwest Network

Founded in 1987 by lesbian survivors of physical abuse, the Northwest Network is dedicated to assisting LGBTQ victims of abuse and domestic violence. They provide free and confidential services to all members of the LGBTQ community, regardless of gender identity, race, religion, or cultural background. Their website is nwnetwork.org.

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACTUP)

A Seattle chapter of the New York-based AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power formed in 1988. ACTUP activities targeting local government were less prevalent in Seattle than elsewhere, given the proactive measures already being taken by the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health. They organized a protest when Vice President George Bush visited Tacoma to put pressure on the Reagan-Bush administration to do more to combat AIDS at the federal level. When the University of Washington Medical Center Board approved a policy to bar HIV-positive hospital workers from performing surgery with the patient’s consent in 1991, ACTUP protested. They began a needle exchange program to prevent the spread of AIDS among intravenous drug users before the Department of Public Health gained approval to do so, and ACTUP members distributed condoms and information on safe sex outside public schools in 1991 before the Seattle School Board voted to begin a safe sex program.

Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays

In 1989, the City Council approved the formation of the Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays, replacing the Mayor’s Lesbian and Gay Task Force. Today, the commission is called the Seattle LGBT Commission. The commission has 15 members, 7 appointed by the mayor, 7 appointed by the City Council, and 1 appointed by the commisssion. The commission advises the mayor and the City Council on all issues relevant to the LGBTQ community with the power to recommend policies, hold City of Seattle departments accountable for following nondiscriminaiton ordinances protecting LGBT employees, and engaging in projects to increase understanding of the LGBT community among the city’s population. The website for the commission is www.seattle.gov/lgbt.

Lambert House

Named after queer youth advocate Gray Lambert in 1993, the Association of Lesbian and Gay Youth Advocates was founded in the late 1980s as a support network for Seattle-area youth that seeks to empower gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. Since 1991, Lambert House has sat on 15th Ave in Capitol Hill. About half of youth that visit the Lambert House are queer of color youth. In addition to providing social activities for LGBTQ members of the community under age 22, Lambert House has support groups, including the Transgender Group, Queer Young Females, and the Boys Group. Their website is www.lamberthouse.org.

BiNet Seattle

BiNet Seattle is a chapter of the BiNet USA network, a gender-inclusive bisexual and bi-curious community. BiNet USA first formalized as the North American Bisexual Network in Seattle in 1990. Their website is binetseattle.org.

Queer Nation

The Seattle Tribe of Queer Nation was active from 1990 to 1995. It was the seventh tribe formed and outlasted most others. Queer Nation drew insights from academic queer theory, allowing for more fluid definitions of gender and sexuality. Queer Nation/Seattle battled violence against LGBTQ persons while advocating queer visibility with the goal of expanding the general population’s knowledge of gender and sexuality. Internal discussions also addressed racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression. Queer Nation members fought heteropatriarchy through both art and activism. One campaign begun by Queer Nation was Bigot Busters/Decline to Sign, a campaign to counter petition gatherers for anti-gay Initiatives 608 and 610, to prevent the initiatives from qualifying for the 1994 Washington State ballot. Both initiatives failed to qualify, as did identical Initiatives 166 and 167 in 1995.

Project NEON

Established throught Seattle Counseling Services, Project NEON started in 1991 to combat methamphetamine addiction in the gay community and HIV transmission among intravenous drug users. Project NEON’s outreach campaign increased the visibility of the prevalance of methamphetamine use and abuse in Seattle and continues to offer services for users. Project NEON offers a harm-reduction approach with the goal of increasing awareness of the detrimental health effects of methamphetamine use, including increased risk of HIV and STI transmission, by providing honest information about how meth affects the mind and body. Counseling is offered at SCS for those looking to reduce their risk, manage, or cease their use of methampetamine. Find out more here: seattlecounseling.org/project-neon/.

Entre Hermanos

Entre Hermanos was founded by LGBTQ Latinos in 1991 to address the specific social, educational, and health needs of the Latino LGBTQ community. They affiliated with the People of Color Against AIDS Network in 1993 and were incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 2001. They sponsor a weekly Latino night at Neighbours Nightclub on Sundays. Their website is www.entrehermanos.org.

Hands Off Washington – Equal Rights Washington

Formed in 1992 as anti-gay initiative made its way to the Oregon State ballot, Hands Off Washington began as an organization to prevent the anti-gay movement from making its way into Washington State. The organization has evolved into Equal Rights Washington, which has been a major lobbying organization for LGBTQ rights in Olympia. With the help of lobbying efforts by Equal Rights Washington, the Washington State Legislature passed civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Washingtonians in 2006, domestic partnership for same-sex couples in 2007, and same-sex marriage in 2012. Equal Rights Washington was actively involved in the 2012 electoral battle over same-sex marriage, campaigning to defeat Referendum 74. Their website is equalrightswashington.org.

Bailey-Boushay House

Founded by Betsy Lieberman in 1992, the Bailey-Boushay House continues to provide both outpatient and inpatient hospice care for people with AIDS in Madison Valley. The house is named after Thatcher Bailey, who helped fight prejudice and ignorance in Madison Valley as plans for the house were made, and his partner Frank Boushay, who died of AIDS in 1989. Bailey-Boushay particularly serves those who cannot afford standard hospital care or are otherwise disadvantaged, including the homeless, mentally ill, and chemically dependent. Their website is bailey-boushay.org.

API Chaya

API Chaya was founded in the mid-1990s to support Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander survivors and families impacted by domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as human trafficking survivors from all communities. API Chaya engages communities to change societal conditions that enable domestic and sexual violence, human trafficking and all forms of oppression, especially violence against women and the most vulnerable in our society. The Queer Network Program at API Chaya works to engage the API LGBTQ community to address and prevent intimate partner violence. In order to do this, we work to build skills among allies and community members, raise the visibility of our community and concerns, and supporting survivors of violence. Their website is apichaya.org/.

HIV Vaccine Trials Unit

In 1994, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington teamed up to establish a national HIV vaccine trial. The joint Fred Hutch/UW HIV Vaccine Trials Unit is the hub for an international HIV Vaccine Trial Network, working to develop an effective vaccine against HIV infection.

Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project

The Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project was founded in 1994 to document the history of lesbian and gay life in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in Seattle. The organization has conducted oral histories, which have been deposited at the University of Washington Libraries’ Special Collections. NWLGHMP has also produced two publications. “Claiming Space: Seattle’s Lesbian and Gay Historical Geography” is a map of gay spaces in Seattle throughout the gay community’s history. Mosaic 1: Life stories from isolation to community is a book comprising excerpts from the oral histories conducted by NWLGHMP. Their website can be found here.

Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington

Founded in 1995, the Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington formed as conversations over same-sex marriage were heating up in Hawaii. Co-founder Roger Winters developed a petition, which became the basis for a statewide listserv to keep same-sex marriage advocates connected via email. The Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington advocated for same-sex marriage recognition at the state level, dissolving in 2007 as more and more organizations began joining the fight for gay marriage.

Gay City Health Project

Gay City Health Project was founded in 1995 to promote wellness in the LGBTQ community. Gay City serves as a de facto LGBTQ community center. Through donor funding, Gay City provides STI testing for members of the gay community at no cost. Gay City has expanded to include an arts program to promote healthy living in the LGBTQ community. Gay City sponsors a team for the annual Seattle to Portland Classic bike ride as well as a Seattle SNAP, a sober softball team. Gay City’s suite on Pike St. on Capitol Hill includes an LGBTQ library as well as a resource and referral service for community members. Their website is gaycity.org.

Emerald City Black Pride

Sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Health since 2011, Emerald City Black Pride is an initiative to foster pride, promote health, and build community among LGBTQ people of color. In addition to holding an annual pride party in late July, ECBP has programming throughout the year to achieve that goal.

Trikone Northwest

Trikone Northwest is an organizaiton working to build a safe and inclusive world where LGBTQIA+ South Asians by building communiyt, increasing social and political visibility, and promoting racial and sexual equality. Their website is trikonenw.org.

Pride ASIA

Founded in 2012, Pride ASIA’s mission is to celebrate, empower and nurture the multi-cultural diversity of the LGBTQ communities through the Asian Pacific Islander lens. Pride ASIA is a proud member of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) and Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea). Pride ASIA’s website is prideasia.org.

Gender Justice League

Sponsored by the Gay City Health Project, the Gender Justice League is a non-profit collective founded by trans, queer, and allied activists to address the particular discriminations faced by trans, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming people in addition to homophobia, biphobia, misogyny, and racism. This includes combating fear and hate-driven attitudes and violence toward trans people as well as economic justice, as trans people are twice as likely to face unemployment as cisgender people. GJL activists work toward increasing trans and queer visibility and acceptance through grassroots activism in the community and elevating media representation of trans, queer, and gender non-conforming people. Their website is genderjusticeleague.org.

Noor

Noor is an all-inclusive LGBTQI and Questioning confidential meeting space for individuals in the greater Seattle area that have ever identified as Muslim. Noor keeps a private Facebook group to protect the privacy of its members. If you have ever identified as Muslim and would like to know more about Noor, you may contact the Facebook group administrator here.

Queering the Museum Project

The Queering the Museum Project was founded by two University of Washington graduate students, Erin Bailey and Nicole Robert, in an effort to queer museum practices. They successfully organized a community-based exhibit at the Museum of History and Industry called “Revealing Queer,” which was on display in 2014. The exhibit featured artifacts from the history of LGBTQ activism in the Puget Sound region. Part of the project was the Digital Storytelling Project. You can find the videos for the Digital Storytelling Project here: queeringthemuseum.org/.

We Are 1

We Are 1 is a coalition of community health-oriented organizations to promote wellness and health for gay men, bi men, trans people, and straight men who have sex with men in Pierce, King, and Snohomish Counties. We Are 1 does not merely focus on sexual health but is taking a holistic approach to health and wellness, including diet, exercise, use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco, mental health, and combatting violence. Sponsoring organizations include the Washington State Department of Health, Seattle-King County Department of Public Health, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, Snohomish Health District, Lifelong AIDS Alliance, Pierce County AIDS Foundation, Evergreen Wellness Advocates, Seattle Counseling Service, NEON Project, Gay City Health Project, Center for Multicultural Health, and Entre Hermanos. Find out more at we-are-1.com.