The story of LGBTQ Seattle is over 130 years the makg. In the 1880s same-sex relatns were of ltle ncern to most rints. Later, 1893, they were clared a crime, and the late 1960s, activists polilly anized around same-sex timacy. Gay Seattle fought for …
Contents:
- NEW FACULTY BOOKS: THREATS TO US MOCRACY, EARLY HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS, AND MORE
- RACISM AND THE MAKG OF GAY RIGHTS: A SEXOLOGIST, HIS STUNT, AND THE EMPIRE OF QUEER LOVE
NEW FACULTY BOOKS: THREATS TO US MOCRACY, EARLY HISTORY OF GAY RIGHTS, AND MORE
* university of washington gay rights *
In “Racism and the Makg of Gay Rights: A Sexologist, His Stunt, and the Empire of Queer Love”, published May 2022 by Universy of Toronto Prs, associate history profsor Lrie Marhoefer shows how sexologist Magn Hirschfield laid the groundwork for morn gay rights. “’Racism and the Makg of Gay Rights’ centr Magn Hirschfeld, long revered as a ‘foundg father’ of gay liberatn, by revealg the racist and imperialist vtments behd his overfoc on whe, cisgenred men, a still-too-mon feature of queer reprentatn, ” said reviewer Angela Zimmerman, profsor of history at Gee Washgton Universy. Transient male-male timacy was not necsarily labeled as gay or homosexual by ntemporari, but was stead seen as a threat to the ials of a heteronormative fay and Christian valu of Seattle’s moral guardians.
Although gay dividuals lived ral areas, ci provid opportuni for men and women to pe the supervisn of their fai and neighbors, allowg for the possibily of formg distct inti, muni, and cultur. Bellotti then opened the Double Hear bar above the Caso Pool Hall 1934, believed to be the natn’s olst ntuoly operatg gay bar until s closure on December 31, 2015. While gay muni were already formg prr to the war, mass urbanizatn and dtrializatn durg World War II brought many people together the armed servic and fense dtri.
Many men wh homosexual tennci met one another the service and went and out of major port ci that had visible and veloped gay subcultur, while women wh sexual tert othe women uld meet wartime factori. While not every tavern was genr-tegrated, gay men and lbians largely belonged to the same muny and uld feel fortable visg tablishments that might ter to the oppose sex, as they had durg the Great Deprsn.
RACISM AND THE MAKG OF GAY RIGHTS: A SEXOLOGIST, HIS STUNT, AND THE EMPIRE OF QUEER LOVE
Drag performanc quickly beme a central feature of the gay muny, first appearg vville performanc as early as 1898, when the natnally regnized female impersonator Edward Stewart performed a Seattle Theater productn of 1492. The Garn of Allah, a gay baret loted on First Avenue between Universy and Sene Streets that opened 1946, beme a central venue for drag performanc the postwar perd. This venue was the first gay-owned baret Seattle, and many of s visors were heterosexual tourists and ary servicemen who me to see s famed drag performers, cludg Skippy LaRue and Jewel Box Revue.
Durg the Lavenr Sre of the Cold War, the armed servic banned personnel om visg such venu, argug that homosexualy—and by associatn, drag—would place servicemen danger of beg blackmailed by munists. Gay bars Seattle were not raid or otherwise harassed by the police as often as they were most major ci wh a large gay prence, such as San Francis and New York.