Washgton, D.C.'s hidn gay history is unvered 'Secret Cy'

Contents:

• AS AN OPENLY GAY PRO SPORTS EXECUTIVE, RICK WELTS, ’75, IS FALLY LIVG HIS TTH
• RICHARD GRENELL NOW HIGHT-RANKG OPENLY GAY OFFICIAL US ERNMENT HISTORY
• A GAY DC POWER COUPLE IS REMAKG A WT VIRGIA TOWN. NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY ABOUT IT.
• WASHGTON, D.C.'S HIDN GAY HISTORY IS UNVERED 'SECRET CY'
• SPOKANE’S GAYS SEEK OWN DISTRICT
• RICK GAY
• AS SEATTLE’S GAYBORHOOD MIGRAT, CAPOL HILL QUEER BARS FIGHT TO REMA A REFUGE
• A HISTORY OF GAY WASHGTON THAT LETS HOMOPHOBIA STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT
• IN 'SECRET CY,' THOR JAM KIRCHICK TRAC THE UNKNOWN HISTORY OF GAY WASHGTON
• JAM KIRCHICK EXPLOR DC’S GAY HISTORY AN AMB NEW BOOK
• GAY, BLACK TRACK ATHLETE HAD CHARACTER AND ROLVE TTED AT UNIVERSY OF WASHGTON

AS AN OPENLY GAY PRO SPORTS EXECUTIVE, RICK WELTS, ’75, IS FALLY LIVG HIS TTH

Welts, the print and CEO of the Natnal Basketball Ball Associatn’s Phoenix Suns, May beme the send person men’s profsnal basketball history to e out openly as a gay man.

NBA Commissner David Stern disclosed a New York Tim terview that he had known for years that Welts was gay but felt he uldn’t acknowledge .

Welts’ lleagu profsnal basketball have been supportive, and many have said they are happy that he fally was able to talk openly about beg gay. Phoenix Suns CEO Rick Welts, ’75, who May beme the first profsnal sports team executive to e out as gay, is jt the latt a le of high-profile UW alumni who have had the urage to do so. Last December — jt hours before his boss was impeached by the Hoe of Reprentativ — Grenell led the Uned Natns nmng 69 untri that still outlaw homosexualy.

RICHARD GRENELL NOW HIGHT-RANKG OPENLY GAY OFFICIAL US ERNMENT HISTORY

“I want them to unrstand that you nnot put someone jail or kill someone simply for beg gay, ” Grenell told the assembled reprentativ, some om natns where LGBTQ people are targeted. It might sound rather formidable, here a sleepy farm town wh a church for every 50 rints: a duo who until recently were one of DC’s leadg gay polil power upl, turng a ep-red rner of Appalachia to a mag for weekendg Washgtonians?

The two met DC the mid-’90s when Hchck was workg for the founr of the Gay and Lbian Victory Fund and Yandura was ascendg the Clton Whe Hoe. He later beme the gay-and-lbian outreach director for the Print’s ’96 reelectn mpaign, then raised lns om the LGBT muny for the Democratic Party. Yandura (left) and Hchck met via Democratic circl the the time, Yandura was workg the Clton Whe went on to bee some of the party's most powerful gay operativ.

But the more entrenched he got the party, the sicker he felt about “verg the ass” of ndidat who took money om gay supporters whout standg up for them. In 2006, he fired off an e-mail to major gay donors implorg them to close their wallets until the Democratic Natnal Commtee started phg for their rights.

A GAY DC POWER COUPLE IS REMAKG A WT VIRGIA TOWN. NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY ABOUT IT.

In 2015, Jonathan Lewis—heir to the Progrsive Insurance fortune, a major donor to gay-rights , and a longtime iend of Yandura’s who fund GetEqual—bought land for the project.

“Secret Cy: The Hidn History of Gay Washgton, " by Jam Kirchick, is a 654-page tome that took years of rearch and an exhstive vtigatn to printial archiv, historil terviews and once-classified ernment rerds. “I realized that all the stori I was readg, and the personali and phenomena, whether was McCarthyism or the Reagans, FDR or JFK, that there were the gay stori lurkg the background, ” Kirchick said.

Those stori lurked the background out of necsy: The st of g out as gay — or, more likely, beg outed agast one’s will — was enormo profsnally and socially. “It was the specter of homosexualy that provoked the first and only suici by a member of Congrs his Capol Hill office, ed Lyndon Johnson to et that his historil lead would evaporate, and seized the paranoid md of Richard Nixon send only to the plots of his ever-expandg enemi list, ” Kirchick wr. ” Rumors of homosexualy were tastrophic to those who were acced of , but Kirchick also asks the rear to nsir the broar human and societal impact of such wch hunts on gay Amerins workg ernment.

WASHGTON, D.C.'S HIDN GAY HISTORY IS UNVERED 'SECRET CY'

“To asss the full sle of the damage that the fear of homosexualy wrought on the Amerin polil landspe, one mt take to acunt not only the reers ed and the liv cut short, but somethg vaster and unquantifiable: the possibili thwarted, ” Kirchick wr. Although openly LGBTQ people have ma their way to the hight ranks of ernment today, was not long ago that spected homosexuals workg for the feral ernment were hunted down, publicly huiated and termated wh the full force of the ernment.

There were whispers that Reagan was possibly participatg “homosexual nduct, ” and some Republins saw Reagan’s potential nomatn as a “danger to the Republin Party and the untry. The possibily that Kemp uld jo the ticket was evince that there was a “homosexual rg” around Reagan and that he was “the ventriloquized pawn of shadowy and sister forc, ” Kirchick wr.

When a ngrsman later asked Reagan’s munitns ai about the loss of the nomatn for Kemp, he reportedly said, “It was that homosexual thg, ” Kirchick wr.

SPOKANE’S GAYS SEEK OWN DISTRICT

“Secret Cy” ends wh the princy of Bill Clton, who said a mpaign speech ont of a largely gay dience Los Angel 1992, “I have a visn, and you are a part of . ” Wh those words, Clton would do somethg that would have seemed unfathomable to most, if not all, of his precsors: make an explic appeal to gay Amerins for their support a printial electn. Rick Peterson, a gay man and a former -print of the Feratn of Gay Gam, died Augt 15 after he was pulled om the water while swimmg Lake Washgton Seattle.

RICK GAY

When the AIDS epimic started, the unty health partment reced him, explaed Wood, a gay man, who mostly had seen gay patients at his private practice.

"Rick was stmental drivg the efforts to crease mercial sponsorship fundg for the Gay Gam 11 Hong Kong, given the lack of fancial support om the ernment there, " Wtig, director of fundraisg for the event, wrote an email. "This rulted gettg prolific sponsors such as Marrtt Bonvoy, Google YouTube, Lululemon, Standard Chartered, and Gilead behd the ia that the world of LGBTQ+ people n ntue to be changed for the better, also new regns like Asia, through the sports and arts programs of the Gay Gam sce s first edn San Francis 1982. Derek Liecty, a longtime Gay Gam participant who liv the East Bay — the 90-year-old said that he's taken part every event bicyclg but has had to step back due to sufferg an jury — fondly relled Mr.

AS SEATTLE’S GAYBORHOOD MIGRAT, CAPOL HILL QUEER BARS FIGHT TO REMA A REFUGE

Peterson's lastg ntributn will be "the fact that although not fulfilled, he was on the verge of arrangg major rporate sponsorships for the Gay Gam at the time of his ath. Peterson's volvement securg sponsorships for the Hong Kong Gay Gam, but said that the feratn as a whole has not secured long-term major fancial support.

Peterson wrote for FGG for s 40th anniversary this year, he stated that he learned of Gay Gam — the first was San Francis 1982 — om his iend Dana Cox, who had returned to Seattle om the event, where he'd won two gold medals swimmg.

"Actually, at that time 1982, I had no perceptn of any opportuny to participate Seattle's emergg gay muny as a swimmer or athlete (other than bowlg and softball at the time, pl a ltle volleyball), let alone anythg as fantastic-soundg as what Dana scribed — enterg Kezar Stadium along wh about 1, 500 other LGBTQ+ athlet and artists at the Openg Ceremoni of Gay Gam and beg serenad by Ta Turner! Peterson, an avid and acplished swimmer om the age of 10 until he fished llege, 1984 cid to form a gay swim team Seattle wh Cox and another iend, John Horman.

A HISTORY OF GAY WASHGTON THAT LETS HOMOPHOBIA STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT

He explaed the long procs of gettg the Or Swim Club to hold what he believed was the first USMS-sanctned LGBTQ+ swim meet the untry 1987 after Gay Gam II. Includg, durg the five years I served as FGG -print, the thrill of seeg Gay Gam grow om 3, 500 participants at Gay Gam II San Francis 1986, to 7, 500 participants at Gay Gam III Vanuver 1990, to 11, 500 participants 1994 at Gay Gam IV New York Cy, " Mr. Gay activists this staid Eastern Washgton cy are planng to create a neighborhood of gay-oriented hom, bs and nightlife, which relig nservativ pla...

SPOKANE — Gay activists this staid Eastern Washgton cy are planng to create a neighborhood of gay-oriented hom, bs and nightlife, which relig nservativ pla will be at odds wh Spokane’s fay-oriented culture. A gay district would signal that Spokane is tolerant and progrsive, proponents ntend, the type of muny that n attract the so-lled “creative class” that will build the enomy of tomorrow. “We’re talkg about an actual, physil part of town we would like to tablish as a gay district, ” said Marv Regud, owner of a Spokane graphic-sign firm, who envisns an area siar to the Castro district of San Francis or Capol Hill Seattle.

IN 'SECRET CY,' THOR JAM KIRCHICK TRAC THE UNKNOWN HISTORY OF GAY WASHGTON

“There is a very large gay populatn here, ” said Bonnie Aspen, a bs owner who arrived wh her partner two years ago to pe the ngtn of the San Francis Bay area. Spokane’s proposed gay district is based on theori of enomist Richard Florida, whose 2002 book “The Rise of the Creative Class” ntends the enomy of the future will be created by 38 ln workers “creative” dtri. Even though they face ltle discrimatn, gays stay unr the radar, said Aspen, a member of the Inland Northwt Bs Alliance (INBA), an associatn of gay-owned and gay-iendly bs that is phg the ia.

Florida, a Carnegie Mellon Universy profsor, said members of the creative class nsir recreatn, culture and ethnic diversy, cludg a large populatn of gays, as central to where they live. Tom Ree, an enomic-velopment officer for Spokane, said cy ernment is not exactly phg the notn of a gay district, but they don’t oppose , eher. Wh about 200, 000 rints, the cy has ltle history of gay activism, other than an effort a few years ago that add homosexuals as a protected class to s human-rights ordance.

Opponents fear a gay district will attract sexual predators who prey on gays, pl lead to creased crime, dg e and other social ills, said Walton Mize, bishop of the Christ Holy Sanctified Church. Farand Gunnels, lol reprentative for the Pri Foundatn, a Seattle-based group that giv grants to support the gay muny, wonred if there were enough gay rints Spokane to support such a district. The INBA is also preparg a “visibily mpaign, ” which bs will be asked to put signs their wdows proclaimg their support for gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people.

JAM KIRCHICK EXPLOR DC’S GAY HISTORY AN AMB NEW BOOK

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At the time, the queer bars I pass are stg silent and shuttered: Pony, whose signage announced 2014 to a changg neighborhood, “This is a very gay bar. As spac close or relote search of cheaper rent, there is an opportuny to rethk both the nature of queer space and the boundari of Seattle’s gayborhood. My two gay bt iends and I were dner regulars at the Broadway Grill; hnted mortuary-turned-gay-bar Chapel; and danced our hearts out at club and drag performance venue R Place, where I always felt wele, both before and after I me out as queer and genr-expansive.

GAY, BLACK TRACK ATHLETE HAD CHARACTER AND ROLVE TTED AT UNIVERSY OF WASHGTON

Its five female founrs chose the space for s large wdows, a revolutnary move durg a time when “gay bars were more like speakeasi, ” as Manng told the Seattle Channel, hoed dark, hidn spac. The gayborhood of my youth was punk-rock and unashamedly queer, a rehg ntrast to the homogenized culture and merce that domated downtown and the suburbs.

Dpe the “myth of gay affluence, ” LGBTQ people face higher rat of poverty than their cisgenred, heterosexual peers, along wh barriers to social servic and health re. At the time, strict laws regulatg sodomy, same-sex dancg, and drag forced them unrground, but most “gay bars end up simply payg off the police to prevent them om beg harassed, ” says Peter Boag, profsor and Columbia Chair the History of the Amerin Wt at Washgton State Universy.