For John, moving to Seattle opened up an opportunity for him to find a community with other LGBTQ people and find spaces to freely express his identity. In our interview, John references his own lack of knowledge surrounding gay relationships while looking back on his sex education in school. He stated “It was always Dick and Jane but never Dick and Dick or Jane and Jane.” Like many queer communities, nightlife facilitated a space to explore his sexual identity during this time. The city had a hub of queer-centered bars which provided an arrangement of different environments to choose from. John named a few of his favorites to be the Brass Connections, a gay dance bar, Neighbors, a self-described “everyone” bar but, as John recalls, had a large gay customer base, R Place, which provided everything from dancing to pool tables, and occasionally the Seattle Eagle, which was a dive bar that catered to the leather kink community. He does explain how there was a level of separation within the gay and lesbian bar scene stating, “It wasn’t like there was some line in between the two groups or anything… but the girls did their things, and the guys did their thing, and you know, never the two shall meet, so to speak. We came together for parades and that sort of thing, but you didn’t see guys hanging out at the Wild Rose, and you wouldn’t really see women hanging out at the Seattle Eagle.”  John describes his time at the bars to be “exciting” being that he got to be around like minded people and explore his identity.

Bars and nightclubs have played an integral role in queer communities providing a space that allows queer expression and a level of safety from the outside world. Historically, nightlife has been functioned as a safe space for LGBTQ people to find a community and safely express their identities. Seattle’s nightlife scene has roots dating back to the 1890s. The Klondike gold rush made Seattle a destination for traveling workers and gave way to a tenderloin district that facilitated nightlife, gambling, and sex work for men on their way up the Western coast. The tenderloin, which is now known as Pioneer Square, would become the setting for queer nightlife for decades to follow, although it faced ups and downs of discriminatory legislation and law enforcement over the years. After the decline of the goldrush in the early 1900s, the city had escalated the criminalization of same-sex relations which continued through to the 1930s. Over this same time, the city experienced a massive influx of population as the city grew from under 4,000 to over 365,000 creating opportunities for new and diverse communities. When prohibition ended in 1933, the city gained several gay bars and clubs. These bars welcomed middle class gay and lesbians and were predominantly centered around the tenderloin district.

The second World War brought another downturn in Seattle’s gay nightlife as many of the gay men entered the military and many lesbian women entered the workforce. This continued with the suppression of queer people during the early Cold War Era which prompted the Lavender Scare. During this time homosexuality was seen as subversive behavior and was viewed as threat to American ideals.This was with the exception of the famous gay cabaret bar called The Garden of Allah which was open from 1946-1956. By the 1960s, gay nightlife was on the rise again. During this time bars and nightclubs were able to function safely by a system of bribery with the Seattle Police Department, which protected the clubs and patrons from police raids. This period ended with a public outing of the corrupt activity and trials of some participating officers.

In the following decades, Seattle emerged on the forefront of LGBTQ liberation. By 1973, the Seattle City Council passed the Fair Employment Practice Ordinance which gave gays and lesbians protection from workplace discrimination. Following shortly after, Washington repealed its anti-sodomy laws in 1976 and by 1977 the Seattle had announced its official “Gay Pride Week”. As the city pushed through more protective ordinance, the nightlife scene grew as well. The notable lesbian bar, the Wild Rose, which John mentions in his interview, opened in 1974. Even though the community was on the rise with support from city and state legislation, In 1978 an anti-gay and lesbian bill emerged called Initiative 13. Initiative 13 argued that gay and lesbian individuals were not considered a minority meaning they would not be granted anti-discriminatory rights. Luckily, this bill was not passed through with a voter rate of over 60% against the bill.

(Click on each photo to see larger image)

The photoset above shows three pages from a Seattle publication titled Gay News, published December 3rd 1982. In the papers you can see adds for bars, restaurants, events and local businesses. As well as a map of Seattle on the third page showing the addresses of gay bars and nightclubs in the area. One of John’s favorite bars, The Brass Connection is listed on Page 10.

Going into the 1980s the community experienced a shift with the rise of the AIDS epidemic, as the communities pushed forward community based treatment options for those living with HIV or AIDS. The Seattle queer community persevered. During this time, some of John’s favorite bars opened including the Seattle Eagle, R Place and the Brass Connection Lounge. Following through to the 1990s and into the 2000s, Seattle gay community and its nightlife scene continued to thrive.

The combination of queer nightlife and liberal politics, that created legal protections for LGBTQ people, enabled Seattle to become a destination for the queer community. Bars and nightclubs have been able to create spaces that blend the public and private spheres, enabling them to protect their patrons while providing a public space to socialize. This was relevant for John as he states that bars allowed him to explore the community. During our interview he laughed and said he was able to go into them and say “Okay.. who are these gay people that I am now one of?” This was something that he was previously unable to explore before his move to Seattle. The Capitol Hill neighborhood provided John not only with his favorite nightlife spots, but was also the location for yearly Pride events as the pride march would go up broadway and finish in Volunteer park which is on the North end of the district.