Seattle Lesbian/Gay Pride March poster, 1979. Courtesy of Chris Smith. Shoulder to shoulder, marchers took to the streets for the 1979 Lesbian/Gay Pride March.

1977

The theme was “Gay Pride ’77. Equal Rights for All!” The rally featured jazz musician Bea Smith and an array of militant speakers who denounced Anita Bryant’s national anti-gay crusade.

1979

In California, Dan White, a former police officer who had just resigned from his position as City Supervisor, murdered San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was gay, and Mayor George Moscone. Outraged crowds rioted on Castro Street when White received a meager seven-year sentence for this double homicide.

In Seattle, the Pride March of 1979 celebrated the defeat of Initiative 13, a rightwing attempt by Seattle police officers David Estes and Dennis Falk to revoke inclusion of queers in Seattle’s Fair Employment Practices and Open Housing ordinances, ordinances that FSP and RW had been central to winning.

1979 also marked the groundbreaking Third World Lesbian/Gay Conference in Washington D.C., which preceded the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

Seattle’s poster gives an unusual bird’s-eye view of gay pride marchers. It was silk-screened in non-traditional pale yellow, green, and black.

That year, Smiley Hilaire, an Indigenous rabble rouser, began Dykes on Bikes in Seattle, and it became tradition that they lead the march.

A theme was somehow chosen to connect the entire event: “Rising to Claim the Future.” And rise we did.