The Early 1980s
1981
The 1981 march was initiated by the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) and Radical Women (RW), which called for a coalition effort to plan the event. Five weeks before the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising no march was planned, and FSP and RW felt it would be a real setback for the movement if nothing happened. After all, it was thanks to powerful organizing that Initiative 13 was defeated. We decided to make flyers and hit the queer bars to see if there was interest in putting together a march. A new group emerged that consisted primarily of brand-new activists and seasoned radicals. We chose the name Stonewall ’81 Committee for Lesbian/Gay Rights and managed to gather twenty-eight endorsements for the march. The theme, “Lesbians/Gays Demand Liberation in Every Land, on Every Level! For Solidarity of All the Oppressed against Rightwing Attacks!” was a mouthful, but it reflected the militant politics of the new multi-racial coalition.
George Bakan, a newcomer to Seattle, noticed the tremendous energy most queers felt when they attended their first pride march. From that point on, George never looked back. He later became a leader in the Freedom Day Committee and the editor of Seattle Gay News.
The 300-strong march was a great success, despite attempts by a group of conservative gay men to drown out the speakers by blaring music from their flag-draped “Gay, American, and Proud” float.
The rally was held downtown on the cobblestones of Occidental Park. It coincided with the Native American Longest Walk traveling through Seattle on their trek to Washington, D.C., for redress of longstanding injustices. With the help of Jeanette Allen, a Stonewall member with the Nez Pierce tribe, we made arrangements for the exchange of historically important statements of support between the two events.
1982
In 1982, the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) a gay group that opposed the multi-issue politics of the Stonewall Committee, put on a celebration called “Picnic in the Park.” To maintain a respectable veneer and keep social protest out, GSBA excluded gay and lesbian radicals from the planning process. This undemocratic move set off rumors of a boycott. Rather than sabotage the event by asking people to stay away, however, the Stonewall ’81 Committee organized the largest and most militant contingent in the march and set the direction for future Seattle pride events.
The GSBA rally in Volunteer Park featured Armistead Maupin, author of the popular novel Tales of the City. No poster was designed that year. Meanwhile the Stonewall ’81 Committee decided to become an ongoing group that would tackle civil rights issues throughout the year and changed its name to the Stonewall Committee for Lesbian/Gay Rights.
1983
In 1983 the question of the open political split in the gay community over the “should it be a march, or a parade” debate had to be addressed. The Stonewall Committee put forth the concept of calling for an all-inclusive, democratic coalition to plan pride festivities encompassing both protest and celebration and reached out to a broad array of queer activists and organizations. The result was the formation of the Freedom Day Committee, a truly community-based group where anyone who supported gay rights could join and vote. Membership spanned the spectrum within Seattle’s lesbian/gay community, including Radical Women, Tacky Tourists, the Log Cabin Republicans, Aradia Women’s Health Center, The United Ebony Council, the Stonewall Committee, the Court of Seattle, and the Freedom Socialist Party.
The long meetings that drew around forty-five people often continued in the parking lot after the University of Washington security officers closed the meeting room. It was here that FDC hammered out its first shaky compromise between protest and celebration. Henceforth, both concepts were to be equally represented in the parade and rally, beginning with its name, “Seattle’s Lesbian/Gay Pride Parade/March and Freedom Rally.”
Another aspect of the truce was deciding how to use the march and rally to further lesbian/gay rights and liberation. Everyone agreed on the need to expand rights and advance liberation, but deciding how to express this was one of the most difficult discussions. The Stonewall Committee called for intersectional demands that raised the broad problems of discrimination, poverty, and class. This, we argued, would represent all queers, not just white gay men. The other side wanted to delete these demands completely from the event, saying they kept people away from celebrating pride because they were too angry and too radical.
Eventually both sides of the equation were resolved, as is represented on the pink and purple poster, designed by FSP’s Doug Barnes. There is a list of issues to win and achievements to celebrate. The Stonewall Committee suggested “Diversity in Action” and it was chosen as the theme for the 1983 event.
The rally featured the outrageous African American U.S. army sergeant Perry Watkins, who was suing the military for re-admission after he was thrown out for being gay. This was also the year HIV took hold in Seattle, devastating the local gay community. The grassroots Seattle AIDS Action Committee sponsored the first AIDS vigil, and the respectable Northwest AIDS Foundation applied for corporate status. Groups like Health Information Network, headed by Kathy Knowles, and the African American focused Association of People Living with AIDS under the leadership of Van Nelson and Milton Farquhar became part of the organizing process for the June Pride event.
The phenomenally successful rally was held in Freeway Park and the turnout topped everyone’s expectations, with crowds overflowing into the surrounding downtown area.
1984
This was the year of the split, as the shaky compromise between protest and celebration unraveled. The single-issue Dorian Group claimed that the 1983 poster reflected too much political content that had nothing to do with gay rights. It moved to delete the demands for abortion rights, against the war in Central America, and against violence against gays, lesbians, women, and people of color. When Dorian lost the vote, its leaders walked out, formed the Pride Week Committee (PWC), and began organizing a gay-only parade to be held on Saturday, the day before FDC’s parade/march.
Both sides forged ahead, competing for funds, endorsements, and volunteers while the broader queer community tried to decide whether to support PWC, FDC, both, or neither.
PWC’s theme was “Celebrate Our Pride: Caring, Service, Commitment.” Its April 11 press release stated, “The Lesbian/Gay Pride Week Committee is strongly committed to a single-focus event focusing on lesbian/gay pride.” It announced that anyone who agreed was welcome to participate in planning the Saturday parade. The PWC rally featured three Democratic Party heavy hitters: Seattle Mayor Charles Royer, Kathleen Boyle, and Theresa Dority. It was held on the lawn of Seattle Central Community College.
FDC’s theme was “Lesbians/Gay Men Working Together/Building a Free Future,” and the event was dedicated to “All people with AIDS.” The Sunday Freedom Rally was held in Volunteer Park in Seattle’s gay neighborhood and featured speeches by Larry Gossett, African American activist and director of the Central Area Motivational Program (CAMP); George Bakan, editor of Seattle Gay News; B. J. Barela, a Native American lesbian with Radical Women and abortion rights activist; Lou Truskoff, of the American Postal Workers Union; Kevin Ono of the Stonewall Committee; and community organizer Patricia Chavez Benavidez.
After the march, FDC’s press release observed, “Supporters of the multi-issue approach claimed victory when the Sunday, June 24 Parade/March and Rally drew thousands.”
The Freedom Day Committee continued to grow and organized all events for two more decades, while the Pride Week Committee closed its doors.