Seattle Municipal Archives Feature: The History of Seattle’s Pride Parade

 

Seattle Municipal Archives Feature

 

Seattle celebrated its first Gay Pride Week June 24-30, 1974, with a variety of activities at private and public venues around the city. Mayor Uhlman gave the event official endorsement in 1977, declaring June 25 to July 1 to be Gay Pride Week in the City of Seattle. Keith Luttenbacher, in his July 5, 1977 letter, was one of many who wrote thanking Mayor Uhlman for his support, “especially after the negative press due to Ms. [Anita] Bryant.” Local opponents of gay rights were incensed by the mayor’s proclamation, and reactions ranged from letter-writing campaigns to published threats of recall to picketing outside City Hall. Ultimately, Mayor Uhlman’s endorsement of Gay Pride Week gave added significance to the city’s first Gay Pride March, held in 1977. This year’s parade will be held on Sunday, June 30.

Letter from Keith Luttenbacher to Mayor Uhlman, July 5, 1977. Box 61 folder 8, Mayor Uhlman Subject Files, Records Series 4287-02, Seattle Municipal Archives.

 

Pride Parade Photographs, 1993. Box 3 Folder 9, Seattle Office of Human Rights Commission for Lesbians and Gays Subject Files, Record Series 8405-04, Seattle Municipal Archives

 

Gay Pride Parade, 2002 Item 130661, Seattle Municipal Archives	Pride Parade, 2011 Seattle City Council Flickr site

 

---

 

 
Related Topics:

 

• 2012 Pride Parade flickr slideshow

 

• 2012 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month Proclamations:
  • Presidential Proclamation
  • City of Seattle’s Proclamation

 

• Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), Office of Human Rights

 

• RSJI related blog articles, Council Connection, Seattle City Council

 

• Related Collections in the Seattle Municipal Archives
  • Digital document library on Gay Rights in the 1970s’
  • Photographs of the 2002 and 2011 Gay Pride Parade
  • Mayor Wesley C Uhlman Subject Files, Record Series 5287-02
  • Jeanette Williams Subject Files, Record Series 4693-02
  • Mayor Charles T Royer Subject Correspondence, Record Series 5274-02 and Legal subject Files, Record Series 5274-03
  • Seattle Office for Women’s Rights Subject Files, Record Series 8401-01
  • Seattle Office for Women’s Rights Departmental Publications, Record Series 8401-05

 

• Seattle Channel videos
  • Town Square: LGBT Equality at a Crossroads, 6/24/2011
  • Caregiving in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Families, 9/27/2007
  • Seattle Men’s Chorus: Home for the Holidays, 12/21/2007