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Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging Hardcover – February 1, 2003

by Gary Atkins (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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Winner of a 2004 Washington State Book Award

Winner of a 2004 Alpha Sigma Nu (ASN) Jesuit Book Award

In 1893, the Washington State legislature quietly began passing a set of laws that essentially made homosexuality, and eventually even the discussion of homosexuality, a crime. A century later Mike Lowry became the first governor of the state to address the annual lesbian and gay pride rally in Seattle. Gay Seattle traces the evolution of Seattle’s gay community in those 100 turbulent years, telling through a century of stories how gays and lesbians have sought to achieve a sense of belonging in Seattle.

Gary Atkins recounts the demonization of gays by social crusaders around the turn of the century, the earliest prosecutions for sodomy, the official harassment and discrimination through most of the twentieth century, and the medical discrimination and commitment to mental hospitals that continued into the 1970s as homosexuality was diagnosed as a disease that could be "cured."

Places of refuge from this imposed social exile were created in underground theater and dance clubs: the Gold Rush-era burlesque shows, modern drag theater, and in mid-century the emergence of openly gay bars, from the Casino to Shelley’s Leg. Many of these were subjected to steady exploitation by corrupt police - until bar owner MacIver Wells and two Seattle Times reporters exposed the racket.

The increasingly public presence of gays in Seattle was accompanied by the gradual coalescence of social services and self-help organizations such as the Dorian Society, gay businesses and advocacy groups including the Greater Seattle Business Association, and the stormy relationship between the Vatican, Seattle's Catholic hierarchy, and gay worshippers.

Atkins’ narrative reveals the complex and often frustrating process of claiming a civic life, showing how gays and lesbians have engaged in a multilayered struggle for social acceptance against the forces of state and city politics, the police, the media, and public opinion. The emergence of mainstream political activism in the 1970s, and ultimately the election of Cal Anderson and other openly gay officials to the state legislature and city council, were momentous events, yet shadowed by the devastating rise of AIDS and its effect on the homosexual community as a whole.

These stories of exile and belonging draw on numerous original interviews as well as case studies of individuals and organizations that played important roles in the history of Seattle’s gay and lesbian community. Collectively, they are a powerful testament to the endurance and fortitude of this minority community, revealing the ways a previously hidden sexual minority "comes out" as a people and establishes a public presence in the face of challenges from within and without.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    464 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Washington Press
  4. Publication date
    February 1, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0295982985
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0295982984
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A detailed study of the evolution of lesbians and gays in Seattle that contributes significantly to the larger historical studies of gender and geography..In his lively narrative based on extensive oral histories and public records, Atkins skillfully weaves national changes and developments into stories of local individuals and movements, making this a study of importance far beyond the borders of the Pacific Northwest..A fast-paced, informative, and entertaining read."―History: Reviews of New Books

"This is one of the best works of regional history to be issued in the past five years or so."―Dan Hays, Salem Statesman Journal

"A groundbreaking new book..[This] story as been told in fragmented fashion in newspapers and on television, but it's never been put together in such dramatic fashion before..[Atkins] has a gift for transforming each story into a page turner..Gay Seattle tells the story of 20th-century Seattle in more compelling detail than any other book."―John Hartl, Special to The Seattle Times

"'Atkins' sharp style is a fluid combination of observant, level-headed reportage and you-are-there storytelling. It's the kind of rich, accessible writing that will have you opening the book on any page, intending a quick skim, and finding yourself still reading an hour later..Atkins has accomplished something fine here: an important social document that feels less like dry history and more like life."―Steve Wiecking, Seattle Weekly

"Gary Atkins has given us a richly textured and wonderfully readable account of the development of gay and lesbian life in one American city..Gay Seattle is a major contribution to gay and lesbian history. It adds significantly to our understanding of the emergence of gay urban communities in the second half of the twenthieth century. And its rich tapestry of personal stories makes it a pleasure to read."―Committee on Gay and Lesbian History Newsletter

Review

"Gay Seattle covers much of the past century, and the post-1950s history in quite useful detail. It offers the first published account of the formation of gay and lesbian political organizations in the city. The city’s gay history is distinctive owing to the port influence and the notorious police protection system that Atkins explores very effectively. This is fine regional history, reflecting extensive archival research, as well as interviews. It also is impressively well written."―Roger Simpsonco, author of An Evening at the Garden of Allah: A Gay Cabaret in Seattle

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Washington Press; First Edition (February 1, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0295982985
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0295982984
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.8 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

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  1. Gary Atkins

    Gary Atkins

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  2. Gary Atkins

    Gary Atkins

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    Gary L. Atkins is an award-winning journalist whose works include the critically acclaimed Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging and his new book, Imagining Gay Paradise: Bali, Bangkok and Cyber-Singapore. http://imagininggayparadise.com/

    Gary specializes in creative non-fiction journalism, fusing an easy-to-read narrative style powered by strong characters with questions about history, geography, communication, and social justice. Gay Seattle follows the 100-year-long saga through which gay men and women imagined their "coming home" - rather than just their "coming out" -- in the context of the Pacific Northwest's famously wet landscape and roguish history. Similarly, Imagining Gay Paradise journeys through a century of imaginings of paradise and manhood by gay men in the tropical geography of Southeast Asia. The story stretches from the end of the colonial empires to the present world of cyberspace, ranging across the development of the aesthetic paradise of Bali in the 1920s and 1930s to the erotic paradise of Bangkok fostered from the 1960s onward, and to the cyber-paradise promoted since the 1990s in Singapore. Gay Seattle was published by the University of Washington Press in 2003 and received numerous accolades for its fusion of journalism and scholarship, including a Washington State Book Award and a national Jesuit Book Award. The University of Hong Kong Press is publishing the hardback edition of Imagining Gay Paradise and is joined by Silkworm Press of Thailand as co-publishers of the paperback edition. Imagining Gay Paradise is also being made available as an e-book.

    Gary first became interested in writing about age six when his parents gave him a rubber-type printing press. He immediately started producing a newspaper for his local neighborhood in New Orleans. In high school, he initially thought he might become a historian or a biologist - two other strong interests - but eventually he realized that if he entered journalism, he could write about all three of his interests: current political and legal events, history, and nature. He graduated from Loyola University and then Stanford University, served an internship on the Washington Post and joined the Pulitzer-winning Riverside Press-Enterprise in California -- where he won numerous awards for his narrative and environmental reporting and writing. Seattle University hired him to teach in and chair its Communication Department and, in 2005, named him a full professor. He teaches courses in narrative journalism, communication justice, media and sexual/gender justice, and international communication in Asia.

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
16 global ratings
Just enough detail with a seasoned perspective on a people and their times
4 Stars
Just enough detail with a seasoned perspective on a people and their times
The story line develops chronologically and the chapter headings highlight the principal topics as the narrative progresses. Indirectly, the book serves as a readable history of the evolution of the city and the ways in which the gay community locally worked amidst the various crosscurrents to achieve its civic and political goals.
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Top reviews from the United States

jim
5.0 out of 5 stars great information, lots of detail for Seattle residents
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2010
Verified Purchase
The book Gay Seattle covers the effect gay folks had on Seattle (and the reverse) from the '70's to recent times. It includes names and dates and is a great sourcebook for further study.
4 people found this helpful
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Joseph E Donovan
4.0 out of 5 stars Just enough detail with a seasoned perspective on a people and their times
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2017
Verified Purchase
The story line develops chronologically and the chapter headings highlight the principal topics as the narrative progresses. Indirectly, the book serves as a readable history of the evolution of the city and the ways in which the gay community locally worked amidst the various crosscurrents to achieve its civic and political goals.
Customer image
Joseph E Donovan
4.0 out of 5 stars Just enough detail with a seasoned perspective on a people and their times
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2017
The story line develops chronologically and the chapter headings highlight the principal topics as the narrative progresses. Indirectly, the book serves as a readable history of the evolution of the city and the ways in which the gay community locally worked amidst the various crosscurrents to achieve its civic and political goals.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2015
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Thanks.
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joseph franigan
5.0 out of 5 stars A walk from the mud flat
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2003
The journey that I have been led is a difficult one - from the mud flat, a detour to Steilacoom, a small climb up to Denny's knoll, and the courage ascend to the Hills.
The tearing, triumphs, grindings of teeth, and the celebrations -as words capture the emotions of the past, they captivate my consciousness and draw out parallel emotions from within myself.
The author has told his own story, keeping little distance between himself and his words, creating a close intimacy between story of the past and myself:
As Francis Framer was straitjacketed and carried off, it was my own scream for help that I hear. When her eyelid was pulled open and her eyeball stared right into a spearing ice pick, it was my eyes that are forcibly shut.
The vaudevillian movements underground come through my ingertips as I touch these words on the pages. And I gyrate my hips on Shelly's Leg.
Triumph comes to my face when it was down on 13. Shadow clouds my emotion when it was down on Cal'sbill.
Reading the book was a difficult journey for me, because, well, it had been a difficult journey indeed for those who had walked the path. But it is a journey well deserving of its travelers. As I look about Seattle, I find the reflections of my past: I hear my own language speaking through the many entrances that I have not entered. I see pictures of myself hung on the walls of places that I have never been. My heart echoes the steps taken by people whose names I have scarcely known. Today, I have, I own a sense a dwelling.
4 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Breezy but slight history
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2006
Verified Purchase
Readable but superficial history of Seattle gay life from the anti-sodomy days a century ago to its appeal many decades later. Atkins offers nothing like the sophisticated analysis of George Chauncey's Gay New York or even recent gay and lesbian histories of Portland, Oregon or Buffalo, New York.
One person found this helpful
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Nathaniel R. Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable - and a good read
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2004
I'm just finishing off Gay Seattle, by Gary Atkins, and can't recommend it too highly. The history is local, but the "general" history is good, gripping and valuable, and serves as a microcosm for gay history across the country. I'd forgotten how dreadful the '70's were, and how close we came to losing a lot of very solid gains. The religionists and the conservatives took over, and for a while there it was pretty bleak - quite like now: defeats all over, then slow progress. The politcal end of the book is good to read too, and reads like a good discussion of the various "how's" of political/social progress.

Well-written, immediate, and hard to put down.

Highly recommended.

NRB
4 people found this helpful
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Paul Handleman
3.0 out of 5 stars Robert Sirico's Bizarre Careening Chronicled
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2010
What an interesting history from what I can see online. Especially the information dealing with the now rabidly anti-gay spectre known as Fr. Robert Sirico who is dealt with at length in this book. What is crucial to note is the vacillating, impressionable and unstable picture of Sirico that is painted. Could any reasonable person not see a parallel in his later "conversion" back to reactionary Roman Catholicism?? What a tawdry tale of this man displays, and for historians, one of the most pathetic ambles through complex moral issues possible. Sirico and Seattle's gay history is a very telling and damining matter.
2 people found this helpful
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