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That year, gays and lesbians marched in the streets of Pioneer Square, demanding recognition and celebrating their visibility. In 1977 Mayor Uhlman declared the first "Gay Pride Week" in Seattle. Seattle's lesbians and gays commemorated Stonewall with protests and rallies throughout the early '70s. Shelly's Leg exemplifies a shift in attitude in the gay and lesbian community, which was no longer content to meet only in discreet bars and hidden after-hours clubs.Įstablished in the bars and liberated by New York City's Stonewall riots in 1969, the lesbian and gay community branched out in the 1970s. Though frequented by both gays and straights, a prominently displayed sign declared that Shelly's Leg was gay territory. Seattle's first disco, Shelly's Leg, opened in 1973 "at the foot of main" in Pioneer Square. Perhaps the first truly visible “out” space in the city was Shelly’s Leg. Another project of GCSS was the album, Lavender Country. A portion of the land was devoted to a women-only space. Located on the Olympic Peninsula, near Port Angeles, Elwah Farms was a gay version of the “back to the land” movement of the mid 70s. Gay Community Social Services supported a variety of projects that reflects the growth in a community. Even in this 1970s "liberation" period, claiming a space and labeling it gay was risky. The GCC moved to Capitol Hill around 1973, and was destroyed by arson in 1976.
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The GCC offered everything from alcohol-free dances and macramé classes to meeting spaces for political organizations such as Gay Community Social Services. One of the first non-bar gay and lesbian spaces in Seattle, the Gay Community Center opened its doors in 1972 at First and Cherry in Pioneer Square.
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In the late 1960s and early 1970s, that began to change as the era of gay liberation came into full swing. While the simple act of patronizing a drag bar, or wearing butch clothes might have been a political act, few gay spaces explicitly announced themselves as such. While places like the Garden of Allah may have been known to some straight people, the lesbian and gay community was for the most part very discreet.
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In the 1940s, 50s and 60s, gay and lesbian Seattle was more or less underground.