This iteration of Trans Pride ended in 2000.
Trans activists Spencer Bergstedt and Jason Cromwell gather locals together outside Seattle Central Community College for a rally “in support of those crossing, having crossed, or challenging gender and biological borders.” Local advocacy group Gender Justice League writes that Seattle’s Trans Pride was the first in the nation. This is just one year before Seattle voters defeat a bill that would’ve stripped LGBTQ+ people of equal housing and employment rights.
Mayor Wes Uhlman declares the first city-sanctioned Gay Pride Week, which culminates in Seattle’s first official Pride March. The week ends at Seattle Center where “fewer than 50 happy gay individuals-including a bare-chested Neth, draped in pearls, wearing cutoffs and a white floppy hat–danced with frenzied joy around the International Fountain,” Seattle Weekly reports. Seattle gay rights activist David Neth takes the lead organizing Seattle’s first Pride Week. And though there’s plenty of work left to do, our city’s made some serious progress in the last half-century. Our city’s Pride March has come a long way, from a small group of pioneers to a massive parade that draws in thousands of people. Although Seattle’s first Pride celebration was small, it was early, happening four years after inaugural Pride marches in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, among others, led the Stonewall riots in New York City and helped spark the fight for LGBTQ+ equality. Seattle celebrated our very first Pride Week in 1974 - five years after trans and gay rights activists Marsha P.