![]() | |
Type | Weekly newspaper |
---|---|
Format | Tabloid |
Owner(s) | |
Publisher |
|
Editor | |
Founded | 1974 |
Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, US |
Website | sgn |
Free online archives | issuu |
The Seattle Gay News is a weekly newspaper aimed at the Seattle and Puget Sound area LGBT community in the U.S. state of Washington. As of 2023, the SGN is distributed to every library in the King County Library System, Seattle Public Library System, and Pierce County Library System, as well as roughly 115 other locations in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Spokane and Ocean Shores.
The newspaper was founded in 1974 by Jim Tully and Jim Arnold. [5] Editor George Bakan, an LGBTQ+ activist in Seattle, acted as head of the SGN from 1984 until his death from a sudden heart attack in 2020. [2] His daughter Angela Cragin then took over his role at the paper. [6]
In 2021, staff began restructuring the paper to improve its diversity and inclusivity. [7] In the same year, SGN launched a podcast as part of the restructuring effort. [8]
In 2023, Cragin sold the publication to Stratus Group LLC, owned by Mike Schultz. [9] A year later he sold SGN to Prism Pride Press, owned by Renee Raketty. [10]
SGN files are preserved in the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. The SGN is archived at Yale University (Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library), University of Washington (Suzzallo Library) in Seattle, the Seattle Public Library (Central Library) and the Stonewall National Museum, Archive and Library in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Microfiche copies of the archives can be found at UW and the Seattle Public Library.
The Washington State Library in partnership with the Suzzallo Library and the SGN digitized the SGN's archive from 1974 through 2020 (although only in black & white). Additionally, every issue of the SGN was scanned in full color and uploaded to Issuu. [11]
Tacoma is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle, 36 miles (58 km) southwest of Bellevue, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park, and 80 miles (130 km) east of Olympic National Park. The city's population was 219,346 at the time of the 2020 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third-most populous in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of about 1 million.
Capitol Hill is a densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is immediately east of Downtown Seattle and north of First Hill. The neighborhood is one of the city's most popular nightlife and entertainment districts and is home to a historic gay village and vibrant counterculture community.
The Stranger is an alternative biweekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, U.S. It has a progressive orientation and as founded in 1991. The paper's principal competitor is the Seattle Weekly.
The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA metropolitan statistical area as the three most populous counties in the state: King, Pierce, and Snohomish. Seattle has the 15th largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States with a population of 4,018,762 as of the 2020 census, over half of Washington's total population.
KCTS-TV is a PBS member television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, owned by Cascade Public Media. The station's studios are located at Broadway and Boren Avenue in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood, and its transmitter is located at 18th Avenue and E. Madison Street on the city's Capitol Hill.
KCPQ is a television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States, serving as the Fox network outlet for the Seattle area. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV station KZJO. The two stations share studios on Westlake Avenue in Seattle's Westlake neighborhood; KCPQ's main transmitter is located on Gold Mountain in Bremerton.
The Olympian is a daily newspaper based in Olympia, Washington, in the United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and publishes a daily printed edition.
Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2023 population of 755,078 it is the most populous city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America, and the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The Seattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the 15th-largest in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities.
Interstate 5 (I-5) is an Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States that serves as the region's primary north–south route. It spans 277 miles (446 km) across the state of Washington, from the Oregon state border at Vancouver, through the Puget Sound region, to the Canadian border at Blaine. Within the Seattle metropolitan area, the freeway connects the cities of Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett.
Washington, officially the State of Washington, is the northernmost state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the national capital, both named for George Washington. Washington borders the Pacific Ocean to the west, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east, and shares an international border with the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. Olympia is the state capital, and the most populous city is Seattle.
Pierce Transit, officially the Pierce County Public Transportation Benefit Area Corporation, is an operator of public transit in Pierce County, Washington. It operates a variety of services, including fixed-route buses, dial-a-ride transportation, vanpool and ride-matching for carpools. The agency's service area covers the urbanized portions of Pierce County, part of the Seattle metropolitan area, and includes the city of Tacoma. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 7,021,900, or about 22,800 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024.
Erwin Bratton "Harry" Ault (1883–1961) was an American socialist and trade union activist. He is best remembered as the editor of the Seattle Union Record, the long-running labor weekly published from 1912 to 1928. After termination of the Union Record, Ault worked as a commercial printer for a number of years, before being appointed a deputy U.S. Marshal for Tacoma, Washington, a position which he retained for 15 years.
The Capitol Hill Pride Festival is an annual one-day pride festival that is geared towards the LGBT community and is a prelude to the Seattle Pridefest event. CHPF takes place on the last Saturday of June every year, in the Capitol Hill area. The festival includes three music stages: La Cocina Santiago, Julia's on Broadway and the main stage. Ever since its debut in 2009 by director Charlette LeFevre, historic performers include Leon Hendrix, Jinkx Monsoon, Eriam Sisters, Mary Lambert, and Massive Monkeys, with appearances by Jim McDermott, Ed Murray and budding local acts like DJ John Judge and Sarey Savy
Seattle has a notably large LGBTQ community, and the city of Seattle has protected gay and lesbian workers since the passage of the Fair Employment Practice Ordinance in 1973. Seattle's LGBTQ culture has been celebrated at Seattle Pride which began in 1977 as Gay Pride Week. Gay cabaret traveled in a circuit including Seattle and San Francisco since the 1930s. Seattle had gay-friendly clubs and bars since the 1930s including The Casino in Underground Seattle at Pioneer Square which allowed same-sex dancing since 1930, and upstairs from it, The Double Header, in continuous operation since 1933 or 1934 until 2015, was thought to be the oldest gay bar in the United States.
Tina L. Podlodowski is an American businesswoman and politician who served as the chair of the Washington State Democratic Party for three terms. A member of the Democratic Party, and previously served as a member of the Seattle City Council from 1995 to 1999.
Calvin W. Goings is the Assistant City Manager for the City of Port Angeles. He was the Director of Finance and Administrative Services for the City of Seattle, and a former politician. He was the youngest member to ever serve in the Washington State Legislature representing Puyallup at 22 years old.
R Place was a gay bar and nightclub in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. The business operated in the Teal Building on Capitol Hill.
George Bakan was an American organizer for LGBT movements and the editor-in-chief of Seattle Gay News. He died in 2020 at age 78.
The Comeback Seattle was an LGBTQ-friendly bar and nightclub in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, in the U.S. state of Washington. Described as a gay bar and queer sports bar, The Comeback hosted drag shows and RuPaul's Drag Race viewing parties. The short-lived bar opened in early 2022 and closed on April 30, 2023. It was co-owned by Floyd Lovelady, a former general manager of the gay bar and nightclub R Place, as well as John Fish.
John Lippman is an American television executive and the acting director of Voice of America. He was formerly senior vice president for news and operations at Univision Television, as well as acting director of the United States Agency for Global Media’s Office of Performance Review. Earlier in his career he was a television news executive at KING-TV, KSTW Channel 11, KIRO-TV, and KCBS-TV.