Brothers and Sisters (And Everyone in Between): Sexuality and Class in the Pacific Northwest, 1970—1995
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Date
2002-06
Authors
Orth, Christa
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
In the past decade, national attention has focused on political battles in the
Pacific Northwest, such as the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle in 1999, and
Measure 9 in Oregon in both 1992 and 2000. Although these events are usually
considered in isolation, they reflect a rich history of growing alliances between labor and
gay activism. My close study oflesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT)
organizations and political activity reveals gay rights activism took on another venue
beginning in the seventies: the workplace.
My study explores the history of the LGBT workers' rights movement through:
ways they negotiated working-class issues within the gay rights movement through
vocational groups and labor unions; how response to the HIV/ AIDS epidemic facilitated
this workers' rights activism; and how the case study of the Northwest AIDS Foundation
in Seattle resulted in class and identity conflicts when gay workers organized a gay
workplace in 1989.
Description
106 pages
Keywords
post-Stonewall, LGBTQ+, lesbian, gay, bisexual, working class, activism, PNW, HIV/AIDS