Election Night 2012 (Image: CHS)
Dan Savage and Terry Miller sliced a celebratory rainbow wedding cake at Capitol Hill’s Cupcake Royale a week later (Image: CHS)
By Jadenne Radoc Cabahug, CHS reporting intern
Tracy Taylor, Elliott Bay Book Company co-owner, says she remembers a lesbian couple who lived on Capitol Hill and worked in the bookstore who no longer held hands when walking down the street since they felt unsafe after someone called out and followed them.
“Which was really unusual, not unusual, but really horrific in what is essentially our gay neighborhood,” Taylor said.
In her 33 year career working as a general manager, Taylor remembered this couple from nearly a decade ago as she recalled the passage of R74 and how much Capitol Hill has changed since.
“There are more protections and people are more aware, or they don’t see people being fearful about showing affection on the streets,” Taylor said.
Ten years ago, Pike/Pine revelers filled the streets on Election Night, celebrating the reelection of Barack Obama and the passage of Referendum 74, legalizing same-sex marriage in Washington. A popular sign in the crowd that night: “WE MADE HISTORY”
“Capitol Hill has been and continues to be the center of LGBTQ culture and community in our, in our state, [and] certainly in our city,” Sen. Jamie Pedersen of the 43rd Legislative District said.
Pedersen said when approving the budget for Broadway’s Pride Place, a future LGBTQ+ affordable senior housing and community center, that other LGBTQ+ caucus members were supportive of the project even though they were from different places in the state like Bremerton, Federal Way, Mukilteo, Olympia and more.
“I think everyone recognizes that Capitol Hill is sort of where it all started and continues to be a really important destination for members of our community,” Pedersen said.
At Elliott Bay, the store recently became a woman and queer owned store in June after Taylor bought the store along with Murf Hall and Joey Burgess. Taylor said one of the reasons the bookstore moved to Capitol Hill from Pioneer Square 13 years ago is due to its reputation as an LGBTQ+ neighborhood and the three of them want the essence of the community to remain in the neighborhood.
“It’s just a part of how we all want to conduct business, the three of us and what we want to represent in the neighborhood, and I would say, our staff is much more representative of the community up here, probably more so than it was living in Pioneer Square,” Taylor said.
Taylor said one of the first gay marriages after the passage of R74 happened in their store.
“It was really one of the most delightful things in the 33 years that I have worked here to watch these two women get married and be allowed to get married. I mean, it was amazing,” Taylor said.
Gabriel Neuman, GSBA policy counsel and government relations manager, said when the referendum was passed in 2012, only about half of Washingtonians supported the bill. In 2019, Neuman said this increased to over 70% of Washingtonians in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
GSBA is Washington state’s LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce and represents over 1,400 LGBTQ+ small businesses and Neuman says the referendum allowed for LGBTQ+ businesses to be integrated into mainstream society over the past decade. Now, Neuman says GSBA is working on supporting the ability for businesses to stay on Capitol Hill.
“That really looks like creating an environment in which small businesses can have a platform and can exist and continue to exist, instead of all those retail spaces going towards major corporations,” Neuman said. “The community is really reflective of who [is] there and we want to continue to make sure that continues to be an option.”
GSBA offers free technical assistance and support for businesses or people who want to start a business and have the Capitol Hill Business Alliance program which is catered specifically to businesses in the neighborhood.
Pedersen says gay love has been recognized on the Hill long before R74, remembering Central Lutheran Church on 11th Ave married lesbian couples in the 70s and was the first Lutheran congregation in Washington state to welcome LGBTQ+ people.
There is also still work to be done. Currently, Pedersen said he’s working on a bill involving the name change process.
“Its purpose is really to protect the privacy of transgender people by allowing them to seal their court records without their name changed,” Pedersen said.
“My kids are 13 and 15 and so, when I think about that 10 years, what I think about is that we’ve now had an entire generation of kids who have grown up with marriage equality, just being part of the fabric of the world as they know it,” Pedersen said.
From the CHS archives
- 10/18/12: When R74 passes: a guide to your belated Capitol Hill gay marriage
- 10/31/12: A first person account from R74 call center for marriage equality
- 11/6/12: Election 2012 | Election Night on Capitol Hill — UPDATE: Obama, R74 celebration on E Pike
- 11/9/2012: Celebrate R74 with a free slice of Capitol Hill’s ‘biggest rainbow cake’
- 11/16/2012: Seattle making plans for R74 weddings — Save the dates: December 6th and 9th
- 3/27/13: Seattle, Marriage Equality USA
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