A look at the queerest city in Washington: Tacoma

The queerest city in Washington isn’t Seattle, it’s Tacoma.

The City of Destiny has continually ranked on the Advocate’s annual list of most gay-friendly and frequently overlooked American cities.

But for many people, Tacoma conjures up images of dock workers and street gangs, not Pride festivals.
KIRO Radio decided to travel south to try to find out what makes Tacoma so LGBTQ friendly.

Michelle Douglas, who is now the Director of Tacoma’s Rainbow Center, used to run a bar called The Tempest Lounge in the city’s notorious Hill Top district. But what she saw there wasn’t violence, it was exuberance.

“It was all these queer people, all these straight people, all these people who were somewhere in the middle, in and out, every different ethnicity and everyone was just dancing like crazy,” said Douglas.

The gay scene looks a bit sparse at first. There isn’t a very clear-cut gay district, but one night out in Tacoma and it becomes obvious: The queer community is big and it’s energetic. Douglas’ favorite bar now is a place called The Mix.

“Everybody is here for a good time and that is what we’re going to have,” said Douglas. “I think that is queer Tacoma, that is straight Tacoma to me. That’s the best part of Tacoma, is just that passion for being alive.”

The Mix is an important fixture, but the Rainbow Center is arguably the heart of queer Tacoma.

Laura Brewer, who runs the day-to-day operations at the center, moved to Tacoma 15 years ago. She said the state-wide campaigns for marriage equality and locally-grown anti-discrimination initiatives have created a place where everybody can feel safe and welcome.

“You don’t necessarily see lots of people walking through town holding hands, but you don’t not see queer couples walking through town holding hands either,” said Brewer. “I think it’s just this kind of slow and steady, which is maybe why it hasn’t really stood out to people. But it’s this slow and steady building of LGBTQ acceptance and rights here. I feel safe in the city.”

Tacoma wasn’t always that way. Douglas remembers it wasn’t so long ago that she spent her days looking over her shoulder.

“I moved here 15 years ago. I would never have held my girlfriend’s hand in the street or felt like it was safe to put a bumper sticker on my car or something like that,” she said. “I feel like Tacoma has just made great leaps and strides where I feel really safe here now.”

Said Douglas, “I think the city as a whole has welcomed the LGBTQ community in a way that is really impactful.”