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LGBTQ Activism in Seattle History Project

Video Oral Histories

The links below lead to brief personal biographies and streaming-video excerpts of each interview. More interviews will be available soon


Marsha Botzer Born in Seattle, Marsha Botzer has been active in the transgender movement and greater LGBTQ equality movement in local, national, and transnational capacities since the 1970s. Botzer founded the Ingersoll Gender Center in Seattle in 1979 and is the only transgender person to have served as chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Tim Burak Born in Seattle in 1945, Tim Burak began working at the Seattle-King County Public Health Department in 1974 and volunteered at the Seattle Gay Clinic in 1979. He started the Chicken Soup Brigade, a support network for gay men living with AIDS, and he was a founding member of the Northwest AIDS Foundation. In 1985, Burak became manager of the Public Health Department's AIDS Prevention Project.
Roger Winters Born in Indiana, Roger Winters moved to Ellensburg in 1972 and moved to Seattle in 1977. He has been active in gay politics in Seattle since his arrival, serving as office manager of the Dorian Group, where he later served as President. He has been active with SEAMEC, Citizens to Retain Fair Employment, and the Pride Foundation. Winters was a founding member of the Legal Marriage Alliance in 1995.
Yolanda Alaniz The daughter of farm workers, Yolanda Alaniz was active in MEChA, the Brown Berets, the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women, in addition to writing for the UW _Daily_ on Chicana issues. She now works as an archivist, preserving Chicano/a history.
Phil Bereano A professor at the University of Washington since 1975, Phil Bereano has been an outspoken defender of civil liberties, especially with regard to issues regarding LGBT/AIDS. For almost 20 years he has been a member of the National Board of the American Civil Liberties Union.He was a founding member of a number of organizations, including the Washington Rainbow Coalition and ACT/UP Seattle.
Janice Van Cleve For more than thirty years, Janice Van Cleve has been an activist and leader of the fight for LGBTQ rights. Her actions exposing discrimination helped inspire the 1985 Seattle Open Housing Ordinance. A member of Queer Nation, she served on the Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays and was one of the founders of the Legal Marriage Alliance in 1995.
Chris Hurley When the Bailey-Boushay House, and AIDS hospice care facility, opened in Madison Valley in 1992, Chris Hurley was hired as its first medical director, a role she served for 13 years.
Aleksa Manila Born in Manila, Philippines, Aleksa Manila is a "drug counselor by day, drag diva by night" in Seattle. As a drag performer, Manila serves as an advocate for causes including HIV prevention and combatting drug addiction in the LGBTQ community. When "not-in-face," Manila serves as the Program Coordinator for Project NEON at Seattle Counseling Service, promoting harm reduction and combatting methampetamine addiction in the community.