The Seattle Gay News (SGN) was founded in 1976 to provide news coverage focusing on Seattle’s gay community; it is the third oldest LGBTQ+ newspaper in the US. Seattle Gay News started as a newsletter produced by the Gay Community Center. It provided news to a community that was largely ignored by mainstream newspapers and advocated for gay rights in numerous campaigns. Especially during the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, it was an important source of information and helped members of the community to support each other. Since its founding, the SGN has widened its focus to Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community more broadly.

This issue was published October 21, 1983 and its headline reports on the opening of Seattle’s first AIDS clinic, about a year after the first AIDS diagnosis in the city. In the early 1980s, AIDS was very poorly understood: nothing was known about cause, means of transmission, or cure. Treatments were also extremely limited. Despite the city and King County supporting the AIDS clinic, activists and public health officials faced a decades-long fight to understand and stop AIDS. Other front-page stories report on a break-in at the 611 Tavern, a popular gay bar, and list endorsements from the Seattle Municipal Elections Committee for Gays (SEAMEC).