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 May 17, 1996 and its headline reports on a lecture given by Urvashi Vaid (pictured) advocating for LGBTQ+ people to work toward transforming unjust social structures. This issue also includes a list of more than 1,600 people who had died of AIDS in Washington up to that time. Other front-page stories include a report on NAMBLA being banned from the Pride parade in 1996, and a report on Seattle Mayor Norm Rice denouncing a baseless homophobic conspiracy theory spread by a right-wing talk radio host.