History is made every day. Nowhere is there a better reminder than the upcoming Legacy Washington book, Love, Equally. While history buffs often focus on milestones in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement, like the Stonewall riots and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Legacy Washington is putting the spotlight on modern history with its upcoming exhibit and book centered around the legalization of same-sex marriage in Washington state.
Using real stories
Relying on the oral history of advocates, policymakers, and LGBTQ+ people living through the decades-long struggle for marriage equality, Love, Equally shines a light on the critical milestones that helped Washington pass groundbreaking legislation years before the rest of the country. The book focuses on profiles of activists and politicians who, for the most part, are still alive today.
"Going along with the oral history aspect, we're only interviewing people still alive," said Aaron Peplowski, Washington historian and fact checker for Love, Equally. "So except for Cal Anderson, our profile panels are made from oral history interviews... It's all about the tenth anniversary of marriage equality."
Focusing on love
Love, Equally will be officially released on February 14, to coincide with the grand opening of the new marriage equality exhibit in Olympia. The book explores some of the exhibit's themes in more depth.
"...Why we call [the book] Love, Equally is [because] early attempts to get Gay civil rights in front of people as acceptable focused on privacy and just the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have done to you," Peplowski explained.
"[Later efforts] shifted it toward focusing on love. Everybody has a right to love, and everybody has a right to show that love through marriage.
"Attitudes can change. ...[This] should be an inspiration to folks who are trying to get change done in any realm."
The fight continues
Legacy Washington picked the topic of LGBTQ civil rights at a time when a record amount of anti-LGBTQ legislation has been proposed in state legislatures across the US. Just this year, Washington legislators introduced House Bill 1214, which if passed, would prevent children from receiving gender-affirming care.
"[This project is] going to resonate a lot with LGBTQ civil rights leaders now, because of the current environment and having to deal with bathroom bills and different things like the 'Don't Say Gay' bill. ...This journey shows that if you stick to it, [though] it can take a while, it's possible," Peplowski said.
Connecting past and present
Love, Equally is not the first history project Legacy Washington has taken on. It follows an established tradition of exploring state history through the voices of prominent citizens. "We have this neat idea to connect that old history with the things we do now," Peplowski explained. "Our main function of the program is to do oral history. We interviewed a bunch of people we consider ahead of the curve now and gave them a counterpart in history."
The last exhibit Legacy Washington released was about women's suffrage in Washington. Like same-sex marriage, the state gave women the vote years before it happened on the federal level. Drawing comparisons between historical events from over a hundred years ago and the modern passage of marriage equality allows readers to understand how Washington state has been ahead of the curve in progressive policymaking.
Including oral histories from the people entrenched in the movement also allows readers to understand just how recent the fight for LGBTQ equality is.
"We want to attach a present state of mind to what people were thinking when they went through it. To go to the source, the primary source in oral history, you can say, 'This is what that person was thinking, to the best of their memory, at that time.' You get to collaborate and bring together all these voices. You get to not only have those oral histories if people want to see those directly, but then you see what the narrative is," Peplowski said.
The Washington experience in a national context
Another unique aspect of Legacy Washington's history book is how the idea to write about LGBTQ civil rights came about.
"What we wanted to do was talk to some of the people involved in it and have them guide us to other people to talk to, who were involved with getting legislation... and... civil rights bills passed," Peplowski said. "Then obviously, domestic partnership and [those] at the forefront of those issues.
"It's cool to hear directly from them instead of the sources in the index of a book. Going back deeper and deeper to get into the sources, you can talk to people living in it. It's an exciting part of all the projects we do."
Although it's been less than a decade since the Supreme Court ruled on marriage equality, several books have already explored the significance behind the decision. However, what sets Love, Equally apart is that the book is primarily about the state of Washington.
"We wanted to focus on specifically the Washington experience. We are a Washington program. We have specific legislation that we can point to, whether it was the ... bill passed by the [state] legislature in 2012 and [signed] by then Gov. Gregoire or Referendum 74, which is what the people voted on," Peplowski said.
"...[The book] does point to things that were earlier on, because those too reflect the experience of the people we interviewed, going back to Stonewall and 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' in the military: all specific things that were points along the way for a collective movement. But we wanted to focus on how we got, in Washington, people the ability to have same-sex marriages."
Even though Love, Equally has a more local emphasis, the researchers still had to examine national trends to understand the shift in ideology that took place over just a few decades.
"...You could tell that there was a national movement toward accepting LGBTQ lifestyles, which, you know, [is reflected] in pop culture. A lot of people referenced Ellen. When she first came out, it was this whole thing. Then her show got canceled a year later, but not too long after, you had Will and Grace, which specifically had a Gay character — multiple Gay characters — from the start. So, you knew attitudes were changing."
Historians also pored over other books that had already documented the shifts in popular culture to understand what was going through the minds of Washingtonians.
"...Public opinion [has shifted] on whether or not same-sex marriage should be legal," Peplowski explained. "Not too long ago, it was wildly in the 'no' column, and now it's 'yes,' as we saw in the passing of the Respect for Marriage Act in Congress... It has shifted to many constituents expecting their legislators to vote [yes] on it."
Just the facts
Writing a nonfiction book is no small task. Unlike most novels, Love, Equally required a team of authors, editors, researchers, and fact-checkers to ensure that all the stories in the final project were true and accurate. Peplowski was one of many team members tasked with fact-checking.
"My primary job was to back up the research done by our two authors, one of which, Bob Young, who recently retired, was the one who started setting this up. It was in late 2021, and that took over his 40-hour-a-week job," Peplowski said.
Once the project got underway, it soon became the main effort of all involved.
"In September, [Young] did several interviews with each of his subjects," Peplowski said. "The other writer, John Hughes, the current chief historian of the secretary of state, took a couple of months to finish a different work... — the autobiography of former Gov. Dan Evans. Then he shifted about February of this year. That became his full-time research. I created the layout with the text [and] pictures, and did some editing, and helped them with all the research. That was my complete job from the time my boss, the chief historian, started. So we were working solidly from about February of [last] year until the book wrapped."
Despite the book primarily employing oral history interviews, a majority of the work was ensuring that the stories were reliable.
"...You have to fact-check and index, which is the most boring part," Peplowski said.
Available electronically and in perpetuity
For those hoping to view the exhibit or read the book, both will be available for free virtually. The book Love, Equally will be available to purchase as well.
"Luckily, the book will be available [electronically], but also there will be a virtual exhibit, Peplowski said. "All of our exhibits have been made available on the website. That's kind of the beauty of the state public funds that pay for the historians to do their jobs.
"Eventually, the book will be free, not only through libraries but also in PDF form on the website. We will have chunked out the profiles to correspond with each of the exhibit panels.
"So the virtual exhibit, the book, and the physical exhibit will launch on February 14. If people are far, far away and can't make it, we've got you covered. That will be available in perpetuity...
"After that, all our exhibits are made available to travel to other museums, focusing on Washington museums and other institutions like archives and libraries as well."
All of Legacy Washington's publications can be found at sos.wa.gov/legacy, including previous exhibits and books. While the book will be free in PDF form, the organization asks for those able to do so to make a small donation to help cover some of their costs.
"The printing costs of our book and the outreach are covered by our 501(c)(3) foundation. While our salaries are covered, we still need an extra little boost to get things out there," Peplowski said.