Paul Barwick

Paul Barwick (born 1946) is an American former LGBT rights activist and same-sex marriage pioneer. In 1972, he filed one of the first lawsuits in the history of the United States regarding the right of gays and lesbians to marry, after he and the late fellow activist John Singer were denied a civil marriage license at the King County Administration Building in Seattle, Washington. The case, Singer v. Hara, was the best-known gay marriage case in the state of Washington until Andersen v. King County in 2006. He moved to San Francisco, California, which was his residence for 30 years, but he now currently lives in Centralia WA. Later, he became an emergency dispatcher for the Washington State Patrol, and attended Olympic College in Bremerton. It was at Olympic where he disclosed to a nurse on campus that he believed there was a possibility he could be gay. In April 1973, Barwick was involved in a protest against the beating of a lesbian at the hands of the police. He, along with three others, met with a police official who informed them that their complaints would be considered unfounded, unless an "impartial witness" came forward to verify their stories, and a gay person did not qualify as an "impartial witness".

The license and lawsuit On September 20, 1971, the couple went to the King County auditor's office and asked for a marriage license from Lloyd Hara, the auditor. The pair was supported by the Seattle Gay Alliance, and the Seattle chapter of the Gay Liberation Front, in their effort to obtain a marriage license. Many years later, Hara told The Seattle Times that he agreed with the pair, stating: "I thought it was wrong then and I still firmly feel the same way." King County Superior Court Judge Frank Howard rejected Barwick and Singer's claims of discrimination. In 1974, the Washington Court of Appeals upheld Howard's ruling, saying that the "auditor's office was within its right to make the refusal".