The activists who killed a Metropolis plan to construct a kids’s playground at Denny Blaine Park are offended with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell after texts from his non-public cellphone to millionaire philanthropist Stuart Sloan, the donor behind the playground undertaking, confirmed that each males shared a mutual “disgust” for nude bathers on the queer seaside. In addition they really feel Harrell gave Sloan preferential remedy by arranging for Metropolis directors to fulfill with Sloan to instantly handle issues about authorized nudity on the seaside, and that Harrell’s workplace had been dishonest about its involvement with the playground plan.
The mayor’s workplace maintains that Harrell didn’t know Sloan pledged $1 million to pay for the playground, regardless of the texts, two in-person conferences with Sloan beforehand reported by The Stranger, and Sloan’s direct contact with the mayor’s employees.
Sophie Amity-Debs, co-lead organizer of Pals of Denny Blaine, a park stewardship group affiliated with the Seattle Parks Basis, didn’t purchase Harrell’s declare.
“That he has had a far larger involvement than he has let on has been fairly obvious from the beginning,” Amity Debs mentioned. “That’s clearly a lie.”
Caught with Their Pants Down
In texts from Harrell’s private cellphone between March 2023 to June 2023, Sloan known as beachgoers “DISGUSTING” and urged the mayor to handle the difficulty of nudity earlier than summer time. Sloan additionally despatched Harrell and Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent AP Diaz photographs of nude bathers, taking the “liberty” to black out the “privates,” of which “there have been many.” When Sloan expressed his disgust about nudity, the mayor wrote, “In case you are disgusted I share your disgust.”
After these texts, Harrell despatched a high Metropolis administrator and Parks employees to assist Sloan. Metropolis officers later visited Sloan’s dwelling to current plans and the estimated value for the playground months earlier than the general public knew in regards to the proposal.
Each the mayor’s Communications Director Jamie Housen and Lee Keller, a consultant for Denny Blaine Park for All, a gaggle of neighbors that features Sloan, advised The Stranger that their issues with Denny Blaine had nothing to do with queer individuals or nudity however somewhat trash, human waste, unlawful parking, and lewd conduct like public intercourse and masturbation.
However mayor Harrell and Sloan solely mentioned nudity within the texts; Sloan referred to bathers as a “sub-group” from exterior of Seattle with completely different morals than the remainder of town, “you and me included.”
Amity Debs mentioned it’s clear from texts that Sloan and the mayor are discussing nudity itself as an issue that must be handled.
“Possibly the morals in query are being nude in entrance of different individuals, however I feel realistically it’s an assault on one thing that’s perceived because the dregs of society,” Amity Debs mentioned. “It is extremely irritating to listen to that terminology leveraged in opposition to my neighborhood, both deliberately, or simply due to the overall notion that the general public utilizing the seaside is soiled and unclean.”
The mayor’s workplace mentioned in an announcement that its understanding of “sub-group” was in reference to “undesirable, unlawful and lewd behaviors.”
Colleen Kimseylove, one other lead organizer of Pals of Denny Blaine, mentioned the texts present a scarcity of “human empathy” on the mayor’s half.
“It is simply footage of bare individuals,” Kimseylove mentioned. “It isn’t intercourse. It isn’t trash. It isn’t poop.”
Milo Kushold, a Denny Blaine activist who will not be a part of Pals of Denny Blaine, advised The Stranger by textual content that they have been disillusioned general that the Metropolis prioritized wealthy residents over poor ones. They mentioned the mayor ought to take heed to everybody and never simply individuals in “philanthropic positions.”
“And in the event that they actually cannot stand having bare our bodies close to their multi-million greenback fences, I would be delighted to see the funding of a brand new, nicer, bigger nude seaside elsewhere within the metropolis,” Kushold added.
In a textual content to Parks Superintendent Diaz in regards to the nude seaside he was “attempting to fully clear up,” Harrell mentioned that he appreciated Sloan’s “philanthropic place.” The mayor’s workplace mentioned that Harrell’s use of that phrase referred to Sloan’s philanthropy usually, not any particular undertaking at Denny Blaine.
Beachgoer Lex Leighty, who was coincidently making ready to go to the seaside when The Stranger reached them by cellphone, mentioned between the Denny Blaine fiasco, Harrell’s concentrate on eradicating graffiti, and the Metropolis’s common sweeping of homeless encampments, doting on the wealthy is one thing they’d come to count on from Harrell.
“Everyone else has to undergo chains of command,” they mentioned. “Every little thing the working class inhabitants has to cope with is so additional down his record of to-do.”
Rivka, one other common customer of Denny Blaine, mentioned these texts caught Harrell and Sloan “with their pants down.” It was clear to her that they didn’t need queer individuals on the seaside, particularly not nude queer individuals.
In an announcement to The Stranger final week, the mayor’s workplace mentioned that at no level did Sloan check with the sexual orientation or identification of the beachgoers, and that Sloan has by no means denigrated LGBTQ individuals in any conversations with the mayor.
“Moreover, his vital philanthropic donations have been made to the advantage of individuals of all backgrounds, identities, and orientations, together with his $78 million donation to Fred Hutch–a frontrunner on most cancers healthcare for LGBTQ individuals,” mentioned Mayor’s Workplace Communications Director Jamie Housen.
Neighbors group Denny Blaine Park for All mentioned in an announcement that this fiasco was solely about individuals often “breaking the legislation on this park” with no enforcement of current legal guidelines.
Since 2018, there have solely been 11 calls to Seattle police relating to lewd conduct close to or round Denny Blaine Park.
How Did All This begin?
The Stranger first spoke to Amity Debs in November, shortly after she and different activists discovered of the playground proposal; she and Kimseylove have been amongst a handful of key organizers who mobilized in opposition to it.
Petitions in opposition to the proposal attracted lots of of signatures, and activists later drew lots of to a public assembly with the parks division on December 6, the place neighborhood activists mentioned putting in a playground on this policial second felt nakedly homophobic, perpetuating the “groomer” conspiracy that LGBTQ individuals search to indoctrinate and sexualize kids, and even put bathers liable to catching an indecent publicity cost from a shocked and offended dad or mum.
The homosexual and trans individuals who spoke lambasted the Metropolis for threatening a park that has been a summer time haven and neighborhood establishment since at the least the Nineteen Eighties. Days after the passionate public assembly, the parks division introduced it will not be constructing a playground.
However that was not the top for Debs, Kimseylove, and their co-organizers. Within the months after the assembly, they helped kind Pals of Denny Blaine and commenced assembly with the parks division and neighbors who lived close to the seaside to hash out a compromise that ended battle over its use.
The 2 sides emerged in Could with a public proposal for supplemental use pointers on the seaside, which included an unpopular plan to cleve Denny Blaine into bare and clothed zones. The parks board was set to vote on the supplemental pointers, however the division scrapped that plan earlier than they even had the prospect.
What’s Subsequent?
Amity Debs mentioned Pals of Denny Blaine will proceed to facilitate nearly as good of a relationship with neighbors as attainable however added that none of them had reached out to activists about Sloan’s textual content messages.
“It’s my honest hope that Sloan and Harrell are a minority right here and that it isn’t a sentiment that’s held by the remainder of the neighbors,” she mentioned. “It’s telling that Sloan will not be the one who confirmed as much as our conferences. I feel he didn’t suppose that this disgusting subgroup was price his time.”
Denny Blaine Park for All mentioned in an announcement final week that they continue to be dedicated to fostering “respect and civility to make sure Denny Blaine Park is a welcoming area for everybody [sic] together with all guests, households, the LGBTQ neighborhood and neighbors.”
Final week, Pals of Denny Blaine introduced a $3.5 million fundraiser to pay for numerous park enhancements, together with common water testing, the acquisition of native crops to interchange invasive species, bike racks, a summer time shuttle, and loos to interchange Denny Blaine’s lone, hard-working porta-potty.
After Sloan and Harrell’s messages grew to become public, Pals of Denny Blaine began a donation drive. Anybody who donates $25 could have a postcard with their title on it despatched to the mayor’s workplace to remind Harrell, “This member of a disgusting subgroup votes.” A $1,000 donation will partially pay for a drag queen to ship Devine’s filth monologue from John Waters’s Pink Flamingos exterior the mayor’s workplace. To date, the group has raised about $3,000.
As of press time, no drag queens have been set to bully the mayor.
