Hundreds pack Seattle meeting to oppose playground at LGBTQ+ nude beach

Hundreds pack Seattle meeting to oppose playground at LGBTQ+ nude beach


Hundreds of people packed a Seattle community meeting Wednesday night to oppose a proposal by the city to build a kids play area at a beach park known for decades as a nude hangout, especially for LGBTQ+ folks.

People who swim and sunbathe at Denny Blaine Park, and who view the $550,000 plan initiated by an anonymous donor as an attempt to change the way the space on Lake Washington has been used for decades, held signs with messages like “Don’t Displace Historic And Diverse Community,” “Gay Buns Over Shady Funds” and “Save Denny Blaine.” The crowd was so large it spilled into the street outside the MLK FAME Community Center.

Seattle Parks and Recreation leaders haven’t yet determined whether to proceed with the plan but said Wednesday they would decide within two weeks. At the meeting, Deputy Superintendent Andy Sheffer pitched the privately funded project as an opportunity to address a playground deficit in the upscale Denny Blaine neighborhood without spending public money. He said the city wouldn’t otherwise prioritize adding a playground in such an affluent area.

“The intent of this project is absolutely not to target any community members,” Sheffer said as boos exploded in the MLK FAME center’s auditorium and someone in the room shouted, “No one believes that!”

Then dozens of people spoke against the project, describing the small, tiered park with a grass lawn above a secluded beach as a precious place where queer and trans people can be themselves and expressing fears that a playground would alter that environment. Public nudity is generally legal in Washington but can be an “indecent exposure” crime under specific circumstances.

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