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.

“I started going to Denny Blaine 40 years ago,” one woman said, eliciting cheers as she urged Seattle Parks to reject the play area plan, arguing the city’s choices shouldn’t be dictated by wealthy donors.

“I’m a Black transgender man and a homeowner in the city. Denny Blaine is the only park that I feel safe to swim in,” added Vince Reiman, who grew up in Seattle. “When I transitioned, I thought that I would never be able to swim in Lake Washington again … Denny Blaine is my miracle.”

No one who spoke at the microphone during Wednesday’s meeting backed the playground plan, though one neighbor told KOMO 4 he wants the project built and “lewd behavior” reduced for his kids, the outlet reported.

Another neighbor, Sunit Anandwala, said he was initially excited to hear about the playground plan. Then Anandwala learned about the park’s historical use as an unofficial nude beach and now feels differently, he said.

“You have people in the community who support you,” he told the crowd.

And Miguel Lugo said he moved to Seattle eight years ago “looking for an accepting community,” having suffered from suicidal thoughts since coming out as gay, mostly due to body dysmorphia. His mental health has improved after making friends and spending time at the beach.

“Being nude at Denny Blaine quite literally saved my life,” Lugo said.

Growing opposition

The campaign against the play area began growing last month, after someone saw a Seattle Parks sign about the project posted at Denny Blaine Park and contacted the Capitol Hill Seattle blog.

When Milo Kusold saw the news, their reaction was, “To hell with this,” they said at the park Tuesday, taking shelter below a tree from a rainstorm.

“I woke up the next morning like, ‘We can’t let this happen,’ ” said Kusold, 30, who lives on Capitol Hill and who views the playground as a ploy. “It’s hard to even come up with a different reason beyond the one that feels most obvious, which is that this is someone trying to shut down the nude beach.”

More than 8,500 people have signed an online petition opposing the project, and activists have been organizing on social media. Kusold runs the Save Denny Blaine account on Instagram, which publicized Wednesday’s meeting.

“You come here on a peak summer day and there are people laying around everywhere,” they said about the park. “Getting to see other people be comfortable in their bodies in a community that sometimes has problems with that is really special. … Being queer here is normal.”

There’s no inherent conflict between queer nudists and children; some parents already bring their kids to Denny Blaine Park, Kusold said. But building a play area at the park would be asking for trouble, they said, citing “false, negative stereotypes about the queer and trans community.”

Public nudity is legal except when a person knows they’re likely to cause “affront and alarm.” The crime is a misdemeanor unless a person exposes themselves to someone under 14, in which case it’s a felony.

“If you have a person who’s not in the community showing up with their kids, and there are people around who are naked, they’re probably going to call the cops,” Kusold said, comparing the project to banning books with LGTBQ+ themes from kids. “This is kind of the weaponization of children to try to exclude or harm the queer community. This is just another example.”

Safety, transparency concerns

Seattle Parks has said the playground and a new, accessible route from the parking lot to the beach will advance “our department mission to increase citywide access to nature and shorelines for children and parents.”

But critics say there are multiple better locations nearby, such as Lakeview Park. Denny Blaine Park has no lifeguards and you can’t see the beach from the upper lawn, so kids who use the play area and then go swimming could be at risk, said Sophie Amity Debs, another Save Denny Blaine organizer.

“Because of the poor sightlines, it’s a great nude beach but a really bad place for children to play,” said Debs, 25, of Capitol Hill.

Several speakers at Wednesday’s meeting also warned about kids and water, including a man who said his granddaughter almost drowned in a pool when she was a toddler and can no longer eat or breathe on her own.

“Please don’t put this playground next to the lake,” Jim Lahey said.

The city’s plan calls for the new playground to be built next year on the top tier of the park with a “minimalist” preliminary design that Sheffer described as using “logs and ropes.” The Seattle Times has filed a public records request for Seattle Parks communications about the project that could identify the donor; the city has said it anticipates providing records in response to that request in late February.

While Seattle Parks leaders say the project isn’t intended to displace any community members from Denny Blaine Park, Debs said at the Wednesday meeting, “I’d love to ask the anonymous donor whether that’s true.”