Let me say up front that I’m as progressive as they get.
In my opinion, DEI should be mandatory in all businesses and public spaces in the country. And I support those who would prefer to sunbathe in the buff, even if I wouldn’t be caught dead doing it myself (not because I’m a prude, but because I don’t believe in courting skin cancer).
Even so, I’m going to have to side with the neighbors of Seattle’s Denny Blaine Park who filed a lawsuit to close the park down due to the City of Seattle’s failure to address the nudity and sex acts they’ve witnessed in the park.
Since the 1970s, members of the LGBTQ+ community have gathered in Denny Blaine to hang out unharrassed and sunbathe in the buff. Last year, when a neighbor tried to build a playground in the park, the LGBTQ+ community rose in protest, handing in a 9,000-signature petition against the playground.
Mind you, public nudity is not illegal in Seattle. However, the city has not gone so far as to put up an official “Nudist Beach” stamp (or signage) on the small park on the edge of Lake Washington.
Unless and until that changes, the neighbors are right: they and their kids should be able to enjoy their local park without running into people in their birthday suits and without seeing people masturbate or have sex, both of which are illegal in public.
I understand a city wanting to support the LGBTQ+ community. It’s crucial our tax dollars support all residents in Seattle. And I understand the community’s desire for a safe place, where people can gather sans clothes if they choose.
But that place should be a privately funded place. The fact that LGBTQ+ Seattleites have been baring all at Denny Blaine Park for 50 years does not negate the city’s responsibility for ensuring all parks are safe and welcoming for all residents, especially children.
And yet the City is bending over backwards to appease the nudists. In late July, a King County Superior Court judge decided that while the group of park neighbors (Denny Blaine Park for All) had a point, he would not close the park. Instead, he gave the city two weeks to come up with a plan to deal with the problem.
The City released its plan last week.
The solution? Contain the nudists to a specific area of the park and put up barriers to protect other park users from all that flesh. Then, increase law enforcement presence in the park, and add new signage and more park rangers.
That doesn’t sound welcoming to me, frankly, to either side. I also have to ask, does the city really think that barriers will stop kids, whose parents would prefer they not see nudists, from oogling at the unclothed on the other side of the mesh?
Don’t get me wrong. Celebrate the body, I say. I sometimes hang out topless on a summer day in my own fenced backyard. I take no issue with nudity.
I’d someday like to take my grandkids to the Kurt Cobain memorial bench in nearby Viretta Park and surprise them with the fact that I was once young. Then I’d like to walk around the corner to sit on the little beach at Denny Blaine Park and contemplate the universe with them. But I’d rather not do that surrounded by naked people. That would be for their future parents to decide.
About that barrier.
After announcing the plan, the City put up a mesh-covered fence around the area designated as “clothing optional” to block it from the rest of the park. By the next day, the mesh was down, reportedly found by police in the port-a-potty.
Something tells me trying to appease both sides isn’t going to work, people.
This article is an opinion piece (Op Ed) and reflects the views of the author. We encourage thoughtful debate and welcome a range of viewpoints. Readers who wish to submit their own Op Ed for consideration can do so by emailing editor@seattleschild.com.
