The City of Seattle plans to build a children’s playground at Denny Blaine Park, the site of a historically nude and extremely gay beach.

The Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation set a tentative construction date for late summer to fall of 2024, though the plan remains in its earliest stages. On its website, the park department explains that the play area would address the neighborhood's shortage of playgrounds. But shovels on the $550,000 project won’t break ground any time soon–or at all–if the angry queers who spoke to The Stranger and the more than 2,700 people who signed this petition have any say in the matter. 

Though the petitioners love the idea of the City building more playgrounds, they don’t love the idea of installing one at Denny Blaine Park. The move, organizers worry, could force sun-bathers to abandon the park for fear of catching cases, displacing an enduring queer summer institution and stripping the community of one of its few safe, comfortable places to relax in relative peace. 

If built, the playground would force queer beachgoers to make a choice. They could leave, or, as a national wave of anti-LGBTQ sentiment and legislation sweeps the nation, they could continue to use the park and risk perpetuating the “groomer” myth that queer people want to sexualize children. 

It’s like giving Fox News a photo op, joked Sophie Amity Debs, who helped draft the petition. For Amity Debs, the proposal sets up an avoidable conflict that plays on harmful cultural stereotypes. 

“Playgrounds are great; I think we could use playgrounds,” she said. “It feels like the placement here is more to drive out the people who are at Denny Blaine than it is to build a playground, when there are other options.”

After Capitol Hill Seattle Blog first reported on the department’s plans, Council Member Kshama Sawant said she received hundreds of emails about the park, which is in her district. At the Parks and Recreation budget meeting Monday, she read a few community comments aloud, including pleas to preserve the tiny two-acre park and suggestions for alternate spots. Lakeview Park, a larger area next to a school, is half a mile from Denny Blaine.

“I don’t understand how this proposal even happened,” Sawant said. “I find it difficult that it is honestly about a playground.”

Council Member Teresa Mosqueda expressed support for Sawant and added that the proposal would create community division where there is none.

Seattle Parks Superintendent AP Diaz said the department is evaluating the proposal with the community. Parks scheduled a community meeting about the project at the Martin Luther King FAME Community Center for 5:30 pm on December 6.

“It is not our intention to make this a polarizing issue or to discriminate against any group,” he said. “That's not the Parks Department, the Parks is always the beacon of community inclusion and places where the public can come to use public land.”

A department spokesperson said in an email that a private donor funded the playground project (a “small nature play design”), which would come at “a minimal cost to taxpayers.” They said the neighborhood didn’t currently have a play area within a 10-to-15 minute walk, so the plan would support the department’s mission to increase children’s access to nature and shorelines.

The spokesperson did not address The Stranger’s questions about community displacement or the identity of the private donor. 

“Why Denny Blaine?”

Denny Blaine has been a go-to summer spot for queers since at least the 1980s. A predominantly topless lesbian crowd back in the day earned it the nickname “Dykekiki,” but the beach now attracts queers of all kinds and plenty of straight nudists who want to beat the summer heat on the shores of Lake Washington without judgment. (Howell Beach Park, a short-ish swim south, has historically been more for the boys).

Thanks to a 1990 court ruling (Seattle v. Johnson, lol), in Seattle it’s legal to be naked wherever you want, but it's not legal to be naked however you want. Intentional exposure in an alarming or sexual way is a crime, and it’s a more serious one if the victim is under 14. Still, to avoid awkwardness or confusion, Seattle’s queers and nudists stick to places like Denny Blaine, where people expect nudity.

Over the weekend, Alex Merk was pounding the pavement for the petition, with a step-count in the 16,000 range, hanging up fliers, canvassing, and throwing down QR codes at coffee shops. He said every response has been along the lines of “that’s like trying to build a skatepark in the middle of a kitchen.” 

Queer people who spoke to The Stranger said they felt the playground was an excuse to push them out.

Hannah, a 30-year-old queer cyclist, feels like herself at the beach. After one 20-mile ride, the worn-out cyclist pulled over at Denny Blaine, stripped off her bib and jersey, and hopped into the cool water, where she was surrounded by happy, laughing people on a gorgeous day. People wouldn’t be so unrestrained if the City placed a children’s park nearby, she said. “It’s like, ‘Why Denny Blaine Park?’” she said.

Rivka, a 35-year-old trans woman, first visited the beach with her partner after coming out as trans two years ago. The people in various states of undress around her offered a glimpse into a world where trans people were not seen as an anatomical anomaly but as normal. It’s still a fun place to hang out and be herself, without worrying about creeps approaching her–“which happens even when I’m dressed,” she said. 

The park is also a summer haven for Lex and their friends, and it’s the only spot in the city where Lex said they see gay and trans people consistently happy and laid-back. Even apprehensive heterosexual friends have never left the beach feeling uncomfortable. The atmosphere has a way of changing perceptions about bodies, creating a non-sexual space where nudity is casual. The beach is also a community hub, where there is almost a zero percent chance they won’t run into a friend. A playground would break up that hub. 

“I can't reiterate enough times how much it feels like my entire summer would be taken away from me without Denny Blaine,” Lex said.