“What we’re seeing is really Project 2025 making gains in its own way in our state, and that includes neighborhood groups and community groups,” she says. “This neighborhood group that targets Denny Blaine, it just follows a very disturbing pattern.”

Federal isn't law being weaponized to attack people's right in this case. Police overstepped their authority and failed.

At least using the civil Park Rangers is a step in the right direction.

The public indecency here relates to the fact that most of these nudies are fat, ugly and old. That's what should be a crime!
PS... I'm all in favor of public nudity if they're not in the above catagory.

Isn't there a nude beach up on the north end at Carkeek or someplace? How do the police and parks department handle that one?

Hey Vivian, why do you keep making the fact that the woman issued the supposed trespass "citation" happens to be transgender the lead way of identifying her? What is that about?

The cop was entirely in the wrong and should be formally reprimanded, but based on your own reporting, the cop was respectful of her pronouns, and suggested the woman put on a "bikini" which is also a sign of respect for her gender. So what does repeatedly pointing out over and over again that she's transgender in all these articles and blurbs in SLOG about this incident have to do with the actual incident? It doesn't.

By repeatedly tying that she's transgender to the incident, your intent is to mislead your readers into thinking the incident was based on transphobia, despite not providing any evidence. Which is why The Stranger lacks credibility. Readers never know whether the reporting is accurate, or you're just making shit up.

Aside from the bad journalism that The Stranger has become known for, the harm here is twofold. You cry wolf when there's no wolf, undermining the validity of incidents that actually involve transphobia. Second, you normalize the idea that trans people are to be identified as "trans" whether or not it's relevant, whether or not they want to be, which is at best a form of othering, and at worst outing them.

@4, your big mistake here is to refer to TS articles as "journalism". Nothing more than a left wing blog site.

Hey PIP,
But if Vivian didn't identify the person as trans, that could be construed as trans erasure.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trans-erasure

@4: That makes a lot of sense, what a refreshing comment. So why would trans erasure (@6) be a concern if trans women are women and trans men are men? Or is being trans a state of metaphysical, spiritual, or cosmic awareness to be celebrated in itself.

These questions will never be fully answered to everyone satisfaction. Live solving the last digit of pi.

@Pretty In Pink: We mustn't forget that Vivian has withheld critical information when reporting on two Trans women being physically assaulted in Seattle. Vivian chose not to identify that Northwest Community Bail Fund (a pet organization of The Stranger), had bailed out Andre Karlow in September after his first Trans attack on a city worker. She is not credible as a journalist, or as a blogger.

@2
Gate keeping who should be allowed to be nude. So much for inclusivity.
I used to go to Black’s Beach when I lived in San Diego. It was a chill place with people of all shapes and sizes.

It sounds like we need to double police staffing so when someone is masturbating or having sex on the beach the police can get there in time to apprehend the offender.

Friends of Denny Blaine say that they want that behavior to stop, and so does Denny Blaine for All, so they should be able to agree on that.

How will having Park Rangers or Parks Employees responding after the fact apprehend those engaging in the behavior that everyone agrees is not appropriate? It won't.

Which leads me to believe that Friends of Denny Blaine is not acting and speaking about what behavior should be permitted at the park in good-faith. They are advocating for a "solution" that won't apprehend a single law-breaker at the Park or deter such behavior in any way.

@6 skies of blue, not sure if you're attempting to be a smart ass or sincerely don't understand what "trans-erasure" means.

Trans-erasure is what Republicans and the Trump administration are doing - denying trans people access to gender affirming healthcare, denying trans people personal documentation that matches their gender, bathroom bans, intentionally misgendering trans people, erasing mentions of trans people from websites, removing books acknowledging trans people exist from bookshelves, and denying transphobia.

No matter how an individual trans person feels about being trans, trans-erasure is not about refraining from identifying people as trans when it's irrelevant and/or they do not wish to be publicly identified as such.

@3 — Catalina, I think you’re talking about the beach by Point Wells. Anyone who has ridden the Sounder or Amtrak north may have had a little bit of a surprise when you are looking out over the water when you see that beach. The difference is that beach by Point Wells is very isolated and not near any homes. I assume that to get there you have to walk across the train tracks, which is pretty dangerous. The one in Seattle is right next to houses and easily accessible as you don’t have to risk getting killed by a freight train to get there. I’m sure the cops never deal with the beach along the train tracks because it’s out of sight out of mind for the people living nearby because all the houses are way up on top of the hill. That section of train tracks regularly gets shut down due to mudslides when it’s very rainy. There’s no houses along the water.

If the plans to redevelop the old oil tank facility at Point Wells that have been kicking around for decades ever get off the ground, I bet the beach right next to it will suddenly become a hot button issue. It’s all about people living nearby. Whether it’s right or wrong, not everyone wants to look out their window at a bunch of naked people.

"Scott said the Lavender Rights Project wants to ensure queer and trans people can “experience joy and a celebration of their queerness without being criminalized.”

I do not understand - and I say this as a gay man - the nexus between "experienc[ing] joy and a celebration of...queerness" with "I get to walk around naked in a public park."

It's a public park. Why is this even a question, let alone, pun intended, a hard one?

Yes, no difference between "queer" people being naked and embarrassing and anyone else being naked and embarrassing.

@4: "By repeatedly tying that she's transgender to the incident, your intent is to mislead your readers into thinking the incident was based on transphobia, despite not providing any evidence."

From the beginning of this kerfuffle, the Stranger has tried to insinuate the park's neighbors' motivation comes from anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, or a prudish anti-nudity attitude, even though the Stranger's own prior reporting on Denny Blaine Park clearly stated illegal behavior was a problem there: "... voyeurs and pervs seem to have colonized Denny Blaine, so wear shoes if you don't want to get sperm between your toes." (https://www.thestranger.com/horrors/2019/07/22/40831261/welcome-to-summer-dont-drink-the-water)

The Stranger's pretense serves several purposes. First, it transforms an undignified squabble over access to a park between two groups of users into a simple tolerance vs. intolerance one-note morality play: the innocent and sympathetic LBGTQ+ citizens vs. the park's wealthy neighbors, the latter of whom then seem to be trying to appropriate a public park for their own private use. Second, by implying the neighbors are anti-LGBTQ+, it removes sympathy from their side, even though they are the ones who must constantly live with whatever state the park is in. Third, one of the neighbors has a connection to Mayor Harrell, and the Stranger hates Harrell, so the Stranger has done everything it can to imply Harrell carries water for these wealthy, anti-LGBTQ+ bigots, who (in the Stranger's version) just want to run less-wealthy, "deviant" users out of their park.