Queer and trans people are foundational to the history and culture of Seattle. We are constituents of yours, and were recently alarmed to hear that Seattle Parks and Recreation is considering inserting a children’s play area in the northwest section of Denny Blaine Park. Denny Blaine Park is an area that is frequently utilized as a nude beach by the queer community here in Seattle, and is not the right area for a children’s play area to be built.

Nude beaches are a place for queer and trans people to feel confident in their bodies and be themselves in a world that frequently represses their identities. There are not many nude beaches in Seattle, but there are plenty of green spaces that could fit a children’s play area. This move by Seattle Parks and Recreation is nothing short of gentrification and a continuation of the more and more frequent instances of the sanitization of queer spaces. We do not have other spaces to go to, but there are other spaces for a children’s play area to be built to meet the stated need.

The community will be mobilizing to stand against this plan that will erase one of the few genuine queer spaces left in Seattle, but we ask for your support in changing course to a plan that keeps Denny-Blaine intact, and better serves the city and all its residents.