Residents of a Seattle neighborhood are pushing for the city to do something to stop alleged criminal acts — including “rampant public masturbation” — at their local park.
A community group, Denny Blaine for All, has sued the city over what it says is ongoing and unaddressed illegal activity at the park – which is an unofficial nude beach.
“It’s bad activity,” Lee Keller, a spokesperson with Denny Blaine Park for All, said, according to King 5 News. “It’s illegal, it’s illicit. It’s masturbation multiple times a day. By men sitting on the wall, sitting at the park, in view of the homes, and view of everything and it’s non-ending and it’s really troubling.”
Sophie Amity Debs, the co-leader of the Friends of Denny Blaine community group — which partners with the city to maintain the park and to deal with issues in the space — agreed that there were ongoing problems, including the masturbation, but also noted that park is a special place for members of the city’s LGBT+ community and is cautioning against too drastic of changes.
“Denny Blaine means a lot to a lot of different folks,” Sophie Amity Debs, the co-leader of the Friends of Denny Blaine community group, told King 5 News. “I think it’s one of relatively few beaches that are pretty actively inclusive space.”
Debs said that the park had long been a safe place for people in the LGBT+ community to gather and enjoy the beach.
“A lot of folks who want to be out in their bodies, so for a lot queer and trans folks who might face harassment at other types of beaches,” Debs said. “Denny Blaine is just a really safe place.”
Debs expressed some concerns that the lawsuit would ban nude use of the beach altogether.
“I think if you look at the neighbor’s lawsuit, it becomes very clear that it involves removing nude use of the beach entirely,” the group leader said.
Keller disagreed with Debs’ concerns, saying the group’s lawsuit was focused solely on stopping criminal activity.
“This is not anything about getting rid of nudity,” Keller said. “Nudity is legal in Washington state. That’s not what this lawsuit says. We’re talking about getting rid of illegal and illicit activities, that include masturbation, inappropriate come-ons to people on the neighborhood, men pulling their parts out and asking women if they want to touch them. That is not legal nudity, that’s illegal, and that’s what we’re asking the city to take care of.”
Both Debs and Keller agreed that working together to improve the park will yield the best results.
“What we need to do is make sure that the illegal activity stops,” Keller said. “We’re not talking about activities that are legal. I’m sure there’s common ground between the two groups.”
Friends of Denny Blaine hopes that Seattle police officers and park rangers will agree to take part in a training that includes reminders that nudity is not illegal in Washington. The group is planning to host a free “bystander intervention training” on May 18.
