Almost 72 Hours Later, Only One City Council Member Has Condemned Anti-Queer Hate Rally

Alexis Mercedes Rinck is that CM btw

Only one member of the Seattle City Council has unequivocally condemned the hate rally at Cal Anderson Park on Saturday and the violent police crackdown on queer and trans protesters: Citywide Council Member Alexis Mercedes Rinck.

Capitol Hill residents have yet to hear from their other two representatives, District 3 Council Member Joy Hollingsworth, who is “gathering information and facts” before commenting, and Council President Sara Nelson who has remained completely silent on the incident, but found time to make an appreciation post for fallen soldiers in honor of Memorial Day. 

These are their constituents. In the face of organized hate and police violence, silence—and delay—are not neutral.

On Saturday afternoon, a bumbling band of bigots known as May Day USA set up a stage in the heart of Seattle’s historically queer neighborhood to sing shitty Christian rock, dance with minimal rhythm, but most importantly, cause a fucking scene in their #Dontmesswithourkids rally. And a scene occurred indeed.

At around 1:30pm Saturday, counter protesters allegedly threw an item toward a cop. While I was on the scene, accompanied by my podcast co-host Ashley Nerbovig and Divest SPD’s Justin Ward, none of us saw the alleged inciting incident. 

Chaos ensued. Bike cops rushed at a group of counter protesters — it is unclear if they were responsible for throwing any items — and tackled many of them to the ground. They carted a small group away in arrest vans parked on the west side of the park. 

But the cops didn’t stop there. Journalists captured several other confrontations between the cops and counter protesters, many in which cops attacked the predominantly queer attendees seemingly unprovoked or with unnecessary aggression. 

In the end, cops arrested 23 people, including one child. Some counter protesters took pride in the fact that the event packed up early. 

Rinck, who identifies as queer, attended the rally that day, standing in “opposition to far right, anti- trans extremists who attempted to intimidate our community,” she wrote in a statement on social media. 

Rinck wrote that many of the arrests and injuries “could have been avoided” if the City had permitted the protest for a different park as the organization claims to have requested instead of a park in the center of the gayborhood.

“While I respect First Amendment Rights, we must also acknowledge the harm caused when hate groups are able to invade spaces meant to celebrate our community’s vulnerable populations and lift up their contributions to our city,” Rinck wrote. 

She promised to get some answers as to how to prevent a similar situation in the future. 

But her citywide colleague, Nelson, has not acknowledged the rally, the subsequent arrests, or any of the harm the event may have caused to her constituents. Instead, she posted photos of herself on Twitter and Instagram “[h]onoring today at the Garden of Remembrance the service members who gave their lives for our country.”

Hollingsworth, the member elected to serve Capitol Hill, who also campaigned as queer representation, has all but ignored the traumatic incident in her neighborhood. Under an Instagram photo of Hollingsworth, one of many posts she’s posted or reshared since the events of last weekend, a Seattle resident called Hollingsworth out: “Still no comment on the police brutality in your district Saturday??”

Hollingsworth wrote back that her office is “gathering information and facts before we make a comment regarding the events on Saturday.” She directed the commenter to the Mayor’s press release and told them to have a beautiful Monday. 

But that didn't please the commenter, who argued as "a member of the LGBT community and the representative for this district," Hollingsworth's statement "should’ve been immediate."

"Members of YOUR COMMUNITY were brutalized at a historically queer gathering place," the commenter wrote. "What is there to investigate, Joy???”

But even as instances of unprovoked violence and excessive force flurry social media, Hollingsworth kept it neutral.

"[Y]ou are right. I’m gay and I represent the district as well," Hollingsworth wrote. "Again, we are gathering all of the information to ensure we are putting out actual information that is accurate. I appreciate your feedback and thank you again.”

While Hollingsworth does her sleuthing and seven other council members keep quiet, tensions continue to rise between the bigots and queer Seattlites. Right wingers will gather outside City Hall Tuesday at 2pm to call on Mayor Bruce Harrell to resign and apologize for his statement, which boldly declared support for trans people and called the May Day USA protesters bigots. Harrell told KIRO7 he won't be intimidated by the May Day USA group. And good! It is unclear if a single one of them is his constituent.