Seattle Has Denied Permit For Right Wing Event Over “Community Disruption” Before

Right now, City officials are in talks with organizers of the right-wing “Revive In ‘25” rally. While organizers continue to advertise the Aug 30 event for Cal Anderson park in the heart of the gayborhood, some elected officials are allegedly trying to negotiate an alternative location to prevent a repeat of the clashes between bigots and queers earlier this year that ended in the Seattle Police Department roughing up and arresting those on the right side of what should be a settled civil rights issue. 

Some worry that denying the right-wingers a permit for maximum provocation in Cal Anderson would stick the City with lawsuits for violating their first amendment right to be Christofacists in public. But public records show that the City used previous “community disruption” to deny a permit to religious zealots at Pike Place Market earlier this year. The key difference in these situation: "community disruption" at Cal Anderson could hurt queer people, "community disruption" at Pike Place Market could hurt business.

The organizers of the infamous May Day USA event originally wanted to host their prayer rally at Pike Place Market. In public records obtained by Block Flock National Coalition and forwarded to The Burner, a City employee denied the permit.

In March 14 email, a City employee said the event would be “too large to be safely accommodated at the proposed location.” Additionally, the City employee said “similar events at this location have been unsuccessful due to planning issues and community disruption.” 

If “community disruption” was part of a sound reason to deny a permit in Pike Place Market, it seems the City could make a similar argument against permitting the "Revive in ‘25" event in Cal Anderson. “Similar events,” the May Day USA event, at that location also caused “community disruption" if you count a huge counter protest, police violence, and dozens of arrests.

Similarly, proponents of relocation have suggested that the City could make a suitability argument against permitting another hate rally for Cal Anderson. 

A petition to move the event to Magnuson Park read:

“As with all groups, Revive in ‘25 and similar groups are entitled to their First Amendment protected free speech. We are not asking for their event to be shut down. We are asking for the City of Seattle and Parks Department to do what they do for all event requests on public property: evaluate the suitability of an event for the requested space. We believe that the fallout of the May 24th event indicates that deliberately provocative events aimed at the LGBTQIA+ community are not a good fit for Cal Anderson Park.”

But the City may not have meant "disruptions" for actual people, rather "disruption" for profit. In multiple emails, the City employee told the May Day USA event organizers that after consulting with the Downtown Seattle Association, which represents business interest in the city, they concluded that Pike Place Market was not fit for such an event.

"Some feedback our office received in 2024 included overcrowding on Pike St which led to some local businesses closing early due to patrons having challenges in accessing their businesses, placement of portajohns directly adjacent to a business’s outdoor patio which led to that patio space being closed for the afternoon, and insufficient neighborhood notifications being issued," the employee wrote in a Feb. 26 email.

At the end of the day, the right-wingers can sue the City for denying a permit even for a good reason. The City must evaluate what will be a greater risk: Out-of-town conservatives suing over their first amendment rights or their own residents suing when cops end up brutalizing them at the hate hotbed the City may re-create. But it seems from these records that the interest of business trumps all.