Also: County Assessor Again Accused of Stalking, and Council Presses Pause on Ethics Changes
By Erica C. Barnett
On this week’s Seattle Nice podcast, we had a lively debate over two events held by an anti-trans, anti-choice religious group at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill and at City Hall over the span of four days last week. While Sandeep, David, and I all more or less agreed that the city would have been smart to permit the first event somewhere other than the heart of the city’s historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood (and I pointed out that the group did not have the required permit to set up a stage, speaker stacks, and diesel generator for its event at City Hall) we parted ways on what David characterized as the protesters’ tactics.
Calling on his past experience as an activist and his read of 1960s history, David said he hoped Mayor Bruce Harrell and his opponent Katie Wilson would “call out the counterprotesters who got arrested,” because their actions play right into the Trump Administration’s hands. Trans protesters and their allies, he argued, should have been thinking of the “voters in swing states” who would see the arrests on FOX news and decide to harden their views against trans rights.
I countered that the very existence of visible trans people in the world is offensive to people who want trans people to disappear, and that we won’t win the votes of bigots by focusing on whether “our” side is being sufficiently civil and demure as they fight for their right to exist.
David and I also disagreed about the implication of the fact that “all 31” of the people arrested were counterprotesters—a data point that that, to me, is just a baseline reality for protests.
I wasn’t at Cal Anderson, where police say some people were throwing plastic water bottles and other items. But I was at City Hall on Tuesday, where officers not only stood by while right-wing provocateurs screamed slurs like “tranny” and “autogynophile” in people’s faces, but provided security for the right-wing activists before, during, and after their unpermitted concert. The arrests I witnessed happened only after police on bikes swarmed to intervene in verbal arguments, escalating isolated conflicts into chaotic mini-melees.
Sandeep agreed with David that the counterprotesters were “dumb shits,” but eventually told us to take it outside because he was tired of hearing us get go around and around about protest tactics (probably fair!)
We also discussed my story about new, disturbing allegations that King County Assessor (and King County Executive candidate) John Arthur Wilson harassed and stalked his ex-partner. Officials and organizations across the county have called on Wilson to step down, but he told KUOW this week that he has no plans to do so.
And we talked about City Councilmember Cathy Moore’s decision last week to withdraw her broadly unpopular proposal to lower ethical standards for city council members, who are currently required to recuse themselves from voting on legislation that presents a financial conflict of interest. Moore, as PubliCola was first to report earlier today, is resigning her position as of July 7.
Seattle is so rife with liberal BS. The proof is self-evident. If the LGTBQ people want to have a rally at ANY Seattle park, no problem. Why? Because so many whacko liberals endorse the anything goes environment. Now, if a conserative/Christian group wanted a rally at any other park than Cal Anderson it would be followed by these whack nuts blaming the conservatives of bigotry or starting conflict. The city government, would obviously endorse and protect half of Seattle liberals! Watch, time will tell the decay of Seattle!
Boo hoo. If you don’t love it leave it. That’s what all you MAGAts think anyway. I hear Idaho is lovely, especially if you’re a Nazi.
A measured response: a diversity of tactics is required to resist both the encroaching fascism of our federal government and the religious right that fuels them. And that includes being nice and polite, pushing for reform in legal channels, civil disobedience, being loud and in the face of the people trying to pull this shit, and also, in extreme cases, violence.
A less measured response: If you are not the one constantly getting yelled at about how you are an abomination, how your rights should get taken away (and now they are!!), how you should be rounded up in camps and shot, all real things these types have said they want to do to queer and trans people, you can kindly shut the fuck up.
Y’all just as happy to have me take a punch or a bullet, or have my ass and my bike run down by a car on the line. I’m one of the faces they are yelling into, but holy heck if i raise my own voice I’m handing victory over to the fascists because swing-state voters can’t handle my frown lines and outdoor voice on TV?
Sounds like y’all rather I stay off the line, maybe not even come to the event. You want to be the one that gets photographed, harassed and assaulted, you go right ahead. Maybe some of us around you will even respect you if you stick out your own neck and raise your voice with ours instead of trying to police our so-called “free” speech.
Ha, ha, never mind, I know no seattleite read this far. Keep lickin them boots, suckers.
Hey, I read far enough to know I agree with your comments. The argument to be against the counter-protest because we are not a swing state is totally out of touch. We should stand up in swing state, not swing states, and wherever these detestable bigots, publicly spew their racist, sexist, and anti-gay views. To actually attack the counter-protesters for having the guts to fight back (while the Democratic party machine has proven that it lacks the courage to do the same), makes me wonder if Mr. David actually supports the political views of these far-right Christian Nationalist. According to the article he said the city should “call out the counterprotesters who got arrested”. Why would he advocate this when the history of the government cointelpro’s tactics against 60’s activists had devastating consequences on social justice movements.