Seattle Becomes Clash Of Worldviews - Pro-Family Groups Battle LGTB Activists

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell (D) apparently had a miserable Memorial Day weekend. It was bad enough that a repulsive band of religious conservatives had the nerve to stage a "Don't Mess with Our Kids" rally in his progressive utopia, sullying its sensuality with their objection to transgender ideology. Then, after a bureaucratic bungle by his own government, the police department had to arrest nearly two dozen counter-"protestors" who did more than protest -- what an embarrassment!

The incident was more of a political headache than anything else. Harrell will face voters in November, and his bid for reelection already trails in polls to challenger Katie Wilson. The confrontation and arrests handed Wilson a political cudgel, and she wasted no time pummeling Harrell with it. "I've heard from so many people about yesterday's events at Cal Anderson Park," she tweeted on Sunday. "It's clear this situation was seriously mishandled by Mayor Harrell's administration, resulting in unnecessary arrests, injuries, and loss of trust in our city government."

Nor did local activists show mercy to the harried Harrell. "You're going to put an anti-queer group ... in the middle of Cal Anderson Park, named after the first openly gay legislator in Washington state history?" fumed Freedom Socialist Party organizer Doreen McGrath. "I think the mayor owes the queer community an apology." Indeed, Harrell quickly bent the knee, but his statement to placate his leftist base only created more headaches -- of a legal and constitutional nature.

But this is getting ahead of the story. Let us leave Mr. Harrell for the moment to describe the weekend's drama from the beginning.

Approximately 500 rallygoers turned out on Saturday in Seattle's Cal Anderson Park, with "signs supporting the sanctity of life, biological gender, the nuclear family, and religious freedom" for "Don't Mess with Our Kids" rally held as part of its "Mayday USA" tour. The atmosphere was upbeat, with balloons, a band playing on a temporary stage, and multiple speakers. "With amplified music and people walking around with ID passes around their necks, it looked very much like a rock concert," reported the Seattle Times.

It wasn't long before counter-protestors turned out in roughly equal force. LGBT activist groups like the Freedom Socialist Party, Puget Sound Mobilization for Reproductive Justice, and Radical Women had organized their own event, "Keep Your Bibles Off Our Bodies."

The Seattle Police Department was aware of both planned protests and prepared to allow both to proceed safely -- but separately. The police presence was visible and well-armed, as officers manned bike rack barriers dividing the dueling protests.

Unfortunately, in a trend seen all too often over the past six years, some people who turned out for the pro-transgender counter-protest did so with violent intent. Video footage from the rally shows black-clad counter-protestors who jumped a police barrier behind the rally stage getting tackled by event security.

Separately, police officers "witnessed multiple people inside one group throw items at the opposing group around 1:30 PM Saturday," a police statement read, with studied neutrality. "Officers immediately moved to arrest the people responsible, and while taking the individuals into custody, were assaulted by more protesters, resulting in even more arrests. In total, officers arrested 11 during the initial scuffle."

The pro-transgender crowd tussled with police officers intermittently over the next five hours, leading to 12 more arrests. The police deployed pepper spray as a crowd control measure shortly before 4:00 p.m., and the state police eventually arrived to give city officers a breather. "One officer was treated and released from the hospital for an injury sustained during the protests," according to the police statement.

In total, the police arrested 23 individuals on charges of obstruction and assault, including one juvenile, who was subsequently released. Yet most of the charges were soon dropped. Elected King County Judge Pro Tem Sarah Perezfound probable cause for the arrests of only eight people, and she released all but one on their personal recognizance.

The judge set bail at $20,000 for the most violent agitator, who was charged not only with "assault in the second degree with a deadly weapon" but also with "robbery in the first degree." The individual was listed as Cole Buford on the court calendar, although he apparently went by the name Hollie Willow. This person is allegedly a transgender-identifying software developer for an independent video game company called Kingdom Death, according to his LinkedIn.

In fact, multiple people arrested from the pro-transgender protest appeared to identify as transgender themselves. Another person released "on personal recognizance" was first listed in court documents as "Jane Doe" (likely for refusing to provide any form of ID) but later identified as "Guy Beaudoin."

But these facts were inconvenient for Harrell, who in a Saturday statement sought to absolve LGBT activists from blame.

"Anarchists infiltrated the counter-protestors group and inspired violence," he suggested. In fact, Harrell even threw the blame in the direction of the peaceful, pro-family rally. "Today's far-right rally was held here for this very reason -- to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city's values, in the heart of Seattle's most prominent LGBTQ+ neighborhood."

Harrell professed to be shocked -- shocked to find a Christian group holding a pro-family rally taking place at an LGBT-themed park. "I am directing the Parks Department to review all of the circumstances of this application to understand whether there were legal location alternatives or other adjustments that could have been pursued," he declared.

In fact, there was a "legal location alternative." "The parks department denied them a permit at another park and put them here, and I want to know what city official was responsible for that," McGrath demanded.

Mayday USA organizers first applied for a permit to hold the rally in Victor Steinbrueck Park, by Seattle's downtown waterfront. But Seattle officials denied them a permit for that prominent location and redirected them more than a mile inland to Cal Anderson Park. "If you want us to go there, we will absolutely go there," replied Mayday USA co-leader Ross Johnston, "but it's just interesting how the mayor has come out against Christians and has no ounce of support for us."

On this interpretation of events, it was the Seattle government's anti-Christian hostility that placed the rally in the offending location.

As a further irony, Cal Anderson Park was Ground Zero for Seattle's so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" (CHAZ) during the fiery summer of 2020, a six-block area that radical leftists blockaded against Seattle authorities, who exhibited no inclination to stem the flood of robberies, rapes, and other violent crimes afflicting the allegedly liberated zone. (At the time, Jenny Durkan was mayor of Seattle, and Harrell was president of the city council.)

"Seattle is proud of our reputation as a welcoming, inclusive city for LGBTQ+ communities, and we stand with our trans neighbors when they face bigotry and injustice," intoned Harrell.

But Seattle's record may be more complicated than he imagines. When it comes to unwelcome speech, the Seattle government is ready for a vigorous confrontation. When it comes to armed thugs declaring independence from their own government, the city is ready to abandon its police precinct.

These varying responses demonstrate the relative order of values held by Harrell and, by extension, the leftist activists he strives to represent. These values are consistent with a culturally dominant worldview often described as "expressive individualism." This worldview denies the existence of transcendent truth or objective morality, instead affirming the right of each individual to define their own truth -- including their own identity. Unfortunately, this process of self-exploration is often guided by nothing more than a person's internal feelings, but that does not stop proponents of expressive individualism from projecting their own values outward upon others.

"When the humanity of trans people and those who have been historically marginalized is questioned, we triumph by demonstrating our values through our words and peaceful protest," Harrell continued. "In the face of an extreme right-wing national effort to attack our trans and LGBTQ+ communities, Seattle will continue to stand unwavering in our embrace of diversity, love for our neighbors, and commitment to justice and fairness."

By piling up pejoratives ("extreme right-wing national"), Harrell exposed the limits of Seattle's "welcoming, inclusive" ideology. "If you don't line up with their values, which apparently seem to be driven by the LGBTQ ideology, then you're not welcome into the city," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on "Washington Watch." "I think he owes the Christian community an apology."

Meanwhile, the explicitly Christian worldview of the "Don't Mess with Our Kids" rally provided a poignant contrast. Far from questioning the humanity of their trans-identifying neighbors, Christians exalt their humanity to its proper dignity by declaring that every person is made male or female in the image of God. In so doing, Christians show true love for their neighbors by telling them the truth -- the transcendent, objective truth determined by God.

These "parents are saying, 'We're standing for family. We're standing for marriage. We're standing for parents raising their children,'" said FRC Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs Travis Weber. "It's the family as God sets forth in Genesis 1 and 2. ... And so, when we see opposition to this, we have to understand ... that the opponents are opposed to God's design for the family."

"It's becoming violent, because what we see here is ... opposition to the word of God, opposition to what God Himself is saying about the family," Weber went on. "The violence and the opposition should be a warning sign. It should be a warning indicator, like one of those flashing yellow lights on a machine, or in a system, or an airplane. When something's wrong, you don't just ignore that. You deal with the problem."

In Seattle, Harrell's accusatory response prompted Christians to confront the problem head-on. Mayday USA organized an additional protest on Tuesday at City Hall. "We live in a country where people can openly -- maybe not see eye to eye, maybe not agree on something -- but we have the freedom of speech," insisted organizer Jenny Donnelley. "Violence is totally uncalled for, and not one person from our movement was violent."

In addition to sparking ongoing protests by the same group he hoped to run out of town, Harrell now faces a potential lawsuit and federal investigation. "Alliance Defending Freedom is evaluating legal action against @MayorofSeattle and @CityofSeattle officials following the violent disruption of the MayDay USA worship event," ADF announced on X. "Federal and state laws protect free speech and religious freedom for all, regardless of their views. City officials must not permit violent mobs to threaten, harass, or assault individuals exercising these rights."

Additionally, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino made his own announcement, "We have asked our team to fully investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups at the Seattle concert. Freedom of religion isn't a suggestion."

Needless to say, as Seattle became a flashpoint of competing worldviews, and as he became the subject of national scrutiny, a potential lawsuit, and a political pincushion for his own far-left base, Mayor Bruce Harrell's Memorial Day weekend did not go as planned.

Originally published at The Washington Stand