A Seattle judge ordered city officials Tuesday to go further in preventing lewd and sexual activity at Denny Blaine Park, which allows for public nudity.
The ruling was prompted by a lawsuit backed by a neighborhood group that hoped to close the park, which has a topless area and a clothing-optional area.
While that request was not granted by Judge Samuel Chung, he did mandate that Seattle officials crack down on the illegal lewd acts that first prompted the lawsuit, according to Seattle’s KOMO-TV.
Seattle officials will have to implement a code of conduct addressing overcrowding, prohibited behavior and safety, and put up buffers to shield neighboring residents from nude parkgoers, according to MyNorthwest.com.
The suit was filed by the group Denny Blaine Park for All, which said in a statement that the court’s findings affirmed its complaints about lewd behavior and that “the Denny Blaine community will be laser-focused on holding the City accountable and ensuring it follows the Court’s orders,” according to KOMO.
The court found that Seattle Parks and Recreation previously chose not to intervene against people engaging in lewd behavior at Denny Blaine Park.
“The parks department also did not want its employees to confront the lewd parkgoer. A July 2022 internal email showed that employees had complained about seeing lewd conduct and so much nudity. The department instructed these employees to not intervene, to not take videos or photos evidence, and to stay in their car,” court documents said, according to MyNorthwest.com.
Friends of Denny Blaine, an advocacy group that got involved in the case to protect the park and its historic use as a gathering place for the LGBTQ+ community, said in a statement that “we believe that the evidence reflects that the Park is not currently a nuisance and that the Park should ultimately be restored to its full historical status as a fully clothing optional Park,” according to Seattle’s KING-TV.
