Tired of the constant stream of charity runs, bike events, and musical performances starting, ending, or taking place at Gas Works Park this summer? Well, how about a concert/rally by a right-wing Christian group known for its anti-LGBTQ stance? The group Let Us Worship will be holding just such an event this Saturday, beginning in the late afternoon. Their permit expires at 9 pm, and the park closes at 10 pm.
Let Us Worship, a California-based group led by a man named Sean Feucht, believes religion is under attack in America. From their website:
But our freedom to worship God and obey His Word has come under unprecedented attack. Powerful politicians and social media giants have engaged in unchartered abuses of religious liberty, silencing the faithful, banning our voices, and outright attacking our God-given right to declare His goodness.
States across America, including right here in California, have shut down church services and even outlawed singing in church. Instagram and Twitter are censoring Christian voices every single day. And with every hour that passes, they grow bolder in their efforts to silence the faithful.
I did not know these things.
The group originally had a permit for Cal Anderson Park. While some members of the Capitol Hill neighborhood wanted the permit revoked, the city did not have grounds to do so, according to the Seattle Times. Instead, city leaders, including Mayor Bruce Harrell and Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth (who represents the Capitol Hill area), convinced Let Us Worship to accept Gas Works Park as an alternative rally site. (A “Jesus March” is apparently still planned earlier in the day for someplace near Cal Anderson, if you’re interested.)
Maritza Rivera, who represents much of Wallingford, including Gas Works, on the city council, had this to say:
I wanted to let you know about a permitted event that will be taking place at Gas Works Park on August 30th from 5 pm to 9 pm, which came to my attention today [August 19].
The event, a religious concert, is associated with a prayer rally that was held earlier this spring at Cal Anderson Park. As you know, based on First Amendment rights, the City cannot refuse permits based on the content of speech at events.
SPD will be on-site, monitoring the concert. And the new gates at the parking lot will be closed and locked at 10 pm, as has been happening since the gates were installed earlier this summer.
We have been getting emails from neighbors near Gas Works Park this summer, so I wanted to be sure to bring this event to your attention as soon as I learned about it. I’m optimistic that SPD and Parks will ensure the park is safe and closed at the end of the permitted time.
The Revive in 2025 rally being held at Gas Works is just the first in a series of similar rallies, with others scheduled for places such as Missoula, Yakima, San Antonio, and other locales in Texas. A group with similar, anti-LGBTQIA+ views rallied at Cal Anderson this spring, resulting in some two dozen arrests, according to King 5 News. Let Us Worship obtained a permit for a rally at Gas Works back in 2020, but with the park closed due to COVID, the group showed up anyway.
There is at least one counterprotest that we know of. Signs have gone up advertising an opportunity to join in a performance on kazoos of Pink Pony Club (composed by singer, songwriter, and LGBTQIA+ icon Chappell Roan). Kazoos will be provided. It’s not clear what group is behind this.
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If only they were left wing, they could block traffic crossing the University Bridge without even needing a permit! In the 80’s, everyone I knew in Wallingford was a free speech absolutist. Will the new Wallingford residents join Antifa and try to stop this event?
I appreciate your clever and nuanced writing on this third-rail topic, Jack.
I am the pastor of Wallingford Presbyterian Church, where LGBTQIA+ folks are joyfully celebrated and currently serve in leadership positions. I'm frustrated that this group claims Christianity while promoting harmful and death-dealing ideology. I hope they are drowned out by jubilant kazoos!
If ideas are bad, poison, wrong, etc., then why must you try and drown them out? Are others too stupid to reach their own conclusions and maybe reach the wrong (according to you) one, thus requiring you and others sharing your views to create “earplugs” for the feeble-minded?
I am not a Christian and don’t claim to know precisely what the group with the permit will say, but I’m positive that I don’t need a mental babysitter or thought police to ensure that I think only ”right” thoughts.
Tolerating hateful speech is supporting hate. That’s why it’s so important to vocally oppose it. Plus, Pink Pony Club on kazoos!!!
Your comment was very hateful. Next up, I’m in power. And I declare support for BLM is anti-White hate speech. Because ‘hate speech’ is open to interpretation, whoever is in power can define what is hateful and what is not. When hate speech is not allowed you no longer have a war of ideas; you have a war for power.
*I understand the heckler’s veto is not the same thing as criminalizing hate speech, but ~90% of Western Europe has done just that and I suspect many here would love to do the same.
Anyways, WTF happened to Liberals?!
No, tolerating speech of any kind is being a lawful citizen and obeying the U.S. Constitution, which is the highest law of this country. One doesn't "tolerate" speech anyway. One makes alternative arguments that best the speech one does not agree with. Simply calling speech hateful is childish, inept, and doesn't address the speech – in other words, it is ad hominem and not serious dialogue.
Thanks for including the link to the organization’s web site, which I visited. I can’t find any evidence of anti-LGBTQ+ on their site. You wrote that the group is “…known for its anti-LGBTQ+ stance.” Can you provide a source for that reporting?
Good observation regarding their website. I wondered what their views really were after going there myself, but if you read accounts of their "concerts," you will begin to uncover this anti-LGBTQ viewpoint. Here is a single source that sort of summarizes it: https://vancouversun.com/news/sean-feucht-us-christian-worship-leader-controversy
I followed three links from the one you posted, still not finding any evidence that demonstrates "…its anti-LGBTQ+ stance" though one could certainly say there is evidence that it is "…known for its anti-LGBTQ+ stance" with the emphasis on "known" where that word means something like "LGBTQ+ advocacy groups see the Let Us Worship organization this way." To me, that is zero proof, just an opinion generated by those that one might say are enemies of the target of the speech describing the group.
Again, I don't belong to any groups, I'm not a Christian, and I frankly don't like rallies and marches of any kind, for any cause. What I am is a supporter of the U.S. Constitution and that means liberty and free speech, both for the speaker and for listeners. I don't like folks shouting down others, and I especially don't like characterizing the people that emit the speech that one dislikes as "anti" this or hateful. Does being in favor of LGBTQ+ mean that one is "hateful" of straight people?
Youch.
One comment: your phrasing in the last paragraph makes it sound like Chappell Roan will be performing there, which I’m pretty sure you didn’t intend.
“Signs have gone up advertising a performance on kazoos of Pink Pony Club, by singer, songwriter, and LGBTQIA+ icon Chappell Roan.”
Just sayin.
Thanks. I tried to avoid leaving this impression. I'll try again.
If only they were left wing, they could block traffic crossing the University Bridge without even needing a permit! In the 80’s, everyone I knew in Wallingford was a free speech absolutist. Will the new Wallingford residents join Antifa and try to stop this event?