Seattle, WA – On August 30, over 200 people gathered for a protest at Gasworks Park in Seattle to say no to the Let Us Pray hate speech rally that was to be held there.
The hate group Let Us Pray is notorious for holding such events, where transphobia is a common theme. For this reason, they were banned from holding rallies and events in eight cities in Canada. They are also known to hire local white supremacists as private security to intimidate counter-protesters and rub elbows with the local cops. Their main focus has been spreading religious extremism by attacking trans and queer people. Their leader, Sean Feught, is an outspoken anti-trans, anti-queer bigot.
Concerned members of the queer community and others mobilized to confront this hate group. Passing Seattleites going about their day also joined the rally when they learned why folks were protesting. Camaraderie was in the air, despite the circumstances.
The purpose of the protest was to disrupt Let Us Pray’s so-called “concert.” Air horns, kazoos, whistles and megaphones were used to make a chorus of disturbance. From the hill behind the concert, the sounds of protesters could be heard over the attempted singing by Feught. No doubt their footage was ruined, and any hope of YouTube ad revenue along with it.
It was clear Let Us Pray expected significantly more turnout for their event. Instead, the numbers were evenly balanced between event-goers and protesters. Around 400 people in total showed up, and the eagerness of the “concert” organizers to pack up was proof that even they found the turnout to their event to be underwhelming.
At 7 p.m., two hours before their permit was set to expire, they called it quits, but not before asking for attendees to donate to their Venmo. Protesters accosted Feught all the way back to his car with well-earned messages from the queer and trans people of Seattle: that he was not welcome, his rhetoric was not allowed to exist without pushback, and that if he returned, so would we.
#SeattleWA #WA #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles
