Judge to decide fate of Seattle's unofficial nude beach

The fate of Denny Blaine Park, Seattle's longtime unofficial nude beach and hub for the city's LGBTQ+ community, is in the hands of a King County Superior Court judge after attorneys delivered closing arguments on Thursday.

Judge Samuel Chung's pending ruling marks a tipping point in a lengthy battle between advocates for the nude beach and nearby homeowners, who have complained for years about nudity and criminal activity at the park.

Attorneys sparred Thursday over naked parkgoers, freedom of speech and the use of public spaces in Chung's courtroom.

The fight ramped up in April 2025, when an anonymous group of neighbors sued the city and its parks department to shut down the 2-acre public park on the shore of Lake Washington, or ban nudity there. Their complaint accused city and parks officials of mismanaging the nude beach by failing to prevent chronic lewd and illegal activity from happening there, including public masturbation and indecent exposure.

Joseph Groshong, an attorney representing the city and its parks department, said the plaintiffs had not proven nudity causes lewd conduct, drug use or vandalism - activities that happen across all city parks. He also pointed to witness testimony about the social and mental health benefits of nudity, which is not a crime under state law.

In Washington, getting naked is a crime only if a person intentionally exposes themselves in an "obscene" way, knowing it will likely cause "affront or alarm."

Issues neighbors had complained about had also decreased significantly since last August, when the city rolled out a court-ordered abatement plan to eliminate public masturbation and sex at the park, Groshong said. The plan included installing a fence to designate a "clothing required" section of the park, adding signage about rules and increasing staffing.

The city plans to continue efforts to curb illegal activity at the park, he said.

Susan Foster, an attorney for the intervenor group Friends of Denny Blaine, said the nude beach is a necessary place for gay and transgender people to feel accepted when the world beyond makes them feel "exhausted and afraid."

"It is the very nakedness and vulnerability itself that heals and brings these communities together, celebrating differences rather than condemning or shying away from them," Foster said.

Rylan Weythman, an attorney for Denny Blaine For All, said illegal activity like public masturbation has gotten worse since the city started its abatement plan. Ongoing "lewd conduct," along with naked parkgoers, harms the community by preventing people "who don't want to be exposed to nudity" from using the public space, he said.

For years, Weythman said, neighborhood residents had tried meeting with city officials to "fix issues" at the park, but never received any help. Nudity "has exploded" there in recent years and residents no longer feel safe bringing their families there, Weythman said.

Closing the park was necessary to ensure "every person who wants to enjoy this park has the opportunity to do so," he said.

"[Neighbors] were forced to file this lawsuit," Weythman said. "The city needs to make the difficult decision. Close the park temporarily. Find a reset."

Chung said he was not sure when he would issue a written ruling, but would work on it as quickly as he could.

"I know that sometimes things get kind of rancorous, but I really appreciate everyone's professionalism," he said before adjourning the court.

Outside the courtroom, Denny Blaine For All spokesperson Lee Keller said the lawsuit was not about nudity, but about "people breaking the law" and ensuring everyone can "use the park and feel safe."

Jesse Miranda, an organizer with Friends of Denny Blaine, said the park is a sacred space and one of the only places in Seattle where "the most vulnerable individuals in [the] community" know they can feel safe. Since the city implemented its abatement plan, Miranda said he and other members of the organization have visited the park several times per week to hand out fliers outlining park rules.

Miranda said he hoped Chung would "allow the [abatement plan] to work," rather than shut down a site that has been cherished by the city's LGBTQ+ community for more than 40 years.

"This place means a lot to me," Miranda said. "It's worth fighting for and defending."

The trial is a culmination of years of complaints from homeowners in the Harrison/Denny-Blaine neighborhood. The upscale area is dominated by 20th-century mansions, some valued at over $10 million, according to Zillow.

In May 2022, Stuart Sloane - owner of the University Village shopping center - contacted former Mayor Bruce Harrell in an effort to pay for changes at Denny Blaine, including installing a children's playground there.

While being cross-examined during the trial, Sloan said he had sought to build the playground to prevent nudity at the park, and that he had offered his money on the condition that Seattle police respond to all reports of "indecent attire" or nudity there.

News of Sloan's private lobbying enraged some who saw it as an effort to change the nature of the park, which has been used as a nude beach since at least the 1980s. The city backed off its plan for the playground in 2024.

Advocates for the nude beach participated in meetings in 2024 with city officials and neighbors to try to agree on strategies and rules to keep the park safe, including cleaning trash and installing signs warning against bad behavior. In 2025, a spokesperson for Harrell said the city had deployed park rangers and police to the park and added restrooms and litter pickup.

The meetings eventually fell apart, with neighbors finding the improvements insufficient to curb illegal activity in the park, according to their complaint.

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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 6:34 AM.