We are asking the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department to move the August 30th “Revive in ‘25” event from Cal Anderson Park to Magnuson Park due to concerns about neighborhood safety.

Cal Anderson is a special place for LGBTQIA+ Seattlites. Named twenty years ago in honor of Washington State's first openly gay legislator, the park has been a beloved gathering space or decades. On May 24th 2025 Mayday USA, a far right Christian group not based in Seattle and affiliated with attempted human trafficker and domestic terrorist Matt Shae, organized a prayer rally with the explicit purpose of preaching against the existence of transgender people. With the protection of the police, they went to a historically gay park in a historically gay neighborhood in a historically gay city for a “spiritual” battle. Over any other motivation, this was  deliberate attempt by Mayday USA to antagonize LGBTQIA+ people and their allies.

On August 30th, Hold The Line and Sean Fuecht led Let Us Worship plan to bring a follow up event called Revive In ‘25 back to our Cal Anderson. Based on the events of May 24th, we have serious concerns about a copycat event at Cal Anderson again. To safeguard protect the safety of all sides involves, we are asking to  Seattle Parks and the Office of Economic Development relocate this event to Magnuson Park.

Magnuson Park would allow for the proposed prayer rally to use their stadium capacity speakers without subjecting businesses and residents to six plus hours of high decibel noise. The site has many public parking lots, instead of burdening Capitol Hill’s limited street parking. Large scale events routinely use this site, and it has enough amenities such as bathrooms to accommodate them. Most importantly, this park does not have the LGBTQIA+ history that created the context for the violence of May 24th.

As with all groups, Revive in ‘25 and similar groups are entitled to their First Amendment protected free speech. We are not asking for their event to be shut down. We are asking for the City of Seattle and Parks Department to do what they do for all event requests on public property: evaluate the suitability of an event for the requested space. We believe that the fallout of the May 24th event indicates that deliberately provocative events aimed at the LGBTQIA+ community are not a good fit for Cal Anderson Park.

In response to the May 24th event, the Seattle  Mayors office said that the “far-right rally was held here…to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values, in the heart of Seattle’s most prominent LGBTQIA+ neighborhood.” The Seattle Police Officers Guild said “ To be clear, WE DO NOT have the proper staffing to handle any more of these demonstrations that turn into mass arrests.” Our city has made it clear that these deliberately provocative events are not something that we support, let alone have the public safety officers required to keep the peace.

Join us in prioritizing the safety of Capitol Hill’s community by urging city officials to relocate  Revive in ‘25’s to Magnuson Park. Your signature matters.

 Sign the petition to support relocating Revive In 25 for the safety of all.