23 Arrested In Seattle Melee After Far-Right Christian Group Demonstrates In LGBTQ Neighborhood [VIDEO]

May 25, 2025 Christianists, Hate Groups

The Seattle Times reports:

Protesters clashed with police at dueling rallies Saturday in Cal Anderson Park in Seattle. A crowd waving transgender pride flags and signs denouncing the “Trump Fascist Regime” gathered around 1 p.m. in protest of a “Mayday USA” event — the fourth of five stops on a conservative Christian group’s national tour, under the banner #DontMessWithOurKids.

By Saturday night, Seattle police had made 23 arrests on various charges. Eleven of the arrests came during an “initial scuffle,” police wrote. A juvenile accused of obstructing law enforcement was briefly held, then released from the precinct.

Protesters had aimed to counter the “well-funded anti-trans, anti-queer event that is led by far-right Christian activists. The Mayday USA rally in Seattle is provocatively being held in the heart of the Queer community,” according to organizers.

Seattle’s Fox affiliate reports:

One of the prominent supporters of Mayday USA is former Spokane Valley state representative Matt Shea, of the “On Fire Ministries,” according to the Radical Women Seattle. Mayday USA organizers have set up a tour of five cities in the country, with Saturday’s event being held in what is considered the heart of the LGBTQ+ community in Seattle on Capitol Hill.

Seattle’s NBC affiliate reports:

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said the far-right rally was specifically held at the park in Seattle’s known LGBTQ+ neighborhood “to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values.”

In a statement, Mayor Harrell called Seattle “a welcoming, inclusive city for LGBTQ+ communities, and we stand with our trans neighbors when they face bigotry and injustice.” Harrell said anarchists joined the counterprotesters, which resulted in violence and arrests. He said the event organizes shut down the event early after being asked to do so.

“I am grateful for those who make their voices heard in support of our neighbors without resorting to violence,” his statement read. “In the face of an extreme right-wing national effort to attack our trans and LGBTQ+ communities, Seattle will continue to stand unwavering in our embrace of diversity, love for our neighbors, and commitment to justice and fairness.”

Matt Shea, the far-right extremist cited above, has appeared here multiple times, most recently in February 2023 when a church then-affiliated with Shea was ordered to pay Planned Parenthood nearly $1 million in legal fees and a fine related to protests that “interfered with patient care.”

He first earned national headlines in 2019 when leaked chats showed his violent fantasies about executing non-Christians and when it was learned that he had participated in militia drills to train young men for “biblical warfare.”

Shea advocates for the creation of a 51st US state based on “biblical law.” He has also said that all American men who fail to avow allegiance to Jesus should be executed.

He was expelled by the Washington state Republican caucus but refused to resign even after the feds found that he had “participated in an act of domestic terrorism against the United States” by helping plan the armed takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016.

Shea did not seek reelection in 2020 and is now the pastor of Covenant Christian Church in Spokane. At this writing, Shea is retweeting MAGA outlets calling the Seattle fracas a “violent attack by woke activists.”



Incredible photos in the Seattle Times story about yesterday’s “Mayday USA” protest and counterprotest, the first use of “less lethal” weapons since the city council re-legalized them this year. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news…

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— Erica C. Barnett (@ericacbarnett.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 12:20 PM

Accused domestic terrorist Matt Shea is making creepy-ass videos of kids overlaid with monotone “I am standing for godly marriage, I am standing for family, I am standing for life” in preparation for DontMessWithOurKids “Mayday” rally in Seattle on May 24th at Cal Anderson Park.

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— SometimesPDX (@sometimespdx.bsky.social) May 13, 2025 at 10:43 PM

Here’s Portland Police Chaplain Clyde Lewis on a flyer for the far-right Christian Nationalist and anti-LGBTQ+ rights group “Don’t Mess With Our Kids.” Their goal is to criminalize LGBTQ+ people, do conversion therapy on them, ban same-sex marriage, ban abortion, and install the theocracy.

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— SometimesPDX (@sometimespdx.bsky.social) April 24, 2025 at 3:10 PM

Right-wing Christian Nationalist Bunni Pounds will be there. She speaks at events like Moms for Liberty.

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— SometimesPDX (@sometimespdx.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 6:39 PM

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