‘Protect the kids’: KIRO hosts spar on Denny Blaine Park nudity as judge to decide its future

King County Superior Court Judge Samuel Chung will decide the future of Seattle’s hotly debated nude beach, Denny Blaine Park, The Seattle Times reported Monday. The ruling comes after the city attempted a compromise by installing a fence to divide the park between clothing-required and clothing-optional sections, as “The Jason Rantz Show” on Seattle Red 770 AM reported.

KIRO fill-in hosts Angela Poe Russell and Greg Tomlin sparred over whether public nudity at the park should be permitted at all, even with the barriers in place.

“I’d love to find a way for everybody to be able to exist,” Angela said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

Angela said she visited the beach and saw the barrier as a great compromise. The only issue she noticed was that sometimes naked people wouldn’t stay in the designated area. But she said she would hate to see the park closed because both sides couldn’t find a way to coexist.

“I would hate to see a place that’s been a hub for people to find community and be able to be nude on the beach, and at the same time, I also respect that there are probably some bad actors who are doing things they shouldn’t be doing, and that’s not OK, that is against the law,” she said. “So I would just love for a way for both of them to be able to exist, and I just don’t know if we’re gonna get there.”

Angela added that she believes being nude isn’t the issue — it’s the alleged lewd acts.

“I think it’s a few people that are taking things too far,” she said.

Denny Blaine Park’s decades-long history as a nude beach

KIRO producer Andrew Lanier said nudity and sex happen at a lot of parks and beaches. He noted Denny Blaine Park has served as an LGBTQ+ safe space and nude beach for decades. Andrew also pointed out that nudity is legal in Seattle.

“Has anyone tried to shut down Golden Gardens because couples have engaged in coitus there during the evening?” he said.

“I think it probably is more pervasive at this park than at other parks,” Greg responded. “But regardless, it should be shut down everywhere.”

Greg said he is practically a “never-nude” and that he doesn’t like mass nude bike rides, nude protests, or nude people at the beach.

“I’m gonna tend to err on the side of less public nudity, in large part because you’ve got to protect the kids,” he said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.