Performative Victimhood
The news broke today that the performative anti-gay, anti-abortion activists Mayday USA are suing Seattle for imaginary free speech violations. Well thatâs fun. Iâm not about to waste the research effort I did just because the Seattle Times had to close their comment section, so here we go!
One paragraph summary: theyâre a bunch of New Apostolic Reformation assholes who came to Seattle this summer to fire up controversy and got what they wanted â counter-protesters, arrests, and a lot of free publicity. So it goes. Now theyâre suing because the publicity is fading and the grift is based on constant weeping and wailing.
I dug up the complaint. Now, I am not a lawyer but I am competent to point out hypocrisy. I want to hit two points in particular because they reveal a lot about how these movements do business; weâre going to look at the claim that they were âsteeredâ to a park in the middle of Seattleâs Capitol Hill â certainly a popular place for queers to live and socialize â and the claim that Harrell blamed the violence on them. These are related.
So: the evidence that they were âsteeredâ is this. They wanted to use Pike Place. The city said no âdue to the size and scope of the proposed event being too large to be safely accommodated at the proposed location.â They also cited an event from last year, the March for Jesus. According to the complaint, âPlaintiffs attempted to inform the City that the March for Jesus event was a different organizationâŚâ
This may not hold up under scrutiny, because in the emails included with the complaint, the person negotiating with Seattle said âThis event is a completely different event than the one we did last year with United Revival.â I am still not a lawyer but that sounds sort of like youâre confirming that youâre the same organization, even if itâs a different event. Also, the email address of the person in question ends in unitedrevival.com, which makes me wonder who exactly âweâ is intended to be.
The complaint goes on to muddy the waters a bunch by claiming that Seattle pushed Mayday USA off to talk to the Downtown Seattle Association as decision makers. That also seems to be false. What they did say is that âitâs quite possible that DSA can help find another location.â Itâs clear that the city is talking to the DSA about the application, and if you assume that itâs legitimate to ask for input from stakeholders before permitting⌠that seems normal? (And thatâs a question I donât have a legal answer to, for what itâs worth.)
And then we get to the really hypocritical bit: âsteered.â Seattle suggested Westlake Park and Occidental Square Park as locations. Westlake Park literally touches Pike St. It is two blocks away from the photo in their original application. Itâs right there. The Seattle Park Department confirmed that South Lake Union Park was available. Mayday USA wasnât steered anywhere; they decided to go to the heart of queer Seattle.
OK. Does their prior behavior tell us anything about the chances this was a conscious decision? Of course it does.
On June 1st, 2025 â soon after the Seattle rally â Mayday USA held a rally at Mannâs Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in LA. The city denied them that permit; they didnât care. In April 2022, Ross Johnston (founder of Mayday USA) and Sean Feucht (Johnstonâs mentor) led a march targeting gay bars on Santa Monica Boulevard. They know theyâre going into hostile ground, and they consistently choose hostile ground for these rallies, because thatâs where they get to feel persecuted and because that is quite literally spiritual doctrine for them.
C. Peter Wagner, founder of the New Apostolic Reformation Movement of which Mayday USA is just one element, literally wrote the book on this. He created a âspiritual warfare framework,â which calls for confronting âterritorial spiritsâ that âcoordinate activities over a geographical area.â He has a six step process, beginning with selecting a sinful area and ending with prayer marches with on-site conflict. âSinfulâ means, among other things, queer.
It is not credible to claim you were forced into using Cal Anderson Park when using Cal Anderson Park is completely in line with the spiritual warfare methods developed by your mentors. Particularly when Jennifer Donnelly of Mayday USA says things like âIâm a really black-and-white person. I just believe what the Bible says. Weâre supposed to go onto the Earth; weâre supposed to dominate.â
The other claim â Harrell blaming them â Iâll do more quickly. This is obviously an attempt to avoid admitting that they were deliberately provoking people, and it doesnât hold up for a second. What Harrell said:
âTodayâs far-right rally was held here for this very reason â to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our cityâs values, in the heart of Seattleâs most prominent LGBTQ+ neighborhood. â
Not bad for Harrell, actually. He also said âAnarchists infiltrated the counter-protestors group and inspired violenceâ which is more like what I expect from him, and which is also quite clear about who inspired the violence. It does not qualify as blaming Mayday USA for violence; it does qualify as blaming them for deliberately provoking a reaction. And, despite the overwrought language of the lawsuit, he clearly condemned the violence. Mayday USA just doesnât like being called out for the fringe group they are.
What complete whiny dorks.
#rightWingExtremism #seattle
