PETITION TO CHANGE REVISED CODE OF WASHINGTON (RCW) TO ALLOW PERMITTED FREE SPEECH EVENTS WITHOUT POLICE PRESENCE
PETITION TO CHANGE REVISED CODE OF WASHINGTON (RCW) TO ALLOW PERMITTED FREE SPEECH EVENTS WITHOUT POLICE PRESENCE
The Seattle Dyke March has historically been a permitted march with the City of Seattle, which provides organizers and participants with legal protection for marching in the streets and obstructing traffic.
Per RCW 46.61.050, Seattle Police Officers are mandatory at intersections where traffic control requires overriding traffic signals. By submitting an event permit to the City of Seattle for our annual march, they automatically staff Traffic Control police for our march.
The Seattle Dyke March is petitioning the Washington State Legislator to change RCW 46.61.050 to allow a specific exception to the requirement for police presence for free speech events.
We believe it is our right to protest without police involvement and without risk of arrest or criminal charges. With appropriate safety marshalls and community traffic-control managers, protests and marches have proved that they can safely move through the streets without a police escort.
By signing this petition, you are telling the Washington State Legislator that you believe in the right to march the streets as a permitted free speech event without police involvement.
DE-ESCALATION TIPS
FOR HATERS
These people are trying to get a reaction. Any engagement encourages their behavior. The Dyke March encourages active ignoring.
- Hater carrying a hateful sign – People with signs or flags could stand in front of the person to block the message.
- Hater spewing hate – don’t engage directly, instead chant one of the Dyke March chants with your fellow marchers as you go by and drown out their message with our own.
- Hater trying to join the march – We have limited abilities to get them out of the march. Unless the hater gets physically violent, police will not intervene. Many of these protestors have been trained and will not initiate contact, instead they may be trying to get you to touch them to claim you assaulted them. You may make a partial circle around the hater to try and keep them from getting into the middle crowd. Never do anything that would put yourself or others at risk.
FOR OTHERS
Sometimes people may be talking loudly, making a scene, or otherwise interrupting the event or march. If you’re worried about someone who is disrupting the event, come to the information table.
You may be asked to play a role in de-escalation:
- Engager – Person responding to crisis; Should only be one person at a time (ideally someone with some de-escalation training)
- Delegator – Support the Engager, Delegates where others are needed
- Crowd Manager(s) – Getting others to safety/away from crisis; Preventing crowd members from escalating situation
- Back Up(s) – Being available to respond as needed; Using bodies to block off areas
*Tips based on 2022 training with Tise Consulting & Therapy
SAFETY MARSHALLS
Interested in helping keep our community safe at the annual march? Reach out to organizers@seattledykemarch.com to get involved as a safety marshall.
More info to come!