Seattle worship rally draws LGBTQ counter-protests but stays calm

Despite calls from activists to cancel it, a Christian worship rally in Seattle went forward last weekend without confrontation.

Sean Feucht, a Christian musician and conservative activist who gained national attention for his “Let Us Worship” movement opposing COVID-19 restrictions on religious gatherings, brought his “Revive in ’25” tour to Gas Works Park on Aug. 30.

The rally held special meaning for Feucht, who recalled being barred from the same park during the pandemic. “Coming back this time and having an invitation from the mayor to go back to the exact place we were once barricaded from was actually pretty special. And it was almost five years to the day later as well,” he told Fox News Digital.

According to KING 5 and KUOW, roughly 200 protesters gathered behind a barricade, blowing kazoos and noisemakers in an effort to drown out the concert. 

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Some displayed profanity-laced signs and waved transgender and rainbow Pride flags.

Feucht acknowledged there was loud opposition but said he was proud of the Christian community who attended the event anyway.

“They persevered. Worshippers in the Pacific Northwest are just built a little different,” he told Fox News Digital. “It ended up being a really awesome and powerful night.”

Feucht said he has grown accustomed to the protesters at these events and views their presence as a ministry opportunity.

“I’ve grown to love it. Not only am I used to it, but I kind of find it as a way of like, hey, these guys would never step foot inside a church. And now they are subject to a two-and-a-half hour church service,” he explained. “Sure, they’re blowing kazoos, yelling and screaming. Some of them are trying to agitate us. But when they realized that we’ve been here before, and we’re going to be undeterred, then they just have to listen.”

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Some on the left have described Feucht’s ministry as “hateful.” He pushed back on that characterization, inviting his critics to come and see the events for themselves.

“If that’s what you believe or that’s what you’ve heard, come and check it out. See for yourself,” he said.

Despite some LGBTQ activists calling on city officials to cancel the event, Democratic Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell issued a statement defending Feucht’s First Amendment rights. 

Feucht said the city worked with his team to relocate the event from Cal Anderson Park to Gas Works Park and even offered additional security, after another Seattle religious gathering turned violent in May.

“As crazy of a city Seattle is, it’s still in the United States of America, and we still have a right to worship,” Feucht said. “We still have the right to free speech. We still have a right to do the things that we’ve been doing for almost 250 years in this country. And so I think, you know, taking a stand against these activists and reminding them, it doesn’t matter how crazy and hateful and wild and the death threats and all the stuff you bring, we’re still going to worship.”

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Beyond Seattle, his tour has also drawn resistance across North America. This summer, nine of 11 Canadian cities that had granted permits canceled his scheduled events. He believes there’s a growing anti-American and anti-Christian hostility in the country he’s spent the past two decades touring.

“I firmly don’t believe now, after our trip there, that Christians have equal rights and free speech,” he told Fox News Digital.

Still, he vowed to keep touring even if he faces more resistance.

“‘Let us worship.’ That’s what we do. So whether the resistance comes or whether city leaders work with us, it doesn’t change the mandate on our ministry,” he said.

Feucht’s tour will stop in Washington, D.C., on Saturday on the National Mall. President Donald Trump shared a video message welcoming Feucht’s tour.

“Religious liberty is under siege. We are fighting back and fighting back more than ever before,” Trump said. “We have to protect our religious liberty, and we have to pray.”