Fremont Solstice Parade going politically correct?06:33 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 14, 2005
By ERIC WILKINSON / KING 5 News-SEATTLE
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Could it be one of Seattle's most famous expressions of freedom is going politically correct?
From the legendary naked bicyclists to cross-dressing clergy, the annual Fremont Solstice Parade has been the place where untraditional values were the most accepted, until now.
The Fremont Arts Council banned the act because it's not "family friendly."
A group of pierced performance artists called PURE want to march in Saturday's parade, suspended from hooks inserted through their skin.
In last year's parade they pulling their float with cables attached to hooks pierced through their flesh.
"This is based from 5,000 years of culture and tradition that happened all over the world," said Jenny Morgensen, PURE artist.
But in Fremont 2005, the normally iconoclastic Fremont Arts Council banned the act saying it wasn't "family friendly."
"I don't think they're expecting violent images and I don't think they're expecting S&M. I think they're expecting something that might push buttons and be controversial, but still be appropriate for kids in the family," said Laura Baumwall, Fremond Arts Council.
But many now worry what this decision will mean to the future of the parade in the land of Lenin. After all, if half-naked women being suspended with steel hooks through their skin from a giant pirate ship being pulled by a couple of guys with rings through their nipples can be considered offensive, what's next?
PURE member Daif Hahn says the whole thing stinks of censorship.
"I guess they want to just keep it mellow, inside the box, what's safe," he said.
But for those offended by the dangling artists, there's always the safety of the naked cyclists. They'll be "hanging around" for years to come – like it or not.
Members of PURE still plan to march in the parade - as an act of protest - but they say none of them will be hanging from hooks.
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