After Death Threats, Sumner's Plateau Pride Doubles Security for Aug. 30 Return

Plateau Pride, the annual East Pierce County celebration of LGBTQ+ community and diversity, returns Aug. 30 at Hops Alley in downtown Sumner — but this year organizers have more than doubled their event budget just to keep everyone safe. The increase comes after Executive Director Abby White says she and her family received death threats following last year's gathering, threats she reported arrived through email, postal mail and social media.

The fifth annual event, organized by Hope Development Practice, will run from noon to 6 p.m. and typically draws about 300 people, according to reporting by the Tacoma News Tribune. Plateau Pride has previously been held in both Bonney Lake and Sumner, but this year's move to the newly built Hops Alley marks a shift away from public school property entirely. That shift traces back to a July 2025 event at Donald Eismann Elementary School in Bonney Lake, where social media posts criticizing drag performances triggered intense backlash and death threats against White, her staff and performers, according to KING 5 News.

Why the Venue Changed

In the wake of last year's controversy, the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District began reviewing its after-hours facility-use policies, though officials there stressed that as a public entity, the district is legally barred from denying rental requests based on protected classes or the content of an event, KING 5 reported. School officials also noted that renting out district property does not amount to an endorsement of any group using it. That legal backdrop helped push Plateau Pride toward city-owned Hops Alley, a pedestrian plaza built in 2025 as part of Sumner's $1.6 million downtown revitalization project alongside Heritage Park, according to City of Sumner municipal records.

Sumner issued Plateau Pride's special event permit after Hope Development Practice met all of the city's requirements. City officials classified Hops Alley as a public forum protected under the First Amendment, meaning Sumner cannot withhold use of the space based on the content of an otherwise compliant event and must make the plaza available for lawful gatherings regardless of viewpoint or ideology. That position tracks with Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals precedent, which holds that local governments operating public forums cannot deny permits or ban groups based on anticipated viewpoint, according to legal guidance from the Municipal Research and Services Center.

Opposition Airs at City Council

The legal clarity hasn't quelled local opposition. Sumner City Council heard pushback against Plateau Pride on Aug. 17, with resident Joanne Loudin saying she believes the event will drive families away, and resident Randall Adams saying it simply does not belong in Sumner. Resident David Tripp told the council Plateau Pride is not what Sumner is about, per the same News Tribune report. Organizer Tina Burnett, who has supported the event, said she feared opponents could show up intending to cause a disruption.

White, a licensed marriage and family therapist who leads the Puyallup-based Hope Development Practice — a nonprofit behavioral health agency offering culturally responsive therapy for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals and families, per Psychology Today — said the threats won't change her organization's commitment. She said Hope Development Practice will not stop supporting the LGBTQ community because of threats, and emphasized the event is intended to be family-friendly.

Doubled Costs, New Safeguards

Security now accounts for a major portion of Plateau Pride's expenses, which have more than doubled this year because of safety concerns, the News Tribune reports. Hope Development Practice has hired private security and added a check-in process for attendees, while the city of Sumner will also station police officers at the event. Under Washington municipal guidelines, cities can impose content-neutral time, place and manner rules on special events in public plazas, including requirements that organizers carry liability insurance and reimburse municipalities for extra public safety staffing, according to the Municipal Research and Services Center.

Volunteers will attend a preparatory meeting ahead of the event where they'll discuss how to avoid responding to anyone who tries to cause a disruption. Organizers are also regulating performer attire and event rules, and drag queens performing at Plateau Pride will require early karaoke sign-ups to screen out swear words or inappropriate songs — with the drag performances themselves expected to feature mostly Disney songs, according to the News Tribune's reporting.

What's on Offer This Year

Beyond the drag queen storytime and karaoke, this year's Plateau Pride will include about 25 vendors — mostly event sponsors or nonprofit organizations supporting the LGBTQ community — along with two bands, food trucks, a silent auction and raffles. The event will also offer free clothing and free gender-affirming haircuts. Hope Development Practice is accepting donations to help cover the event's costs.

The threats aimed at Plateau Pride fit a broader national pattern. In May 2024, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint warning that Pride Month celebrations and LGBTQ+ venues faced heightened risk of violent targeting by extremist groups and domestic actors, urging organizers to adopt stronger safety protocols, according to The Guardian. Regional tension has also been building closer to home: in July, the U.S. Department of Education and the Pierce County Sheriff's Office opened investigations into a Pride Month display at Graham-Kapowsin High School in the nearby Bethel School District after unauthorized testosterone vials were found there, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the federal inquiry.

Plateau Pride first launched in 2022, drawing more than 500 attendees to what organizers describe as a family-focused celebration created for LGBTQ+ residents in rural Pierce County who previously had no local community gatherings of their own. Hope Development Practice has said it holds the event in East Pierce County specifically to make it accessible to local LGBTQ community members who might otherwise have to travel. Groups like the Oasis Youth Center, the county's sole dedicated queer youth cultural center, provide more than 30 hours a week of mental health, leadership and crisis support to LGBTQ+ youth ages 11 to 24 — part of the broader local support network that events like Plateau Pride help sustain, according to organizational disclosures.