Key chant “We will not be silent-Stonewall was a riot!”
This protest was also against the corporatization of Pride. One speaker reported seeing many corporate “sponsors” in St Petersburg Pride who also donated millions to the politicians responsibe for the current wave of genocidal legislation.
Video by Unicorn Riot
On the 29th of June, Weelaunee Forest’s defenders showed up at a speech given by Atlanta’s Mayor Andre Dickens at a firehouse. As protesters chanted and peppered the Mayor with questions, he abandoned his speech, cutting it sort.
In possible deference to this being at a firehouse, “if we don’t get it burn it down” was reverted to the older “if we don’t get it shut it down.”
This is similar to Climate Defiance actions in DC and elsewhere that have forced much of the Biden cabinet to flee or cancel public appearances, in one case hiding behind a row of garbage trucks
This march was 3 days before DeSantis’ brutal SB1718 goes into effect. The new laws are so extreme migrant workers have fled FL en masse and unharvestable crops are rotting in the fields.
Even some out of state drivers licenses will no longer be recognized by FL police. In addition, just DRIVING INTO FLORIDA (across the border) with a friend or family member who is undocumented becomes a felony in FL as of July 1. This is also predicted to cause a storm of racial profiling “traffic stops” in FL and could even lead to roadside shootouts just as all other police stops can and do.
Still worse, at least some “offenses” under SB1718 are automatic pretrial HOLDS, meaning detention without trial.
Turns out there are no white MAGA “Americans” waiting in line for jobs picking fruit, so FL gets NO HARVEST 2023!
The trans march was a powerful statement from a community under siege, and the overall event was massive. It may have simply been the obstacle-strewn nature of the Bayside Drive area, but the size of the crowd and the massive traffic jams made this look like one of the big NE Prides like DC’s Capitol Pride. On the other hand the much shorter march route may have concentrated the crowd.
Everyone except DeSantis and his Nazi friends caught a real break: a month ago with Fascist attacks escalating and the drag ban scheduled to go into effect days later, St Pete lookd like a major flashpoint. Instead, there were only a few Christo-fash, no militia fash and no attacks. An injunction was issued by a Federal court against the drag ban the previous day, so planned police enforcement to limit spiciness of drag performances cancelled. Police attacks on drag performers had been a real risk and had this taken place another Stonewall could have resulted. With the drag ban struck down, a proposed and possibly illegal enforcement campaign against a law that was not to go into effect for another week appeared to have been called off.
Another Stonewall could have resulted in escalation with unknown results. Any serious Fascist attack would have guaranteed swift retaliation, again leading to escalation, again with unknown results. None of this took place, a half dozen religious extremists yelling were no threat to the huge crowd.
On the 24th of June, a pro-choice march and ballot initiaitive signature collection was held in the area of Munn Park in Lakeland, FL. An existing street festival provided a plentiful audience. I was in front of SCOTUS the moment the decision was announced. It set off three days of nationwide chaos, and that night in DC a black bloc marched against the Supreme Court.
In the weeks therafter, as protests continued at places like the homes of antichoice Supreme Court “justices,” underground abortion pill and transportation networks were hurredly set up, and the GOP is whining that these networks have castrated abortion bans in many states. None the less, many are unaware these networks exist or simply lack sufficient resources to turn to the Underground, and both involuntary birthrates and suicide rates have spiked.
We’ve cut one ball off of abortion bans, time to go back and get the other one! Ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights have been passing even in GOP states, and passing them in strategic states like FL will destroy the effectiveness of bans in neighboring states for hundreds of miles.
Many cities and counties have cancelled Pride events in FL due to Gov DeSantis’s blustering threats and the drag ban he rammed through Tallahassee (effective July 1). Not Polk Pride in Lakeland: Polk County’s LGBTQ community stood their ground (as other FL law calls for…) and defied the Governor’s threats with a full featured outdoor drag show. The only interference came from Christian fascists who did not arrive until after the drag show was over.
On the 17th of June, a Pride festival was held at Munn Park in Lakeland, FL. The same street preachers from a Christian/Fascist cult who assaulted a child at Pasco Pride back on Feb 4 were back, and again attempted to disrupt the event.
The Fascist train did NOT run on time, they arrived after all the drag performers had finished! That’s right DeSantis, we had a drag show outdoors in public at Polk Pride and there’s nothing you can do about it! Fl is a “stand your ground” state-and that’s exactly what Polk County LGBTQ+ folks did on June 17.
On the 14th of June, prayer vigil was held in the central square in Ocala, FL for Ajike Shantrell, shot and murdered by a racist neighbor on the 2nd of June.
A known extreme Catholic hate group decided to harass the vigil, getting as close as possible and holding their own different prayers and playing loud bagpipes. On top of all else a motorcycle gang rode past on three of the four possible streets around the square and random fascists were spotted nearby including two in black and gold T-shirts. Black and gold is Proud Boys colors.
The Catholic groups calls themselves Christians while disrupting events held by other churches in a exercise of hypocrisy at the highest level.
The arraignment of Donald Trump in Miami disrupted a major Fascist offensive to block a Pride proclaimation and ban more books in the Polk County Schools. They had hoped to dominate and dazzle the School Board. Much of Moms4Liberty and all of the Proud Boys seemed to have diverted to Miami however, and those left were outmaneuvered by LGBTQ speakers and their allies
One of the main far-right groups mobilizing against LGBTQ students was so-called “County Citizens Defending Freedom,” an odd name for a book burning/sexual “morality” enforcement advocacy group. They were mocked as “County Citizens Defending Fascism” and in any event few of their T-shirts were seen at the School Board meeting.
The very last speaker was one of the most extreme, possibly frustrated by listening to so many LGBTQ speakers warn we are not going away. He droned on about “filthy books” and both looked and sounded like he forgot his white sheet and hood. The KKK long had an outfit called the Council of Concerned Citizens (CCC) as a front group, this extremist sounded like he would fit right in.
There was also a physical confrontation, where someone no doubt disapproving of Bonnie’s alleged panty toss that supposedly hit a Polk County Sheriff’s deputy at a fake clinic threw panties back at Bonnie. Since a throw by an enemy was unexpected, video missed this by seconds.