Iron Snowflake

July 1 was the day all the vile and hateful legislation rammed through Tallahasse by FL Gov DeSantis took effect. On that day, “Freedom for all” marches were held in cities throughout Florida. One of these was in St Petersburg FL.

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.