Iron Snowflake

On the 22nd of June, the St Petersburg, FL Pride parade dodged forecasts for drenching rains and took place under mostly dry conditions. The Trans March proceeded South from Vinoy Park to link up with the main march, which then stepped off almost immediately to head back north. This was a festive event with a massive turnout.

A very special contingent marched in the main march. A coalition of pro-Palestine groups marched under Palestinian flags, and were greeted with cheers by the crowd. Genocide, mass murder, and bombing hospitals and schools seem to be unpopular with another community that in FL ourselves also face genocidal threats, in our case from DeSantis.

There is always a sour note at any parade, and this was no exception. A tiny crew of Christian nationalists showed up spewing hate, including at least two of the cult members who participated in the disruption of the 2023 Pasco Pride event where one of them assaulted a child. They were heckled, yelled back at, and at least one projectile that appeared to be a tennis ball or similar item was thrown at them. They did not have anywhere near the numbers to be anything more than a mosquito bite against this huge festival though.

The tension and very serious threats that marked the 2023 St Pete Pride were absent. That time around, several other cities had cancelled Pride events due to the DeSantis drag ban, which was thrown out by a Federal court just days before St Pete Pride. Had this ban been in effect, a police attack would have been a real risk, but most likely businesses would have been harassed after the fact.

Pride celebrates the Stonewall riots of 1969 that were triggered by a police raid on a Gay bar after all. It stands to reason that a police assault by say, Fl State troopers on a major urban pride event in 2023 could have easily detonated into another Stonewall. This time around, there were no reports of official threats and thankfully no obvious threats from militia or armed Christian nationalist outfits either, just a half dozen nuisiance operators armed only with a sound system.

Speaking of amplified sound, the religious extremists were not harassed at all for using it. When peaceful Palestine protesters at Orlando’s Lake Eola on May 11 allegedly tried to use a bullhorn, cops waded into the crowd to make arrests. The whole thing blew up, with cops spraying mace, people going every which way to escape, and reports some had diffculty escaping the park due to all those cops. No such issues faced the Christian nationalists at St Pete Pride.

On the 15th of June, Palestinians and their friends created a memorial of children’s shoes at Orlando’s City Hall. This memorial commemorates the children murdered by Israel’s carpet bombing and wholesale slaughter in Gaza.

Nobody interfered with this ceremony, note that Orlando is the same city where police tear gassed a peaceful, family-friendly Nakba rememberance march barely over a month earlier.

The June 15, 2024 Polk Pride festival in Lakeland FL’s Munn Park went off without interference this time around. Last year, the same Christian nationalists that assaulted a child at the Feb 2023 Pasco Pride event showed up. They screamed and howled slurs under anti-LGBTQ banners and nearly started a fight. This time around, they did not show up. The reason might be a warrant against one of them for striking someone with a sign, which in their case probably means a sign on a stick. Anyway, word was the cops are looking for that one.

Present at the festival and able to participate without any interference were a pro-Palestine “No Pride in Genocide” contingent that gave out fliers and participated in the march around Munn Park.

On the 8th of June, pro-Palestine LGBTQ activists blocked the color giuard, MPD contingent, and first few contingents therafter of the Capitol Pride parade. The blockade was to protest sponsors and parade contingents that profit from Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.

DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) then violently assaulted the blockaders. They did this under the usual leadership of killer cop Jason Bagshaw.

Its worth remembering that Israel will gladly kill LGBTQ Palestinians not for being Queer but for being Palestinian.Thus, “pinkwashing” arguments for suporting Israel are completely invalid. The only hazard to LGBTQ Palestinians that is not also a hazard to LGBTQ Floridians such as myself is the IOF and it is the #1 threat there. Bombs don’t single out LGBTQ folks to spare.

The 8th of June was a horrific day in Gaza, as an IOF raid that retrieved only four hostages killed at least 210 Palestinians and wounded over 400 more. Many were seen with limbs blown off by Israel’s bombs.

On this same day, tens of thousands (possibly 100,000) furious protesters descended on Washington DC for a protest organized just weeks earlier to pressure Biden’s administration to half the flow of deadly weapons to Netanyahu’s murderous regime in Israel.

The huge “We are your red line” protest in DC got off to a strong start as cops attempted to arrest someone, only to be defeated by determined opposition and a sucessful unarrest. Cops fired pepper spray into the crowd, hitting even journalists such as Ford Fischer but were not successful in holding on to their hostage. Instead, the cops withdrew from the crowd in defeat and humiliation.

At its height, the protest stretched all the way around the White House, using a massive “red line” that was between a ribbon and a banner to lampoon Biden’s failed “red line” remarks on Gaza. Gaps in the banner ensured protesters could get in and out, but the crowd controlled the entire ring.This had the effect of placing the White House under siege.

While this was going on, a “No Pride in Genocide” contingent blocked the DC Capitol Pride parade’s lead elements. This was to protest the presence in the parade and among its sponsors of arms merchants selling guns and bombs to Israel.

After the Red Line protest came the People’s Court of Justice, in which Israel was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. After that came an attempt to set up a student encampment for Gaza on the ellipse. The initial police response was driven off by a determined crowd counter-advancing on them. Cops later blocked all entrances, putting the encampment under siege, with exit allowed but nobody able to return. Seening the danger, protesters marched out and returned to Penn Ave in front of the White House

As night fell, protesters banged the fence and someone burned what almost surely was an Israeli flag.

On the 7th of June, DC’s anuual Dyke March took to the streets. This was one day before Capitol Pride. The Dyke March always protests corporatization of Pride, but this year a special message was added: No Pride in Genocide!

Many of the corporate sponsors of Pride parades nationally are making money selling weapons or electronics to Israel, and thus are funding corporate Pride events with blood money.

On May 31st, 2024, Critical Mass Orlando again took to the streets. This is a very large family-friendly social ride.

On the 30th of May, pro-Palestine protesters showed up at the Orlando office of Rep Darren Soto (D/FL-09). He has been siding like Biden with Israel’s horrific genocide in Gaza. Protesters warned he would “pay an electoral price for this” no matter what the political landscape.

He and his staffers ducked protesters, the office appearing to be closed. It was not: shortly after the protest ended, they retrieved the demands note left on their doorstep and left a response which I have not read.

Minutes before the protest was to start, there were five Fl state police cruisers, one security guard, and two fire department vehicles in the parking lot. The fire dept left shortly before protesters arrived, unknown what they were doing.

At the start of the protest speakers read out ther demands. These included not only a cease-fire and an end to arming Israel, but also an end to the muscular, full-powered attempts to snuff out dissent in the US. The nationwide police assaults on campus protesters were cited by a speaker as one example, as was the violent police attack with tear gas in Lake Eola Park on May 11.

On the 28th of May, Tampa Fl Palestinians and their supporters marched from 56th and Fowler to the main intersection in front of USF and then back.

This time around in Tampa, the cops seemed to be on well-earned leashes. Stung by the publicity after the brutal attacks on the USF encampment, the Tampa Police Department held back, and the marked police vehicles I saw belonged to the Temple Terrace Police Department rather than IOF-trained Tampa PD.

Four years ago on the 25th of May, Minniapolis cops murdered George Floyd. The Uprising began that very day and night. On 5-25-2024, activists gathered at Lakeland Florida’s sole police HQ to remember George Floyd. They also celebrated Antwan Glover’s hard fought victory over false charges filed after he was assaulted by Lakeland cops.

Protesters demanded charges be dropped in a number of similar cases in Lakeland. They also demanded brutal cops be fired and prosecuted. The keynote speaker of the entire rally was Antwan Glover himself.

Bonus clip at very start of video: Days into the start of the Uprising, MN 3ed precinct burns as police radio transmits order to evacuate