Our Rights DC has released the statement below about an ugly storm of violent threats that forced cancellation of Saturday’s DC Trans Day of Vengeance events:

This action will not be taking place Saturday due to a credible threat to life and safety. The safety of our trans community is first priority. This threat is the direct result of the flood of raw hatred directed toward the trans community after the Tennessee shooting. Individuals who had nothing to with that heinous act have been subjected to highly serious threats and blamed only because of their gender identity. This is one of the steps in genocide, and we will continue our efforts to protect trans lives. While we wholeheartedly believe in the mission and message we put forth for trans day of vengeance, we must prioritize the safety of our community and the people that make it up.

In an ideal world we would have continued on in defiance of the attempt to silence our right to free expression. However, we lack the resources to ensure the safety of the protest and cannot in good conscience move forward with it. In our continued efforts to preserve trans and non binary life we have notified the appropriate agencies.

On the 28th of March, Shut Down DC protested at the Dept of Justice, demanding a Federal investigation into Georgia’s human rights abuses over the Cop City project in Weelaunee Forest. At this time eight attendees at the march 5 music festival there are still being held without bond over muddy shoes or legal support numbers written on their arms.

US Senate bill S-686 (AKA the RESTRICT act) targetting Tiktok allows the US government to ban ANY website, then make it a FELONY for any person to use a VPN, tor, etc to access such sites when they move to servers out of reach of the US government.

While I myself do not use anyone’s closed source apps (Same policy Tiktok, Google, and Facebook) this bill is not about anyone’s safety online. Rather the government is freaking out because one of the platforms they do not control (true equally of Tiktok, Mastodon, noblogs, blackblogs, etc) has suddently become commonly used for organizing against them.

Millions including the author of this post will publicly defy this law. If this passes I will make a Tiktok account on dedicated hardware used for nothing else, and dare the DOJ to do anything about it. I burned a grand jury subpeona and will treat an arrest warrant for visiting a banned website the same way. Bring it on, make my day!

On the 25th of March, Tampa FL’s Pride parade took to the streets. The Nazis who harassed a Pride event the previous night were nowhere to be seen, but trouble came from another kind of Fascists. After the Mayor, a drum section, and a warship/pirate ship themed float for a health group had passed came the police contingent. They circled and circled on motorcycles, stopping all behind them while the parade route emptied.

After nearly 15 minutes of this came other police contingents and a prosecuting attorney-as in someone who no doubt prosecutes sex work sting cases. Stonewall was a RIOT, these contingents would have instantly come under attack there, back on June 28, 1969 in NYC. Pride celebrates stonewall, the sucessful physical force defense of a Gay club against NYPD vice cops, riot cops, and ATF.

Finally all these Fascists got done tying up the parade route, and the real spirit of Stonewall returned to the streets. The trans contingents that should have been allowed to lead the march in the face of a growing pogrom and fears of genocide finally appeared. After them came the Krewes, far back from the lead after their incredible work decorating their parade floats.

Thankfully, this post-police part of the parade featured the raunchy, gorgeous sexual posing of attractive members of the community in the manner that has been the hallmark of Pride events since the 1970’s. Objections from evangelical Christians to this should be brushed off since they want to murder us all anyway-and are putting into place the legal structures to bring this about.

Perhaps the lead element should have been surviving Stonewall battle veterans, followed by the trans community literally fighting on the front lines against genocide, and the John Brown Gun Club marching behind literally backing them up. As it was, the size of the crowd was suficient to put the anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic Nazi dirtbags who harassed a show at the Castle the previous night to flight. A search of the area turned up no sign of them, all the visible Fascists wore police uniforms or were office holders.

Sorry to be so militaristic but our people are staring down the barrel of open, brazen genocide. We must fight back if we are to survive as a people.

Video to date as of March 25, 2023 of activism mostly in the SE US. From fighting Fascists outside drag shows to the flames of Cop City to defending against the growing pogrom against trans folks. A very rough year already, and with the raging torrent of far-right hate the worst the author has ever seen

Trump claimed over the weekend he would be arrested on Tues, March 21 over the Stormy Danial’s hush money and its source. He called on his supporters to swarm the streets and fight for him. The result was fizzled rallies in many places. All of the Florida rallies known to this author fizzled, drawing a dozen or so. Maybe 20 cycled in and out of the 5PM rally in Ocala, FL which was supposed to be major and at which violence was feared. One of the Proud Boys was carrying a gun visible through his pants, not yet legally unless with a CCW permit.

This appears at first blush to be a relief, but there is a major negative to Trump being left by his former supporters to face the fury of justice alone: this may indicate his supporters have defected en masse to Florida Governor DeSantis, who is far worse. He is called such names as “DeSatan” (insulting to Satanists who are fighting Christian nationalistm in FL) and “DeathSantis” by many. This ghoulish thug of a governor is one of the top leaders in the growing pogrom against transgender people, a pogrom that many fear will end in an all-out genocide. Never assume genocide cannot happen in the US, it has happened before to Turtle Island’s Indigenous rightful owners!

Maybe Desantis and not citrus rust is the real reason Florida orange juice tastes so much like piss these days?

On the 19th of March, New York City kicked the Proud Boy’s asses as they began building up for the possible indictment of Donald Trump on Tues, March 21. The Proud Boys made the mistake of messing with the LGBTQ community in the home of the Stonewall Riot, and got a taste of what the vice squad got back on June 28, 1969.

One Proud Boy admitted to having “get the shit beat out of me”

THIS is how to handle Proud Boys! This is the “Manhattan Welcome” the Proud Boys should expect if they start more violence on Tuesday

On the 18th of March, on Metrobus stops spread out all over DC, corporate ads were replaced with posters hammering Washington Gas. The posters placed by unknown activists slammed gas stoves and gas in the house for causing health problems, burning down the climate, and charging everyone for the “privilige” of doing do.

On the 15th of March, SDS and their allies showed up in front of the Hillsborough County, FL courthouse in Tampa. They demanded that all charges from the brutal March 6 arrests of diversity protesters at University of S Florida/Tampa be dropped. One of those brutalized and arrested by the university police department’s goons spoke at the protest about the abuse she endured at their hands.

One speaker pulled off a T-shirt to reveal another w the names of 1,000 trans people. Another took their hormone injection right in front of the Senate committee. Still another said the committee would have blood on their hands if this passes as it would kill so many trans kids, and finished by saying “we will not be silent, Stonewall was a riot, and if this bill passes you’ll be declaring war on our trans community.

Hearing rules limited speaking to 30 seconds and banned clapping or even snapping fingers. Potential expulsion and year-long ban for any deviation from this extreme measure to suppress dissent.