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.