On the first of May, a rally and march known both as the March for Our Dreams and as the MarchToExist gathered at Orlando’s Lake Eola. The rally focussed on LGBTQ and especially trans rights, due to the dire situation with ongoing pogromist activity by the FL GOP.

This was a much larger event than the previous two and the speakers were more liberal than radical. For all that, a sitting Congressman called DeSantis a fascist from the stage. Calls for gun control were a reversal of the message from the previous two rallies, where different speakers warned the trans community to arm for self defense against a likely wave of murder and persecution both inside and outside the law.

Fact is, you can’t vote your way out of Fascism. If the Fascists can’t win an election , they just change the rules, throw out ballots-or disregard the election entirely. In just the past three years the GOP has done two of these and attempted the last.

This is not a call to NOT vote or run for office, rather it is a call for not STOPPING at voting or running for office. The fact that fascists vote (and cheat at voting…) doesn’t stop them from stockpiling more guns than they can ever shoot. Casting a vote not to be shot by a Nazi works best while also wearing body armor. Stopping genocide and pogromist brutality is an “every tool in the toolbox” job.

None the less, this rally and march was HUNDREDS of participants on MayDay, shouting forth a resounding NO to DeSantis’s agenda of genocide and death. As the situation continues to deteriorate, talk today may beget action tomorrow-and people do meet oneanother at large rallies, for all the risk posed by undercover cops