On the 5th of December, Christian fundamentalists again faced off with women’s rights and LGBTQ activists in front of the Supreme Court. This time the case in question is a lawsuit brought challenging antidiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ folks and by extension people of color and almost any other disfavored group. Fundamentalist Christian bakers and artists rallied outside while progressives counterprotested them.

Abortion rights activists, LGBTQ activists, and several Satanic Temple folks showed up for the counterprotest. The Satanic Temple, rather than being literal devil worshippers is a nontheistic group using Satanic imagery (as was done by many musicians in the 1980’s) to promote religious freedom and beat back religious fundamentalist oppression. With Christian Nationalists growing in strength, a supporter of witch-burning on the Supreme Court, and outright genocide against trans folks being openly promoted, the use of such imagery is no surprise. This will likely grow if the fight between Christian nationalists and LGBTQ people escalates into open warfare.

The woman filing the original lawsuit does not even really have standing. She has never been sued under any state’s antidiscrimination laws, and has not even started her proposed web design firm yet. Instead, she has brought a pre-emptive lawsuit seeking the “right” to refuse to produce any content for same-sex couples getting married.

The 3ed of December is a day that shall live in infamy. On that day, neo-Nazis, Christian Nationalist, and other Fascists assaulted drag events in multiple cities almost simultaniously and held at least one standalone hate protest as well.The most extreme incident is the attack on electrical power substations in Moore County, North Carolina. Over 40,000 people lost electrical power, a curfew was imposed, and thousands jammed roads fleeing the county. Schools may be closed until Tuesday or later. Both power line insulators and the sheet metal casings of power transformers are known to be vlunerable to rifle fire. Credit has been all but claimed on Twitter for shooting out the power substations. If this claim is accurate, all of this was for a failed attempt to shut down a drag show, which was successfully held under illumination from flashlights.

Possibly an even bigger deal save that it failed was an attempted bombing of a doctor’s office in Boston, MA. The failed bombing attempt was reported by Miami Antifa News https://kolektiva.social/@miaantifanews/109459138680541359

The next more serious incident was the invasion of a residential neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio by both Proud Boys and Patriot Front. Some of them were seen carrying firearms. An all-ages drag show scheduled to take place in that neighborhood had to be cancelled due to the armed menace represented by these terrorists.In Lakeland, Florida another drag show was successfully held despite threats and a march by hard core neo-Nazis with a “black sun” and WWII German Naval flag showing a swastika.

A planned disruption or attack on a drag queen story hour in New York City failed, https://kolektiva.social/@nycantifa reports that anti-Fascist activists successfully intercepted Jovi Val and his Fascist buddies before they could get within range. By itself this is a “normal” incident at this time, but it did occur on the same day as all the others.

Lastly there was the hate rally held on a beach in Ft Lauderdale, FL by Proud Boys, so-called “Gays against Groomers” and several other Fascist and Christian extremist groups, and who knows how many more hate rallies and assaults on drag shows. The message sent by attacking a whole county with no regard for collateral damage is particularily disturbing. The inclusion of both firearms and explosives in the attack template is even worse.

These events (two of them involving firearms) put together suggest a coordinated offensive by far-right terrorists against the LGBTQ community with Dec 3 as either the date of the entire offensive or the start date of something bigger yet. The fash got mixed results this time around, but nobody can let their guard down. What the fascists are clearly angling for is a modern version of Nazi Germany’s 1937 Krystalnacht.

On the 3ed of December, the Proud Boys, so-called “Gays against Groomers” “Moms4Liberty,” and other far rights extremists rallied on the beach in Ft Lauderdale, FL to support DeSantis’s attacks on transgender folks. Counterprotesters matched their turnout, and repeatedly drove Proud Boys out of the counterprotest site. Soon,the fascists tired and left, leaving the pro-LGBTQ contingent in posession of the field.

The fascist rally included Chris Nelson’s attempts to disrupt the counterprotest, Proud Boys trying to walk through the counterprotest only to be immediatly engaged and driven out, a Pepe the Frog flag, and fundamentalist Christian music and slogans near the beginning. As always, it was clear their message is about hate and religious bigotry. The LGBTQ community turned out to oppose them.Both liberals and hardcore anti-Fascist activists turned out. As confrontations flared, anti-Fascist camerapeople took zoom closeup photos of any many Proud Boys and other prominant extremists as possible. These will be of use later.

Broward County School Board member Brenda Fam spoke at this so-called “Protect the Children” rally, standing with all manner of fascists, neo-Nazis, and Christian nationalists, Proud Boys included. This may make her re-election campaign more difficult.

On the liberal side, even a Florida state Senator and the Mayor of Ft Lauderdale spoke. While one of the Mayor’s staffers whined to cops about the presence of anarchists and anti-fascists, the presence of the Mayor and his speaking at the counterprotest limited the cops. The Ft Lauderdale Police in blue were unable to openly side with the Proud Boys in black and gold after the Mayor spoke for their opponents. As a result, the cops were mostly hands-off and a joint police-Proud Boys attack on the counterprotest was averted.

In Ft Lauderdale, the Proud Boys were the smallest force, backing up a fascist political rally and with plenty of lead time for the community to respond and fight back. Several other cities were not so lucky.

Ugly things happened elsewhere this same day, some reaching the level of hard core terrorism. First and foremost, far right extremists shot up several electrical power substations in North Carolina, shutting off power to about 40,000 people. This was for nothing more than a FAILED attempt to forcibly shut a drag show! The Three Percenters and Oath Keepers were not known to be active in attacking drag shows prior to Dec 3, so that makes Proud Boys the most likely suspects. Another incident also involving firearms took place in Columbus, Ohio, where far right extremists, some carrying guns, descended on the site of a drag show, again with the objective of forcibly shutting it down. Still another drag show in Lakeland, Florida was harassed by Nazis but contrary to earlier reports was able to continue. Hard Nazis with a swastika flag and a black sun flag screamed slurs outside.

In less than two weeks, the LGBTQ community has been targettted with one mass shooting (Club Q in Colorado Springs, five dead), one shooting attack on electrical power used by the general public, one drag show shut down by armed force, and probably many others harassed.

(Video by John Zangas is of the protest outside

On Dec 1, a banquet for the so-called “Capitol Hill Crisis Pregnancy Center” was held at a Marriot in Crystal City. Protesters showed up outside chanting and banging drums. In addition, a projector was used to show messages on the side of the building. On top of all else, three protesters got inside and shouted down the proceedings. One person screamed “Jane Says Revenge, motherfuckers! Blood on your hands!

As for the outside protext, drums are probably a hotel manager’s least favorite tactic short of storming the building. This is the same fake clinic Jane’s Revenge punished back in June with paint.

Source of video:https://twitter(dot)com/efjbgc2/status/1595104939495362561

On the 22nd of November, in the wake of the murderous anti-LGBTQ rampage at Club Q in Colorado Springs, an armed pro-LGBTQ march was held in the Austin, Texas “Gayborhood.” The Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club participated and posted several videos to their Twitter account. The first chant in the video below is “Bottoms, Tops, Fuck these cops.”

Many have made the point that the police do NOT protect the LGBTQ community, rather the community defends itself. That is exactly what happened at Club Q: cops arrived after the fact, with club patrons having subdued the shooter. The patron who snatched the gunman’s backup weapon (a pistol) and beat him in the head with it (instead of shooting the shooter) was actually arrested and held for over an hour before police finally realized he was not the shooter but rather a defender.

Who keeps us safe? NOT the police. In the wake of the violent terrorist attack and armed response, some say the expected civil war in the US is now underway.

The defenders of the Atlanta Forest from “Cop City” have gone on the offensive, with a successful operation to forcibly shut down the existing Atlanta Police Department shooting range in the forest. Trees down over access road, power lines pulled down by a tree, transformer blown, RANGE CLOSED!

From https://scenes.noblogs.org/post/2022/11/23/concerning-the-closure-of-apds-firing-range/

On the evening of Saturday, November 19, chainsaw-wielding militants took action to close down the Atlanta Police Department’s shooting range inside the Weelaunee Forest, where APD trains weekly to kill and maim the people of Atlanta. A few small trees were selectively felled in order to block the access road to the shooting range. One of the felled trees hit a power line which provides electricity to the shooting range, leading to a power surge which blew a transformer and disabled the cameras, which were then destroyed with fire and hammers. The power line only services the shooting range. No residential areas were impacted by the outage.

In the middle of the range is a yellow school bus. The windows are shattered from bullet holes, and spent munitions –flash grenades and tear gas – lie under the seats. Its purpose on the range is clear: the only ‘protection’ police offer is violence and death.

The decision to cut a living tree should never be taken lightly. The ongoing presence of the shooting range was an affront to the forest and all who live in or near it; the gunfire and explosions at all hours of day and night, the toxic lead ammunition poisoning the soil and leaching into the water, the way Black and brown people living nearby were forced to listen daily to the police training to murder them.

Weighed against these impacts and the Atlanta Police Foundation’s plan to destroy the entire forest, we understand the felling of these few trees as the forest defending itself. At a moment when the USA’s model of militarized policing is being actively exported around the world to facilitate the destruction of the Amazon and others of the last great forests and indigenous strongholds which stand between us and mass extinction, we know that if these trees could talk, they would say “fuck the police” and would happily volunteer to fall and crush them.

Since the closing of the shooting range, the Weelaunee forest has not been quiet – even the cold November woods are full of life and noise – but it has been more peaceful without the police filling it with the sounds of war. We hope that all the residents of the forest and the surrounding neighborhood can relax better in the relative silence, but we must be clear that we didn’t do this for their sake.

We took this action for the dead – for Rayshard Brooks and every person killed by the Atlanta Police, for every murdered revolutionary, for the Muskogee who were forced from this land, for every enslaved person who lived and died on the plantation here, for every prisoner killed by guards at the old prison farm and buried in unmarked graves in the forest. This forest is theirs and we will not allow the police to desecrate it with their presence.We will not allow the police to bulldoze over the history of their own crimes.

The land remembers. We remember. Cop city will never be built.

Submitted anonymously over email

On the 22nd of November, one of no doubt a great many vigils remembering Club Q was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of the speakers warned the assembed crowd that over 300 anti-LGBTQ bills have been filed by (GOP) politicians in state houses nationwide. He warned listeners to “arm yourself with knowledge” etc, but the key words “arm yourself” carry another meaning. He also warned that “the shit’s gonna get real.”

On the 22nd of November, protesters again showed up at the home of Mitch McConnell. This time they were there to demand accountability for GOP promotion of anti-LGBTQ hate in the wake of the armed attack on Club Q in Colorado Springs. Protest chants included “DC Don’t like Fascists,” “2,4,6,8 fascist hate won’t make us straight 5,6,7,8 end the anti-trans hate” and many more.

The raging sewer of GOP and Christian Nationalist hate just killed five people and wounded dozens more. Had patrons not counterattacked and subdued the terrorist this could have been so much worse. Club Q is an LGBTQ venue and was attacked for that reason.