To celebrate my first Evacuation Day as a Massachusetts resident, I decided to pay respects to our founding fathers Saturday by walking Boston’s Freedom Trail.
My celebration of the Sons of Liberty was postponed early in the route when I saw, approaching in the distance, Western degeneration exemplified: a Current-Thing Demonstration. I would call it a “Trans Day of Resistance” march, as I later realized that is what it was supposed to be. But with the plethora of Leftist causes, it seemed anyone was invited to turn their obsession into a poster and bring it to Beacon Hill.
Still, something tells me my preferred slogan assortment wouldn’t be welcome. But they wouldn’t need to ask my ideology to know I wasn’t “with” them. My apparent lack of face mask and my conventional hair shade made me stick out like a sore thumb.
The protestors convened at Government Center at 11 and marched down Tremont Street, then up Charles Street towards Beacon Hill.
We live in an unpredictable world, but there’s one certainty besides death and taxes…a megaphone. At events such as this, there’s always somebody with a bullhorn. Group chants included, “Trans healthcare saves lives,” as well as a sing-songy back-and-forth:
“When trans rights are under attack, what do we do?”
“Stand up! Fight back!”
After the crew made it up to the Golden Dome, they gathered around the main speaker, whose choice of hot pink dye worked well for visibility purposes. She (I was unable to ask her pronouns, so I have to assume) explained that disrupting traffic to scream in front of the State House to “stop business as usual” was the best way to reach their elected officials. Recall, it was Saturday, so the building was empty—as it is most days.
“This is what works,” she stressed. The Boston police officer assigned to the Beacon Street crosswalk looked less-than convinced.
Then came the speaker’s list of demands. “We demand Title IX be codified to include gender sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression. We demand a safe school program for LGBTQ+ students nationally and nationwide.”
As I am often merciful towards public speakers, I won’t comment on the redundancy.
“Ratify the Equality Amendment and update comprehensive and inclusive version of the proposed federal Equal Rights Amendment to protect the equal rights of all peoples and prohibit all forms of discrimination,” she continued. “Codify equality amendments in the state constitutions.”
“Repeal any and all state constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions and replace them with marriage equality amendments!” Maybe she agrees that Obergefell v. Hodges is constitutionally weak.
“Repeal any and all existing state anti-sodomy laws that are still on the books!” Never mind that the Supreme Court struck those down years ago.
There were also kids dragged along the march route. I pray they didn’t turn to Parent 1 or Parent 2 and ask what “sodomy” means.
Then, she added a “Late-stage capitalism is getting real dystopian out here!”
I believe the demonstrators would benefit from some new-age capitalist strategy. You don’t need to enroll in Business 101 to understand trying to sell a dozen different products in the same commercial might confuse customers. If the trans-allies wanted to drive home the #StopTransGenocide hashtag, they should have employed more focused signage. But, since rules and logic don’t exist in their dream society, the pitch was muddled and everybody was invited to sell their own product.
Some posters displayed the usual truisms while others pushed for various foreign policy initiatives:
“Be Kind.”
“Black Lives Matter.”
“Stop Trans Genocide.”
“No Human is Illegal.”
“Death to Fascism.” This one featured a hammer and sickle. Because…Communism.
“Stop the Killings in Colombia.”
“Hands off Cuba.”
“Free Palestine.”
“Solidarity with Afghanistan.”
“Boycott Faneuil Hall.” Oops… I failed at that one about an hour later.
That’s just the thing. Who decides the community’s platform on U.S.-Cuban relations?
What if you only agree with nine of the ten posters? Do you get a bad grade on your “ally” report card?
My favorite part of the demonstration was the donations-only snack table manned (personned?) by individuals in shirts reading “Housing for All” and “Call the White House Comment Line.”
The culinary selection? Vegan, of course.