A group of teenagers organized “die-in” protests at DMVs all over the state on Friday, just weeks after the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles issued a rule forbidding trans people from updating the female signs on their driver’s licenses.
More than 200 people participated in rallies in Orlando, Miami, Tampa, and Gainesville, including representatives from more than eight Gay parties, according to Cameron Driggers and Jack Petocz, who spoke with the Washington Blade on Friday evening.
The 18 and 19-year-old college students work for Youth Action Fund, “a group of Gen-Z protesters fighting against the far-right culture war raging throughout Florida,” as executive producer and deputy director, both.
According to Driggers, the state’s most recent entry in its fight against transgender people “represents one of the scariest, most autocratic developments in Florida in a long time.”
The Florida House of Representatives ‘legislation that would enact the same limitations is preempted by the state company’s policy, allowing Citizens to list only the intercourse assigned at birth on state-issued Authentication.
In response, Driggers acknowledged that “we need to have an Act Up-style immediate actions where we put our bodies on the line.” This was a reference to the AIDS advocate group’s process of conducting “die-ins” to call for Reagan White House and the federal government to stop ignoring the 1980s gay community illness.
According to statistics from the U.S. Transgender Survey, 37 percent of respondents have experienced prejudice because their IDs contain false identity markers. Driggers noted that each of Friday’s demonstrations lasted 37 moments.
Petocz stated, “We truly wanted the protests to show a story.” “We had the people actually lying down and committing the death-in where they had belittle tombstones with messages like “RIP: Killed by the DMV” or “killed by DeSantis management” along with “general emails about trans weight”
RIGHT NOW: Thousands of transgender individuals and friends are taking part in DIE-IN protests at DMVs all over Florida.
Two days after the DeSantis administration BANNED trans people from having access to accurate position ID, this Main Rally has taken place. pic.twitter.com/Z3DqBcSOC9
Youth Action Fund (@YouthActionFund) February 9, 2024
At each location, a speaker joined these protesters to “tell the tale of why we are out there today to passersby, what we were fighting for in this time, and what the Police just committed.”
When asked if Florida’s anti-trans campaign and an increase in the incidence of suicide deaths in communities already plagued by great suicide rates and mental health issues were the reasons behind their decision to adopt the protest tactics of Act Up, Petocz replied that it was “multifaceted.”
He added, “I also believe that you must consider it from the perspective of enabling hate—of the kind of mood that contributes to popular transphobia.” And it certainly opens the door for more hate and hate crimes when the state goes away and amplify that sentiment and actually endorses it.
Petocz continued, “Our transgender brothers and sisters are most prone to love acts in this nation.”
According to Driggers, the alliance that took part in the marches on Friday will now protest outside the Florida House. He pointed out that the copycat legislation, which state representatives Dean Black (R-Jackson) and Douglas Michael Bankson filed, will be put on the committee’s markup committee the following week.
In the meantime, according to Driggers, they are collaborating with the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Florida on a letter-writing plan to urge the Justice Department to look into the scheme, which appears autocratic and illegal. So far, they have 1,167 characters.
Following the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles ‘announcement of the new plan a few weeks ago, Driggers also pointed out that Simone Chriss, director of Southern Legal Counsel’s Transgender Rights Initiative, is “getting evidence from people who experienced problems.”
A fresh era of children engagement
Driggers and Petocz led a protest against Florida’s anti-LGBT and other harmful policies on Friday, though it was n’t the first time.
According to Driggers, “Jack and I have certainly been involved in advocacy for a very long time.” Their organization, which was only established in November, provides $500 and $1,000 stipends for youth-led campaigns and individual advocates while also sharing their knowledge of organizing with others through advisory services.
Driggers said, “We’ve worked through a variety of more institutionally established businesses.” And as a result, we’ve discovered, if you will, many flaws in the volunteer business complex.
Foremost among those, we believe that there is a fundamental lack of resources, and we are frequently told that “you’re going to save us,” but in reality, all that really means is that they want us to be completely labor, to “knock on doors,” and “to, you know, co-opt labor for the benefit of additional organizations,” he said.
In contrast, Driggers and his friends have created a new organizing structure with the Youth Action Fund, according to which “we tell people to come to us with their thoughts, and then we work with them to make those concepts happen.”
For example, according to Driggers, the Youth Action Fund was able to offer resources to students from Brevard County public high schools who objected to the state’s exercise of banning books. This included “speaking products, tables, books,” as well as instructions on how to “negotiate with their school board to obtain permits to rally.”
