Advocates protesting conservative U.S. Supreme Court rulings and new Florida laws are staging a morning-long “We The People March” in downtown Fort Lauderdale on Sunday to declare that both the court and state Legislature had rolled back rights for ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community and women.
Organized by the nonprofit AIDS Health Foundation, other rallies were scheduled to take place in Dallas, Los Angeles and Columbia, South Carolina. Chicago was the scene of a march on Thursday.
“As authoritarian lawmakers and legislatures seek to criminalize immigrants, sexuality, gender expression, Blackness, homelessness, religious freedom, and the teaching of vital history, this country never has seen such a blatant abuse of power against virtually every group of people at the same time,” the AHF said in a statement in advance of the event,
Scheduled speakers in Fort Lauderdale included Dolores Huerta, the California-based civil rights activist and co-founder of the United Farmworkers; David Hogg, Parkland shooting survivor and gun control activist; Michael Weinstein, AHF cofounder and president; Florida State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando); and Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Steve Glassman.
On Saturday, smaller events sponsored by other groups protesting recent new laws passed by the Florida Legislature took place in West Palm Beach and elsewhere around the state.
Traffic advisory
The City of Fort Lauderdale issued a traffic advisory for the “We The People March,” which was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. and conclude at 1 p.m.
The planned starting point is at Esplanade Park at SW 4th Avenue, moving east along SW 2nd Street to SW 1st Avenue, along Las Olas Boulevard to SE First Avenue, and then backtracking west along SW 2nd Street to its starting point.
“Anyone commuting in the area should anticipate moderate congestion and possible delays,” the advisory said, adding that city police would be monitoring the march along its route.
According to the march website, more than 2,000 people had registered to attend as of Saturday evening.