St. Petersburg’s Gay Commie Skate Crew (GCSC)—a group known for its wild skate sessions and queer leftist politics—will host a clothing drive at Fossil Park Skate Park (6635 Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. St. N) in St. Petersburg today, June 28 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
GCSC is calling for summer clothing to be donated to community members in need. The clothing will then be donated to the Tropical Communist Party (TCP) to give to people during that group’s weekly mutual aid shares in Tampa.
As another brutally hot summer nears its peak, members of GCSC and TCP feel that it’s imperative to get comfortable and breathable clothing in the hands of vulnerable people, especially the low-income and the houseless.
“Over anything we believe in community and mutual aid,” says Cynamon Gonzales, GCSC co-founder.
One of the reasons Gonzales likes to help host donation drives is because trans and non-binary people sometimes don't feel comfortable or safe buying clothes at stores that they need to feel like themselves in. She hopes that the donation drive will provide plenty of clothing to those community members.
Gonzales is one of GCSC's multiple Indigenous members. They're involved with many aspects of politics, from the “Land Back” movement, which calls for Indigenous land to be returned to Native American people, to the movement for queer liberation. TCP is a political group that calls for an end to capitalism, organizes political education events, and hosts weekly mutual aid shares every Saturday from 12 p.m.-2 p.m. at Borrell Park in Tampa.
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This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2021.