Florida gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried rallies Lakeland for abortion rights

LAKELAND — As Nikki Fried approached Lillie Johnson in the parking lot, both faces registered looks of recognition, though they were meeting for the first time.

Fried, Florida’s commissioner of agriculture, threw her arms around the 13-year-old, and they shared a long and affectionate embrace.

“You are awesome,” Fried later said, as she stood and spoke with Lillie and the teen’s mother, Lauren Johnson, at Southgate Shopping Center. She added, “You OK?”

Previously: A Lakeland 13-year-old used a bullhorn during a protest at Munn Park. She was arrested soon after

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Lillie, who also uses the name Rain, seemed to be doing fine. Fried, a Democratic candidate for governor, had figuratively embraced the teenager as a symbol of the struggle for abortion rights after seeing a video of Lillie being walked to a police car at a demonstration Monday in Munn Park.

Fried came to Lakeland on Thursday to meet Lillie and to join the Johnsons and others in a rally for abortion rights. Asked why she considers Lillie an inspiration, Fried answered readily.

“Because she's a fighter, and during a time when democracy is on the line, and the governor (Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis) has put together an anti-protest piece of legislation a year and a half ago that was supposed to discourage people from standing up for their rights, and the fact that she was willing to be out here, and to protest, and then come back out and say, ‘I'm not going to be stopped; I’m supporting what I believe in,’” Fried said. “That is an inspiration and certainly is motivation for me to be here today.”

As Fried gave media interviews, Lillie — who identifies as non-binary — stood nearby wearing cutoff denim overalls with rainbow suspenders, the word “Queen” stitched on the chest. Lillie also wore an LGBT pride flag as a cape.

A checked bucket hat covered their hair, dyed partly pink, and the ninth-grader wore tinted glasses with heart-shaped lenses.

Lakeland Police officers cited Lillie during the July 4 rally for using a bullhorn, a violation of a city ordinance. Lauren Johnson declined to discuss the legal situation, on the advice of the family’s lawyer. David Haas, an Orlando attorney, is representing Lillie at no charge after seeing Fried’s tweet about the incident.

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Since the video went viral, Johnson said she has heard from people as far away as Bulgaria and New Zealand offering their support. National LGBT publications have asked for permission to post the video of the Munn Park incident.

“It's been a roller coaster — the stress, the anxiety,” Lillie said of their emotional experience since Monday. “All that's been kind of all over the place.”

Johnson was already planning to attend the demonstration, and she said Fried’s presence added to the importance of the occasion.

“I’m excited,” she said. “That is what we are here for — to use our voices. We’re here to be loud. It was an honor to get connected to her, and I'm glad that she could use her platform for our platform because our platforms are very similar. Hers is just bigger.”

Fried learned of Lillie’s detention by police when a family friend shared a video Johnson recorded of the incident. Fried posted the video Monday on Twitter, writing “I'm posting this with her mother's permission because I need everyone to see what Ron DeSantis’ Florida really looks like. 13 year olds being arrested for protesting for their own freedom.”

As of Thursday, the tweet had received more than 10,000 comments and been retweeted more than 92,000 times.

Nikki Fried describes herself as candidate consistently supporting abortion rights

Fried faces U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, a former governor, in the Aug. 23 Democratic primary. The only Democrat serving in a state office in Florida, Fried has presented herself as the sole gubernatorial candidate who has consistently supported abortion rights.

She has hammered Crist, a former Republican, for calling himself “pro-life” and for nominating conservative Supreme Court justices while governor, including Chief Justice Charles Canady of Lakeland.

Crist has criticized the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision and insisted that he will protect the right to an abortion if elected as governor.

As Fried chatted with Lillie and Lauren Johnson, the teen said, “I’m itching to get out there.”

The youngster soon joined the assembly on the sidewalk along South Florida Avenue.

Abortion-rights activists held a first demonstration at Southgate Shopping Center on June 24, the day the Supreme Court announced its decision to nullify the Roe v. Wade ruling. Lakeland Women’s Diverse Voice organized another rally at Southgate on June 30, drawing an estimated 400 participants in a line stretching over four city blocks.

About 300 participants protest Roe v. Wade ruling by Supreme Court

Thursday’s gathering didn’t appear to be quite as large, but the assembly of perhaps 300 people proved passionate and raucous. Most demonstrators held posters as they faced traffic heading south on one of Lakeland’s main arteries.

The group, mostly girls and women ranging from teens to seniors, were protesting the recent Supreme Court decision that nullified the Roe v. Wade ruling, ending nearly 50 years of federally protected abortion rights.

While some states have already outlawed abortion, the procedure remains legal in Florida. The state Legislature passed a law this year’s blocking abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

DeSantis has pledged to push further “pro-life” measures if he is reelected.

Tsi Smyth of Winter Haven stood along the roadway with her four children, ages 5 through 12. The kids held signs bearing such handwritten statements as “I had more rights in the womb” and “Sugar and spice and reproductive rights.”

Smyth, 37, said she and her children have attended many rallies for abortion rights, in Polk County and elsewhere.

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“If a person doesn't have freedom over their own body, a person cannot innately be free in any way,” Smyth said. “That’s the most basic freedom we have as a human being. You take that away, this isn't a free country anymore — period. There's so many more issues tied into that, but honestly, I think at the core, that's all that really needs to be said. You can’t argue past that point. Everybody should own their own person.”

The demonstrators regularly broke into chants, booming out such phrases as, “Her body, her choice.” The gathering drew frequent honks from passing drivers, most of them seemingly supportive, and at one point two women in a black Jeep smile and gestured with thumbs up as they were stopped at a traffic light.

Anita King and her husband, Jason, stood in the throng with their daughters, ages 7 and 11, and their 17-year-old son. The Kings said they had participated in the previous rally at Southgate and the one Monday at Munn Park.

Anita King, 43, held a pink sign that declared, “Mind your own uterus.” She said she was protesting for younger women and girls, noting that contraception doesn’t always work and saying that women faced with unwanted pregnancies should have the right to an abortion.

Looking toward her daughters, King said, “If they can have a period, why should they not have a say in what happens to their body. If you ask my 7-year-old, ask her whose body it is.”

King asked the girl, “Whose body,” getting the reply, “My body.”

“Should anybody be able to tell you what to do with your body?”

“No.”

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Taylor Holloway, 21, held a sign saying, “Just a woman looking for justice.” Holloway said it was the first time her schedule of working two jobs had allowed her to attend a demonstration.

Holloway said her mother is pregnant at age 40 and worries that if she has a miscarriage late in the pregnancy Florida’s 15-week law might interfere with the necessary medical intervention. Holloway wept and spoke in angry bursts about the trend toward increased restrictions on abortion.

“This is outrageous; this is ridiculous,” Holloway said, nearly shouting. “If this is the land of the free, why aren’t we free? It makes me angry. It makes me fear because right now Florida may not be one of the one of the states that’s overturned (legal abortion), but if we don't fight it's going to be.”

No counter-protesters appeared to be present during the rally. Before the demonstrated started, Valerie Brechue of Lakeland stood beside her car in the Southgate parking lot, fingering rosary beads and silently praying.

“Abortion is killing babies, and I do not agree with killing babies,” said Brechue, 73. “Jesus didn’t tell us to kill babies; he told us to love them. I think people are misguided by this society if they feel that it’s just a clump of cells.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Nikki Fried meets arrested teen, joins Lakeland abortion rally