Lorie Smith designs websites. She intends to begin designing wedding websites and is unwilling to create them for same-sex couples, saying it would go against her Christian beliefs. Under Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act, though, it is discriminatory and illegal to refuse services to someone based on “disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.”
First Amendment
Federal Judge Clears UCF Prof Robert Cassanello to Sue Over DeSantis’s ‘Stop Woke Act’
Cassanello, a history professor at UCF, and other plaintiffs, including public-school teachers and a student, filed the lawsuit in April after DeSantis signed the law (HB 7), arguing that it violated First Amendment rights and was unconstitutionally vague.
In 4th Legal Challenge Against DeSantis’s ‘Stop Woke Act,’ USF Professor and Student File Suit
In a 91-page complaint, lawyers for USF associate professor of history Adriana Novoa, student Samuel Rechek and the First Amendment Forum at University of South Florida raised a series of arguments that the law violates speech rights.
Who Will Rescue Our Tender Youth from Deviant Professors and their Noisome Notions?
Give it up, wokester profs: Ron DeSantis will no longer tolerate your anti-American spin on our history, your critical race theorizing, your LGBTQ weirdo agenda, and your communist indoctrination of our kids in Florida’s great state universities.
What in Jesus’s Name? Saving the Savior from Christian Nationalism.
In their zeal to stoke the fires of a culture war, conservatives have drafted Jesus into their army, with some proudly espousing Christian nationalism, which combines two character traits: religious zealotry and fascism. Meanwhile charlatan theologians give the politicians religious cover enough so that they can be assured that Jesus would vote Republican.
Federal Judge Urged to Halt Law Muzzling Instruction on Gender and Sexual Orientation
The 26-page motion contends that the law, passed this year by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, “was enacted with the purpose to discriminate and has the effect of discriminating against LGBTQ+ students and those with LGBTQ+ family members.”
Federal Judge Blocks Parts of DeSantis Anti-‘Woke’ Law Muzzling Race-Sensitivity Training at Work
The employment-related part of the law lists eight race-related concepts and says that a required training program or other activity that “espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels such individual (an employee) to believe any of the following concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin.”
School Board’s Jill Woolbright Says She’s in ‘Satanic Warfare’ Against ‘Evil Spirits’ at School District
Flagler County School Board incumbent Jill Woolbright, who is in a non-partisan race against Sally Hunt to be decided in the Aug. 23 election, says God placed her on the school board, that she is involved in “satanic warfare,” and that, in a reference to others on the school board and at the district office, she has “felt the evil spirits around me.”
Mothers Behind Book-Banning Campaign Claim Their First Amendment Rights Are Being Violated
The self-dubbed Mama Bears filed a federal lawsuit alleging that by not being allowed to read sexually explicit material aloud at school board meetings, they themselves are being censored.
Christian School Challenges Ban on Pre-Game Prayer, Citing Recent Supreme Court Ruling
A Tampa Christian school has asked a federal appeals court to find that the Florida High School Athletic Association unconstitutionally prevented a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a 2015 high-school football championship game.
What We Can Learn from Apartheid-Era Book Bans in South Africa
The rise in attempts to ban and censor books in America–and in Flagler County–in 2022 looks an awful lot like what South African censors did during apartheid. It’s as though would-be American censors have taken a page directly from the South African censors’ playbook, setting out to squash political dissent and silence social debate.
Four School Boards Sued Over Enforcing ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law, Charging Violation of 1st Amendment
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Orlando, seeks to block the school boards in Orange, Indian River, Duval and Palm Beach counties from carrying out the law (HB 1557), which restricts instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms. The lawsuit charges the law is unconstitutional.
You Cannot Be Serious: Brian McMillan Leaves The Observer
Palm Coast Observer Brian McMillan announced today in a column that he was leaving the paper after 12 years. Though he leaves the paper in the equally qualified hands of Jonathan Simmons, it is no less of a gut punch and a loss to the community. McMillan had kept the Observer centered.
The Christian Arrogance Behind Praying Coach’s Supreme Court Case
Christian coach Joseph Kennedy’s prayer at a public school football field’s 50-yard line is not about religious freedom. It is not about God. It is not even about praying. It’s about imposing one version of Christianity in an increasingly pluralist society in one of the last places where that kind of favoritism has no place. It is intolerance by exclusivity.
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Florida City’s Ordinance Banning Portable Signs
A federal appeals court Tuesday sided with a man who challenged a Fort Myers Beach ordinance that prevented him from carrying a sign with a Christian message on the town’s streets.
Stray F Word and 14 Seconds of TikTok End Flagler Teacher Abbey Cooke’s Storied 13-Year Career
The 3-1 vote to fire Abbey Cooke, for a dozen year a highly rated teacher and 2017 Teacher of the Year at Belle Terre Elementary, sent a chilling message to those who would challenge the board, or those who land on any board member’s hostile radar: the slightest misstep can and will be used against them.
‘Napalm Girl’ at 50: How Media Myths Distort an Image’s Reality and Exaggerate Its Impact
The Pulitzer Prize-winning “Napalm Girl” photograph by Nick Ut of terror-stricken Vietnamese children fleeing an aerial attack on their village, taken 50 years ago this month, has rightly been called “a picture that doesn’t rest.” But the image formally known as “The Terror of War” has also given rise to tenacious media-driven myths.
‘Our Democracy Is At Risk’: FPC’s Jack Petocz’s Winning Essay in ACLU Contest
Jack Petocz, who will be a senior at Flagler Palm Coast High School next fall, won First Place in the ACLU of Florida Volusia/Flagler Chapter’s first Annual “Cary Ragsdale Future Voter’s Essay Contest.” The award carries a $500 prize underwritten by FlaglerLive, and publication of the essay here.
Québec’s Dangerous Bill 32 on ‘Academic Freedom’
In addition to undermining the autonomy of universities and faculty, and creating myriad implementation problems, the bill blurs the important distinctions between free expression and academic freedom. Most troubling, it signals that politicians are turning academic freedom into a political weapon.
U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Florida-Like Texas Law Limiting Content Moderation by Social Media
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a Texas law similar to one in Florida that prohibits large social media companies, such as Facebook or Twitter, from banning or removing users’ posts based on political viewpoints. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week ruled that Florida’s law unconstitutionally restricts free speech.
3 Republican-Appointed Judges Call DeSantis-Inspired Law Targeting Social Media Unconstitutional
Dealing a major setback to Gov. Ron DeSantis, a three-judge federal appellate panel of judges appointed by Republican presidents, including Donald Trump, on Monday ruled that a 2021 Florida law targeting social-media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter unconstitutionally restricts the companies’ First Amendment rights.
Replicating Math Textbook Censorship, Florida Tells Publishers to Kill Social Justice and CRT in History Books
The department is accepting bids from companies through June 10 to provide social-studies books for a five-year period starting in 2023. The department posted to its website a 29-page document that lists criteria for what is expected to be included in the books — and what’s expected to be left out.
DeSantis Signs New Law Banning Protests Outside Private or Elected Officials’ Homes
Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed legislation providing for jail terms of up to 60 days and $500 fines for protesting outside the homes of public officials and private citizens — like what’s been happening to U.S. Supreme Court justices since the leak of a draft opinion reversing Roe v. Wade.
Federal Lawsuits Argues Florida’s New Limits on Ballot Initiatives Are Unconstitutional
Groups seeking to place proposed constitutional amendments on the 2024 ballot are urging a federal judge to reject the state’s arguments defending a law that prevents paying petition gatherers based on the number of signatures they collect.
The Cleveland Indians Changed Their Name. Should the Atlanta Braves?
It wasn’t until 2018 that the Indians officially removed their logo, a cartoonish Native American named Chief Wahoo, from merchandise, and in 2020 that they changed their name. The Atlanta Braves’ owners, however, have dug in their heels, refusing to replace a name that many Americans – including Native Americans – find offensive and derogatory.
DeSantis Claims ‘Ideology’ Found In Rejected Math Texts. Reviewers Find Near-Zero Evidence of It.
Out of thousands of pages of responses by people it enlisted to review the texts, only one reviewer found that critical race theory constituted a large component of any of the books and only a handful found evidence that some “might” contain critical race theory, just as most reviewers found no social emotional learning.
To School Board’s Janet McDonald, Freedom of Speech Doesn’t Belong in School and ‘Does Not Mean Freedom of Movement’ or Activity
Flagler County school Board member Janet McDonald staked out an extreme position against students’ free speech in schools during a discussion on a proposed policy controlling the place and manner of student demonstrations. The rest of the school board, however, is defending students’ right to protest even on school grounds, during school hours.
College Students and Staff: Ignore the Voluntary but Autocratic ‘Viewpoint Discrimination’ Survey
Calling it the latest example of creeping authoritarianism, the president of the University of Florida’s faculty union urged students and employees to ignore the so-called “viewpoint discrimination” survey now required on Florida’s college and university campuses, in compliance with a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
It’s Not Just Florida: Here’s How Brits’ Right to Protest Has Been Restricted
Britain’s police, crime, sentencing and courts bill has become law after an extended period of back and forth between the House of Commons and House of Lords. From its conception, the bill has been extremely controversial, particularly because of the increased powers it hands to police to stop protests.
We Don’t Talk Enough About the Positive Side of American Racism and Genocide
The only dates that matter to real Americans are 1492, 1776, and 1980 (the year the Blessed Ronald Reagan ascended to the Oval Office). Don’t let these “woke” teachers even mention 1619: it’s all a damn lie.
DeSantis Signs Disney-Punishing Bill, Would Shift Nearly $1 Billion in Debt to Taxpayers
If the special taxing district is dissolved, Disney’s nearly $1 billion debt obligations, revenues and responsibilities would be transferred to Osceola and Orange counties’ taxpayers and those of the small cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake.
If Elon Musk Takes Twitter, Free Speech Would Lose
While making Twitter free for all “within the bounds of the law” seems like a way to ensure free speech in theory, in practice, this action would actually serve to suppress the speech of Twitter’s most vulnerable users.
What Are Book Bans Really About? Fear.
While those behind these campaigns hide themselves behind the mask of “parental control,” they’re really concealing fear: Fear of a country and world that’s changing around them; fear of voices that were kept silent too long who are now speaking up and demanding their seat at the table of power, and, mostly, fear of the erosion of their own privilege.
DeSantis Signs Bill Restricting Discussions of Race and Gender in Workplace as Critics Call It Unconstitutional
The culture-war bill HB 7, described as “Individual Freedom,” restricts conversations about race and gender in schools and workplaces. State Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. was a Senate co-sponsor of the bill and voted for it. (He’s now up for the Florida Education Commissioner job.)
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down UCF’s ‘Discriminatory Harassment’ Policy as Chilling Free Speech
The 38-page opinion by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals backed arguments by the group Speech First, which has represented students at universities in various parts of the country. Judge Kevin Newsom wrote that the UCF policy “objectively chills speech because its operation would cause a reasonable student to fear expressing potentially unpopular beliefs.”
Flagler School Board Will Clarify Student Demonstration Policy to Balance Rights and School Operations
With some of its members still smarting from the “Don’t Say Gay” student walkouts at Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast High School last month, the Flagler County School Board agreed to clarify a policy addressing boycotts and walkouts, both to preserve the rights of students to free expression and to protect school functions from disruption.
DeSantis Opens Special Session with Retaliatory Salvo Against Disney Over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Stance
Ratcheting up a fight with Walt Disney Co., Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded a special legislative session to consider eliminating a decades-old governing district set up for Disney World and nearby properties.
Education Department Still Mum About Rejection of Textbooks as DeSantis Invokes ‘Proprietary Information’
After a high-profile announcement Friday about rejecting math textbooks submitted for adoption by the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education are providing few details about how the books violated state academic standards.
Claiming ‘Indoctrination,’ Florida Education Department Rejects 41% of Math Textbooks Submitted
Friday afternoon heading into a holiday weekend, statewide education officials announced that they rejected 54 math textbooks out of 132 — that’s 41 percent — claiming that some of the materials attempt to “indoctrinate” kids with references to so-called critical race theory.
When Are Book Bans Unconstitutional? A 1st Amendment Scholar Explains
Government actions that some may deem censorship – especially as related to schools – are not always neatly classified as constitutional or unconstitutional, because “censorship” is a colloquial term, not a legal term. Some principles can illuminate whether and when book banning is unconstitutional.
More than 1,500 Books Have Been Banned in Public Schools. House Panel Asks Why.
From July 2021 to the end of March this year more than 1,500 books were banned in 86 school districts in 26 states. A report on book-banning in public schools found that of the banned books, 467 — or 41 percent — contained main or secondary characters of color; 247, or 22 percent, addressed racism; and 379, or 33 percent, of the books contained LGBTQ+ themes.
College and University Faculty Across Florida Tell Their Students: Ignore ‘Viewpoint Diversity’ Survey
In a Monday letter to its members by email, the United Faculty of Florida claims that the survey is unconstitutional; that many of the questions are “leading in nature,” and the survey itself poses a threat to higher education campuses by potentially chilling speech on campus.
Judge Again Rules Against Muezzin-Like Prayer Before High School Game, But Decision May Have Short Life
In a long-running legal battle, a federal judge has rejected arguments that the Florida High School Athletic Association improperly prevented Christian schools from offering a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a 2015 state championship football game. But the decision may have a short life depending on a U.S. Supreme Court’s decision by the end of June on a a somewhat similar case.
First Amendment at Center of Lawsuit Against ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law
A pivotal lawsuit in Florida — related to classroom instruction of sexual identity and gender orientation — could have heavy implications for what the discussions will sound like when it comes to free speech and the First Amendment.
Federal Judge Refuses to Block Surveys of Ideological Leanings on College and University Campuses
Surveys aimed at gauging “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” on college and university campuses are on track to go out to students and employees Monday, after a federal judge refused to block the state from distributing the questionnaires.
Fighting Anti-Trans Legislation Is Suicide Prevention
Anti-transgender legislation, demanding that the word “gay” isn’t whispered in classrooms, and punishing parents that dare to love their children wholly — none of these things is going to change who these kids are on the inside. The only thing these bigoted “solutions” do is make more kids depressed, tear families apart and kill children.
DeSantis Signs ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill as Federal Officials Monitor Florida for ‘Civil Rights Violations’
The legislation disallows mention of sexual orientation and gender identity. It has drawn national condemnation, and the U.S. Department of Education warned that it will be watching for potential infringement of civil rights.
Superintendent Sharply Fends Off 2 School Board Members 2nd Guessing Handling of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Walkouts
School Board members Janet McDonald and Jill Woolbright were upset the district allowed the March 3 “don’t say gay” walkouts at the two high schools, but Superintendent Cathy Mittlestadt drew a sharp line in the sand, reminding them that how administrators and staff handle issues at schools is not in the school board members’ purview. Mittlestadt and two other board members defended the administration’s handling of the walkouts.
Flagler Schools’ Library Policy Balancing Open Access With Parental-Choice Restrictions Becomes Model Across Florida
The policy, developed by Flagler schools’ Lashakia Moore, has drawn approbative attention from the Legislature, from the governor’s office and from other school districts. Other districts are now modeling their own policies after Flagler’s as they try to pre-empt book-banning controversies and comply with new state edicts giving parents more say in restricting access–without jeopardizing the mission of open libraries, open stacks and open minds.
Sunshine Sunday: Keeping Open Government From Eclipse in Florida
Today, there are 1,138 exemptions to Florida’s open government laws, almost 200 more than 20 years ago, and growing. The public cannot simply rely on the good-natured commitment of those in government to safeguard transparency. Sunshine Week is the collective national effort to keep government doors to the public open, and its roots began in Florida.