Florida Senator Tom Wright (R-8) has filed a bill that would protect patriotic organizations’ rights to use school property as part of their organizational purposes.
Senator Wright’s legislation defines patriotic organizations as those with an educational purpose that promotes patriotism and civic involvement in accordance with federal law.
If passed, the law would permit representatives from a patriotic organization to speak to students during school hours regarding the organization's purposes.
Representatives would also be permitted to distribute informational materials, encourage participation in the organization, and inform students of how the patriotic organization may further the students’ interests.
Most notably, the law prohibits school districts from discriminating against patriotic organizations in their use of school property, insofar as such usage occurs outside normal school hours.
Such discrimination has previously occurred within Florida school districts.
A well known case of patriotic organization discrimination is the Moms for Liberty of Brevard County v Brevard Public Schools.
In this case, Moms for Liberty filed a lawsuit against Brevard Public Schools after being censored by the latter.
Moms for Liberty, a patriotic group whose guiding principle is that of standing up “for parental rights at all levels of government,” was censored for criticizing transgender medical procedures for minors.
According to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) legal group, Brevard County officials censored Moms for Liberty for criticizing “administer[ing] hormone blocking drugs to small children in the process of transitioning their gender.”
Shortly thereafter, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) decided to brand Moms for Liberty as an “extremist group”, inciting stern backlash from many conservatives.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), as well as other Florida lawmakers, penned a letter to President Joe Biden (D), criticizing the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) decision.
“SPLC’s bad-faith designation of Moms for Liberty, as well as other parental rights groups, should come as no surprise, as SPLC is a corrupt and vicious tool of progressive radicals seeking to label individuals and groups with whom they disagree as hateful and/or extremist,” said the letter.
