Florida Republicans Are Pushing To Ban Pride Flags From Public Buildings
SB 100 was approved by the state’s Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee Tuesday.
With so many pressing issues plaguing Americans today, including unsustainably high grocery prices, elected officials have many critical measures to push through for the benefit of their constituents. However, rather than help lower the unemployment rate, focus on sustainable environmental practices, protect children from guns in schools, or even attempt to secure affordable housing for residents, Florida Republicans are taking aim at flags.
SB 100, sponsored by Senator Randy Fine (R-Melbourne), attempts to ban flags and banners with a “political viewpoint” from government buildings and schools. This wide-sweeping measure would prevent such flags (including a depiction of one) from being displayed or erected. Fine proposed a similar bill in the state House last year, but it was ultimately thrown out for being too culturally divisive during election season, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
One of the bill’s biggest issues, besides being a possible violation of free speech and constitutional rights, is vague language. The legislation fails to define “political viewpoint,” which is the spine of the measure. Without a strict definition, this would leave SB 100 up to interpretation, allowing it to be applied in broader situations. The bill also neglects to define public versus private spaces in public schools, colleges, and universities, making it unclear whether a student could display a pride flag in their dorm window or a student group could hold a protest using a flag. In fact, the bill doesn’t define “flag” at all.
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Another major aspect of Fine’s bill lies in its enforcement. SB 100 would authorize any current or former member of the United States military to “use reasonable force to prevent the desecration, destruction, or removal of the United States flag or to replace such flag to a position of prominence, etc.”
Again, Fine offers no definition of “reasonable force.”
In a Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee meeting on Tuesday, Sen. Kristen Arrington of Kissimmee, one of the committee’s two democrats who opposed the bill, pressed Fine on his vague language and the clear violation of civil rights.
“We’re supposed to be free Florida, and this is not about freedom,” she said.
Rather than clearing up this confusion before the committee voted, Fine said he planned to tighten up the measure’s language as the bill progresses. Despite not knowing what they were voting on, the committee, chaired by Fine, approved the legislation 4-2.
Arrington and Sen. Tina Polsky (D-Boca Raton) were the only elected officials to vote against the measure, but they weren’t the only two in attendance who opposed it. An hour of the committee’s meeting was filled by residents speaking out against the bill and asking their elected officials to prevent it from advancing, according to Florida Politics. In total, 22 attendees opposed the bill and only three signaled support for it.
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“It’s really just about people being scared of LGBTQ kids and not wanting any talk of it in a classroom,” Polsky said. “[S]houldn’t a teacher, because clearly that’s what this is about, be able to reach out to students and say, “I hear you and we can talk.’ ”
Advocacy organizations have already begun taking aim at the legislation. PEN America, a nonprofit raising awareness for the protection of free speech, sent a letter to Florida Senate President Ben Albritton Tuesday, pushing him to reject SB 100.
“This bill not only infringes on Floridians’ self expression in violation of the First Amendment but is blatantly homophobic and racist,” Katie Blankenship, director of PEN America Florida, wrote. “We urge the Senate to defeat this effort to deprive racial minorities and LGBTQ+ people of visibility, expression, and connection to community.”
SB 100 will now make its way to the Senate Community Affairs Committee. If it passes, it will have one more stop before heading to a floor vote.
