‘Aimed at pride flags:’ LGBTQ+ groups decry state bill banning government display of political flags

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A bill prohibiting political flags from being flown by local governments has been filed ahead of the 2024 Florida Legislative Session. The bill would apply to public colleges, universities, and K-12 schools.

READ: Florida lawmaker proposes bill to ban pride flags from government buildings, facilities

The bill language prohibits government entities from flying flags representing a “political viewpoint” including flags of political parties, and flags expressing “a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint”.

“There’s no question this bill aimed at pride flags,” said Jon Harris Maurer with Equality Florida.

Maurer argued the bill represents another attempt to silence support for the LGBTQ+ community.

“And there are a lot of local governments that do at times fly different symbols, different flags, including the pride flag. That is part of a choice that they’re making in terms of the speech that government wants to convey about how they are open and affirming to certain communities, and again, that shouldn’t be a political message,” said Maurer.

However, Anthony Verdugo with the Florida Christian Family Coalition argued government displays of the pride flag, like the display at the White House earlier this year, are political and endorse certain viewpoints over others.

“Government has become more ideological and in most instances more hostile to certain points of view versus others and that’s just not an objective way to serve the people,” said Verdugo.

Bobby Block with the Florida First Amendment Foundation said at least from a freedom of speech perspective, the bill seems to pass muster since it only deals with government speech.

But as currently written, he argued the bill could impact a lot more than pride flags.

“If they were to apply the law evenly, I mean, I think you know any police force, sheriff’s office, municipality, town, county would have problems hoisting the blue line flag, or worse yet, a Gadsden flag, the ‘don’t tread on me’ flag. All of these now have political significance,” said Block.

Block noted First Amendment issues could arise depending on how the bill is applied, especially if the government has a partisan bent in what flags are deemed acceptable, but the bill still has a long way to go and has not yet been filed in the Senate.

If the bill successfully navigates the legislative process and gains approval, it is set to be signed into law on July 1, 2024.

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