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submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

A lawsuit can move forward against a Florida Panhandle school district over its removal of books about race and LGBTQ+ identities from library shelves, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, based in Pensacola, ruled that the writers’ group PEN America, publisher Penguin Random House, banned authors and parents have standing to pursue their claims under the First Amendment’s free speech protections, while denying a claim under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

“We are gratified that the Judge recognized that books cannot be removed from school library shelves simply because of the views they espouse, and are looking forward to moving forward with this case to protect the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs,” attorney Lynn Oberlander said in a statement.

The federal lawsuit alleges the Escambia County School District and its School Board are violating the First Amendment through the removal of 10 books.

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[-] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago

Just an FYI.....Escambia County is the most MAGA of MAGA counties in Florida. Which is really saying something. If you want to see Trump's or DeSantis' America, that's where you would go.

[-] Theprogressivist@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago
[-] Nougat@kbin.social 7 points 11 months ago

Why are we having all these people from shithole [counties] come here?

[-] ReallyKinda@kbin.social 12 points 11 months ago

Wonder why he didn’t uphold it as discriminatory too. Seems straightforwardly discriminatory against a protected class.

[-] Uranium3006@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago

LGBT people never got federal discrimination protection, and I doubt the florida reich has any laws. people did a victory lap when we got gay marriage despite that being just one of many, many struggles

[-] ReallyKinda@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago

Title IX (federal) protects students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

[-] clover@slrpnk.net 10 points 11 months ago

Where dat MAGA freeze peach?

this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
206 points (99.0% liked)

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