‘That's authoritarianism’: Florida argues school libraries are for government messaging

Florida’s government is arguing that school districts have a First Amendment right to remove LGBTQ books. 

Or any book, for that matter.

It’s a contention that First Amendment experts and advocates call extreme and chilling. But the state maintains the books on school shelves represent protected government speech. Public school libraries are “a forum for government speech,” it says, not a “forum for free expression.”

“Public-school systems, including their libraries, convey the government’s message,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wrote in a legal brief.