Florida will take legal action against schools that don’t allow Turning Point USA chapters on campus, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration announced Thursday.
Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a posted on the social media platform X that his office’s parental rights division will initiate legal action when necessary.
“Our AG’s Office of Parental Rights will be bringing legal action, where necessary, to ensure that we are protecting the rights of students to organize, associate and engage in speech and debate, very tenants of our country that our founders so cherished,” Uthmeier explained.
The attorney general noted he had heard reports of schools not allowing the conservative activist group’s chapters on their campuses. Uthmeier said in another X that Turning Point USA creates an environment of “healthy discourse” on topics affecting the country, and Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios that his department would be happy to help make sure “appropriate” action is taken.
It’s unclear which, if any, schools have rejected the organization, although a Duval County public school board member, April Carney, appeared aside Uthmeier in his video. She said the board is working on “revamping” its student organization policy so there won’t be any issues starting a Turning Point USA chapter at county schools.
Carney suggested during a board policy meeting on Wednesday that teachers have been turning down opportunities to sponsor an organization chapter. Some opponents of Turning Point USA have criticized its alleged role in the promotion of bigoted and conspiratorial theories, although the group defends itself as one whose members can exercise their freedom of speech.
Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk, widow of founder Charlie Kirk, said during a memorial for her slain husband on Sunday that the organization has members “pointed in the direction of truth and beauty” and points “young people away from the path of misery and sin.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which has a stated mission of stopping the defamation of Jewish people, Turning Point USA as a platform for extremists and “far-right” conspiracy theorists. The conservative group attracts racist people, and many of its representatives have made bigoted remarks about minority groups and the LGBTQIA+ community, according to the ADL.
“Numerous individuals associated with the group have made bigoted statements about the Black community, the LGBTQ community and other groups. While TPUSA leaders say they reject white supremacist ideology, known white nationalists have attended their events,” the ADL says on its website.
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