The First Amendment is slipping away in Florida

But together, we can fight back.

Hi friend,

In Florida, free speech and open government are under attack and on the run. Books quietly disappear from school shelves. Teachers are investigated, disciplined, and even fired for speaking as private citizens. Residents are removed from public meetings for expressing views officials don’t want to hear.

Some Floridians have even faced threats and intimidation for telling truths that powerful people wanted silenced. This is not a prediction or a warning of what might come. This is happening now.

Our Founders anticipated this danger. They wrote in the Declaration of Independence that rights come from God and nature, not from government. And when the government punishes people for using those rights, it crosses the very line they risked everything to draw.

Earlier this month, a Lee County resident named Marsha Ellis tried to use her three minutes at a public meeting, something the law guarantees every Floridian. She didn’t get far. Security escorted her out before she could finish her first minute.

You don’t have to agree with her to understand the danger. When speaking leads to punishment, most people stop speaking at all. Silence spreads. Power concentrates. And the public is pushed out of the process that belongs to them.

This is where the First Amendment Foundation steps in.

  • We help people understand their rights, not the watered-down version some officials want them to believe.
  • We challenge agencies that bury records behind inflated fees or endless delays.
  • We track and analyze bills in Tallahassee that shrink the space where Floridians can speak, protest, or access information.
  • We support residents who feel isolated, vulnerable, or threatened for using their voice.

And if the current moment makes anything clear, it’s this:

You cannot keep your rights if you don’t fight for them.

We fight for them. We fight for you.

Giving Tuesday is approaching, and we must raise $20,000 to meet the urgency of this moment.

 Your support will help us:

  • Take on more public-records fights before silence becomes policy.
  • Push back against retaliation that threatens jobs, families, and safety.
  • Give Floridians the tools they need to challenge government secrecy.
  • Document and expose the growing efforts to narrow the public’s role in its own government.

If you want to see what this looks like in real time, watch our new video explaining what happened to Marsha Ellis, available on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Most Floridians will never file a lawsuit, read a court decision, or submit a public-records request. But they still deserve a state where their voices matter and where someone is paying attention to the people in power.

That’s what your gift protects. 

Please give today. There is no time to lose.

DONATE TODAY!