The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) have urged Florida lawmakers to stand against a bill that may launch “lawfare” against Christian entities, according to a letter from the organization obtained by Fox News.
The bill, Senate Bill 752, changes Florida’s retraction statute to mandate that publishers remove online content containing false information. The content must be pulled if a “reasonable person” believes the content is false.
NRB wrote to lawmakers that the “well-intentioned” legislation “contains serious flaws which could adversely affect publishers and broadcasters, including religious broadcasters.”
“Christian broadcasters often take positions that are at odds with views of certain elites within society,” the letter read, explaining that the issue of gender may be weaponized under the amended retraction guidelines.
“For example, if a transgendered male presents as a female and competes in girls’ sports, and a Christian broadcaster says that a male has been competing in women’s sports, the broadcaster could be potentially sued under this section for old articles on the subject,” the NRB General Counsel Michael Farris wrote. “Armed with ‘evidence’ from experts who support the affirmation of gender transition, a plaintiff could see relief under this legislation by claiming that his new gender is a fact and to refer to him as a male is both false and defamatory. The claim would be that reasonable people would conclude that transgendered males are in fact females and should be referred in such a manner.”
“This possibility opens up a very real possibility of weaponizing a wave of ‘lawfare’ against Christian broadcasters simply for standing up for what they believe to be true,” Farris argued. “First Amendment rights are precious and tampering with the time-honored legal standards is a task that should be undertaken with the greatest care and precision.”
Florida’s Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-2 in favor of the legislation.
