Ron DeSantis backs ban on certain flags in government buildings, schools, and universities

Florida Politics | A.G. Gancarski | February 6, 2024

‘I don’t think that there’s any problem with that.’

Florida’s Governor is supporting legislation that would restrict the type of flags that can be flown by governmental entities.

“Well, I haven’t seen it, but if you take a position that we’re going to fly the American flag and the state of Florida flag and that’s it, it’s not targeting anybody. It’s basically saying that we’re not going to get into this business of doing this. So I think that’s totally fine,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in Orange City.

To say “you can fly any flag you want except one or two,” DeSantis added, “would be maybe a content-based discrimination.”

“But if you say we’re going to fly the U.S. flag, we’re going to fly the state of Florida flag on our public buildings, I think that that’s totally appropriate to be able to do,” the Governor said.

He then lamented ideological flags flown on U.S. governmental buildings globally.

“I mean, you have seen around the world, our embassies flying, I mean, it’s just absurd, some of the things that they’ve done. And so if the Legislature just wants to say, here’s what we’re doing, these two and that’s that, then I don’t think that there’s any problem with that.”

Bills have been filed in the Senate and the House to govern flag content.

SB 1120, a bill by Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin being heard in the Governmental Oversight and Accountability committee on Tuesday, holds that a “governmental entity may not erect or display a flag that represents a political viewpoint, including, but not limited to, a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint. The governmental entity must remain neutral when representing political viewpoints in displaying or erecting a flag.”

That’s its first committee stop.

Meanwhile, the House version (HB 901) has one committee stop ahead.