An annual day to remember fallen conservative icon Charlie Kirk is closer to becoming law after meetings of the Senate Education Postsecondary Committee and the House Governmental Operations Subcommittee.
The panels voted on party lines to devote Oct. 14 to remember the activist and commentator who spoke for a generation on the Right before he was gunned down while addressing a Utah university crowd.
Under bills from Sen. Jonathan Martin and Rep. Yvette Benarroch (SB 194, HB 125), the Governor would be compelled to issue a proclamation every Oct. 14 — Kirk’s birthday — for the “Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance.”
“This bill would have this day be a day of remembrance and recognition of Charlie Kirk’s influence on civic engagement, youth leadership, and constitutional education. It does not create a state holiday or mandate closures,” Martin said Wednesday.
Martin extolled Kirk’s “alternative viewpoint” and willingness to debate, saying “what he was doing when he was assassinated goes to the very core of who we are as Americans.”
“The First Amendment does not exist to protect comfortable speech,” Benarroch said. “It exists to protect speech we disagree with. It exists to protect debate, House Bill 125 is not about asking anyone to agree with Charlie Kirk. It is not about endorsing every statement he ever made. It is not about elevating a personality. This bill is about what happens when violence replaces debate.”
“The day political violence stole Charlie’s voice was a deafening alarm for America,” said Rep. Meg Weinberger, the House co-sponsor. “He was beloved by Americans from all walks of life for igniting honest debate and refusing to let ideas die in silence. Charlie reminded us that when open dialogue ends, tyranny begins. Florida, the freest state in the nation, must forever honor this messenger and recommit to the sacred duty of protecting every voice, no matter how boldly it speaks.”
Source & Full Article: The Miami Times
Author: A.G. Gancarski, Florida Politics