From left, Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, Kari Lake, Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, and Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, greet attendees during a Unite and Win rally held by Turning Point Action at the Arizona Financial Theatre on Aug. 14, 2022, in Phoenix.
Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk debates students during his American Comeback Tour event held at the Humanities Amphitheatre on the University of Tennessee's campus in Knoxville on Thursday, March 13, 2025.

A Florida state government employee has filed a lawsuit after being fired over a social media post about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, another example in a string of complaints around the country over First Amendment rights.

Brittney Brown, a former state biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, was fired on Sept. 15 after she reposted another account's post to her private Instagram story. She filed her suit against the FWC, becoming perhaps the first Florida state government worker to do so in the wake of the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, according to the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida.

The lawsuit comes after a number of educators at U.S. public schools or universities have also filed suits claiming their free speech rights were trampled when they were fired for their comments about Kirk. Dozens of employees across a slew of fields have faced job-related consequences for comments and social media posts, including terminations, suspensions and investigations, according to a USA TODAY count.

The post that got Brown in hot water read: "the whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all."

The post was condemned and shared widely by conservative accounts on social media, including LibsofTiktok, which also called for Brown's firing.

The FWC said Brown's comments were "not in line with the FWC, our values, or our mission" in its announcement of her termination.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy towards the promotion of violence and hate, and we will not stand for such behavior," the agency said in a post on social media, saying that Brown's post "made light" of Kirk's killing.

"Upon learning of the social media post, FWC leadership took swift action, terminating the individual. We expect all our employees to conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and always keep the public's trust in mind."

Kirk was killed the afternoon of Sept. 10 while speaking in Orem, Utah, at Utah Valley University. A single bullet fired from a nearby rooftop struck his neck. Prosecutors have charged 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson with murder and other counts.

Lawsuit claims Florida employee's firing violated free speech right

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 30 in federal court in Tallahassee, will offer a glimpse of how federal courts react to firings across the country after Kirk's assassination, especially those of public employees who have some free speech rights under previous federal court opinions.

The complaint says FWC Executive Director Roger Young and the employee's supervisor, Melissa Tucker, violated the First Amendment. Specifically, Brown alleged that the two retaliated against her discriminated against her viewpoint.

"Plaintiff’s interest in speaking as a private citizen on matters of public concern outweighs Defendants’ interest in content and viewpoint discrimination or imposing a heckler’s veto," the complaint by First Amendment attorney Gary Edinger said.

The complaint said Brown's repost was not a "true threat" and not "obscene in whole or in part." It also was not posted in ways relating to her job duties, since her work doesn't involve whales and her position didn't include regular interaction with the public; her focus was on birds.

“It is deeply disturbing and undemocratic to see such firings take place across the state and in the country,” Edinger said in a statement. “We know that it will take all hands on deck to protect our cherished freedoms and constitutional rights.”

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee.

Edinger and attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida are involved in the suit. In a press release, ACLU of Florida Executive Director Bacardi Jackson said: “The years-long effort to censor our students, professors, and now state employees has become Florida’s trademark but also a dangerous attempt to erode the limits of the First Amendment to favor those in power. But we will not back down.”

Among other things, Brown seeks to be reinstated with back pay, front pay, plus compensatory and punitive damages. A FWC spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the suit late on Sept. 30.

First Amendment experts: Public employees have some free speech rights

Brown was among a number of employees in Florida who were fired over comments they made after the shooting, including teachers, nurses and other public workers. Some First Amendment experts called this a phenomenon of "cancel culture" that escalated due to emotional reactions to Kirk's death.

Experts have said public employees who choose to litigate their termination may retain some rights to free speech. But it fully depends on what they said and what their job is, according to Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, who spoke to the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida in a previous interview.

If a public employee speaks pursuant to job duties, the employee generally doesn't have any free speech rights. But courts consider whether the employee was speaking on a matter of public concern, which raises a question of whether the employer has an interest to effectively and efficiently deliver services to the public.

"People have a right to express their viewpoints and to criticize Kirk's views," Calvert said in an interview on Sept. 15. "If you're criticizing Kirk's views or his opinions on the issues, what they were, that's very different than saying that his death was a good thing."

Florida lawsuit the latest by public employees

At least three educators at public schools and a university in the U.S. have also filed lawsuits against their employers after they were fired last month, according to reporting from the USA TODAY Network.

They include a teacher in Iowa who compared Kirk to a Nazi; a South Carolina teacher's assistant who posted a Kirk quote and said she disagreed with him but called the death a "tragedy"; and an employee of an Indiana university who said Kirk's death was wrong and condemned some of his beliefs.

One suit filed by former Oskaloosa High School teacher Matthew Kargol in Iowa argued the school district "wielded state power to punish a citizen for expressing his opinion on political issues," reported the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network.

"Their actions strike at the heart of the First Amendment and chill the exercise of constitutional rights," Kargol's complaint said.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA TODAY Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Florida. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida biologist sues after firing over Charlie Kirk post

Reporting by Stephany Matat and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY NETWORK / Tallahassee Democrat

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect