TALLAHASSEE — A biologist has filed a federal lawsuit difficult her firing by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee due to a submit on a private social-media account after the homicide of conservative chief Charlie Kirk.
Brittney Brown, who labored for the fee learning shorebirds and seabirds within the space of Tyndall Air Drive Base within the Panhandle, alleges within the lawsuit that her firing on Sept. 15 — 5 days after Kirk was shot throughout an look at a Utah college — violated her First Modification rights.
“Within the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, many people and teams posted visceral reactions to social media that coated a spread of views and beliefs,” stated the lawsuit, filed by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union Basis of Florida and longtime First Modification lawyer Gary Edinger.
“Most individuals on social media nearly definitely encountered speech they discovered despicable, regardless of the place they fall on the political spectrum. That’s the nature of a democracy the place free speech is protected. And simply as political violence has no place in a simply society, the unbridled trampling of constitutional protections has no place both.”
The lawsuit stated Brown was fired after reposting on her Instagram account a submit from an account referred to as “@whalefact.” The submit stated, “the whales are deeply saddened to study of the taking pictures of charlie kirk, haha simply kidding, they care precisely as a lot as charlie kirk cared about kids being shot of their lecture rooms, which is to say, in no way,” in line with the lawsuit.
Libs of TikTok, a conservative social-media account, shared a screenshot of Brown’s repost on Sept. 14 and referred to as for her firing, in line with the lawsuit. She was fired the subsequent day.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee stated in a Sept. 15 submit on X that it had been “made conscious of a deeply troubling incident involving an FWC worker who shared a social media submit that made gentle of the assassination of Mr. Kirk. The feedback and actions of this particular person should not in keeping with the FWC, our values, or our mission. We’ve got a zero-tolerance coverage in the direction of the promotion of violence and hate, and we is not going to stand for such habits. Upon studying of the social media submit, FWC management took swift motion, terminating the person,” in line with a replica of the fee submit included within the lawsuit.
However the lawsuit, filed in U.S. district courtroom in Tallahassee, stated Brown made the repost whereas on trip on a “purely non-public” Instagram account. The lawsuit names as defendants fee Government Director Roger Younger and Melissa Tucker, a division director described as Brown’s “final supervisor.”
“Plaintiff’s political assertion doesn’t condone Mr. Kirk’s killing; nor does it name for additional violence,” the lawsuit stated. “Mr. Kirk was a public determine extensively identified for his controversial political opinions, and his dying is a matter of public concern.”
The lawsuit alleged, “As a substitute of supporting plaintiff’s First Modification rights, and people of different dissenting people, defendants rushed to capitulate to the Libs of TikTok heckler’s veto and make a political instance of Brown.”
Kirk, who led the conservative group Turning Level USA, was assassinated throughout an look at Utah Valley College.
Brown labored for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee for about seven years, in line with the lawsuit. A duplicate of her Sept. 15 termination letter included within the lawsuit indicated she had an “Different Private Providers” place, a classification that doesn’t embrace a number of the protections that different workers obtain.
