FAC Weekly Update 2025-09-23-Life without Liberty is no Life at All

Weekly Update for September 23, 2025. This is recording number 329.

Dear Members and Advocates,

In last week’s update we mentioned we were bringing a challenge to the new Putnam ordinance and asked for anyone who was willing to stand up as a plaintiff to contact us. We need people to standup! Not just in the Putnam case, but in speaking at Commission meetings, in writing to your lawmakers and even in stepping up to help FAC with our various committees (especially with growing Media, Outreach, PR, and social media)!  We know it’s intimidating, we know it’s embarrassing, we know it sometimes feels like it puts a bigger target on your back, but we all need to muster the courage to do something or things will get worse.

We are currently looking for:

• Plaintiffs for our Putnam County Ordinance challenge.
• Declarants (people willing to submit a sworn statement) describing how onerous the registration process is.
• Researchers willing to search and compile County and City sex offender ordinances.
• County Advisors who can spend 5 minutes each month reviewing your local Commission Meeting agendas to see whether there are any new laws being considered that will affect our population.
• County Coordinators who are the eyes and ears for the FAC, who are the point of contact for local members, outreach partners, resources and referrals for their county.  We provide the training and support.
• Social Media managers for our Facebook, X, YouTube and other social media pages.
• Commenters to post statistics and comments on online news outlets correcting misinformation.

In 1775, Patrick Henry stood before the Virginia Convention and declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” His words were not just a call to revolution, but a timeless reminder that life without liberty is no life at all. Today, those of us living under the crushing weight of sex offender laws experience that same truth. Our so-called “freedom” is bound in chains of endless restrictions, arbitrary residency and proximity bans, constant surveillance, and the threat of severe punishment for the smallest technical misstep. The registry is touted as a civil regulatory scheme, yet it strips away basic rights, dignity, and opportunities for restoration. It forces tens of thousands of families into poverty, homelessness, unemployment and despair—not because of new crimes, but because of laws written to punish long after a sentence has been served. When Patrick Henry spoke the words “Give me liberty, or give me death!” he was telling the colonial leaders that it is better to risk death in battle than to live under tyranny without freedom. We’re not suggesting anyone advocate so recklessly that it risks their lives, but Henry’s words ring true: a life without liberty is no life at all.

Look at what is happening: In Alabama another Mr. Henry, Bruce Henry,  is fighting for the basic right to live with his own child. And in a different part of that state a group of church volunteers and their pastor were arrested for holding a fundraiser car wash too close to a school (on a Sunday, no less, when schools are closed)! These aren’t “protections”—they’re prohibitions on living, parenting, and worshipping. If the government can keep us from raising our children or practicing our faith, then liberty has already been stolen and all that remains is a slow death of isolation and hopelessness.

So stand up, people! Get involved! The Henry case is in the 11^th Circuit. Our Circuit! If Alabama is allowed to pass a law that prevents registrants from living with children (even their own children), we face a dangerous precedent that applies to the State of Florida. It’ll be a matter of time until a lawmaker here decides to pass something similar. We know many of you are parents. Can you live with the fear that one day someone will show up and remove your kids? The Putnam ordinance is absurd. Not only did they expand the exclusion zone to 2500 feet, but they added a new twist that no two registrants can live within 500 feet of one another. Now it’s not only properties creating the big red circles, we are the big red circles! If the Putnam ordinance stands, it’s only a matter of time before every County amends theirs. If Alabama is successful in separating parents from their children, Florida will follow suit. This is not hypothetical—it is urgent.

FAC will continue to lead this fight, but we cannot do it alone. We need every one of you to fight alongside us. We will need funds to support the litigation, so please donate to our General Legal Fund.  If you cannot give financially, give your time: speak at Commission meetings, call your lawmakers, join one of our committees, help us with media, or simply keep other registrants informed. Find one of the tasks on the list above and help us fill the need. And if you’re unsure how you can contribute, email us at [email protected] and we’ll help you find your place in this movement.

This is our time to be brave and become active. History will not remember those who stayed silent but those who stood tall and demanded what is rightfully ours: the unalienable rights promised in the Declaration of Independence—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Stand with us. Speak with us. Fight with us. Together, we will get our lives back.

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee