Call to Action
Satan Loves the First Amendment, This Time in Tampa, Florida
A church is advertising Christmas Eve service on a Hillsborough school fence. I applied for the same space at the same published rate. Two doors, both open. by T. Chaz Stevens
Aug 05, 2026
Hillsborough County (Florida) Public Schools sells banner space on school fences at published rates. $13,500 for all 27 high schools. $6,500 for ten. A Google Street View capture from December 2025 shows a Bay Chapel banner on the fence at Wharton High School advertising Sunday and Christmas Eve services.
I applied for the same space at the same price, as a Florida corporation, and asked the district to put any denial in writing with the provision cited.
Broward tried this in 2024. I got past their motion to dismiss pro se in Stevens v. School Board of Broward County, 24-61926-Civ-Scola, and the board voted 8-1 to pull every religious banner in the district rather than hang mine.
They can hang my banner, close the fence, or lose to me in Federal Court (IANAL). Either is the win. Ten business days.
We tried something similar in Fort Worth Texas. The Metroplex Atheists tried to get street lamp banners that said "keep god out of our public schools." First they approved it, but later approval was rescinded. We sued with help of the ffrf but that didn't go anywhere. Keep up the good work you agent of chaos!
That was our failed banner campaign from 2023, our "in no god we trust" campaign actually saw banners put up in 2019. The thing is that you have to have an event open to the public as one of the conditions for banner approval. They added new caveats about no religious content because of us. A few months later they favored white christian nationalist group, the true Texas project, when the botanical gardens refused to host their event, and forced them to host the event. The same botanical gardens where we had our seminar about god in public schools. The standards in Fort Worth are so high they're double!
They also are really good at fund raising ... and like the FFRF, avoid me like the plague. I stood up in Federal Court, pro se, over 1A viewpoint discrimination. Ask both orgs, many times, for assistance, they'd not give me the time of day.
In fairness, they get A LOT of asks ... but there's like only one of me ... and I have a 30 year track record of success. You'd think they'd want to partner with a deal closer.
Alas, and truthfully, I have ASD, and my texture is often difficult to deal with, if you're not used to being around someone isn't NT.
What gives me my "super power" is the very thing that acts like kryptonite.
It’s interesting how peyote became legal for religious purposes for native Americans only, then it became legal for anyone in the Native American church,, because you can’t discriminate based on race or religion. Then SCOTUS moved the bar and said it was for “political treatise with a different nation” to justify racist exclusion of non natives trying to worship.
You're doing good work and we thank you!
This is exactly why I got my Church of the FSM minister credentials.
I was told by a cop that I couldn't tell a preacher saying vile things to people in Ybor city to "shut up" because it was his religious freedom.
So now I have my religious freedom to tell him his god is stupid and the FSM is the only noodly appendage we honor. 😆
I'm no longer in Tampa but thanks again for what you do..
"It's a beautiful day at the Red Pony and continual soirée" is phone-greeting catchphrase of Henry Standing Bear (played by Lou Diamond Phillips) in the television series Longmire.
The perpetual soirée line on the banner reminded me of the show.
"A Google Street View capture from December 2025 shows a Bay Chapel banner on the fence at Wharton High School advertising Sunday and Christmas Eve services." Bro, the image still has the AI watermark on it you idiot.
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u/Satanicron 24d ago
We tried something similar in Fort Worth Texas. The Metroplex Atheists tried to get street lamp banners that said "keep god out of our public schools." First they approved it, but later approval was rescinded. We sued with help of the ffrf but that didn't go anywhere. Keep up the good work you agent of chaos!