Florida Rep Matt Gaetz Touts 'Prayer in Schools' Law in Response to 'Degenerate LGBTQ and Anti-White Propaganda'

Hard-right GOP U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, claiming that America's public schools are awash in "degenerate LGBT and anti-white propaganda," says he will introduce a bill for school prayer.

The bill's text would "allow anyone to pray in school without fear of legal repercussions," noted Florida newspaper the Pensacola News Journal.

Saying that America is a "nation under God," Gaetz, who has been embroiled in a number of ethics controversies during his congressional tenure – including allegations of sex trafficking and a sexual relationship with a minor – told The Daily Caller that he intends to introduce what he calls the "Protect Prayer in Schools Act of 2023," the News Journal detailed.

According to the News Journal, Gaetz claimed in the bill that the U.S. is a "nation under God." It also says the Declaration of Independence "makes clear that our nation was blessed by the 'Supreme Judge of the World' and our laws are derived from 'Laws of Nature' and 'Nature's God,'" the News Journal relayed.

Gaetz, who is a member of the extreme right House of Representatives "Freedom Caucus," told the Daily Caller that "God's reach does not stop at the schoolhouse gates," and claimed that "Our country's education policy forbids students and faculty from praying while endlessly promoting degenerate LGBT and anti-white propaganda."

The bill makes use of a weapon favored in recent years by Republican lawmakers: the explicit encouragement of lawsuits against perceived opposition.

Noted the News Journal, "The bill doesn't seek to make any changes regarding religious practice or expression in schools, instead, it allows people to sue anyone who places 'any limitation' on someone's ability to engage in personal prayer."

But the need for a new law to protect students who wish to pray is dubious, since, the New Journal pointed out, personal prayer by individuals in school or outside of it "is already a protected right under the U.S. Constitution."

Moreover, the News Journal said, "Local school agencies that do not certify in writing that they do not have policies that prevent, or otherwise deny participation in, prayer in public schools are not eligible to receive funding" from the federal government under the a nearly 60-year-old law, the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

"The Department of Education provides extensive guidance on how schools can ensure students can exercise these rights in a fair and equal way that promotes freedom of religion," the newspaper explained, going on to say that "students are allowed to voluntarily pray at any time during school and openly talk about their religious ideas – even in attempts to persuade their peers."

The only form of prayer currently not allowed in public schools is coerced or mandatory prayer; as the News Journal notes, the 1965 law "prevent[s] public school officials, acting in their official capacities, from directing or favoring prayer."