Become a Card-Carrying Member!

 

A message from Nico Perrino with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression:

In recent years, FIRE has been accused — incorrectly — of being a conservative organization. We’ve defended conservative students from censorship on college campuses, and we reject the idea that “hate speech” is equivalent to violence. So those who don’t understand free speech sometimes lump us in with the right.

But now the pendulum is swinging in the other direction.

Some conservatives now see “woke” as the new boogeyman. In response, some Republican-controlled states, like Florida and Texas, are trying to ban ideas they don’t like. Naturally, a number of conservatives are calling us left-wing because we’re against their censorship.

Here’s what FIRE is actually all about: the defense of free speech for everyone. No exceptions. 

One day we defended pro-life students, whose funding the University of North Carolina threatened to pull. The next day, we fought for pro-choice activists in South Carolina, where the legislature tried to ban speech about abortion.

We don’t care about politics, and that’s something partisans will never understand.

But if both the left and right abandon free speech, what are true free speech defenders supposed to do? 

It’s simple: band together. 

For just $25 annually, you can be a card-carrying member of FIRE. Not only does membership grant you exclusive perks, but your donation will also help us defend our clients’ free speech rights in the court of law, spread the word about why free speech must be protected in the court of public opinion, and put pressure on those trying to silence views they don’t like. 

As a member of FIRE, you’ll be among the principled few who defend free speech without fear or favor, who fight for the rights of everyone — even their political opponents — to express themselves.

Our cause can be a lonely one, but we will never betray our commitment to the First Amendment.

Are you with us?