The facts in the Texas case are horrendous.

In 2012, a male sexual predator used Facebook to lure a 15-year-old girl to a meeting where she was repeatedly raped, beaten, and then trafficked for sex. After she was rescued from her situation, she sued Facebook under the pseudonym “Jane Doe” for failing to take reasonable steps to keep sexual predators off its platform.

Some of her claims were dismissed by Texas courts, which ruled that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields Facebook from liability for posts from third parties. She appealed that partial dismissal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the justices refused to take her case.

However, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote separately to say that the high court may – and ought to – take up a similar case in the future to address the scope of social media immunity included in Section 230, unless Congress acts first.

Here’s the issue: Should Facebook and other social media companies be legally responsible for harm caused to their users by other users if the companies could reasonably take steps to prevent that harm?

Justice Thomas seems to think so. “It is hard to see why the protection §230(c)(1) grants publishers against being held strictly liable for third parties’ content should protect Facebook from liability for its own ‘acts and omissions,’” Thomas wrote.

Nicholas Ortiz, a 14-year-old freshman, brought his Bible to Mater Academy Bay High School to read during free time. Beginning in 2018, he was repeatedly bullied – by students and a teacher – and threatened with violence.

Both Ortiz and his parents complained to the school – over a four-year period – but the school repeatedly failed to document and investigate their complaints. And Nicholas was the one who was suspended, twice, not the bullies.

Now, the Dhillon Law Group has filed a lawsuit against Mater Academy on behalf of Nicholas and his parents. For bringing his Bible to school and reading it, “the complaint alleges that Ortiz has regularly been ostracized and targeted for his beliefs by fellow students, staff, and school administrators,” said the law firm.

Mater Academy is a charter management company based in Miami. The organization runs 34 charter schools and 1 private school on 26 campuses, with 97% minority students. Most of the schools are in South Florida, but the organization also runs a charter school in Las Vegas.

The suit contends that the school did not report or investigate repeated reports of Ortiz being bullied, despite the fact that this is required by Florida law and district policies.

Lawmakers in Florida showed tremendous wisdom and bravery Tuesday in passing the “Parental Rights in Education” bill which will now go to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for signature.

For anyone paying attention to national media, this bill, dishonestly slimed as the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, sounds like it’s one of the most hateful, unjust and mean-spirited pieces of legislation to come down the pike in years. One gets the impression that anyone who supports such legislation would have to be the worst person ever. Even Kate McKinnon went all preachy about it on Saturday Night Live this week. But these critics of the bill have gotten it precisely wrong. And dramatically so.

This important and brave bill is simply a reaction by parents to protect their young children from being indoctrinated in gender and sexual ideology. These parents are merely reacting in a defensive response to very troubling things being forced upon their children.

The creation of this bill prohibiting schools from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with students in primary grades is what it looks like when parents act like parents and stand up to protect their children. And clearly, gender activists are angry and want to shut such parents down. There is everything praiseworthy about parents taking strong legal measures to protect their children from such indoctrination.