I wonder if this would make anyone’s head explode.
This is the correct answer. How much can she afford in legal representation? I guarantee they can afford more. She needs to move or give in. It matters not that she is right. They have deeper pockets.
There probably exists a flag for gay firefighters. She should get that one, which would unambiguously honor first responders.
It may be one of the nicest developments in the area. It may have nice houses and pleasant views.
But what makes a nice neighborhood is nice neighbors. Which, between the MAGA nut and the HOA, seem to be lacking.
I sure wouldn’t want to be in this lady’s situation, and I’m very glad I live in an area that votes to uphold the rule of law. But I can’t help but applaud her. Somebody has to fight.
Yup. The problem that is if your dealing with an insane neighbor, you might end up fighting for your life over bullshit.
I can’t agree with this at all. You’re both telling her to give up before anything has actually happened. If it gets to the point where she no longer thinks it is worth it, she can make that decision then.
If everyone gave up before they even started on making the world better, we’d never get anything done. It’s good when someone is willing to go further than you personally might be willing to.
Sure, warn her of the consequences. But she’s right, and she’s fighting back against bigotry. Don’t tell those who are willing to go farther than you that they shouldn’t even try.
Is that available for purchase? It’s awesome!
Yeah, but in America, fights often end with guns.
The first rule of surviving a fight is to de-escalate… before it’s too late.
Thank you, Mr. T. I pity the fool who doesn’t think like you.
Besides, she’s already told me that she’ll drop this issue if she has to get a lawyer involved. At this point, all she’s done is send an email to an HOA busybody that basically says “who me? I thought I was following the law. Can you tell me where I went wrong?“ (oh, and she sent it at 4:58 pm on a Friday, right before the office closes for the weekend, the same time she gets all of her “notices”).
And, for what it’s worth, I’ve offered her free legal services. She also is friends with a retired lawyer in the neighborhood who I’m sure would be happy to help. He suggested the language for her letter. He was also the guy who was forced off the HOA board due to political shenanigans . He recently got a fine for having too many potted plants in his yard. And his wife, the gynecologist, has been described online as a “vagina inspector”. My friend may not be the only one inclined to put up a fuss.
And, circling back, I must disagree with this
The law does not mandate any standards for honoring the first responders, other than to have the dimensions and incorporate the design of the US flag. At best, it’s unconstitutionally vague.
I am trying to think of something I despise more than HOAs.
Think, think, think.
I will continue thinking. Perhaps I can come up with something, but so far… nothing.
It doesn’t even require that; it just says that a First Responder flag may incorporate the design of the US flag. So, for instance, a solid black flag with a thin blue line across it would count, or a flag with the words “Honor the Police”, or whatever.
Or, of course, a rainbow flag.
I find it amusing that the folks who claim to be against Big Government are mostly the same ones who went and created an entirely new level of government, just to be the Biggest Government around. HOAs are far more Big Government than the feds… or the state… or even the municipal government.
The Florida law is dumb.
The OP’s friend’s flag is not a first responder flag.
The neighbor is a jerk.
Messing with the HOA feels righteous, but the headaches and expense in doing that are not worth it, because they’re going to win.
Living in a development with an HOA so petty and power-mad that they stomp on residents because of unapproved mulch and shrubs is a nightmare that should have been anticipated.
She should price the house to sell and get the hell out of there.
*in the interests of full disclosure, I have shrubs that have not been approved by anyone. 
**it would not surprise me if in Kentucky, there was a law superseding HOAs to allow people to use the mulch of their choice. You don’t mess around with a man’s sacred right to whatever mulch he wants here in the Bluegrass.
Yes, I have observed the same.
About 20 years ago I had an acquaintance who was a right-wing conservative. He was (and I assume still is) a very vocal proponent of state rights, gun rights, small government, etc. The irony, though, is that he was on the board of his HOA, and he would walk around the neighborhood and cite homeowners for the most petty of infractions. He seemed to delight in it.
I no longer associate with him.
For at least a weekend (or until the HOA busybody rambles some invective by email) it most certainly is!
That’s been my consistent advice since I met her.
There’s a perverse consistency to his views. He doesn’t want some bigger government telling him that he can’t tell people what to do.
Yep, and constitutionally vague arguments get decided at the appellate level, which is going to be a long and expensive battle. At the district court, the judge would be the one interpreting the law. The judge will rule in favor of the HOA because her flag doesn’t meet the reasonable definition of a first responder flag. It’s a gay rights flag. No first responder group is represented by that flag. It’s not even a novel design. She’s repurposing a gay rights flag for a first responder flag (which is a false argument since she’s not really meaning it to honor first responders). And if the argument is that any flag can be a first responder flag, then that means that everyone can put up whatever flags they want. The implication is that would entitle all her neighbors to put up as many TRUMP, MAGA, and F*CK BIDEN flags as long as they are the right dimensions and incorporate the design of the US flag. And those are the kinds of people who would love to be able to plaster their house and yards with those flags.
Right now she doesn’t have a viable path to winning, and a loss will be an emboldening win for the HOA and the neighbor. If she wants to fight this, she needs to do it in a way that she has some footing to stand on. For example, find an actual first responder group that has a flag design which overlaps with her flag. For instance, maybe there’s a ski patrol in a gay community which incorporates aspects of the gay pride flag in it’s emblem. Fly a flag from such a first responder group. Then at least she would have a solid foundation to argue that it’s a viable first responder flag since it’s representing an actual first responder group.
Indeed. Salute.
AFAIK it would only be unconstitutionally vague if it imposed criminal penalties on people who fell afoul of the definition of a first responder flag. As silly as the law is, it doesn’t seem to go that far.
Worth noting that Florida is a Business Judgment Rule state:
The practical effect of this, generally, is that an HOA can “shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and they’ll still win the case.”
Meanwhile, all the residents pay to defend against the lawsuit. That tends to severely alienate people without regard to who’s right and who’s wrong.
It also pits – at worst – one neighbor against all the other neighbors.
And things can get ugly. DAMHIKT.
See if she can find a way to get a media outlet to cover her story, and then make the story go viral. HOAs fear the court of public opinion much more than the Courts, where they generally have a decisive advantage.
Also – as you know – courts aren’t really about right and wrong. They’re about powerful vs. powerless. Insurance Defense attorneys have nothing but money, and it’s the HOAs insurance company that would fund their attorneys.
I applaud her moxie and her principles. I hope she is judicious about how far it’s worth taking this one.
“Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
–Mike Tyson