A Florida GOP lawmaker says he made an "error" when he filed an amendment allowing the flying of the Confederate flag, Newsweek reported.
State Sen. Jay Collins posted a statement to Twitter through a spokesperson denying that he's a "Confederate sympathizer," and added that the legislation was retracted.
The amendment, SB 668, provided a list of flags to be displayed by Florida's governmental buildings, saying that the government entities "may expose to public view only the following flags in and on the grounds of public buildings and other public properties" -- one of which was the "flag of the Confederate States."
"Jay Collins is an American patriot who personally sewed his arm back together on the battlefield in Afghanistan as he was hemorrhaging blood along with losing his leg due to injuries sustained in active combat in defense of the flag of the United States of America," the Twitter statement said. "Any insinuation that Jay is a confederate sympathizer is disgusting. This amendment draft was filed in error and has already been pulled as we work to ensure the wording of our bill is in line with the state constitution and statute, which is what created this issue in the first place."
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While the bill did not specifically mention Pride flags, LGBTQ advocacy group PRISM president Maxx Fenning said last month that at "first glance, this feels like a no-brainer that this is directed at pride flags."
"We see continuous attacks on efforts to erase us, marginalized people, our community, and to write us out of existence," Fenning said.