Thousands of unmarried couples who are living together in Florida may be surprised to learn that they are actually breaking the law. Under outdated and rarely enforced state laws that have been on the books since the late 1800s, “cohabitation” is actually a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by $500 or up to 60 days in jail. The same penalty applies to adultery – which one Florida woman tried to have enforced for her cheating husband in 2006.

The Sun Sentinel reports that one Florida Republican is commendably trying to repeal these irrelevant laws — only to be met with mass opposition from his fellow Republicans including Gov. Rick Scott (R). These social conservatives won’t support his effort to finally legalize a common practice and would prefer that official condemnation of couples “living in sin” stay enshrined in state law:

Now, Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, is on a mission to repeal the statutes penalizing adultery and cohabitation, as well as other laws he finds outdated, like a requirement that all bicycle riders keep one hand on the handle bars. [...]

Nobody else much wants to talk about it either.

Asked how Gov. Rick Scott felt about the measure, spokeswoman Amy Graham replied simply, “This isn’t an issue the governor is focused on.”

The bill has no Senate counterpart. And given the almost-certain opposition of social conservatives who lobby hard on “family values” issues, it’ll face tough sledding in an election year.

Consider the response of state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, who previously headed the Florida chapter of the Christian Coalition: “I’m not ready to give up on monogamy and a cultural statement that marriage still matters,” he said.

Cohabitation, especially among young couples, has become an increasing trend in recent years. The number of unmarried couples living together increased tenfold from 1960 to 2000, the U.S. Census says. It’s a practice that’s often derided by social conservatives, who fear that it is replacing traditional marriage.

However, maintaining the legal option of throwing these couples in jail seems a tad over-the-top, not to mention tragically out of touch with the reality of millions of Americans. In fact, one of Florida’s most prominent residents, NBA star LeBron James, is technically breaking the law by living in Miami with his high school sweetheart.

ThinkProgress filed this report from Richmond, Virginia.

Progressive groups organizing a rally at the same Richmond-area hotel where House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) was holding an event Wednesday were abruptly kicked out of the hotel and told by hotel management to remain off of its property during Cantor’s event.

Cantor held an Advisory Council gathering, closed to the media but open to constituents who registered ahead of time, at the Holiday Inn Koger Center in Richmond. A coalition of progressive Virginia organizing groups — Progress Virginia, OurDC, and Virginia Organizing — had booked rooms and a separate ballroom in the hotel to hold a “jobs rally” countering Cantor’s event. According to organizers, the groups planned to invite Cantor to attend their rally after his own event, in the hope that he would listen to their concerns regarding job creation and unemployment.

But just hours before the events were set to begin, the Holiday Inn canceled the groups’ ballroom and room reservations and ordered the groups to remain off of hotel property during Cantor’s meeting. According to organizers, hotel management falsely accused them of smoking in their rooms and used that as justification to cancel their reservations. A representative of Holiday Inn who only agreed speak on the condition of anonymity, however, said the hotel was seeking to avoid confrontation between the progressive groups and those attending the Cantor event. He would not comment on whether the hotel had any communications with Cantor or his staff regarding the progressive groups.

Attempts to reach both Cantor’s office and Holiday Inn’s corporate offices for comment prior to publication were unsuccessful. In an interview with a local news station, Cantor acknowledged that he saw the protesters but said, “I don’t see how that’s productive. … (It was) a very productive event. I’m not quite so sure how that was productive outside.”

After their reservations were canceled, the progressive groups assembled across the street and began marching to the hotel, where they were met by Virginia state police officers and hotel management demanding that they remain off Holiday Inn property. The protesters remained assembled between the Holiday Inn and the street, where they held signs protesting Cantor’s record on job creation and his legislative priorities and chanted that they wanted Cantor to focus on jobs. Multiple protesters told stories of their unemployment over a megaphone as police and hotel management looked on.

The protesters then marched back across the street, out of sight from the hotel, and held a rally similar to the one they had planned inside the hotel, with more stories of unemployment and hardship brought on by the economic recession. Watch video of the march:

According to police, who said they were only enforcing the Holiday Inn’s wishes to keep the protesters off of private property, there were no arrests during the protests.

With the start of a new school year, online publications are rushing to print superficial lists ranking America’s colleges and universities. ThinkProgress has compiled a far more useful list of the top five most right-wing places of higher learning:

5. Patrick Henry College: After a documentary exposed the surprising number of students at Patrick Henry College with high level internships in the Bush administration, the school has gained scrutiny for its extensive ties to the Republican Party and social conservative groups.

4. Hillsdale College: The school was in the news recently when it was revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose the Hillsdale salary of his wife Ginni Thomas. Called the “citadel of American conservatism,” Hillsdale features academics like Rush Limbaugh fill-in Mark Steyn, and is said to be a pipeline to Republican jobs on Capitol Hill.

3. George Mason University: George Mason University has served as a libertarian enclave with close ties to K Street lobbyists since the 1980s, when Charles Koch began donating heavily to the school. Koch Industries’ executive vice president for public policy, Rich Fink, heads two Koch programs at the school. Matt Kibbe and other leading libertarian activists are alumni of George Mason’s free market economics department.

2. King’s College: In 1997, the Campus Crusade for Christ International purchased King’s College, a New Jersey-based school that had been shuttered since 1944, and moved reestablished it on two floors of the Empire State Building in New York City. Led by Dinesh D’Souza, author of a book this year arguing that President Obama’s Kenyan heritage gives him a third world “anti-colonial” mindset, the school has gained a reputation for training dogmatically conservative Christian activists.

1. Liberty University: Founded by the late televangelist preacher Jerry Falwell in 1971, Liberty has prided itself as one of the most influential Christian colleges in the nation. Despite the fact Liberty receives about $445 million in yearly taxpayer subsidies, the school prohibits openly gay students and College Democrats. While the school has received much scorn for its teaching of youth earth creationism, it boasts a world class debating team coached by a former Bush adviser.

ThinkProgress judged the schools based on influence in the conservative movement and notable alumni. Close runners-up include Pat Robertson’s Regent University, an influential evangelical school, and Oral Roberts University, another religious institution with an alumni list that includes Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and evangelist Ted Haggard.