Moms for Liberty Summit Injects Extremism Into the Mainstream
Extremist group Moms for Liberty (MFL) begins its 聽in Philadelphia on June 29, attracting notable hard-right and mainstream conservative speakers including Republican presidential candidates as local activists organize against the event.
MFL made its name in school board meetings, protesting COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates. Their efforts quickly evolved into combating inclusive education and LGBTQ+ acceptance in schools and communities by pushing the narrative that children are being indoctrinated and sexualized through a radical 鈥淢arxist鈥� agenda. Their tactics include advocating bans of books about people of color and the LGBTQ+ community, attacking the inclusion of hard histories in school curriculum, and targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community.
The summit鈥檚 strategy 聽feature topics including 鈥淐omprehensive Sex Education: Sex Ed or Sexualization鈥� and 鈥淧rotecting Kids from Gender Ideology.鈥� The summit will also feature training sessions on how to master and drive narratives in their communities.
The group has grown massively since its establishment in 2021. MFL claims to have 285 chapters in 45 states with membership over 100,000, placing it at the forefront of the anti-student inclusion movement. This still represents less than half a percent of U.S. parents. Public polling shows most Americans do not support banning inclusive education, including teaching racial history. The nonprofit organization, which claims it began by selling T-shirts out of a bedroom in one of the co-founder鈥檚 homes, 聽earnings of $370,029 in 2021.
MFL did not respond to Hatewatch鈥檚 request for comment. After the request, the group :聽鈥淭he 澳彩开奖 was wrong to think that their intimidation tactics would work to influence our amazing guests. For such a time as this.鈥�
While MFL claims the event , activists in Philadelphia have . ACT UP Philadelphia and Defense of Democracy (DOD) are among the groups expected to protest the event.
DOD, a group established in 2022 to fight attacks on public education by MFL and similar organizations, has campaigned against the summit. DOD rented a billboard truck about the event and promoted a nationwide petition against Marriott Hotel hosting MFL.
DOD regional director Lyndsie Wall told Hatewatch her group is proud of the awareness it has brought to the upcoming summit. Wall said this conference allows MFL to organize its followers and then send them back across the country to spread hate, 鈥渁nd there should be no place for that.鈥�
Candidates speak
Moms for Liberty has been strategic in leveraging its ties to politicians and big-name media personalities. They consistently spread hard-right, anti-LGBTQ+ and conspiracy theory rhetoric while claiming to be a non-partisan organization of concerned parents.
The national summit, themed 鈥淩ocking the Cradle of Liberty,鈥� 聽politicians, several state education officers who are responsible for influencing state legislation, and controversial figures who support the group鈥檚 agenda of combating student diversity and inclusive education.
Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are top-billed speakers. Trump and DeSantis, both frontrunners for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, are warriors in the so-called culture war on 鈥渨okeness,鈥� which refers to being conscious of social injustices but has been distorted by some to mean the suppression of white people.
Under Trump鈥檚 presidency, attacks on critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity and inclusion programs went mainstream. If re-elected, Trump 聽to pick where he left off by cutting funding to schools and programs deemed as embracing CRT or gender identity..
Trump鈥檚 campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
During his tenure as governor, DeSantis picked up the torch ignited by Trump, passing groundbreaking legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people and mandating what can be taught in schools. His Stop W.O.K.E. and 鈥溾�� laws have served as a blueprint for states across the country seeking to oppress, exclude and criminalize Black, Brown and LGBTQ+ people.
Ron DeSantis鈥� campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will also attend the summit. Haley has made anti-LGBTQ+ remarks. She 聽CNN in June that keeping biological boys out of girls鈥� sports is the 鈥渨omen鈥檚 issue of our time.鈥�
The Women鈥檚 Sports Foundation, a leading nonprofit focused on women's education and involvement in sports, . The organization 鈥渟upports the right of all athletes, including transgender athletes, to participate in athletic competition that is fair, equitable and respectful to all.鈥�
Upon MFL being designated an antigovernment group by the 澳彩开奖, Haley quickly came to the organization鈥檚 defense, 聽Fox News that 鈥渋f you鈥檙e going to call Moms for Liberty a 鈥榟ate group,鈥� then put me right there in them.鈥� Haley mischaracterized 澳彩开奖鈥檚 designation for MFL, which 澳彩开奖 listed as an antigovernment group.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has also vowed to take on so-called 鈥渨oke鈥� policies. His platform includes promising to 聽鈥渁ll peaceful Jan. 6 protesters鈥� and 聽affirmative action.
Like many of his colleagues, Ramaswamy attacks the transgender community. He 聽in June: 鈥淟et鈥檚 abandon the farce that the 鈥榟umane鈥� thing to do is to affirm [transgender people鈥檚] confusion, rather than to actually help. It鈥檚 inhumane.鈥� He was this first of the presidential candidates to 聽MFL鈥檚 Parent Pledge before hosting a New Hampshire town hall with the group. GLAAD 聽anti-LGBTQ+ comments made by Ramaswamy and other 2024 presidential primary contenders, and urges voters to ask about them.
Ramaswamy did not respond to a request for comment.
Other featured politicians include Congressman Byron Donalds, R-Fla. Donalds, who ran for Speaker of the House, 聽himself a 鈥淭rump supporting, gun owning, liberty loving, pro-life, politically incorrect Black man.鈥� In 2021, Donalds co-sponsored legislation to 聽critical race theory. He did not respond to Hatewatch鈥檚 request for comment.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is now running for governor, is also slated to attend. His 聽is education. In his memoir, he 聽for removing science and history from elementary schools. Robinson has 聽concern about public schools 鈥渋ndoctrinating children鈥� and 聽that education is a spiritual issue and not a political one. He called LGBTQ+ topics 鈥渇ilth鈥� at a North Carolina church and said there is no reason to 鈥渂e telling any child鈥� about them. The Human Rights Campaign 聽a statement calling on Robinson to resign over his anti-LGBTQ+ comments.
High-ranking education officials from Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina and Oklahoma are scheduled to appear. These states have passed legislation regulating how an individual鈥檚 sexual orientation and gender are discussed in schools and banning the teaching of anything considered to be critical race theory.
Extremist attendance
Such controversial figures as extremists James Lindsay and KrisAnne Hall and far-rightactivist Chris Elston will also speak alongside the political figures.
Lindsay has made a name for himself promoting false conspiracy theories聽about cultural Marxism infiltrating American schools and society. He was removed from Twitter for his attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, then later reinstated. Lindsay has also made racist, anti-LGBTQ remarks that compare drag queens to Minneapolis murder victim George Floyd. Lindsay claims drag queens aim to provoke violence against themselves, naming this 鈥淒rag Floyd.鈥� He further 聽that Pride Month is simply a ploy by the LGBTQ+ community to provoke Christian conservatives into attacking them.
Lindsay did not respond to a request for comment.
Hall, an activist and self-described 鈥渃onstitutional attorney,鈥� travels the country proselytizing her antigovernment views聽to militias, law enforcement, and church and neo-Confederate groups. Hall partners with members of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association to offer trainings. She also claims that America controls citizens under a 聽and that citizens do not need to comply with the federal government because the ultimate power rests with sheriffs. Hall will conduct a strategy session on the how the 鈥淎merican education system completely ignores the origin and value of the principles that created and maintain Liberty in America.鈥�
Hall did not respond to a request for comment.
Chris Elston attends protests in front of the U.S. Capitol and children鈥檚 hospitals with signs hanging from his body that bear messages against transgender children and gender-affirming care. He has 聽with extremist organizations and individuals like Lindsay, MFL and Awake Illinois. On the MFL podcast, he : 鈥淭here is no such thing as a transgender child. Far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., 聽Elston to publicize his message against transgender youth. Elston will moderate a session on the truths of 鈥済ender ideology鈥� and how to combat it.
Elston told Hatewatch that he was honored to be speaking at the summit with what he considers esteemed organizations and individuals.
Bridget and Christian Ziegler are also expected to attend. Bridget was an original MFL founder but left the group's leadership in late 2021. She remains closely involved with the organization. She won re-election to her Sarasota County School Board seat in August 2022. Florida Proud Boy James Hoel assisted her re-election by campaigning through his organization, Sarasota Watchdogs. Her husband, Christian, was elected vice chair of Florida鈥檚 Republican Party in 2019.
According to Christian Ziegler, the Republican Party struggled for years to get young women involved until MFL provided him with the missing demographic. 鈥淢FL has done it for me,鈥� he told The Washington Post. Just a few months after playing a pivotal role in the re-election of DeSantis, Christian was named chair of the Florida Republican Party.
For Wall, DOD鈥檚 regional director, the mixing of extremists and mainstream politicians signals extremism鈥檚 increasingly mainstream place in U.S. politics.
By appearing at an extremist group summit, these speakers and politicians are showing 鈥渨ho they are aligned with, and that they are, in fact, extreme,鈥� Wall concluded.
Photo illustration by 澳彩开奖 (L-R, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Tiffany Justice, Tina Descovich, Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy. Source photos from Alamy News and USA Today Network)
