Moms For Liberty Now Has 310 Chapters in 48 States; What Will They Do Now?
The organization is still considered an 鈥榚xtremist鈥 group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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Since their creation three years ago, the conservative parental rights organization Moms for Liberty has emerged as a major player in national education politics in the U.S., and certainly in Florida, where the group began in 2021.
鈥淲e started with two chapters, Brevard and Indian River. And in three years, we are now at 310 chapters in 48 states with 130,000 members and I think that鈥檚 remarkable. It鈥檚 because of the work that you started here in Florida,鈥 Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich said on Friday while speaking in front of a crowd in Florida鈥檚 Capitol courtyard in Tallahassee.
Moms for Liberty emerged in the wake of schools shutting down during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, with parents feeling in some cases that local school boards weren鈥檛 listening to their concerns over remote learning and mask mandates.
And they had a receptive audience in Tallahassee under Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP-controlled Legislature, resulting in legislation such as the (the 鈥淒on鈥檛 say gay鈥 bill) and in the 2022 legislative session.
The group is still considered controversial: It鈥檚 been labeled as an and a 鈥渇ar-right鈥 organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
SPLC writes: 鈥淢oms for Liberty and its nationwide chapters combat what they consider the 鈥榳oke indoctrination鈥 of children by advocating for book bans in school libraries and endorsing candidates for public office that align with the group鈥檚 views. They also use their multiple social media platforms to target teachers and school officials, advocate for the abolition of the Department of Education, advance a conspiracy propaganda, and spread hateful imagery and rhetoric against the LGBTQ community.鈥
Co-founder Tiffany Justice rejected that assertion, that 鈥渨e are a group of moms and dads and grandparents and aunts and uncles, community members that are very concerned about the direction of the country,鈥 according to Fox News Tonight, in June 2023.
Justice, Descovich and Sarasota鈥檚 Bridget Ziegler were the three original co-founders of Moms for Liberty, though Ziegler, a Sarasota School Board member, left the organization shortly after its creation. Ziegler has been in the spotlight recently after it was reported that she and her husband had a consensual with another woman, among other concerns.
Descovich said that while Moms for Liberty originally focused on turning around members of school boards, the group learned quickly that they needed to invest energy in state legislatures to change laws, she said on Friday in Tallahassee.
鈥淔lorida started forming organically a legislative committee, and that was the model that is now being used in 18 states of Moms for Liberty with legislative committees,鈥 she said.
Meanwhile, Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins says that the culture wars of the past few years, pushed by DeSantis, appear to be losing some of its steam.
But she also says that Moms for Liberty鈥檚 impact isn鈥檛 going away in Florida.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 scary though is that the reason (Moms for Liberty) rose and were viable in Florida still exists,鈥 Jenkins says. 鈥淭hat infrastructure didn鈥檛 fall apart, right? I think that they鈥檙e going to continue to thrive here and create this fa莽ade that they鈥檙e the driving force and the moving force. I don鈥檛 know if that will die down. Perhaps someone will try to conquer that.鈥
Organizers at Friday鈥檚 event didn鈥檛 speak much about the future, but they are expected to again get involved in local elections later this year.
The Florida chapter that they say, 鈥渟tand with parents.鈥 The list includes both of Florida鈥檚 two U.S. GOP senators, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio.
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