According to the Southern Poverty Law Centre research, “schools have been on the receiving end of ramped-up and coordinated hard-right attacks, often under the guise of ‘parents’ rights’ groups.”
The SPLC, which routinely lumps mainstream conservatives on its “hate map” with hate organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, has designated Moms for Liberty and other parental rights groups as “antigovernment extremist groups.”
According to the SPLC’s 2022 Year in Hate and Extremism report, the organization has added Moms for Liberty, located in Florida, and ten other parental rights groups, including three based in Virginia, to its hate map.
The SPLC now counts 1,225 hate and antigovernment extremist groups, including these 12 parental rights groups.
Five hundred twenty-three were classified as “hate groups,” while the parental rights organizations were included in the larger category of “antigovernment extremist groups,” numbered 702.
The SPLC claims that right-wing opposition to COVID-19’s school safety measures inspired these organizations, the study says. However, they have now become a movement that seeks to undermine any inclusive curriculum that addresses issues of discrimination of race and LGBTQ identities.
The SPLC has announced that Moms for Liberty are at the “forefront of this mobilization,” stating that they can be spotted at school board meetings nationwide.
The website for Moms for Liberty states that the group was established in 2021 to preserve America by educating and unifying parents and empowering them to stand up for their parental rights.
With former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis scheduled to appear at the organization’s annual conference in Philadelphia at the end of this month, it is clear that the group has garnered the attention of national Republicans in its brief existence.
Last year, the SPLC’s Learning for Justice initiative recommended a sex education book for primary school pupils with graphic sexual content.
Moms for Liberty is one of the leading groups against promoting an LGBTQQIAAP2S+ agenda in primary schools.
