Moms for Liberty is currently holding its annual summit. Maurice Cunningham wants us to remember their track record.
Moms for Liberty regularly defames the LGBTQ+ community but its own record runs from the comic to the criminal. Let’s take a look:
- Moms for Liberty’s South Carolina 2023 legislator of the year R.J. May, who accused drag queens and transgender individuals of harming children, pled guilty to distributing child sexual abuse material.
- Philip Fisher, Moms for Liberty’s faith coordinator in Philadelphia, was discovered to be a registered sex offender.
- Former Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, a speaker at the 2023 Moms for Liberty national summit who has accused schools of “pushing pornography,” reportedly was caught watching pornography during a meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education.
- Corey DeAngelis, a speaker at the Orlando summit, lost his position as “school choice evangelist” for Betsy DeVos’ American Federation of Children after news broke of his past as a star of gay porn films.
- Yearly summit speaker James Lindsay has taken credit for inventing the practice of calling LGBTQ+ people “groomers.” Lindsay once had his picture taken with Nicki Clyne, a member of the NXIVM sex cult, both posing with legs widespread. Clyne tweeted out the photo with her comment “I taught him everything he knows.”
- Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler faced an avalanche of news about a criminal investigation into accusations that her husband Christian Ziegler, then chair of the Florida Republican Party, had sexually assaulted a woman. The investigation revealed that Bridget and Christian had been enjoying threesomes with the woman. Bridget reportedly coached Christian as he was “on the prowl” in bars for potential threesome partners.
The story of Moms for Liberty being “grassroots” has been hogwash from the start. Justice has thanked the right-wing Heritage Foundation for being “amazing partners since we started Moms for Liberty.” She now works at Heritage.
After Ziegler left Moms for Liberty she migrated to the far-right training group, the Leadership Institute. The Institute’s president Morton Blackwell told the 2023 summit that his operation “has partnered with Moms for Liberty since the early days.” Bridget was apparently pushed out of the Leadership Institute when the threesome scandal broke.
When third co-founder Tina Descovich and Justice appeared on 60 Minutes, host Scott Pelley asked them what they meant by calling people “groomers.” They appeared shocked at the question; neither could explain the term. Shortly thereafter Justice resumed her slander by calling a Free Mom Hugs volunteer a “Groomer.”