The next threat to democracy in the US: Moms for Liberty?

It sounds like the plot of an over-the-top action movie or a political satire: mothers joining local school boards across the country are actually part of a radical network infiltrating government from the bottom up, determined to take power, punish their opponents and eventually rule with an iron fist. But this seemingly outlandish plot is actually a disturbingly accurate description of Moms for Liberty, a rapidly growing non-profit that has its members pressuring local school boards to ban LGBTQ and race-related materials, remove COVID-19 restrictions and adopt other conservative measures.

In a political climate marked by violent insurrection, unhinged conspiracy theories, voting restrictions, anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ censorship and denials of basic history and science, a group of mothers attending local school board meetings seems like the least threatening thing coming out of the current conservative movement. Yet the veneer of respectability and benevolence that comes with the image of “concerned mothers” is in fact a thin veil for a broader and more sinister movement. Moms for Liberty is an offshoot of the far-right movement that has come to dominate modern American conservatism, with its tactics representing a dangerous shift in strategy for this movement.

With a name that sounds righteous to the group’s supporters and Orwellian to its detractors, Moms for Liberty’s beginnings were fairly innocuous. The organisation was founded by Tina Descovich, Tiffany Justice and Bridget Ziegler – three women who had been members of local school boards in Florida. Initially, the group focused on opposing mask mandates in Florida public schools. But as membership grew in Florida and spread to other states, Moms for Liberty quickly grew into a federation of local chapters throughout the country fighting a wider array of culture wars-inspired issues. The group has pushed for bans on critical race theory – prohibitions that have been broadly interpreted to essentially ban discussions of racism – and LGBTQ-friendly content.