Moms for Liberty has allied with Republicans across the U.S. to change what public school libraries are allowed to offer.
A conservative group behind the recent push to ban books on LGBTQ+ topics from public libraries has recently entered the next phase of their mission: pushing public school libraries across the country to accept book donations from conservative publishing companies that promote white supremacist, homophobic, and transphobic ideologies.
Moms for Liberty, a group known for intimidating school officials and engaging in aggressive behavior at school board meetings, recently began its “Moms for Libraries campaign, which promises to stock school libraries with conservative and anti-LGBT books. The campaign has received support from anti-LGBTQ+ publishers like BRAVE Books, which has been widely criticized for its anti-transgender picture book Elephants Are Not Birds. Ben Carson’s American Cornerstone Institute has also pledged to donate 500 copies of his Christian children’s book Why America Matters to the group.
“I just think it’s ironic that they’re now trying to get propaganda into our school libraries by way of donating them and circumventing the processes in place that are meant to protect our children from propaganda,” Katie Paris, founder of Red, Wine & Blue, a nonprofit made up of suburban women advocating for progressive political causes told Motherboard.
Moms For Liberty has been accused of contributing to the harassment of school officials in some states. In Florida, a Brevard Public School District school board member claims to have received threats and accusations of child abuse last year over a vote to maintain the mask mandate. Jenkins partially blamed the harassment on Moms For Liberty and its co-founder Descovich, whom she ousted from her position on the school board.
Some Republican politicians have taken notice and have aligned themselves with the Moms For Liberty. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Ester Byrd, a prominent Moms for Liberty member, to Florida’s Board of Education. The group has also effectively advocated for several pieces of legislation that were signed into law this year, including Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.