SPLC Launches Attack On Moms For Liberty 

The far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently labeled Moms for Liberty, an organization advocating parental rights in education, an “anti-government extremist group.” 

Moms for Liberty, a group founded by Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, is devoted to empowering parents to be part of their children’s public education. They contend, “Parental rights do not stop at the classroom door,” a sentiment virtually all ordinary Americans share. Their mission, rooted in the aftermath of pandemic-induced school lockdowns, has rapidly expanded across 45 states, resonating with parents who seek a voice in their child’s education.

However, the SPLC alleges that Moms for Liberty fuels “right-wing hysteria” and contributes to a less safe environment for certain students, primarily those who are Black, LGBT, or come from LGBT families. This claim, coupled with the SPLC’s labeling of numerous other parental rights organizations as “hate groups” or “antigovernment groups,” contributes to a narrative that associates parental involvement in education with extremism.

Yet the SPLC’s accusations appear to overlook critical context. In the recent past, American education has been a battleground for divisive curricula and controversial public safety measures. Amid these struggles, parental rights organizations have emerged as defenders of traditional educational values and students’ welfare. Moreover, the accusations ignore the legitimate concerns that parents might have about the content of their children’s education.

Historically, the mandate of the SPLC was to identify groups that foster hate and intolerance. However, its recent focus on parental rights organizations, in the context of its historical bias against conservative Christian groups and immigration policy critics, raises questions about its criteria and methods for identifying such groups.

Further, by labeling organizations like Moms for Liberty as “extremist,” the SPLC risks undermining its credibility and diluting the significance of its designations. An organization’s disagreement with certain education policies or its promotion of parental rights hardly seems to qualify it as a hate group or anti-government entity. Instead, it suggests a group passionate about a particular issue – in this case, the role of parents in their child’s education.

Adding to the intrigue, Moms for Liberty’s upcoming summit will feature several influential conservative figures, including President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. This event highlights the solid conservative ties the group has fostered and its growing prominence within conservative circles.

While the SPLC has the right to express its opinions and categorize groups as it sees fit, we must question whether the broad strokes it uses to label groups as “hate groups” or “anti-government extremist groups” ultimately serve to foster constructive dialogue or simply entrench division. As it stands, Moms for Liberty and similar organizations merely reflect the growing concern among parents about the state of American education and their rightful place within it. Labeling such engagement as “extremism” does little to advance the cause of better education for all American children.