Brownstone Worldwide Network: Moms for Liberty and Other Conservative Parent Groups Labeled Extremist by Southern Poverty Law Center

In its annual report released on Tuesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has designated Moms for Liberty, a Florida-based organization, and 11 other right-wing “parents’ rights” groups as extremist groups for the first time. The SPLC categorizes these grassroots conservative groups as “anti-government extremist groups” based on established criteria. According to Susan Corke, the Intelligence Project Director at SPLC, these groups represent a new front in the fight against inclusivity in schools while drawing on ideas rooted in long-standing white supremacy. The new designations are outlined in the SPLC’s 2022 Year in Hate and Extremism report.

With the addition of these 12 groups, the total number of active extremist groups featured in the 2022 report reaches 1,225 nationwide. Among them, the SPLC identifies 702 as anti-government groups and 523 as hate groups. These numbers remain relatively unchanged from 2021 when the SPLC documented 1,221 extremist groups. The SPLC is a widely recognized research organization focused on monitoring hate and extremism in the United States. Inclusion on their watchlist ensures significant notoriety. Over the years, the center has shed light on self-proclaimed militias, anti-immigrant groups, and explicit hate groups. It has also taken legal action against hate groups and individual extremists in civil courts, often with notable success.

Despite their national presence, these organizations propagate conspiracy theories and operate under the false belief that educators engage in “Marxist indoctrination” of children, promoting dangerous notions of equality and sexuality, as stated by the SPLC.

Although this movement may appear relatively new, it is rooted in the same traditional racist, misogynistic, and homophobic views that fueled protests against school desegregation in the 1950s and ’60s, argues the SPLC.

“Over the past two years, reactionary anti-student inclusion groups have been popping up from coast to coast, claiming to battle for parents’ rights. Just like their predecessors, their rhetoric takes on marked anti-LGBTQ, racist, and nationalist themes, excluding large segments of American society from their parental concern,” the report states. “While these groups publicize their fight for alleged parents’ rights, they are simply attempting to maintain absolute authority on issues they oppose.”

These groups have primarily focused on two areas. First, they have opposed curricula that address America’s history of racism and violence. More recently, they have targeted educational efforts that aim to teach children about LGBTQ issues. To attract attention and gain followers, organizations like Moms for Liberty promote the false claim that left-wing teachers and educators are part of a conspiracy to “sexualize” or even “groom” schoolchildren. This narrative has garnered significant traction, notes the SPLC.

According to the report, Moms for Liberty alone boasts of “flipping” 17 school boards across the country to gain parental-rights supportive majorities. Researchers found that soon after these elections, many of these boards initiated sweeping changes at school board meetings, such as the dismissal of superintendents and alterations to the curriculum. The SPLC’s standard criteria for identifying anti-government groups is detailed on its website.

An anti-government group is an organization or collective of individuals that, based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities, believes the federal government is tyrannical and engages in conspiracy theories about an illegitimate government of leftist elites seeking a “New World Order.”

Moms for Liberty now joins the ranks of groups like the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, and the United Constitutional Patriots, a self-proclaimed militia that “patrols”