➤ For readers who may have missed the story, can you explain the story briefly?
Claire: Moms for Liberty is a national nonprofit that has been a force of chaos at school board meetings and become notorious for its efforts to ban materials and curriculum that are LGBTQ affirming or about struggle for racial equality. There has been much reporting about these efforts, and its ties to far-right groups.
For this story, we investigated the personal impact Moms for Liberty is having on their own children who are LGBTQ. Multiple sources in the LGBTQ community told us that their Moms for Liberty parent rejects them over their sexuality or gender expression.
➤ Tell us a little bit about the reporting process. How did the story come about?
Claire: LGBTQ advocates and experts were more than happy to share their expertise and their views of Moms for Liberty, which were overwhelming negative. Finding children with a parent in the group proved much more difficult, in part because it's only been around for
two years and also because we wanted to make sure they were mature and we weren't putting them at risk of parental rejection or worse, both of which are all too common for LGBTQ children.
➤ What are some of your biggest takeaways from this?
Claire: Moms for Liberty likes to say that it's protecting children from sexualization and indoctrination by the so-called woke mob. The latter is basically window dressing for its goal of turning kids into conservatives.
The former is a big part of why it has gone from a startup to an organization with a presence in nearly all the states and over 120,000 members. Who doesn't want to protect children, right? But this too masks its true intent. Moms for Liberty is basically trying to force kids to grow up straight and cisgender by repressing LGBTQ content.
This is not only ineffective, it's harmful. LGBTQ children fare much better when they have access to accurate and inclusive information from a young age.
➤ Anything else you want to share with web_crawlr readers?
Claire: Many people hear about them for the first time when they bump into its content on Facebook or catch a news story about a raucous school board meeting or a candidate for school board who is affiliated with Moms for Liberty. It's imperative that people inform themselves about what Moms for Liberty is really about and what it's doing in
their communities. Because the newest battle in the culture war is over
American education.
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