Moms for Liberty responds to report that the group is responsible for book bans
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Moms for Liberty Co-Founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich released a statement Thursday after PEN America’s report said the group “influenced a book ban.”
PEN America is a nonprofit organization that works to “ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to convey information and ideas, to express their views, and to access the views, ideas, and literatures of others.”
The report claims of the 1,477 reported book ban cases this school year, 74% are connected to “organized efforts,” mainly of advocacy groups, elected officials or enacted legislation.
The report said that of these, 20% are connected to organized advocacy groups – meaning actions by them “influenced a book ban.”
The report said the “most influential of these groups, Moms for Liberty,” is connected to 58% of all “advocacy-led book bans” around the country.
“Sexualizing young children is wrong. No amount of so-called ‘reports’ from PEN America will make child pornography acceptable to the majority of parents in America,” Moms for Liberty Co-Founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich said in a statement.
“That is why parents in our organization and even those parents outside of Moms for Liberty continue to fight to protect children from pornography in school. PEN America can defend giving children pornography all they want. We are against it,” the statement continued.
According to their website, Moms for Liberty is dedicated to “fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”
The group said there are parents fighting across the country because “even while a solid one-third of 4th and 8th grade students in America cannot read on grade level, there are more books found each year explaining sexual positions and sexual acts using sexually explicit words and photos.”
Moms for Liberty said PEN America is releasing “so-called ‘reports’ calling books ‘banned’ when they know full-well that schools are allowed to curate instructional materials to be age-appropriate.”
“If the amount of pornographic books found in schools was not such a serious issue with dangerous consequences for children, we would say PEN America is simply a joke. But, this is not a laughing matter,” the statement continued.
Moms for Liberty is actively working to take the Parents’ Bill of Rights legislation from Florida’s 2021 legislation session into every state in the country. Currently, there are 13 states that have a version of this legislation up for consideration in 2023.
The group has created a massive grassroots network of parents across the country with 275 chapters across 45 states and more than 115,000 members.
The group gathered at the capitol on Tuesday for their “2nd Annual Legislative Days,” where members watched debate on the house floor and met with their representatives to discuss the group’s 2023 legislative agenda.
Their 2023 legislative agenda includes supporting a bill to expand the Parental Rights in Education Act, which prohibits school teachers from teaching sexual orientation or gender identity from grades PreK-8.
On Tuesday, the Descovich told Florida’s Voice that a mob of people cornered some of the their members in the Capitol.
Descovich said Moms for Liberty members went to watch House lawmakers debate gender-related bills when protesters “closed in around them” and “backed them up to the door.”
House lawmakers debated bills Tuesday that would ban sex reassignment surgeries and treatments for minors, prohibit minors from attending “adult live performances,” and require businesses provide separate bathrooms for males and females.
