Middle-Schoolers Tell Moms for Liberty to Stop Bullying LGBTQ+ Youth

Students in the Seattle Public Schools have clapped back at Moms for Liberty, sending the far-right group handmade cards bearing pro-LGBTQ+ messages.

Moms for Liberty, which campaigns against LGBTQ+ content in schools, supposedly in the name of parental rights, shared several images of the cards Saturday on its X (formerly Twitter) feed. One reads, “LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.” Another says, “Gay is slay, stop being a rat.” Another says, “My heart when people are homophobic,” with an image of a broken heart in rainbow colors. Most of the cards use the colors of the rainbow.

Moms for Liberty did not approve, to say the least. In the tweet showing the cards, the group wrote, “Seattle Public Schools are spending class time indoctrinating and weaponizing your children. The building of the Red Guard in America.”

A Seattle Public Schools spokesperson said that creating and sending the cards was “an independent activity and not part of the school curriculum.” The cards were sent last spring.

The spokesperson’s comment went to Crisis in the Classroom, a project of the right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair “owns, operates and/or provides services to 185 television stations in 86 markets” across the country, according to its website. Seventy-three stations carry the Crisis in the Classroom reports, and most of the coverage of the Seattle cards has been through Crisis in the Classroom, so it’s been largely negative.

The cards came with a letter from Seattle teacher Ann Christianson, saying they were from “concerned middle school students.” Crisis in the Classroom tried to reach Christianson but received an automated response that she is on leave.

Moms for Liberty cofounder Tiffany Justice responded to the assertion that the cards are a protest against hatred of LGBTQ+ people by writing on X, “Love who you want. Moms for a Liberty has gay members. We have members with gay kids. This isn’t about sexual orientation. This is about the sexualization of children. It’s completely unnecessary and actually quite harmful.”

However, Moms for Liberty appears to consider any mention of LGBTQ+ identity to be “sexualization.”

“The group grew out of opposition to public health regulations for COVID-19, opposes LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive school curriculum, and has advocated books bans,” notes the Southern Poverty Law Center, a progressive watchdog organization that monitors extremist groups.

Comments on Moms for Liberty’s X post are no longer visible, but U.K. LGBTQ+ site Pink News was able to view some earlier. Some commenters were just as upset as Moms for Liberty about the cards, but an equal number praised the students’ efforts.

“Never too young to learn how [to] be activists standing up for your beliefs and the human rights of fellow classmates. I love it!” one supportive commenter wrote. Another pointed out that the cards were created by an extracurricular club and didn’t use class time.

Moms for Liberty has had some setbacks recently. Its candidates lost some school board elections, it’s had to remove some leaders who had connections to the white supremacist group Proud Boys, and an official with its Philadelphia chapter was revealed to be a registered sex offender.