Far-right 'Moms for Liberty' listed as a hate group for first time

Moms for Liberty, the far-right parental group known for protesting at school board meetings, has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "hate group" for the first time ever.

Moms for Liberty, which recently said it knows liberal groups are spying on its activities because it's doing the same thing to them, is among 12 parental groups added to the SPLC's list of hate groups, according to USA Today.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center is for the first time labeling Florida-headquartered Moms for Liberty and 11 other right-wing 'parents' rights' groups as extremist groups in its annual report, released today," USA Today wrote.

"Moms for Liberty and the other organizations are being designated as 'anti-government extremist groups,' based on longstanding criteria, explained SPLC Intelligence Project Director Susan Corke. Corke said the grassroots conservative groups are part of a new front in the battle against inclusivity in schools, though they are drawing from ideas rooted in age-old white supremacy."

According to the report, Corke noted: “[The movement] is primarily aimed at not wanting to include our hard history, topics of racism, and a very strong push against teaching anything having to do with LGBTQ topics in schools. We saw this as a very deliberate strategy to go to the local level.”

The 12 new groups reportedly bring the total number of active extremist groups included in the 2022 report to 1,225 in the U.S.

The move has been protested by some on the right, including the conservative The Daily Signal.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center, which brands mainstream conservative and Christian organizations as 'hate groups,' placing them on a map with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, added a slew of parental rights organizations to that 'hate map' for 2022 and labeled them 'antigovernment groups,'" it reported.