Moms for Liberty is a conservative political organization that advocates against school curricula that mentions topics such as critical race theory, LGBTQ+ rights, and the mere mention of discrimination. They announced they would be holding a town hall meeting later this month on the Upper East Side, but Manhattan’s borough president Mark Levine made it clear that there is no place for Moms for Liberty in Manhattan.
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,” according to its website. Many opponents of M4L see this mission statement as a weak paraphrase of ” dedicated to eradicating certain topics from school curriculums and books under the guise of ‘family values’ and ‘parental rights.'”
Either way, that just won’t fly in New York. After Moms for Liberty’s town hall announcement, Levine released a statement that pointed out that Manhattan is home to The Stonewall Inn, the gay bar where Pride began. Needless to say, we are not the place for a group that has been labeled as a far right extremist organization (which apparently, M4L has been!).
His statement read: “Moms for Liberty has announced they will be holding a town hall at a venue on the Upper East Side on Jan 18. This group is anti-LGBTQ+, supports book bans, harasses teachers & school librarians, and has been labeled by the @SPLCCenter a “far-right extremist organization.” Manhattan is the home of Stonewall. We celebrate cultural diversity in our classrooms. We believe in books. M4L has no place here or any other part of NYC.”
Statement: pic.twitter.com/ofoSoIXtdo
— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) January 3, 2024
Co-founder of Moms for Liberty Tiffany Justice replied, “Hi @MarkLevineNYC, would you like to join us?” She later told The Daily Signal that she is still planning to hold the town hall despite Levine’s statement.
