Conservative group Moms for Liberty claims Joe Biden is trying to turn kids trans and gay
A prominent member of the conservative parent group Moms for Liberty has claimed that US president Joe Biden, teachers and unions, are working to turn people LGBTQ+.
Moms for Liberty is a right-wing organisation formed in January 2021, in Florida, originally in opposition to COVID-19 mask mandates, but has since expanded its remit to opposing children being taught about LGBTQ+ rights, race and discrimination.
The group’s website states its mission is to “organise, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government”.
The organisation has since spread across the US, claiming to have hundreds of chapters and tens of thousands of members.
The claim about Biden, teachers and others was made by the chairwoman of the El Paso County chapter, in Colorado, Darcy Schoening, during a CNN report.
Sitting down with correspondent Elle Reeve, Schoening claimed that teachers are encouraging children to talk to them behind their parents’ backs.
Reeve responded by saying “What I feel like you’re strongly implying, and I would like to get your take on, because I don’t want to attribute something that you don’t think, [is] there’s some kind of high-level co-ordinated effort to make more children trans and gay.“
Schoening replied: “There is” and alleged that it’s being co-ordinated by the president, teachers, unions and “a lot of funding sources”, although she didn’t specifically name anyone.
She claimed it was an attempt to break down the family unit, conservative values, change how people think, and “erode parental rights”.
Perhaps not surprisingly, there is no evidence to support any of her allegations.
As reported by CNN, the El Paso County chapter’s most recent action was to try get the Colorado Springs’ District 11 school board to prohibit teachers from asking students their pronouns. Schoening described it as “grooming”.
At the meeting Reeve attended for her report, she was handed a note that read: “We have the other side of this story. This is a hate group,” indicating that Moms for Liberty is being infiltrated by some parents who don’t hold the same beliefs.