PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and Florida Republican presidential contender Ron DeSantis are scheduled to speak Friday at the annual Mothers for Freedom conference, a two-year-old group strongly opposed. Guidance related to race and gender identity in the nation section.
The group, which has quickly become a force in conservative politics, supports “parents’ rights” in education, but labels anti-hate as “extremist” for harassing members of the community, promoting anti-LGBTQ+ misinformation and fighting to eradicate diversity and diversity. Comprehensive material from lesson plans.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and DeSantis’ wife, Casey DeSantis, are scheduled to address the group at the downtown Philadelphia hotel that will host the conference. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are scheduled to deliver remarks Saturday.
Their presence shows an impact on a team that wasn’t there two years ago. Since then, he has reached out to powerful GOP organizations, politicians and donors to become a major player in 2024.
The group has grown from three Florida moms defying the Covid mandate to 285 chapters in 45 states by 2021. Along the way, he found a close ally in DeSantis, who was presented with the “Sword of Freedom” at the group’s first annual meeting last year and signed several bills supporting Mothers for Freedom.
In addition to commentary from contestants and other speakers, the conference will feature strategy sessions on topics such as “Protecting Children from Gender Ideology” and “General Sex Education: Sex Education or Sexuality.”
Parent activists and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations said they planned to protest outside the conference, citing the Southern Poverty Law Center’s labeling of the group as “anti-government extremists.”
He cited other recent incidents, including the Indiana Mothers for Freedom chapter publishing an Adolf Hitler quote in the newspaper before apologizing and removing it, and complaining about the Tennessee chapter’s lectures on black civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Ruby Bridges.
Many historical associations, State senatorsActivists and staff at Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution have pleaded with the museum to cancel a welcome event for a conference scheduled for Thursday night.
“The story we’re presenting within the walls of the museum is a more diverse and authentic story,” said Trish Norman, the museum’s assistant curator, who opposed the event. And mothers are famous for their independence. To erase LGBTQ voices and black voices from history.
“Since fostering understanding in a democratic society is a core part of our mission, ideologically denying visitors is actually at odds with our mission,” the museum told the AP.
Several groups were planning to protest the rally in downtown Philadelphia on Friday. Among them is People for the American Way’s “Grandparents for Truth” campaign, which the organization says mobilizes grandparents and other supporters “fighting for the freedom of education for the next generation.”
One such grandmother, Maureen Carreno, said she was never taught a different story as a child and wanted something different for her five grandchildren.
“I hope we teach the generality of history. And yes, it might make you feel a little bad or sad or something, but that’s part of the story,” she says.
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice said the protesters “obviously don’t know much about our organization” and if they wanted to, “they could have come to the top instead of standing on the street.”
Although Mothers for Independence said they were not party to it, it received conservative support. The group also struggled to elect conservative candidates to the school board.
While the group’s status as a 501(c)4 charity means it does not have to disclose its funds, its public donors include conservative powerhouses such as the Heritage Foundation and the Leadership Institute, a national political training organization.
Patriot Mobile, which is paying to support Trump’s remarks at the convention, has a PAC that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting Texas schools.
Mom for Liberty’s Florida-based PAC also received a $50,000 donation from Julie Fancelli, a Republican donor who owns Publix grocery stores and helped fund Trump’s Jan. 6 “Stop Theft” rally, according to the House Jan. 6 Committee findings. Fanselli did not respond to a request for comment.
Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democratic presidential candidate, was scheduled to speak at the group’s meeting, but the campaign told us the schedule had changed, Justice said.
Kennedy’s press team said he was quitting for “family reasons.” Hours later, Kennedy said at a town hall with NewsNation that he “made a mistake accepting the invitation” and that once he learned about Mothers for Freedom’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues, he “refused to go.”
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