Tina Descovich, the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, is taking aim at a prominent civil rights nonprofit that labeled her organization an “extremist group.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Moms for Liberty as an “antigovernment organization,” that among other things, “advance[s] a conspiracy propaganda, and spread[s] hateful imagery and rhetoric against the LGBTQ community.”
The SPLC also notes the group has “ties with groups that SPLC has designated as hate or extremist,” including the Proud Boys, which have recently made local school boards the focus of its protests.
The group was originally founded in 2020 in opposition to COVID-19 mask mandates and vaccination policies, but has since evolved to oppose critical race theory, inclusion of LGBTQ+ topics in schools, and comprehensive sex ed.
In an interview with the right-wing network OAN Wednesday, Descovich said it is “100% our intent” to sue the SPLC.
“They put a target on our backs,” she said, referencing a gunman targeting the Family Research Council in 2012 due to it being listed as a hate group by the SPLC.
“We are working with one of the best law firms in the country now to figure out if we have standing to be able to go after and sue them, and that it 100% our intent,” Descovich added. “They cannot defame moms all across country and put a target on their back.”
The interview came the same day Descovich was appointed to a Florida ethics panel by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Although the group has come under fire from critics including the SPLC, DeSantis has embraced the organization as he targets “woke” policies in schools.
He spoke at the Moms for Liberty National Summit in Philadelphia this summer and has appointed other Moms for Liberty members in positions across the state, including to the state Board of Education.
And on Thursday, the political action committee supporting DeSantis’ 2024 presidential bid—Never Back Down—launched an “Iowa Parents Never Back Down” coalition composed of several conservative school board members and local leaders of Moms for Liberty.
Never Back Down said the group is “inspired by and will complement” groups like Mamas for DeSantis and Moms for Liberty.