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The Moms for Liberty are at it again.
A Tennessee chapter of the far-right conservative group is raising a ruckus in Hamilton County, Tennessee over the local library's planned Mother's Day story time for kids.
Sounds harmless enough right? But school librarian Caroline Mickey announced her event would be “sensitive to the fact that not all students live with a mother"--and the Moms for Liberty weren't having any of that, especially since the books chosen for the story time included one about a little girl with two dads.
So, the Moms for Liberty did what they do best--promoting liberty by trying to ban books from being read to kids and calling a librarian a pedophile in the process.
\u201cWASH POST: @ThePlumLineGS spoke to the Chattanooga librarian \u201csavaged\u201d as a \u201cgroomer\u201d by Moms (Against) Liberty for a Mother\u2019s Day lesson sensitive to kids without moms we posted about. \n\n@hamcoschools Superintendent Justin Robertson caved immediately. \nhttps://t.co/nq3n02uHkD\u201d— The Tennessee Holler (@The Tennessee Holler) 1683649483
In a note sent home to parents of students at Alpine Crest Elementary School outside Chattanooga, Mickey describe the story time event and why it would be inclusive of stories about kids who don't live with a mother, or at least what we traditionally define as one.
In her note, she wrote:
"I'm planning a lesson that celebrates those who fill the motherly roles in our lives: those who make our lunches, kiss away our hurts, and who teach us how to fly."
This of course includes children whose mothers are simply dead. And accordingly, Mickey's book choices not only included the book about a little girl with two dads, Stella Brings The Family, but also one called Mother Bruce, about a bear who adopts a group of motherless goslings.
The fact that children are often motherless for myriad reasons beyond the fact that gay men exist seemed to escape Moms for Liberty's notice. Even after Mickey specifically stipulated that parents are free to opt their kids out of the lesson, the group went full-on combative, first taking to Facebook to register their outrage.
\u201cI won\u2019t spoil the details, which anyway @ThePlumLineGS does a great job presenting. But here\u2019s the Facebook post that started it all. Zoom in if you want, though the link is in Greg\u2019s piece. Yes, it is what it looks like.\u201d— Jeffrey Sachs (@Jeffrey Sachs) 1683644956
In its Facebook post on the matter, they demanded to know:
"Why do children with traditional family values have to opt out and be sent to an alternative place for alternative lesson? Aren’t these children too young for this?"
In a local newspaper, they were even more pointed and bigoted about it, writing:
“Men are not mothers. Men are fathers. Fathers are men. Mothers are women. If the primary caregiver is a man, he is a father.”
And in emails, they were even worse, accusing Mickey of being a "groomer" and "an enemy of traditional birth mothers," whatever that means. Mickey herself called the uproar "overwhelming."
In the end, Mickey's boss, Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Justin Robertson, capitulated to the group and canceled the event, despite its nationwide membership representing a vanishingly small minority of 95,000 parents in a country with a population of 331 million people.
On social media, people were appalled by Mothers for Liberty's response.
\u201c@PENamerica @ThePlumLineGS My Mom died when I was 12 years old, my Father raised me, so we celebrated him on both holidays \ud83d\ude21,these Gop women are vile hateful ,they shouldn't be around children or making policies.\u201d— PEN America (@PEN America) 1683653956
\u201c@JeffreyASachs Conservatives are like \u201cwokism is Puritanism\u201d and then clutch their pearls at the slightest deviation from hard-core traditional white Christian values.\u201d— Jeffrey Sachs (@Jeffrey Sachs) 1683644956
\u201c@JeffreyASachs So outrageous, disgraceful, and frightening. In my wildest dreams I never imagined an America where children\u2019s books would be banned. I haven\u2019t read it yet but I\u2019m assuming Mother Bruce was not the source material for Cocaine Bear.\u201d— Jeffrey Sachs (@Jeffrey Sachs) 1683644956
\u201c@JeffreyASachs @ThePlumLineGS Klanned Karenhood.\u201d— Jeffrey Sachs (@Jeffrey Sachs) 1683644956
\u201cMoms for Liberty is a threat to our freedom "to be you and me". https://t.co/t2xx9QJ9NX\u201d— ((MRW))\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8#\ud83d\udfe6 (@((MRW))\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8#\ud83d\udfe6) 1683654264
\u201cMoms for Liberty hating on kids without moms.\nA Tennessee teacher planned a Mother\u2019s Day class. Then came the MAGA rage. https://t.co/d9C1pDMbaJ\u201d— Richard Hellinga (@Richard Hellinga) 1683647860
\u201cThe hateful zealots of #MomsforLiberty are going after a teacher for reading a book that has meant so much to my family and many others. https://t.co/QT5fFbzCGQ\u201d— David Aron (@David Aron) 1683767122
\u201c@TheTNHoller @ThePlumLineGS @hamcoschools Moms for \u201cliberty.\u201d What an oxymoron. Freedom is the last thing they want while they use scare tactics, invectives, hatred, intolerance, \nlies and intimidation to further their agenda of LGBT hate. I hope people know they\u2019re not trying to protect children as they say.\u201d— The Tennessee Holler (@The Tennessee Holler) 1683649483
\u201cMoms for Liberty is a fascist group of unstable prudes and kooks. They use lies, slander and scorched Earth tactics to demonize LGBTQ people and anyone who doesn't go along with their censorship agenda. Remember, bullies must be fought head on.\n\nhttps://t.co/MB9cQOtiR2\u201d— \u262e \ud83c\udff3\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Teri Goodson \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83d\udfe7\ud83e\udd9c (@\u262e \ud83c\udff3\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Teri Goodson \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83d\udfe7\ud83e\udd9c) 1683660951
Hopefully the next school system Moms for Liberty attacks will have more courage to stand up to them than Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Justin Robertson.
Bullies only get stronger when you back down, as many of us learned in elementary school.