Who are the Moms for Liberty?
The political organization Moms for Liberty is a conservative group with a history of challenging books, particularly books with LGBTQ+ themes, but authors like Jodi Picoult are fighting back.
On August 16, 2025, the Ohio-based Cuyahoga County chapter of Moms for Liberty hosted a “See You at the Library” event at the Brecksville Library. “See You at the Library” was a national event sponsored by MFL, with story hours taking place across the country to celebrate “...faith, freedom, and the power of storytelling.” Apoorva Ramaswamy, the wife of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and conservative radio and podcast host Bob Frantz, were the guests of honor selected to read books to the children and adults in attendance.
The event was also attended by members of Brecksville Broadview Heights Pride, a nonprofit aimed at promoting awareness, acceptance, and inclusion for all LBGTQ+ individuals in Brecksville-Broadview Heights.
Hilary Jackson, chair of the Cuyahoga County Chapter of Moms for Liberty, claimed that BBH Pride protestors blocked library hallways, wore LGBTQ+ attire, and held signs with intimidating wording. She told the council, “They deliberately disrupted and created an atmosphere of intimidation. Families felt uncomfortable, children felt unsafe..."
Jackson stated that BBH Pride protestors could be seen reading banned books and pro-LGBTQ+ books for guests and children to see. One book that a member of Moms for Liberty pointed out was titled “Heather Has Two Mommies.”
“What should have been a joyful, family centered story hour, was disrupted by an organized protest led by BBH Pride,” Jackson, told the Brecksville Council on August 19.
Moms for Liberty has a history of clashing with the LGBTQ+ community. This antagonism was made even more clear while watching speakers from the Moms for Liberty hosted Joyful Warriors National Summit.
“There is always a cost to speaking truth,” said Tina Descovich, as she opened up day two of the 2025 Joyful Warriors National Summit.
Descovich is the CEO of Moms for Liberty. She co-founded the organization in 2021 with her colleague Tiffany Justice. Both women were former school board members and the Moms for Liberty website says that it was founded with intentions to “empower parents to advocate effectively for their children at school board meetings and across all levels of government.” The two women had believed that the rights of parents to raise their children was under threat and that school policies and curriculum were jeopardizing students’ education.
The Origins of Moms for Liberty
Tina Descovich speaks at the 2025 Joyful Warriors National Summit.
In recent years, many pushes to ban books have come from advocacy groups rather than individual parents. Moms for Liberty is one of those groups. On their website, Moms for Liberty has lists of books that they deem to contain concerning material. Other organizations such as Citizens Defending Freedom and Defending Education have similar goals as Moms for Liberty but are not as prominent.
Moms for Liberty hosted the Joyful Warrior National Summit to create an “ultimate gathering of parents fighting to defend parental rights and improve education in America. The three-day event heard from dozens of right-wing leaders in government and advocacy. One of the most common talking points was education and parental rights, the founding principle of Moms for Liberty.
The Battle for “Parental Rights”
At the summit Current Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier spoke on parental rights and the work that his administration has been doing to allegedly bolster parental rights in Florida. He opened his talk by encouraging parents to “Keep fighting and ensure this movement continues to be one based on faith, based on family. Ensuring that we have the freedom to raise our kids in God’s image.”
Uthmeier continued to boast how on his first day in office, his administration sued Target for rolling out a “transgender children’s clothing line” in 2023. He described the clothing line saying, “Bras for little boys, some tuckable underwear thing. Gross. Absolutely disgusting.”
The Target’s 2023 Pride merchandise did not feature "bras for little boys.” Target did sell “tuck friendly” swimwear, intended to allow trans women who had not undergone gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts, however the swimsuits were not sold in the children’s department. The only children’s clothes I could find were simple onesies, t-shirts and leggings, the only Pride embellishments being rainbow designs and uplifting mantras. Other items in the Target Pride collection included mugs that said, “gender fluid,” rainbow sandals and cups that said, “cheers queers.”
2023 Pride month merchandise at a Target store in Orange City, Florida.
C. A. Bridges / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Target faced intense backlash for this LGBTQ+ merchandise and ended up removing certain items after employees had been targeted by hostile customers.
Uthmeier stated, “They were trying to go after our kids and we’re gonna make them pay for it.”
Shortly after taking office, Uthmeier launched the Office of Parental Rights in Florida, the first of its kind in the nation. He described the role of the office as helping to ensure that parents have a role in the upbringing and education of their kids and “...that we get damaging, harmful, sexual pornography out of our second grade classrooms,” Uthmeier stated, “We’ve got great laws on the books.”
Attacking public education is a frequent ploy of Moms for Liberty. On their YouTube channel I found several instances of Moms for Liberty referring to public education as the “education cartel” and using terms like the “teachers union cartel.”
According to Merriam Webster, “cartel” can be defined as “a combination of independent commercial or industrial enterprises designed to limit competition or fix prices.”
Attacking the Left
Another featured speaker at the Joyful Warriors Summit was Benny Johnson, a right-wing political commentator and YouTuber.
Johnson started by amping up his crowd, calling out for grandmas, wannabe moms, tradwives, and MAHA moms in the audience. The call for MAHA moms got a particularly large response.
MAHA refers to the “Make American Healthy Again” movement, currently led by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. under the Trump administration.
Benny Johnson speaks at the 2025 Joy Warriors National Summit.
Johnson praised the MAHA moms and went on to question what the “lib” alternative of a MAHA mom would be. He pondered, “A seed oil Karen?”
“I’ll show you the alternative actually,” Johnson said. On the screen behind him he displayed a picture of the women from the popular long-running daytime talk show The View, and a picture of transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Dylan Mulvaney is a transgender social media influencer who is best known for documenting her gender transition in daily videos posted on TikTok.
“The View and Dylan Mulvaney, that’s what libs have. These are the women that libs are offering to the culture,” Johnson said.
Johnson went on to claim that the women in the pictures are miserable, and so the right had already won.
“We’re happy because we do the things that actually provide purpose and meaning in life, like being a mother. And that is something that is physically impossible here in this image,” Johnson said, referencing Mulvaney. “It’s also physically impossible because nobody wants to have kids with the women of The View.”
Johnson went on to discuss how Republicans are the party of God, and life, and children. “What makes you valuable if you don’t believe in God?” he asks.
"What makes you valuable if you don't believe in God?" he asks.
The Impact of Moms for Liberty
Moms for Liberty and their desire to “protect” kids have had a profound impact on book banning initiatives. I reached out to multiple chapters in attempts to speak to a Moms for Liberty member, but received no responses. However, I was able to reach award-winning author Jodi Picoult.
Picoult is best known for her bestselling fiction books such as “My Sister’s Keeper.” According to Pen America, Picoult’s book “Nineteen Minutes” was the most frequently banned book of the 2023-2024 school year. The book was banned 98 times across the United States.
“Nineteen Minutes” is about a school shooting that takes place in a small New Hampshire town. Although the book was published in 2007, the backlash against the book did not start exploding until 2023. I reached out to Picoult and asked what she thought was the impetus for this sudden attack on her book.
“We know exactly what it was,” Picoult says, “Moms for Liberty, which exploded with anti-mask sentiment during COVID, pivoted to book bans after some poorly worded parental rights laws were passed in conservative states.”
Picoult describes how Moms for Liberty began creating binders of books that they considered objectionable. She also recounted how Moms for Liberty members picked up over 500 seats on school and library boards across the country, strengthening their influence.
"Nineteen Minutes" was banned 98 times in the 2023-2024 school year.
“They began enacting their agenda to ‘protect children’ when in reality they are removing tools those children can use in an increasingly challenging world,” Picoult states.
Despite exploring themes of gun violence and death, the book is most frequently banned because of a single page that depicts date rape. Picoult describes how the writing is not salacious or provocative and uses anatomically correct words for the human body. She claims that other books of hers have also been banned citing “mature content,” some of which did not even involve a kiss.
“That label [mature content] becomes a catch-all for anything they disagree with, from LGBTQ rights to Black history, etc,” Picoult says.
Clash at the Libraries
A few weeks after Hilary Jackson spoke to the Brecksville Council, BBH Pride attended to make their own statement. During the Brecksville Council’s public comment period on September 2, Marissa Miragliotta, the community outreach chair for BBH Pride stated, “We are disappointed to hear that our city leadership blindly believed falsehoods and the untrue, villainizing narrative spread by Hilary Jackson and Moms for Liberty.”
BBH Pride claimed that members attended the library event in a “peaceful, sit-in protest.” According to Miragliotta, BBH Pride is registered as an advocacy group, not an activist group, meaning that supporters and members are able to exercise their right to protest without being explicitly tied to the organization.
Jennifer Speer, president and founder of BBH Pride, had a statement read on her behalf during the public comment period. She maintained that protestors were never asked by library staff or members of Moms for Liberty to leave the area where the event took place.
“The day came and went with zero conflict,” Speer said in her statement. “Still, not one council member or the mayor reached out to anybody on our board for clarification or to hear our perspective and we are profoundly disappointed.”
"The Librarians," produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, premiered on PBS.
Moms for Liberty continues to mount campaigns in libraries and public education. The organization recently hosted a debate for Republican Iowa governor hopefuls in which the candidates gave their plans to transform education at all levels. Candidates agreed that leftist indoctrination begins with teacher education and that parents need more control over their children’s education.
The Moms for Liberty are not going unopposed. “The Librarians” a documentary produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, premiered on PBS this February. The film examines the coordinated efforts of groups like Moms for Liberty to ban books at public schools and libraries nationwide. It showcases the abuse that librarians have faced for defending the right to access books with anti-racist or LGBTQ themes.
While talking to Picoult, I asked if facing intense backlash had influenced the way she went about writing new stories. She was firm in response, “Absolutely not. If you censor yourself, they win.”