When confronted with basic questions on “60 Minutes,” the group appeared ill-prepared and stumped and alleged their critics were trying to “marginalize us.”
Since its founding in 2021, the conservative organization Moms for Liberty has billed itself as a champion for “parents’ rights,” pushing campaigns across the country to ban books and the use of pronouns in schools. Their crusade, as my colleague Kiera Butler has reported, often alleges that educators, specifically in public education, are out to “groom” and “indoctrinate” kids.
But what, exactly, does that mean? It doesn’t appear as though Moms for Liberty knows either.
In an interview with 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley that aired on Sunday night, the group’s two co-founders repeatedly struggled to explain their platform beyond empty talking points that have fueled the culture war in schools. They also failed to present facts to back up various claims.
As best I’ve been able to suss out, living as I do in a very red state, “grooming” has simply been expanded out to encompass any activity that makes a kid feel like they don’t have to be a cis-het Christian to be a good person.
“Woke” is 100% just shorthand for “anything I don’t like or don’t understand”. The people are angry because society is progressing past their antiquated beliefs and fears. It’s not even that they want to maintain the world they were born in - they want to “return” to a mythologically perfect past that never existed.