“Being labeled a hate group … I mean, it’s just shocking,” Tiffany Justice told The Post.
On Tuesday, she learned that the Southern Poverty Law Center had added Moms for Liberty, the parental rights activist group she co-founded, to their list of “hate and antigovernment extremist groups.”
“I completely reject that label. It’s ridiculous,” the 44-year-old Florida mom-of-four said. “I think the Southern Poverty Law Center has become a complete joke.
“You have to stop and think to yourself, what is the threat here? Why are parents asking questions and advocating for their fundamental parental rights such a threat?”
Justice co-founded Moms for Liberty with fellow Florida mom Tina Descovich in January of 2021.
Both had served as local school board members and were fed up with what they saw as encroachments of parental rights — from, Justice explained, excessive Covid closures to a lack of transparency about curriculum.
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice said the Southern Poverty Law Center has become “a complete joke.” LEAH VOSS/TCPALM / USA TODAY NETWORK“We both came to understand that government schools think they know better than you what’s good for your child. And that’s not America,” said Justice, whose kids are 18, 15, 13 and 11 years old.
And so the pair opened two chapters of the Moms for Liberty Organization, adopting the mission of “unifying, educating, and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”
Within a matter of weeks, Justice said, the movement began to spread “like wildfire. We very quickly saw that this wasn’t ours to keep to ourselves. This was something that many American parents wanted to be a part of.”
Florida-based Moms for Liberty has worked with Governor Ron DeSantis to promote parental rights in education. Getty ImagesToday, the group has 285 chapters in 44 states and more than 120,000 members.
Moms for Liberty vets and endorses school board candidates, facilitates curriculum adoption committees and hosts rallies for concerned parents.
“Our members love their kids, love their family, love their country, and are concerned about the future that their children will inherit,” Justice told The Post.
She says a particular Thomas Paine quote gets to the essence of their mission: “I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.”
More than 100,000 American mothers have reportedly joined Moms for Liberty. AFP via Getty ImagesAnd while Justice said the members of her organization are “just moms first and foremost,” the Southern Poverty Law Center has characterized them as extremists.
“Moms for Liberty is a far-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities and self-identifies as part of the modern parental rights movement,” the group declared. “They can be spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, ‘We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT.’”
The organization is now listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s map of hate organizations on its website.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate map now lists Moms for Liberty along with more than 1,000 other “hate and anti-government groups.” SPLCBut Justice said the designation isn’t all that surprising.
Since founding Moms for Liberty, she claimed, she has received death threats, had fake feces sent to her house and regularly gets messages like “we hope your children die from anal cancer” and “we’ve cut your brakes, enjoy the ride.”
But none of this has deterred her, nor her thousands of chapter members.
In fact, Justice said, many have reached out this week to tell her that the “ridiculous” label from the Southern Poverty Law Center has invigorated them to keep their fight up.
“They’re trying to discredit us. They’re trying to tarnish our reputation. But our moms and dads aren’t going to stop,” Justice said. “They’re gonna wear it like a badge of honor. They will not be deterred.”






