Moms for Liberty in Tennessee: Here's the controversy surrounding the conservative group
At the 74th Annual National Book Awards Wednesday, television personality LeVar Burton took the stage and made a jab at the right-wing group Moms for Liberty during his opening speech.
The alt-right organization has been leading the charge when it comes to book bans across the country and Burton, who hosted the beloved show almost every millennial knows, "Reading Rainbow", was happy to see no one from the organization was at the award show this week.
“Before we get going, are there any Moms for Liberty in the house?” in multiple videos circulating from the event Burton asked, as the audience laughed. “Moms for Liberty? No? Good. Then hands will not need to be thrown tonight.”
Since then, Burton has received backlash from right-leaning organizations and Moms for Liberty stating that he was calling for "violence against women".
Moms for Liberty, an organization founded in 2021, says on its website that it's dedicated to “unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”
Here's a look at the organization and its Tennessee branches.
Moms for Liberty: Parent's rights organization or extremist group?
Debates have raged over how much oversight parents should have in their child's education, from what books they read to instruction on gender identity, critical race theory and more.
Mom's for Liberty has been in the eye of the storm.
A group that was born out of COVID-19 public health regulations, Moms for Liberty started just a short three years ago but has already amassed 130,000 members and 300 chapters across 48 states, including seven chapters in Tennessee.
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"Moms for Liberty is dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government," according to the organization's website.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has named them an extremist group.
Southern Poverty Law Center listed the organization as an extremist group over accusations of harassing community members, advancing misinformation about LGBTQ+ people and fighting to remove materials about diversity from classrooms.
The leadership of Moms for Liberty denies such accusations.
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Moms for Liberty Tennessee
Seven counties in Tennessee have active chapters of the conservative organization and several have made their own headlines.
Moms for Liberty's Wilson County chapter filed a federal lawsuit against the Wilson County Board of Education. They accused the board of violating the group’s First Amendment right to speak in a public meeting.
The suit, filed on behalf of chapter Secretary Robin Lemons and Chapter Chair Amanda Dunagan-Price, centers on an Oct. 3, 2022 meeting where Lemons alleges she was prevented from speaking based on a procedural rule requiring speakers to provide their address.
Plaintiffs in the suit are asking that the Wilson County Board of Education to stop requiring speakers to publicly list their address, and instead verify it another way. Along with that, the suit includes the immediate discontinuation of the use of the “abusive comments” rule and the “public interest” rule.
Which counties in Tennessee have a Moms for Liberty chapter?
Tennesse is home to seven of the 300 chapters of the conservative group.
Here's where they are:
Knox County
Shelby County
Wilson County
Davidson County
Hamilton County
Sumner County
Williamson County
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Moms for Liberty in Tennessee: What to know
