Massachusetts officials included Moms for Liberty, a conservative parental rights group, alongside Antifa in a police training manual, designating it a “hate group.” The classification, rooted in Southern Poverty Law Center findings, triggered sharp reactions from the group.
A statewide police training committee listed Moms for Liberty under the category “Hate Groups” in an in-service lesson titled Freedom and Hate: Speech, Crimes and Groups. Moms for Liberty was listed fourth after Antifa who took the third position on the list. The materials asserted that members use a parental rights agenda to attack public education and marginalize minority and LGBTQ+ students.
Tina Descovich, co‑founder of Moms for Liberty, spoke out during a Fox & Friends First interview. She called the designation deeply concerning for the safety of her members, emphasizing that the group comprises parents who volunteer to advocate for improved education environments.
“Moms for Liberty is here to show up at school board meetings, speak out against curriculum, failing schools, inappropriate books maybe in your public school library… Antifa is burning down whole cities and parts of cities and rioting in the streets. These two are not equivalent,” Descovich shared.
She went on to add, “We want parents to have the ability to opt out of sexualized books or curriculum, things that don’t align with their religious beliefs as the Supreme Court just affirmed in their most recent ruling in the Montgomery County, Maryland case.”
Descovich pointed to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as the source of the label. In its 2022 “Year in Hate & Extremism” report, the SPLC labeled Moms for Liberty and other conservative groups as “anti‑government extremist groups”—a classification later cited by the police training materials.
Additional coverage confirms the training described Moms for Liberty as an “anti‑government extremist” entity and associated the group with Antifa in the instruction slides. The common thread: the materials argued Moms for Liberty uses parents’ rights rhetoric to influence school policy in ways deemed harmful to inclusivity.
Moms for Liberty reportedly discovered its inclusion in the manual through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
Moms for Liberty has expanded rapidly since its 2021 founding, campaigning against critical race theory, LGBTQ curriculum, and mask mandates in schools. The SPLC’s designation has drawn sharp pushback from conservative leaders, who argue it politicizes law enforcement and civic institutions.