Carolyn Mickey, a school librarian at Alpine Crest Elementary School in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area, was shocked when a far-right group targeted her over a Mother's Day lesson that they claimed was "Leninist" indoctrination and an attack on Western civilization.
The lesson, designed to be inclusive to kids with nontraditional families, included two books: "Stella Brings the Family" about a girl with two dads, and "Mother Bruce," about a male bear who adopts a brood of goslings who call him their mother. Mickey even notified parents beforehand and allowed them to opt out, but that wasn't good enough for Moms for Liberty, who successfully pressured the school to cancel the lesson.
But according to footage obtained by the progressive group The Tennessee Holler, parents in the area were having none of it, and slammed the school board for caving to fringe anti-LGBTQ extremists.
"My kids' librarian has been vilified," said one woman. "I knew there would be pushback from a few loud bullies, but I'm enraged that the administration sided with them. A majority of families have been denied an important lesson in our increasingly diversified world, and a platform was given to a group of fearmongering extremists ... they're the only ones that brought sex into it."
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One man said of Moms for Liberty, "I've never seen them there shoveling mulch, putting up swingsets, hanging door frames. We're here in the trenches, we're with these children. I'm a Christian man married to a woman, but I think everybody should be represented fairly ... If you want to raise your kids in a closet and just shelter them from everybody, homeschool them, send them to Christian school. This is a public school for everybody."
"Instead of backing Mrs. Mickey up, you let the bullies win,” said another woman. "When you let the bullies win, they're going to keep bullying."
Moms for Liberty is an organization that has targeted any reference to LGBTQ representation or issues, no matter how small, in public schools around the country. They have also tried to censor other topics, attacking references to Martin Luther King in school lessons, claiming that references to the astronomer Galileo are anti-church, and even claiming a book on seahorses was too sexualized.
Despite this, some GOP politicians have associated with and boosted their cause, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — whose state has become a battleground over school library censorship — receiving a ceremonial sword at one of their gatherings.
Watch the video below or at this link.
\u201c\ud83d\udcda\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udde3\ufe0fWATCH: Instead of backing Mrs. Mickey, you let the bullies win.\u201d \n\nChattanooga-area Parents rip @hamcoschools & superintendent Justin Robertson for caving to Moms (Against) Liberty-led bullying and canceling a librarian\u2019s Mother\u2019s Day lesson inclusive to kids without moms.\u201d— The Tennessee Holler (@The Tennessee Holler) 1684108952
