Philly plans for protesters as Moms for Liberty's 4-day summit begins in Center City

As "Moms for Liberty" begins for its four-day summit at the Marriott in Center City Philadelphia, protesters are calling out the group for its ideologies they claim discriminates against certain groups.

From June 29 through July 2, Moms for Liberty will host its annual summit at the Marriott at 12th and Market Street and it began with an event at the Museum of the American Revolution on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Police officers set up metal barriers in expectation of protesters at the museum. As attendees entered the event, protesters chanted "shame."

Moms for Liberty is a group that was founded in 2021 in Florida by two mothers, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, that aims to “stand up for parental rights at all levels of the government,” according to their website.

Jazmyn Henderson is with Act Up and is among those pushing back against the Moms for Liberty group's plan.

"They claim they want to protect children. But whose children?” Henderson said.

Others say the group is behind a movement that's responsible for removing books from school libraries that target certain groups.

Moms for Liberty has been deemed an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, who has a page dedicated to highlighting the ways that Moms for Liberty advances an anti-student inclusion agenda.

As of June 6, the nonprofit was added to a list with about a dozen other groups that SLPC has deemed as anti-government extremist groups.

"There's a lot of things on there that we completely reject. Any of the terminology where they say we're extremist for wanting to say mother instead of birthing person, we reject those things," Descovich, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, said."

Descovich said the group's mission is to unify, educate and empower parents. She said the summit will include information about running for school board and that despite hosting presidential candidates they're not planning to endorse in that race.

The summit their holding this weekend will have leading candidates of the Republican presidential nomination speak, such as former president Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Mayor Jim Kenney office released a statement on the group's summit this weekend:

"With the Moms for Liberty summit beginning in Philadelphia this week, I want to be very clear that as a welcoming and inclusive City, we find this group’s beliefs and values problematic. We oppose this group’s policy goals, which include attempts to disregard history, ban books, and silence conversations about race, gender, and sexuality...However, in spite of our disagreement with the views of Moms for Liberty, we also take freedom of speech very seriously. The City’s response to any demonstration or public protest will prioritize the safety of participants and members of the public."

Descovich also said that the group doesn't want children in preschool through third grade being taught that they can be a boy or a girl, neither, or both, and that they can change their gender identity in school. That's something they believe should be taught by parents at home when they think their child is ready.

NBC10 reached out to the Musuem of the American Revolution at the beginning of June and their response was:

"Because fostering understanding within a democratic society is so central to our mission, rejecting visitors on the basis of ideology would be antithetical to our purpose."

We also reached out to the Marriott for comment and they did not respond.

At the beginning of the month Galaei, a queer and trans, Black, indigenous, and people of color (QTBIPOC) radical social justice organization, called for the Marriott to cancel the event and shared a script on its Instagram account with the hashtag “StopHostingHate," for people to send to the Marriott and media outlets:

The script they shared read as follows:

“Hello, my name is [......] I am a [resident/frequent visitor] of Philadelphia and am concerned by Marriott’s support of the hate group Moms for Liberty, which is using the Philadelphia Marriott as a meeting place for their yearly summit from June 29th-July 2nd, 2023. Marriott will no longer have my business if it does not cancel the Moms for Liberty summit reservations and do its part to keep our schoolchildren safe.”

Protests against Moms for Liberty began in Philly on Friday, June 9. Protesters from Defense of Democracy, a national nonprofit organization advocating for the American public school system, gathered outside of the Museum of the American Revolution in Old City.