Today, hundreds of activists gathered in Downtown Tampa to protest the first-ever Moms for Liberty national summit.
The right wing group has drawn ire from progressives for pushing their agenda in schools, which includes trying to limit what teachers can talk about in the classroom. In Florida, Moms For Liberty (MFL) has shown support for laws that seek to censor teachers in classrooms; legislation the group has championed include what critics called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and the “Stop WOKE” act.
The group also supports the abortion bans which went into effect with the repeal of Roe Vs. Wade and are actively harming women across the country.
The MFL summit started on Friday, with DeSantis giving an opening speech while a small crowd of teachers protested outside. But the protest today was massive, and took over the streets of downtown Tampa as the protestors marched from Gaslight Square Park to the Water Street Marriott, which is hosting the event just a few blocks away.
“They represent the fascists in this country,” Ruth Beltran of PSL told the crowd as they prepared to march. “They don’t want anyone that has a different religion, or different beliefs, they want a plain white state with straight people and that’s all they really want.”
The group also said that the democrats are not going to save anyone, and that the working class has to grab political power in America for anything to change substantially.
“They said ‘vote for Joe Biden to vote out fascism,'” said Karla Correa of PSL. “Look at us now. It’s not looking good. The Democrats are in power and our rights are getting taken away.”
The crowd (over 300 throughout the day, according to organizers) took the streets right next to Tampa police headquarters, but unlike the heavy police presence during the George Floyd protests of 2020, police had very little presence throughout the entire march.
As the crowd marched, it chanted words expressing disdain towards Moms For Liberty.
“Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Christian fascists go away!” the crowd shouted as they marched down Tampa street toward the Marriott, among other slogans.
The crowd set up across the street from the Marriott and was a massively loud force to be reckoned with. Their voices could be heard echoing through the entrance to the Marriott as some people attending Metrocon at the Tampa Convention Center cheered on the protesters while they walked by.
Moms For Liberty members started trickling out of the hotel as they heard the protesters. Some summit attendees were overheard saying, “look it’s just all a bunch of teenagers” and “they’re totally wrong about everything but it’s OK they’ll probably just go to Metrocon after this.”
The crowd was in fact diverse, and included people young and old. The Moms For Liberty fear of Metrocon has been palpable all weekend, with their aversion to anime, crossdressers and Gen Z coming to the forefront in multiple instances during this reporter’s time here.
Democrats tried to approach the protesters but were met with anger as well, with the crowd shouting, “Voting blue is not enough, Democrats we call your bluff!” at both Rep. Charlie Crist (hoping to be Florida Democrats’ pick to run against DeSantis) and Sen. Janet Cruz. Both politicians were attending the Florida Blue conference, which is also this weekend at the JW Marriott across the street from the Moms For Liberty conference.
When asked for comment about getting shouted down, Crist said, “Everybody needs help, and I’m here to help” as he rolled up the window to his car.
A confrontation between protesters and MFL members happened when the protestors walked across the street to yell “traitor” and other words of anger.
The safety marshalls of the march broke up the conflict and directed the crowd to march back to Lykes Gaslight Square Park, where it originated.
Protestors flipped off the MFL crowd, and as they walked away one of them said, “You can hide behind the money, but it won’t take you far, and we’ll still be here.”
Scholars point out that MFL is not as grassroots as it presents itself to be.
“Two of Moms for Liberty’s National Summit sponsors, the Leadership Institute and Heritage Foundation are critical members of the Council for National Policy, a secretive network of right wing billionaires and Christian fundamentalist leaders that underwrites and coordinates right wing politics,” Maurice T. Cunningham former associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, wrote.
The summit wraps Sunday with a breakfast featuring remarks from former Fox News commentator and Herman Cain stan Dr. Alveda King, Rabbi Mendy and Trump HUD boss Dr. Ben Carson.
