clear explosion
"We just want to live a normal life," Jazmin Henderson, a 47-year-old transgender woman who joined the protests, told the BBC. I never felt safe."
"Philly is a trans city," says Sign.
Image credit: BBC/ Brendan Drennan
But the opposition doesn't seem to shake Liberty co-founder Tina Deskovich, who looks calm and collected as she prepares for the upcoming weekend.
He said: "Stories that we oppose the LGBTQ community in any way are false."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a progressive civil rights watchdog, described them as an extremist group that uses aggressive tactics and expresses views that amount to "anti-government propaganda and conspiracy".
But the group's mission, he said, was to promote parental rights, which he described as the right of parents to be involved in their children's education, especially at the policy-making level.
With only two chapters in Florida in 2021, what started as a grassroots campaign against mask mandates during the pandemic has become a leading voice in the nation's increasingly heated debate about whether schools should be taught and issues of race. .
According to Mrs. Deskovich, the group now has about 300 chapters in 45 states with 120,000 members.
"We looked across the country at 2020, and parents were disappointed," said Ms Deskovich. "They're finally starting to see what their kids are learning at school."
Americans are divided on how to teach LGBT issues in the classroom. According to a recent survey by the APM Research Lab, seven out of 10 adults believe it's okay for middle school teachers to discuss gay, lesbian, and bisexual people in class. However, only three in ten thought teachers could accept books with gay, lesbian or bisexual characters for the same age group.
And only 39 percent of Americans believe teachers should use the preferred gender pronouns of their teenage students, according to the survey. About 38 percent said they should not use preferred gender pronouns.
But a person's political affiliation varies widely in favor, with 61% of Democrats believing teachers should use the best pronoun, compared to 18% of Republicans.
John Crosson, a former city councilor in nearby Philadelphia, and a gay Republican, agrees with many of the ideas inspired by Moms for Freedom, saying that anything related to sexuality should be the talk of parents at home, not at school. .
He said books should be age-restricted like cigarettes.
“Books that may be inappropriate for a certain age are restricted for certain ages, just as pornography is banned,” he argues.
Prohibited books.
Image credit: BBC/ Brendan Drennan
caption,
The American Library Association said 2,571 books were subject to censorship, a 38 percent increase from last year. Many of the books opposed were written by LGBT groups.
On Friday night, when former President Donald Trump took the stage as the keynote speaker, he praised the freedom of mothers, calling them "happy warriors and fierce patriots".
"You are not a threat to America; you are the best thing that ever happened to America," he said to applause.
But for Jose DeMarco, a member of the Philadelphia AIDS nonprofit Act Up Philly, Trump's call is a chilling reminder of the danger he faces — and a call to fight against it.
"As a lonely person, I'm worried," said Mr. DeMarco. "I'm worried about people losing their civil rights. We've only seen this with abortions."
"They want to make it difficult for people to have the right to live their lives," he said.
Mr DeMarco, 50, said the LGBT community is used to facing opposition on their journey to equality, and they are not going to back down.
"I believe with what happened and what is happening now, I think it will mobilize the queer community to fight back," he said.
"I think this time will really pull us in."
Tags
News