At Capitol rally, Moms for Liberty vows to press on social media, mental health

The Moms for Liberty mission continues.

The firebrand conservative group hosted its third annual legislative rally at the Florida Capitol Friday to speak out against social media, mental health in schools and "gender ideology."

More than 100 moms and their allies attended the rally in chilly weather, donning blue Moms for Liberty shirts and holding signs that said, "We do not co-parent with the government" — their motto. The Capitol was largely vacant as most legislators had left town for the weekend.

Among the speakers: January Littlejohn, a licensed mental health counselor and the mother who sued the Leon County School District for allegedly allowing her 13-year-old daughter to socially transition without her consent.

"We have the Parental Bill of Rights, and we have the Parental Rights in Education (Act) but I'm here to tell you laws are not enough," Littlejohn said.

The lawsuit sparked a firestorm among Florida's GOP lawmakers and with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed "Don't Say Gay" by its critics. The governor even commended Littlejohn for her bravery in speaking out.

"When you listen to January tell her story about what they did with her child, without her knowledge or consent, I don’t think there’s very many parents in the state of Florida that think that’s OK,” DeSantis said.

A federal judge dismissed the case last January, saying the state courts would be a better fit. The case, which has since been appealed, is set for oral arguments April 17 in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

After three years, Moms for Liberty facing some challenges

Friday's rally came as the group faces headwinds in its third year.

The USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida reported this week that Moms for Liberty-backed candidates are losing more elections than they win as they grapple with public controversies and the activities of one of its founding members casting a shadow on the group.

Despite the blowback, the group's founders and its local chapters are preparing to head into another election cycle with the same battle cry as at their founding: Fighting for parental rights in education.

The nonprofit organization's mission is to unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights, co-founder Tina Descovich told the Democrat in an interview.

The Florida-based organization says it has chapters in 48 states and over 130,000 members fighting in what has been dubbed a "culture war" against mental health counseling in schools, and removing books about critical race theory and LGBTQ+ topics, among other things.

"We formed at the most local level to stay focused on school boards," said Descovich, a former Brevard County school board member. "What we quickly learned was that a lot of these issues need to be handled at the state level."

She said 17 of the 48 states with chapters have internal legislative committees comprised of a single representative from each county chapter. Those committees discuss bills and other issues, then vote to approve a legislative agenda to collectively push statewide.

The Florida legislative committee has 30 members, she said: "They have not finalized the legislative agenda yet," Descovich said of the Florida panel as the session approaches its midpoint, "but I know they're looking at House Bill 1."

That measure would require social media platforms to prohibit minors from creating new accounts, terminate existing accounts of those younger than 16, and use age verification for account holders, without a parental permission exemption.

Critics say the bill would strip rights from parents, despite its supporters saying they too support parents' rights.

Social media an ongoing source of concern

"We know social media is a really big concern for a lot of parents," Descovich said. "We know it is impacting a lot of children in a lot of different ways and we know it is impacting them negatively, but we also believe that parents have the ultimate say in directing the upbringing of their children."

The social media bill passed the House and next must be approved by the Senate before it can go to the governor.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an advisory on the mental health crisis among teens on social media last February. But conservative-minded parents say the solution to the crisis is not more resources, it's more parenting.

"My psychological field has been indoctrinated," Littlejohn said Friday. "It sounds good but ultimately it is not helping our children. We need to get SEL (social and emotional learning) out of the schools. We have a lack of parenting crisis in our country."

SEL, which teaches skills such as self-awareness, empathy and resilience, has been has been derided by conservatives as “woke indoctrination," and they link it to academic concepts like critical race theory.

Some conservative parents also question providing mental health care in schools, and are campaigning to remove it. But at least one conservative lawmaker disagrees.

"Our biggest priority in both the House and the Senate is mental health for our babies and protecting our babies from these horrible villains out there that just want to weaponize being a child," Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, told the crowd.

Florida school districts are required to have mental health care under the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which focuses on addressing gun laws, school safety and mental health.

And Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed a law that requires school districts to certify that at least 80% of school personnel have received youth mental health awareness training.

More: Florida House speaker touts bill banning kids from social media to U.S. lawmakers

More: Moms for Liberty says no to mental health care in schools, but it's Florida law

USA TODAY NETWORK reporters Steven Walker and Finch Walker contributed to this report. Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Moms for Liberty rallies at Florida Capitol, targets social media