I’m a mother. What is so hateful about parents fighting for children in schools?

The liberal Southern Poverty Law Center recently added several parental rights organizations to its “hate group” list, including Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education.

But what is so hateful about parents challenging liberal ideologies in schools they believe cause harm to their children, not just academically, but also physically, mentally and emotionally?

Just two years ago, parents were likened to domestic terrorists by the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, but now they have been added to a list that includes actual hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Patriot Front.

In SPLC’s “Year of Hate and Extremism” report, the organization claims these parents’ groups are “extremist” for criticizing the teaching of gender ideology or racially-divisive content in schools. 

The report moves from the accusation that Moms of Liberty “hijacks” school board meetings to vaguely tying these groups to “those who opposed school desegregation” during the civils rights movement. 

There is no acknowledgement of sexual materials in classrooms, how schools are keeping parents in the dark about their children’s sexual identity, or even how students are receiving life-altering drugs without parental consent. 

Just a decade ago, I experienced virtually none of this as I finished high school. Words such as “gay” and “transgender” were passively mentioned, but they were never the focus. 

But a few years later, by the time my younger sister finished high school, gender ideology had slowly started creeping into lesson plans. Today, it is obviously a prominent part of the agenda of many educators. 

Now as a mother, I do not want my children or their peers to be subjected to indoctrination. When my child enters school, I want to be one of those mothers who fights not only for the good of my own children but all children. 

Schools should return to teaching students how to think, not what to think. 

It is not hateful to fight for parents’ rights. If fighting for children is not an act of love, I do not know what is.