GLAAD ELEVATES VOICES OF COMMUNITY MEMBERS, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS IN CALLING FOR RESIGNATION OF MOMS FOR LIBERTY CO-FOUNDER BRIDGET ZIEGLER FROM THE SARASOTA SCHOOL BOARD

FLORIDA GOP PRESSURES ZIEGLER’S HUSBAND CHRISTIAN TO RESIGN AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT BY A WOMAN WITH WHOM BRIDGET AND CHRISTIAN HAD A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP

(Monday, December 18, 2023) GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is elevating community voices calling for the co-founder of anti-LGBTQ extremist group Moms for Liberty, Bridget Ziegler, to resign from the Sarasota School Board. Ziegler’s husband Christian, currently chair of the Florida Republican Party, is accused of rape by a woman with whom the Zieglers had a sexual relationship.

In an emergency meeting on Sunday, the Florida GOP removed Christian Ziegler of any authority in the organization and reduced his salary to $1 annually. He can no longer speak on behalf of the group, raise funds for the party, or hire or fire staff. The organization decided not to conduct an investigation into the allegations against Christian Ziegler.

Bridget Ziegler told police she had sex with her husband and the woman accusing him of assault in an encounter last year. Mrs. Ziegler has not been charged in the investigation.

On December 12, the Sarasota School Board voted 4-1 to recommend Bridget Ziegler resign from the board. Ziegler herself was the sole “no” vote. The vote was non-binding.

Community members lined up to speak about Bridget Ziegler’s harm caused by targeting LGBTQ people, allies and educators.

Zander Moricz, a GLAAD 20 Under 20 honoree last year, delivered a powerful statement about why Ziegler should be fired, noting she had used her position on the board to spend tax dollars that might have raised teacher salaries to instead “change our district lines for political gain, remove books from schools, target trans and queer children, erase Black history, and elevate your political career – all while sending your children to private schools because you don’t believe in the public school system that you’ve been leading.”

Moricz said Ziegler should “heed the lesson we’ve been trying to teach you… that a politician’s job is to serve their community, not to police personal lives” and that “Bridget, you deserve to be fired from your job because you are terrible at your job, not because you had sex with a woman.”

GLAAD highlighted additional voices speaking out against Bridget Ziegler at the meeting here.

In addition to co-founding Moms for Liberty in 2021, Bridget Ziegler led and celebrated Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay/Trans” censorship law, which prohibits classroom discussions of LGBTQ people, identities, and history in primary grades, and has since been expanded to all grades K-12 in Florida. Ziegler was at the bill signing with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

An estimated 4.6% of all Floridians are LGBTQ, including some 114,000 LGBTQ youth. Among LGBTQ Floridians, 24% are raising children; 30% are Latinx; and 12% are Black.

Moms for Liberty bills itself as a grassroots organization, though it has had connections and substantial funding and support from anti-LGBTQ groups and politicians like DeSantis and Christian Ziegler from its beginning. The group was featured on national extremist outlets in the first few weeks of its founding, including The Rush Limbaugh Show, Breitbart, and Tucker Carlson Tonight. Moms for Liberty welcomed DeSantis, Donald Trump and members of the Oath Keepers extremist group to its national convention in July.

Bridget Ziegler was selected by DeSantis to the Tourism Oversight Board he formed after Disney spoke out against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay/Trans” law.

Voters rejected 71% of Moms for Liberty-endorsed and aligned candidates, including 11 of 12 candidates running for school boards in Iowa. 78% of Americans say they are less likely to vote for candidates in 2024 who support book bans and curriculum restrictions targeting LGBTQ people, youth, families and history.

Additional Research:

Founded by Bridget Ziegler, Tina Descovich, and Tiffany Justice, Moms for Liberty (M4L) is an extremist group that advocates for book and curriculum bans and other anti-LGBTQ school policies under the guise of “protecting” children. It opposes LGBTQ-inclusive books and school curricula, education on race and racism, drag queen story hours, and best-practice medical care for transgender youth. Leaders and members regularly espouse inaccurate and inflammatory language, including harmful “groomer” rhetoric, to vilify LGBTQ people.

M4L is an offshoot of the so-called “parental rights” movement, which does not reflect the views of LGBTQ or ally families, families of color, or any parents who want their children to receive an accurate and robust education. It encourages members to infiltrate local politics by running for open seats on their school boards.

This November, M4L endorsed 134 aligned candidates in local school board elections nationwide; the vast majority lost their races.

M4L is also a driving force behind the tide of anti-LGBTQ book bans sweeping the nation. PEN America has linked M4L and other groups like it to a staggering 81% of all school districts that banned books in the 2022–2023 school year.

Despite billing itself as a “grassroots group,” M4L is a national organization with powerful connections and deep pockets. Since its formation in 2021, M4L has received legal, financial, and/or organizational support from a number of national anti-LGBTQ organizations, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Heritage Foundation, and the Leadership Institute.

Learn more about M4L’s origin story and anti-LGBTQ record here.