Pennsylvania Senators Pressure Philadelphia Museum to Cancel Moms for Liberty Event

The Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors National Summit starts on June 29 in Philadelphia, but controversy surrounding the event has been brewing for weeks in the City of Brotherly Love.

Six Democrat members of the Pennsylvania Senate sent a letter imploring the Museum of the American Revolution to cancel the Moms for Liberty event planned there for June 29 through July 2.

“Moms for Liberty, put plainly, is a hate group,” the June 20 letter said. “This is not hyperbole—on June, 6, 2023, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designated Moms for Liberty a hate group, and specifically, as an Anti-government Extremist group. SPLC went so far as to compare Moms for Liberty to the pro-segregationist parent groups that formed in the wake of Brown V. Board of Education.”

As elected representatives, the letter signers said, it is their duty to promote an inclusive environment celebrating and honoring diverse backgrounds and fostering a sense of belonging for all residents.

The letter was signed by state Sens. Nikil Saval, Christine Tartaglione, Anthony Williams, Sharif Street, Vincent Hughes, and Jimmy Dillon, the Philadelphia delegation.

“The museum’s leadership has demonstrated a lack of judgment in agreeing to host a hate group. Fortunately, the mistake can be fixed with a simple and elegant solution: cancel the Moms for Liberty event scheduled for June 29. We look forward to your prompt actions,” the letter said.

It is worth noting the museum relies on donations for funding, including some from state grants which are overseen by the senators.

Event to Remain at Museum

As of June 26, the senators had not heard back from the museum, a spokeswoman for one of the senators told The Epoch Times.

“The Museum of the American Revolution is a private entity with complete discretion over what organizations it chooses to host,” Saval told The Epoch Times when asked if pressuring the museum could be perceived as curtailing freedom of speech. “The leadership’s decision to open its facilities to a hate group known for its use of threatening and violent rhetoric and its strong ties to national anti-LGBTQ groups and right-wing public officials, sends the message that the museum endorses these views. Urging the museum to cancel this event does not prevent this group from speaking; our letter asks a highly regarded cultural institution to uphold Philadelphia’s spirit of liberty, inclusivity, and solidarity.”

A spokesperson for the museum confirmed to The Epoch Times that it will not cancel the event.

“The Museum of the American Revolution strives to create an inclusive and accessible museum experience for visitors with a wide range of viewpoints and beliefs,” the spokesperson said. “Consistent with this mission, we make available after-hours and private rentals to groups that organize legally and safely, including federally recognized 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations. Because fostering understanding within a democratic society is so central to our mission, rejecting visitors on the basis of ideology would in fact be antithetical to our purpose.”

Some staff at the museum have also complained about the event.

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Being labeled a “hate group” by the SPLC, which has no official authority on such matters, can have wide-ranging consequences, including severe reputational damage.

Once the SPLC labels a group or individual, others—including partisan lawmakers and politically charged groups—use the label citing the SPLC’s designation as proof that the group and anyone who would associate with it is a problem.

Soon after Moms for Liberty announced it would hold its national summit in Philadelphia, SPLC released its June 6 report, “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2022,” in which it labeled Moms for Liberty an antigovernment extremist and hate group.

It did not take long for protests of the Moms for Liberty event to mobilize, citing the “hate group” designation.

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