Elwood Watson/Contributing Writer
Do as I say, not as I do. This sort of Victorian philosophy seems to be par for the course among many of the so-called family values conservatives.
Recent reports that Christian Ziegler, the husband of Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, is under police investigation in Sarasota, Fla., following a rape allegation sent shockwaves through the right-wing echo chamber while eliciting eye rolls from many progressives and others on the cultural left.
Local reporters for the Florida Trident interviewed a woman who said she was involved in a “three-year consensual ménage à trois sexual relationship” with the Zieglers, who have conceded that such a relationship took place. Furthermore, the report states she had been alone with Christian Ziegler, chair of the Florida GOP, the night of the alleged rape.
So far, Christian Ziegler has not been charged, and is resisting growing bipartisan calls from Governor Ron DeSantis and state Democrats to step down.
The fact that the Zieglers, both high level officials in Florida politics, were having group sex with a woman have led to accusations of hypocrisy from Democrats and LGBTQ groups.
“As leaders in the Florida GOP and Moms for Liberty, the Zieglers have made a habit out of attacking anything they perceive as going against ‘family values’ — be it reproductive rights or the existence of LGBTQ+ Floridians,” Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried said in a statement. “The level of hypocrisy in this situation is stunning.”
Groups like Moms for Liberty often target everyone from drag queens to school officials of being sympathetic to sexual predators and similar deviants.
Moms for Liberty originally focused on opposition to pandemic-era restrictions in schools, but has since expanded to supporting parents’ rights to ban books they deem inappropriate from classrooms and school libraries. The group has managed to emerge as a pivotal voice in Republican politics, with many candidates jockeying to earn endorsements from them.
One major reason why DeSantis and other GOPers seem to be so eager to cut their ties is due to the fact Moms for Liberty has ended up being bad news from a political standpoint. The group’s Orwellian agenda of banning books and bullying LGBTQ students and teachers turned out to be vehemently unpopular. Being publicly linked to Moms for Liberty hurt Republicans in the midterms, most notably in school board races, where Democrats won overwhelmingly in districts that the group had targeted for takeovers.
Moms for Liberty is hardly an aberration. Such groups have deep roots in American history, like the grassroots workers who maintained the system of racial segregation and Jim Crow.
There has always been a segment of Americans who have harbored rabid levels of hostility and hatred toward individuals they view and perceive as “the other.” These men and women were largely forced to discuss and reaffirm their racist and bigoted viewpoints with like-minded individuals. For much of our recent history, their outpourings were confined to secret conferences, obscure far-right magazines and radio programs.
With permission of the politically-infected racist and acidic climate of the Trump years, such rhetoric was granted permissive license to expose and express themselves in the larger public domain.
Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.