Moms for Liberty, the far-right organization whose members have dubiously portrayed themselves as protectors of America’s schoolchildren, is on the defense after an outreach coordinator who works with its Philadelphia chapter was revealed to be a convicted child molester.
The group of self-styled “mama bear” types has crusaded against classroom lessons about social inequality. As part of their efforts, members have fought against LGBTQ references in schools under baseless “groomer” claims.
On Monday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
Phillip Fisher Jr. is a pastor and Republican ward leader who coordinates faith-based outreach for Philadelphia’s Moms for Liberty chapter. He’s also a registered sex offender, due to a 2012 felony conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy when Fisher was 25. Fisher insists that he did nothing wrong, despite pleading guilty to one of 12 counts filed against him after an investigation by the Chicago Police Department, according to court records obtained by The Inquirer.
Fisher told the Inquirer that his conviction was “really a railroad job” by fellow political activists he previously associated with.
Moms for Liberty defended itself as well, saying that Fisher is merely a volunteer and had passed a background check. In a post on X, the group also shared photos that appear to show the results of two background checks by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services that indicated no instances of child abuse on Fisher’s record.
It seems @newsweek, @HuffPost @RollingStone and others don’t want to hold PA leaders accountable.
— Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty) November 21, 2023
This person is not a chapter chair, he was a volunteer with the Philadelphia chapter.
Our chapter chair did a background check with Pennsylvania DHS and he was cleared pursuant… pic.twitter.com/sYZnynNUHt
A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania DHS told the Inquirer that “not all criminal convictions involving minors are considered child abuse” under state law. The newspaper also noted that Fisher is listed in the state’s “Megan’s Law” database of registered sex offenders.
“I never went out of my way to hide anything,” Fisher told the Inquirer. “I’m in the database. It’s an easy search.”
Volunteer or not, Fisher appears to have had an active role in the organization. The Inquirer reported:
Sheila Armstrong, another Republican ward leader who chairs the local Moms for Liberty chapter, said she was also surprised. She said Fisher has been active in community outreach events with local and federal law enforcement, and she expressed concern that children were sometimes part of that.
It’s not the first time I’ve written about right-wingers who rail against “groomers” while having a child sex abuser in their midst. Earlier this year, I blogged about a registered sex offender affiliated with the extremist activists at Turning Point USA.
It goes without saying that, as someone who has written about institutional failures involving sex predators, I’m not really surprised by Moms for Liberty’s exposure here. And I wholly support the people calling the organization out for its “LGBTQ = groomer” hypocrisy.
The opportunity is simply too rich to ignore.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.