Moms for Liberty’s anti-LGBTQ stance misses the lessons of 250 years of history

I have spent over 20 years as a historian, bringing the stories of ordinary people living during the Revolutionary era to light. That’s why I was appalled to learn that the Museum of the American Revolution is hosting the far-right, anti-LGBTQ, anti-government group Moms for Liberty on June 29. We who study the past know the truth and can see this for the pernicious stunt that it is.

Moms for Liberty lobbies for book bans and aims to dictate how history is taught, stripping it of any mention of slavery, racism, and LGBTQ people. The group got its start fighting mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory. It spreads anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, falsely labels LGBTQ people as “groomers,” and led Florida’s hateful campaign against LGBTQ teachers. It openly harasses transgender and nonbinary young people and their families, advocating new laws and policies to restrict their lives and freedoms.

The group claims an affinity with America’s founding, yet they have failed this test in historical symbolism. Revolutionary Philadelphia was at the forefront of scientific inquiry, education, publishing, medicine, and government — all things that Moms for Liberty lobbies against.

Moms for Liberty is fighting to strip LGBTQ people of our place in the nation’s past — and by extension, the nation’s present and future. It doesn’t want you to know that we have played a part in every era of American history. People in early America experienced same-sex love and relationships, expressed themselves through drag, and changed their gender identity. Newspapers provide a crucial source for evidence of this often-hidden aspect of the past.

Newspaper articles about the growing tension between the North American colonies and the British crown were reported alongside dramatic stories of “female husbands” — people assigned the female sex at birth who lived as men and married women. In May 1766, London’s Public Advertiser printed the notice from Lord Chamberlain’s office about the movement of “a quantity of ammunition, and Part of the Troops destined for North America” on the very same page that it also noted the death of “the famous Sarah Paul, who went thro’ a Variety of Adventures in Men’s Clothes, which made a great Eclat about seven Years ago, when she married another young Woman, and was distinguished by the Appellation of the Female Husband.” While living as a man, they went by the name Samuel Bundy.

North American papers embraced these accounts as well. The Pennsylvania Gazette, printed by Ben Franklin in the Franklin Court Printing Office, reported on Charles Hamilton, who was detained in Chester in July 1752 while en route to Philadelphia under suspicion “that the Doctor was a women’ in mens clothes.” Since there was no explicit law against cross-dressing, authorities reported they would only keep Hamilton in prison “till we see whether any Body appears against her, if not she will be discharged.”

Knowing that female husbands, along with other LGBTQ people, have always existed, resisted, and found love and friendship is a powerful message for us all. The National Park Service has gradually incorporated more LGBTQ history into its educational content, recognizing Independence National Historical Park and Valley Forge as important sites of LGBTQ heritage. The Library Company of Philadelphia hosted an exhibit called “That’s So Gay: Outing Early America” on LGBTQ history and literature.

The past 20 years of U.S. Supreme Court rulings on LGBTQ rights — from decriminalizing sodomy (2003) to legalizing same-sex marriage (2015) to banning employment discrimination (2020) — have given many of us joy and relief. These gains are now in jeopardy. If you think LGBTQ rights are settled and that our basic health, safety, and freedom are not threatened by Moms for Liberty and the larger movement it represents, think again.

Moms for Liberty is just the latest group to target LGBTQ people for political gain, using the so-called protection of children as their justification. In 1977, after Dade County, Fla., passed a gay rights ordinance, right-wing activists formed a coalition called “Save Our Children,” with Anita Bryant as the spokesperson. Hyperbolic homophobia held sway in American politics well into the 1990s and beyond.

Our educational and cultural institutions are continuing to be targeted by a tyrannical minority that has seen great success because most straight people — even those with LGBTQ friends and relatives — are not doing enough to stop them.

Philadelphia was the birthplace of democracy. Early LGBTQ leaders knew the importance of this history, choosing to march in front of Independence Hall on the Fourth of July annually from 1965 to 1969, demanding a “Homosexual Bill of Rights” and equal participation in American democracy. They wanted America to live up to its promise.

Moms for Liberty is also making a statement by gathering in Philadelphia. As one of America’s most racially diverse cities, with a vibrant LGBTQ community and where 81.4% of people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, it’s not a natural fit for a right-wing extremist organization.

The Museum of the American Revolution has a responsibility to defend the history and practice of American democracy, not harbor those who seek to destroy it.

Jen Manion is a professor of history and sexuality and women’s and gender studies at Amherst College, and the author of “Female Husbands: A Trans History” (2020) and “Liberty’s Prisoners: Carceral Culture in Early America” (2015).