It鈥檚 a Saturday afternoon in early September at the Eldorado Community Center and about 40 people have gathered to hear from a Santa Fe school board candidate.
鈥淯nstoppable鈥� by Sia blares over the sound system as Patricia Vigil-Stockton 鈥� a business owner, great-grandmother and Republican 鈥� strides to the podium to make her speech.
These days, 鈥渘ew laws suppress or deny parental involvement,鈥� she says, referring to bills passed by the Democrat-led state legislature this year. 鈥淵ou as a parent have a right to know who and what is influencing your children.鈥�
Vigil-Stockton, 70, is one of a growing number of candidates who are focusing their considerable energies on running for school board seats under the banner of 鈥減arental rights,鈥� a conservative movement that鈥檚 gaining momentum across the country, fueled by Republicans and right-wing politics. Religious beliefs also play a role.
Adherents argue that public schools are indoctrinating children and exposing them to harmful ideas about sexual orientation, gender and other issues, all without informing parents. The movement has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers nationwide, generating confusion, disinformation and fear about what is and isn鈥檛 going on in the classroom.
But the agenda involves much more than just classroom policies. Lawmakers, LGBTQ+ advocates, teachers鈥� unions, health care providers and a wide array of activists have joined forces against the movement, which they see as an assault on civil rights, free speech and education.
They say the parental rights agenda is not really about parents 鈥� it鈥檚 about isolating and further stigmatizing LGBTQ+ students and families while promoting a right-wing Republican agenda.
Far-right groups enter the fold
School board races in New Mexico are nonpartisan, which means candidates aren鈥檛 identified by their political party on the ballot. But they鈥檙e free to talk about the party they favor, and parties are free to endorse them. Republicans, for example, are backing Vigil-Stockton.
Like at least three other school board candidates in the state, she is also being supported by the local leader of a controversial called Moms for Liberty, an organization that claims 285 chapters in 44 states. The considers it an extremist group.
Sarah Jane Allen, the cofounder and chair of the Bernalillo County chapter 鈥� the only one in the state 鈥� said Moms for Liberty isn鈥檛 officially endorsing candidates in New Mexico. But Allen said she is supporting Vigil-Stockton, as well as Peggy Muller-Arag贸n and Steve Cecco in the race and Julia Ruiz, a school board candidate in Las Cruces.
Allen, a former vice chair with the Republican Party in Bernalillo County, said she鈥檚 been hosting meet-and-greets for candidates at her home, appearing at their events, creating handbills and helping guide them through the process.
Waving aside claims that Moms for Liberty is extremist, she said her goal is to make sure parents can control what their kids are exposed to at school. For example, 鈥渃hildren shouldn鈥檛 be introduced or encouraged to think鈥� about LGBTQ+ topics, she said. 鈥淭hat is something that children should not be encountering while they鈥檙e being educated. Schools need to be focused on the curriculum of ABCs and one, two, threes.鈥�
Other Moms for Liberty members use less politesse. One group this summer quoted Hitler in its newsletter; others have supported book bans or filed complaints against schools that assigned books about Martin Luther King Jr. or 鈥� the first Black child to integrate an all-white elementary school in Louisiana.
Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top Republicans appeared at the Moms for Liberty 鈥淛oyful Warriors鈥� summit in Philadelphia this summer, an event that Allen also attended. The gathering featured more than a dozen high-profile hard-right speakers, who have variously accused public school teachers of being indoctrinators or .
One speaker, the founder of Gays Against Groomers, railed against the 鈥渞adicals鈥� who are trying to 鈥渟exualize, indoctrinate and .鈥�
A handout at Vigil-Stockton鈥檚 gathering in Eldorado, which the candidate said she got from Allen, argued that newly-passed legislation allows 鈥減redatory practices against our children.鈥�
Falsehoods in the mix
Variations on these themes are also being circulated by the New Mexico Republican Party and conservative groups around the state. In Las Cruces, for example, one group distributed inflammatory flyers claiming that parents rights are being taken away at schools and kids are being provided 鈥渄irect access to abortion or transgender intervention (both chemical and surgical).鈥�
In fact, school health care providers do not perform chemical or surgical interventions 鈥� let alone do so without parental notification, according to the state鈥檚 Public Education Department. School-based health centers 鈥渄o not provide abortions or gender-affirming care,鈥� PED and the Department of Health to school districts, which they sent out this summer 鈥渋n response to recent inaccurate information disseminated by others.鈥�
The roughly 80 school health clinics in the state provide routine care such as treating asthma or sports injuries, or offering counseling, said Nancy Rodriguez, executive director for the .
Rodriguez said the conversation is complicated by the fact that staffers who use a student鈥檚 preferred pronoun or name in a school clinic might be described 鈥� under its broadest definition 鈥� as giving gender-affirming health care.
鈥淭hey may very well be trying to make their clinic a welcoming place for all kids, including kids from the LGBTQ community,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut that does not mean they鈥檙e doing specific specialty care around gender reassignment.鈥� It鈥檚 a fear that people have, she added, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 not a fear based in reality.鈥�
Doctors weigh in
Some of the fears are being circulated by figures like Republican Mark Ronchetti, an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in 2022 and U.S. Senate candidate in 2020. Children of any age, including 12-year-olds or 5-year-olds, can get 鈥渟ex change care鈥� in New Mexico without their parents being notified, he and his wife Krysty asserted on a they host.
But children cannot undergo gender-affirming surgery without parental consent, said Dr. Molly McClain, the medical director of the University of New Mexico Hospital鈥檚 Deseo Program and one of only a handful of specialists in the state who provide gender-affirming care for youth. Insurance, she noted, only covers the procedure for people over age 18.
Conservatives often point to a as something that鈥檚 allowing children aged 14 and older to access care like hormone treatment without parental consent.
Medical experts and advocates in New Mexico said they can鈥檛 think of a single time this has ever happened. It is simply not considered best practice.
鈥淚 have NEVER given anyone under 18 hormone therapy without parental consent,鈥� McClain told Searchlight New Mexico in an email. She said she doesn鈥檛 know of this occurring at any UNM clinic. For one, family support is a great benefit for young people, she said. If they don鈥檛 have support, they are 鈥渁t higher risk of harm at home or of being kicked out of their home.鈥�
Lawmakers join the fray
As the debate about parental rights has grown, so have legislative actions. This year alone, 62 parental-rights bills have been introduced in 24 states, according to Future Ed, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.
The movement鈥檚 most notable successes have been in Florida, where the Republican-backed 鈥� 鈥� formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act 鈥� was enacted in 2022. The original law prohibited public schools from teaching or allowing discussions about sexual orientation or gender identity before the fourth grade; it was recently expanded to cover all K-12 students.
Another Florida measure, the 鈥�,鈥� restricts teaching about racism and discrimination in colleges, universities and businesses. (Federal courts have recently blocked it as unconstitutional.)
Moms for Liberty, a fast-growing group founded in Florida in 2021, was a vocal supporter of both laws. The organization uses social media to 鈥渢arget teachers and school officials, advocate for the abolition of the Department of Education, advance a conspiracy propaganda, and spread hateful imagery and rhetoric against the LGBTQ community,鈥� according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
New Mexico hasn鈥檛 been home to laws like Florida鈥檚, but that hasn鈥檛 immunized it from the battle. This year, state Republicans mounted a heated in reaction to three progressive bills passed by Democrats.
A primary target was , which protects the right to abortion, reproductive health care and gender-affirming care across the state. 鈥淣ew Mexico Dems pass bill that would allow for mutilation of children in NM,鈥� House Republicans after its passage. (The bill does not even mention children.)
The two other measures included , which extends legal protections for abortion, gender-affirming care providers and patients; and , which codifies school-based health clinics into law and allows the state Department of Health to fund them.
After the bills became law, House Republicans urged parents to demand prior notification if anything at school 鈥� from a class or lesson to a book, website, assembly, club, activity or health clinic visit 鈥� might expose students to 鈥渢ransgender ideology,鈥� gender-affirming care, abortion or contraception. They created a downloadable notification form to help parents join the fight.
Rep. Luis Terrazas, a Republican from Silver City who held a July press conference announcing the effort, said the form was 鈥渏ust a tool鈥� and was generated in response to questions from parents.
But a nonprofit that tracks and counters disinformation, sees the consent form 鈥� and its mishmash of health care and curriculum demands 鈥� as an avenue for the conservative movement to try to change the 鈥渨hole dynamics of the school,鈥� said Alissa Barnes, the group鈥檚 executive director.
Republicans are using schools and school board races to perfect their messaging, gain support and 鈥渕ove elected officials up the pipeline to higher levels of office,鈥� Barnes said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e doing this through extreme disinformation.鈥�
For organizations like , a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, the parental rights agenda has become a red herring 鈥� a way to advance an ideology that leaves vulnerable children more at risk while jeopardizing education as a whole.
Teachers have two jobs, said Marshall Martinez, the group鈥檚 executive director, who worked with Democrats to pass House Bill 7. 鈥淥ne is to make a classroom safe and comfortable enough for their students to learn in,鈥� he said. Second, they can start to teach.
鈥淣o trans or non-binary or queer or student of color 鈥� no young person 鈥� can receive the education they deserve if they鈥檙e in a space where they don鈥檛 feel safe and comfortable,鈥� he said.
鈥楨xtremely loud voices鈥�
Republican-backed parental rights candidates are still a minority in New Mexico, Barnes believes, noting that voters in 2018 and 2022 elected a Democratic governor and majority Democrat legislature.
But while conservatives have not taken over school boards, they are 鈥渆xtremely loud voices,鈥� she said.
At least two of those voices have been loud enough to cost someone his job. Casey and Micayle 鈥淢yke鈥� Petersen, Tijeras residents who鈥檝e made a practice of going undercover to shoot videos of school employees, believe it鈥檚 their mission to expose what they call 鈥渞adical gender ideology鈥� in public schools.
At a 2022 PED conference, the husband-and-wife team surreptitiously recorded Alamogordo Superintendent Ken Moore saying he taught his students about racism by 鈥渟neaking鈥� the topic into the curriculum. In February, three days after they posted the video, the Alamogordo school board placed Moore on administrative leave. He has remained there since.
鈥淲hen it comes to radical gender ideology, you are literally destroying their [children鈥檚] bodies,鈥� Casey Petersen told Searchlight. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e blowing their brains out, they are killing themselves with pills.鈥� The radicals in public schools 鈥渁re murdering children right now by thrusting that ideology on them,鈥� he said.
The Petersens鈥� videos don鈥檛 have a large audience: About half garner less than 500 views on YouTube. But the Republican Party has embraced the couple, boosting their public profile by inviting them to speaking gigs and podcasts.
In April, they moderated a panel attended by Republican Party Chair Steve Pearce and Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park). One or both have spoken at along with Allen from Moms For Liberty; they鈥檝e also appeared on podcasts hosted by and .
Exposing radicals is a key concern, Petersen said during an hour-and-a-half-long interview at a Chinese restaurant in Albuquerque. 鈥淭hey should know that they鈥檙e being watched, that they are going to be exposed. They should feel like their livelihood is on the line.鈥�
School board hot seats
Livelihoods might not be on the line in the more than 100 school board races across New Mexico this fall. But advocates on both sides believe children鈥檚 futures are.
Moms for Liberty members 鈥� 鈥渕ama bears,鈥� in their parlance 鈥� often say they were spurred to action after schools closed during the pandemic. That鈥檚 when the 鈥渕ama bear came out in me,鈥� Allen said. Since then, the mother of six has been tapped for a bigger role in the group.
After she attended the four-day Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia this summer, the national leadership asked her to be one of five ambassadors across the country, each tasked with traveling around their home state to spread the word about the organization. 鈥淚鈥檓 just proud that they thought of New Mexico as a place for doing this,鈥� Allen told Searchlight.
Civil rights advocates and teachers鈥� unions describe Allen鈥檚 efforts in decidedly more negative terms. Groups like Moms for Liberty are 鈥渉ighly funded far-right national organizations hell-bent on importing the culture war from states like Florida to school boards and classrooms right here in New Mexico,鈥� according to the ,
Already, the seven-member Albuquerque Public Schools board is more conservative than ever before in memory, said ATF President Ellen Bernstein. Over the four decades she鈥檚 been in the teacher鈥檚 union, she said she鈥檚 never experienced board members who were so 鈥渁ctively unsupportive and disrespectful to their employees.鈥�
Some board members, she said, resemble their counterparts in Florida 鈥� people who are 鈥渋ntolerant of kids, intolerant of accurate history and intolerant of thinking teachers.鈥�
鈥淚s that our board? Is that the kind of conservative we鈥檙e talking about? In some cases, yeah,鈥� she said.
Whitney Holland, president of the shares the concerns.
鈥淪ocial justice issues 鈥� all of those things that we have kind of safeguarded here 鈥� I鈥檓 worried that we鈥檙e going to take a step backwards,鈥� she said.
Searchlight New Mexico is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that seeks to empower New Mexicans to demand honest and effective public policy.
