Activist expertly shuts down Moms for Liberty leader over refusal to resign from school board
Zander Moricz during the 2022 Spirit of Matthew Award. (YouTube/MattShepardFDN)
A former Sarasota County student has publicly shamed a Republican school board member, and member of Moms For Liberty, for being “terrible” at her job, after she refused to step down from her post.
Moms for Liberty co-founder, Bridget Ziegler, was recently urged to resign from her post on the Sarasota County school board following allegations that her husband, Christian Ziegler, amid sexual assault allegations reportedly made by a woman the couple were in a three-way relationship with.
The school board voted on a resolution requesting the resignation of the Republican, who has long campaigned against LGBTQ+ rights, following hours of public comments urging her to step away from her post.
During the session, former school student and director of the Social Equity through Education Alliance (SEE), Zander Moricz, said he felt Ziegler should resign not because of the alleged threesome, but because she is simply bad at her job.
“You are a reminder that some people view politics as a service to others, while some view it as an opportunity for themselves,” he said.
“On this board, you have spent public funds that could have been used to increase teacher pay to change our district lines for political gain, remove books from schools, target trans and queer children, erase Black history and elevate your political career, all while sending your children to private schools.”
In his speech, Moricz questioned the public’s seeming obsession with Ziegler’s relationships more than the years of anti-LGBTQ+ campaigning she has done as part of Moms For Liberty while on the Board.
“Bridget Ziegler, you do not deserve to be on the Sarasota County School Board,” he said. “But you do not deserve to be removed from it for having a threesome.
“That defeats the lesson we’ve been trying to teach you which is that a politician’s job is to serve their community, not to police personal lives.
“You deserve to be fired from your job because you are terrible at your job, not because you had sex with a woman.”
Zander Moricz campaigned against Don’t Say Gay
While attending Pine View school, Zander Moricz, who became the school’s first out gay class president, became the youngest plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by various LGBTQ+ rights groups against the Don’t Say Gay law in Florida.
He gave a memorable speech during his graduation ceremony in which he called out the state’s government for its continued abuse of LGBTQ+ people without using the word ‘gay’ after he was warned not to reference his activism against the school administration.
Instead, he used his curly hair as a trade-in for his sexuality, saying: “I used to hate my curls. I spent mornings and nights embarrassed of them, trying desperately to straighten this part of who I am.
“But the daily damage of trying to fix myself became too much.”
He then thanked his teachers who helped him embrace his truth, adding that there are “going to be so many kids with curly hair” in the future who need that support.
“I’ve been preparing for this speech since I was elected in my freshman year, do you think I wanted it to be about this?” he said.
“It needs to be about this for the thousands of curly-haired kids who are going to be forced to speak like this for their entire lives as students.”
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