...WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING
TO 9 AM CST FRIDAY...
* WHAT...Very cold wind chills expected. Wind chill values as low
as 20 to 35 degrees below zero.
* WHERE...Portions of east central, south central and southeast
Minnesota and northwest and west central Wisconsin.
* WHEN...From 6 PM this evening to 9 AM CST Friday.
* IMPACTS...The cold wind chills could cause frostbite on
exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Use caution while traveling outside. Wear appropriate clothing, a
hat, and gloves.
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A recent article on the MassResistance website celebrates Linda Moore’s election to the Faribault School Board. The article describes Moore as a “local Minnesota MassResistance leader.” (Screenshot from MassResistance.org)
Arthur Schaper, the Field Director of MassResistance, praises Linda Moore of MassResistance for former Congressman Jim Hagedorn's appreciation post, which was later removed. (Colton Kemp/southernminn.com)
Linda Moore reads to the Faribault Public School Board that two fictional penguins are working toward Communist goal No. 40 and 26. She is referring to "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen. (Screen recording from Faribault Public Schools' YouTube page)
New Faribault School Board member Linda Moore reads her opening statements during a candidate forum in October. (File photo/southernminn.com)
One of the newest members of the Faribault School Board, Linda Moore, is a local leader for an anti-LGBTQ organization that has been designated as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
While she refused to comment, a leader of MassResistance described Moore as a group activist.
An article on the MassResistance website describes Moore as a “local Minnesota MassResistance leader,” and it praises her for winning the School Board election.
It says Moore “and her team of about 16 people” spoke out against “critical race theory and the sexualization of children” at several board meetings.
When reached for comment, Moore hung up after being asked if she knows about the group.
“Why are you asking me about this?” Moore said. She did not respond to a follow-up email. She later confirmed her affiliation in a letter to the editor published on Jan. 23.
MassResistance Field Director Arthur Schaper described Moore as a MassResistance activist in an email to the Faribault Daily News, then declined to further comment.
“MassResistance is very grateful for the efforts that Linda Moore and other Minnesota MassResistance activists took in fighting for the good will and innocence of children and against LGBT indoctrination in the public schools,” he wrote. “These are worthy, estimable goals for an organization, and in no (ways) count as hate.”
The Massachusetts-based group began in 1995, under the name Parent’s Rights Coalition. MassResistance is known for its vocal opposition of same-sex marriage and claims of widespread pedophilia within the LGBTQ community.
A recent article on the MassResistance website celebrates Linda Moore’s election to the Faribault School Board. The article describes Moore as a “local Minnesota MassResistance leader.” (Screenshot from MassResistance.org)
At a School Board meeting on April 25, Moore read the Faribault Public School District library catalogue’s description of “And Tango Makes Three.” The picture book is about Roy and Silo, “two male penguins who fall in love and start a family,” which Moore said is part of a larger Communist plan toward the “desecration of the nuclear family.”
“We, as concerned citizens and voters, demand (the) removal of any books promoting sexual deviance, such as, but not limited to, topics of gay, lesbian, transgender, etc.,” she said.
Moore goes on to say she believes LGBTQ topics are among the main reasons for low student standardized test scores. She has called these topics “perversion” and “an agenda.”
Just over a quarter of the then-freshman and then-juniors at Faribault High School identified as something other than straight in the 2022 Minnesota Student Survey.
SPLC designation
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit group of more than 100 lawyers, researchers and activists, who have fought against Jim Crowe laws and other oppressive legislation since the 1970s. In response to the Klu Klux Klan’s resurgence in the 1980s, the group developed its Intelligence Project, which set out to identify and expose organized hate in America.
According to its website, the center works to “publish investigative reports, train law enforcement officers, share key intelligence and offer expert analysis to the media and public.”
The group advises the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and works with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice. The DHS has recommended the group to provide training to American law enforcement.
In March 2008, the SPLC’s Intelligence Project designated MassResistance as an anti-LGBTQ hate group. The SPLC’s designation was used to recommend policy by the state of Massachusetts in 2016, the city of Austin, Texas in 2019 and the Attorney General’s Office of Maryland in 2015.
“Throughout its history, (MassResistance) has primarily focused on demonizing LGBTQ people and battling LGBTQ inclusion in schools and public life,” the SPLC said.
MassResistance disputes the SPLC’s claim and counterclaims that the SPLC is a “wealthy anti-Christian hate group” trying “to demean religious belief and values and to shame and intimidate pro-family people into silence.”
“For example, if a group believes that homosexuality causes diseases and a shorter lifespan on average, it is a hate group,” MassResistance said in 2017.
In 2010, MassResistance said the SPLC’s criteria for a hate group is “so broad that just about any group could make the list.”
The SPLC defines a hate group as: “an organization that — based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities — has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics. We do not list individuals as hate groups, only organizations. The organizations on the SPLC list vilify others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity …”
Arthur Schaper, the Field Director of MassResistance, praises Linda Moore of MassResistance for former Congressman Jim Hagedorn's appreciation post, which was later removed. (Colton Kemp/southernminn.com)
