With the election near, Moms for Liberty—the right wing anti-LGBTQ+ group—is once again trying to quietly take over school boards through local elections. In Nevada, two former members are running close races, and because they are not formally endorsed by the organization, they have largely managed to slip under the radar.
According to Queer News Network, Lorena Biasotti and Lydia Dominguez are running for school board trustee positions in Clark County (the district that includes Las Vegas and oversees over 300,000 students). Neither have experience in education, and they are campaigning to unseat actual teachers on the school board.
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Biasotti and Dominguez are former Moms for Liberty members, and they continue to advocate for a so-called “parental rights” agenda, which includes removing LGBTQ+ and racial topics from schools.
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Biasotti is a stay-at-home mom who originally founded the Moms for Liberty chapter in Clark County. Although she stepped down from her role, she has repeatedly stated that she still supports the organization’s mission. She has advocated for removing LGBTQ+ books like the graphic novel Gender Queer from libraries and has compared normalizing gender affirming care to normalizing pedophilia. She has also repeatedly been ejected from school board meetings for incendiary comments.
Dominguez is a former Air Force Reserve guard. Despite leaving her local Moms for Liberty chapter for personal reasons, she has stated that she still shares their goals. As school board trustee, she plans to scrutinize the budget to cut funding for programs she deems unnecessary and to put more police officers on school campuses.
Currently, the Movement Advancement Project gives Nevada a high ranking for LGBTQ+ equality, particularly as it concerns protections for queer youth. The Clark County school district outlines a specific policy for supporting gender diverse youth, which involves creating a “gender support team” consisting of family, school staff and community groups.
Advocates like Jenna Robertson, director of student and family advocacy Nevada Alliance for Student Diversity, have expressed concern that “parental rights” school board candidates threaten the progress Nevada has made in supporting LGBTQ+ students.
“I have been around long enough to see them, as members of the public, come and give public comments that are unhinged and often irrational,” said Robertson, who became aware of Biasotti and Dominguez through their presence at school board meetings.
“What worries me a lot is that people are not going to remember that these are the same people standing up and yelling [profanities], or talking about how masks deprive children of much needed oxygen, and calling the school board names,” said Robertson.
“If they’re saying that from the dais of the fifth-largest school district in the country, I’m really worried.”
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