Moms for Liberty founder leaves rightwing leadership role amid queer sex scandal & rape allegations

The co-founder of the anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group Moms for Liberty seems to have resigned from her most recent position in the wake of rape allegations against her husband and her own involvement in a same-sex sex scandal.

Since August 2022, Bridget Ziegler has served as the director of the School Board Leadership Program at the Leadership Institute, an organization that trains conservative activists. Ziegler is no longer listed in the role on the website, and someone new appears to have been named in her place. Bridget Ziegler is also facing calls for her to resign from the Sarasota School Board.

Related:

School board president trolls Moms for Liberty by getting sworn in on stack of banned books

The district voted out the anti-LGBTQ+ extremists from the school board. The new president found the best way to show that there’s a new sheriff in town.

At the same time, the Florida GOP appears to be working to expel or censure Bridget Ziegler’s husband, Christian Ziegler, from his role as chairman of the state’s Republican party. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has called on Christian Ziegler to resign, but he has refused, maintaining that the rape allegations against him are false.

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The woman who accused Christian Ziegler of rape told investigators that she and both of the Zieglers had planned a sexual encounter for October 2. But when Bridget Ziegler was no longer available, the woman canceled, saying, “I was mostly in for her.”

She then alleges that Christian Ziegler was waiting in the hallway outside her apartment when she opened the door to walk her dog. She says he came inside and sexually assaulted her. Christian Ziegler has admitted they had sex in her apartment but claims it was consensual.

Bridget Ziegler has since admitted to detectives that she, her husband, and her husband’s accuser were involved in a consensual sexual encounter over a year ago.

Florida GOP Vice Chair Evan Power has called a special meeting of the party to discuss what to do about Christian Ziegler. According to Florida Politics, 33 of 40 members of the executive committee agreed to hold the meeting, and the party constitution only requires half to agree. Due to a series of rules and regulations, the process of deciding what consequences Christian Ziegler should endure could take at least 30 days.

In an email to the Florida GOP when the allegations were made public, Christian Ziegler made it clear he would not go anywhere voluntarily. “We have a country to save and I am not going to let false allegations of a crime put that mission on the bench as I want for this process to wrap up,” he wrote.

Chaos has also begun to reign on Moms for Liberty. This week, a Pennsylvania chapter split from the national organization. Clarissa Paige, chair of the Northumberland County chapter, is planning to turn the local group into the Northumberland County Academic Alliance.

Paige said that, based on private discussions going on among the chapters, more are likely to defect.