Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler appears to have departed her role at the conservative Leadership Institute, which removed her name from its website in the wake of a three-way sex scandal and criminal probe involving her husband.
On Wednesday, the political news website Florida’s Voice reported that Bridget Ziegler had stepped down. Ziegler and the Leadership Institute did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast, but the organization’s website lists a new active director of its School Board Leadership Program, where Ziegler’s name was previously listed, according to an archived version of the site.
The move comes days after a local journalism watchdog revealed that Sarasota police are investigating allegations that her husband, Florida Republican chairman Christian Ziegler, raped a woman with whom the couple had previously had a ménage à trois.
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Ziegler became the think-tank’s director of school board programs in August 2022, helping to train right-leaning candidates for office.
“People are tired of their kids being exploited for the left’s political agenda,” she said in a statement announcing her new gig, which she held while serving as Sarasota’s school board chair. She added that she would help “parents in their laudable efforts to stand up for America’s children, families, and the future of our country.”
The accusations involving the Zieglers have sparked outrage among LGBTQ advocates and community members who say the couple should resign from their public positions over the hypocrisy of their anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric. Bridget Ziegler also helped Gov. Ron DeSantis create the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and stood by him as he signed it into law.
The 41-year-old mom faces calls to quit the Sarasota County School Board, which has its monthly meeting next week, and to leave her position on DeSantis’ Central Florida Tourism Oversight District—created to punish the Disney company for its opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.
Meanwhile, DeSantis and a host of other Republicans have called on Christian Ziegler to step down as the state party chair, and members of his party have called an emergency meeting to deal with the fallout from the rape accusations.
Ziegler has not been charged with any crime and denies the allegations.
According to a search warrant affidavit, Christian Ziegler contacted one of his female friends about having a sexual encounter with him and his wife on Oct. 2.
But when the woman learned Bridget Ziegler wouldn’t join the meeting, she informed him she wasn’t interested via text: “Sorry I was mostly in for her.” The woman says that Christian Ziegler showed up at her home anyway and raped her.
