Phillip Fisher Jr. is a pastor and Republican ward leader who coordinates faith-based outreach for Philadelphia’s Moms for Liberty chapter.

He’s also a registered sex offender, due to a 2012 felony conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy when Fisher was 25.

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    i like how moms for liberty’s whole thing is that trans women are taking away opportunities from cis women and yet the leader of moms for liberty is a cis man.

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      1 year ago

      I would never cease to point out to them how liberal it is that they don’t discriminate by gender for the leader of Mom’s for Liberty.

  • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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    Fenerty said he was unaware of Fisher’s conviction until asked about it by The Inquirer last week.

    Are they not doing background checks on these idiots before hiring them?

    • Affidavit
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      Only a few sentences later it’s specified that they obtained a child abuse certificate for them which came back with ‘no records exist’.

      Happy to dis silly conservative groups, but it honestly looks like they did their due diligence with background checks.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I saw that, but then the next paragraph says:

        Fisher is listed on Pennsylvania’s “Megan’s Law” website for registered sex offenders, maintained by the Pennsylvania State Police, in a file last updated in July.

        So it doesn’t seem like it would have been too difficult to find. A controversial political group claiming to “think of the children” should try really hard to make sure they aren’t employing convicted sex offenders, especially in any kind of leadership role.

    • spaceghoti@lemmy.oneOP
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      1 year ago

      There’s an obligatory reminder that he is not a drag queen that should go here. Since conservatives keep insisting that drag queens are all (or mostly) pedophiles.

    • SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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      If you have this kind of skeleton in your closet why the hell would you go into politics? Even local politics. You WILL piss someone off and they WILL dig up your past. Idiot.

      Just put an “R” next to your name; problem solved!

    • SoylentBlake@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Eh I agree with your first few points but his attire looks as 2023 as 2013 or 2003.

      If dude just wants to be his dude self, I don’t think that’s a knock y’know. Then again, I was laughing when I read about Fetterman in his hoodie and ball shorts in the Senate, where I think your Sundays best is appropriate. So take my opinion for what may. I’m 42 and I still own ripped up jeans and flannels that I’ve worn since the mid 90s. I don’t wear them all the time but that’s still just me being me. More often than not you’d find me in a plain color or white T, prob with the sleeves rolled up over my shoulder and shorts on. Doesn’t matter what time of year. In the winter id prob be in mud boots and in the summer I wear water socks almost exclusively.

      You dress how you feel. My body still feels like I’m 25, just with numb hands in the morning and more scars, well, and in better shape. I haven’t slowed down at all. If anything I’ve sped up.

    • June@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I agree with everything but your edit. He’s a millennial, this is how a lot of us dress.

  • Beefalo@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    I gotta hand it to ya, Philly, you don’t act predictable. This Mom for Liberty is a black man Republican, checkmate, atheists.

    • AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I was about to say, how is a black Republican man leading a women’s group? Does he have godlike rizz? Is it possible to learn this power?

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    The national Moms for Liberty organization held a summit in Philadelphia this past summer, where denying transgender identity for children and removing books from school libraries were major themes.

    Meanwhile, back at his church:

    Fisher has supported Trump’s campaigns; a 2020 report by WHYY included a mural in support of Trump that Fisher said was painted on an exterior wall of his church by children he worked with in his congregation.

    The charging documents allege that Fisher had oral and anal sex with the 14-year-old boy in January 2011

    Fisher said he took the plea bargain to get out of the county jail, where he said he experienced violence from other prisoners.

    Wew. That was a wild ride.

    • spaceghoti@lemmy.oneOP
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      1 year ago

      I’m sure some are, but they shouldn’t be. Meanwhile, the MFL assholes are probably claiming it’s all just a smear campaign.

      • eric@lemmy.world
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        Yeah, those pesky lefties and their time machines going back in time to frame good people years before they joined MFL. When will they learn that neo-cons are smarter than them and will quickly figure out their conspiracy while failing to provide any evidence every single time.

    • JunkMilesDavis@kbin.social
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      Definitely seems like a pattern with these things. So many of these people who are into some stuff, but rather than accept it as a personal battle, they channel everything into finding some external “evil” to help them rationalize the existence they’re struggling with. It’s too bad they can’t see how many others they’re hurting.

    • DontMakeMoreBabies@kbin.social
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      Any time another dude is more interested in someone’s kids than their parents are? Alarm bells.

      I get it, there are lots of well meaning men who care about kids. Unfortunately they present the same way as predators, and I err on the side of caution.

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          It’s a numbers game. I have to deal with the same thing in my field- men are not allowed to provide one-on-one hygiene care (bathing, toileting, cleaning waste) for female adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

          Since we’re talking about children instead of my field, 96% of people who sexually abuse children are male. Even factoring in that female perpetrators might be underreported, that is a stark number, so when people say they err on the side of caution, I’m sure you can see why only using female staff for this job would seem safer.

          Are there perfectly healthy, nurturing men who pay the price? Of course. But not as many of them as potential sexual predators it seems.

          • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Fuck me sideways, I’ve never seen such a perfect response to essentially a ‘not all men’ comment (granted this is the more unusual flavor of 'not just men’s but still)

            • flicker@kbin.social
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              Thank you!

              It’s a response I developed explaining to people why men aren’t allowed to work alone with women in my field. I often throw in, “If you were a predator, what kind of job would you look for?”

              People with developmental and intellectual disabilities are five times as likely to face this abuse as their neurologically typical peers, because many of them can’t report that abuse as effectively.

              It’s my experience that the few men of the world who find this stricture upsetting do so because either they are pretending to be one of the “good” ones in order to get close enough to abuse someone, or because they believe themselves incapable of abuse and chafe at being paint with the same brush. To them I always ask; which is more important to you, that you aren’t being seen as a potential predator, or that we have a system designed to keep as many people as possible, as safe as possible? Because we can’t have both.

  • ohlaph@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    At this point, I think I’m more surprised when the Republicans have an upstanding patron that isn’t a pedophile, rapist, or crazy religious figure.

    You seriously can’t make this up any more.

  • frezik@midwest.social
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    Fisher said he took the plea bargain to get out of the county jail, where he said he experienced violence from other prisoners.

    So he used his position as a pastor in the African American community to advocate for prison reform, right? That seems like it’d be a pretty popular position in that community.

    You say he instead decided to demonize trans kids? Well, ok, then.