Massachusetts Family Institute

Massachusetts Family Institute logo: a cartoon image of a building in red with a dome, columns, and a turret or belltower on top.

Page Last Updated: 03/2025

Background

The Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) is an anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion, Christofascist lobbying group. It was established in 1991 and is based in Wakefield, MA (ProPublica, 2023). MFI opposes gay marriage, abortion rights, and the rights of transgender people (MFI, n.d.-b). As noted on the FashAlert MA website, “They promote the belief that LGBT-inclusive education and medical care are forms of child sexual abuse and that LGBT people are abusers, a libel likely to inspire violence” (FashAlert MA, n.d.). In August 2024, MFI launched the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center (MLLC), which pursues litigation to advance MFI’s goals (Whiting, 2024a).

National Web of Christofascist Groups

MFI is part of a web of Christian-supremacist organizations trying to force their anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion views on the public through lobbying, lawsuits, and other tactics. MFI lists four national allies on its website:

  • Family Research Council, which has been designated as a hate group and “one of the most powerful religious-right lobbying groups in the country” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC, n.d.-b). Family Research Council promotes model legislation* to bar gender-affirming medical care for trans youth (FRC, 2022). Such legislation has gained traction in a number of states (McMillan et al., 2023). They also lobby against gay marriage and abortion rights (SPLC, n.d.-b).
  • Focus on the Family, which has been a longtime opponent of gay marriage and LGBTQ rights (Ford, 2011). Focus on the Family maintains a “Christian Counselors Network” that refers people for anti-LGBTQ “conversion therapy,” a harmful and unethical practice condemned by health and human rights experts (Cariboni & Hess, 2021).
  • Alliance Defending Freedom, which has also been designated as a hate group by the SPLC. According to the SPLC, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) “is a legal advocacy and training group that has supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia; and claims that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society” (SPLC, n.d.-a). ADF created the model legislation for many states’ “bathroom bills,” seeking to restrict the rights of transgender people to access bathrooms (O’Hara, 2017). ADF openly claims credit for helping overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating constitutional protection for abortion care (ADF, 2024).
  • First Liberty Institute, a law organization which the SPLC describes as anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice (SPLC, 2017). First Liberty Institute works to “erode the firewall between church and state” (Barajas, 2017).

* Model legislation is when special interest groups (which are typically well-moneyed) prefabricate bills that would achieve a particular political goal (Levinthal, 2019). Politicians can introduce the legislation in their own local or national governing bodies, saving them the time and energy of writing the bill themselves.

Connections to Local Christofascist Groups

In September 2022, MFI CEO Michael King gave a presentation at a meeting of Citizens Organized to Restore Rights, or CORR (CORR, 2022). CORR is a Christofascist organization based in Massachusetts and Rhode Island that supports extremist candidates for local government.

King also spoke at the 2024 March for Jesus. This event was organized by Revive Boston, which teaches ​​​​​​​explicitly anti-gay, anti-trans, and Islamophobic beliefs, including that homosexuality is a “demon” (Berger & Hilliard, 2024). Revive Boston’s founder, James/Jaymz Sideras, is a board member of MFI (ProPublica, 2023). At the event, King spoke against sex education and education about race in public schools, and made transphobic comments about the inclusion of trans girls in sports.

MFI CEO Michael King stands at a podium, holding a microphone. A Dell laptop is in front of him. Behind him is the flag of CORR, Citizens Organized to Restore Rights, with CORR's name and logo in white on a black background. We can see part of CORR's logo, which includes an eagle and stars. In the bottom right is a scarecrow decoration. King is a middle-aged white man with short gray-brown hair and glasses. He is wearing a black suit jacket and a black shirt.
MFI CEO Michael King speaking at a CORR meeting in September 2022.
Other Notable Affiliations

MFI’s board chair is David Stubblebine (ProPublica, 2023). He is president of the Stubblebine Company, a real estate business based in Lexington, MA, which sponsors the annual MFI banquet (MFI, n.d.-c; The Stubblebine Company, n.d.).

Massachusetts Informed Parents Facebook Page

As noted by FashAlert MA, “Massachusetts Informed Parents is a Facebook group run primarily by Mary Ellen Siegler, an employee of MFI. Members of the group post about content they find objectionable in their local schools or libraries, the vast majority of which pertains to LGBTQ+ people. Other content pertains to ‘Critical Race Theory,’ Social Emotional Learning, or abortion” (FashAlert MA, n.d.).

As of November 2024, administrators on the Massachusetts Informed Parents group included MFI; MFI employees Mary Ellen Siegler, Jessica Richardson, and Mariah Newell; and former MFI employee Peter Greninger (MFI, n.d.-a; Greninger, n.d.; Massachusetts Informed Parents, n.d.).

In January 2023, Siegler posted in the Massachusetts Informed Parents group attacking a drag queen story hour in Taunton, MA, including the name of the performer and pictures from their personal social media (Massachusetts Informed Parents, 2023a; FashAlert MA, n.d.). Two days later, neo-Nazi group Nationalist Social Club-131 disrupted the drag queen story hour event, shouting anti-gay slurs and intimidating families to the point where some left the event (Patkin, 2023).

Screenshot of the Massachusetts Informed Parents Facebook page. At the top it says in yellow and blue "Massachusetts Informed Parents" with the tagline in black "Equipping parents. Protecting kids." To the right of this heading is an outline of the state of Massachusetts in yellow, with MIP written in the center. To the left it says in black "Invite friends to join now." There are three images of K-12 students of various ages and races in school settings. Below that, the information for the facebook page is displayed: It's a public group, with 13.5K members. Below is a list of 11 admins & moderators: Peter Greninger, Ava Newbery, Massachusetts Family Institute, Jennifer Beaulieu, Mariah Newell, Ashley Paige, Mary Ellen Siegler, Juliet LeBlanc (Assistant Director at Lesley University), Jess Richardson, Anne Fernandes, Megan Paradis (Executive Director at First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center)
A screenshot of the administrators on the Massachusetts Informed Parents Facebook group, taken November 14, 2024.
2018 Anti-Trans Ballot Measure

MFI was a leading proponent of the 2018 Massachusetts ballot question that aimed to repeal the state law protecting the rights of transgender people to access public accommodations (No on 3, 2016; Robison, 2016). This proposal was soundly defeated by Massachusetts voters, with 66% of voters choosing to keep the anti-discrimination law in place (Massachusetts Statewide Ballot Measures, n.d.).

Picture of Andrew Beckwith, who at the time was MFI's president, standing in front of the John W. McCormack Building at One Ashburton Place. He is a middle-aged white man with short brown hair, wearing a dark suit and a blue tie. He holds a sign in pink and blue that reads "Keep MA Safe." The picture is posted on the Facebook page of the "No on 3 - Keep MA Safe" campaign. The page's logo shows a stick figure in pants standing on a toilet, looking over a wall at a stick figure in a dress. The date of the post is July 19, 2016. The caption on the photo reads, "Massachusetts Family Institute's Andrew Beckwith filing the petition with the Secretary of State's office on behalf of 21 courageous and dedicated citizens to initiate the repeal process." In a comment, the campaign has written "Please help us gather 50,000 signatures to repeal the Bathroom Bill. We need to accomplish this by September 22nd. Go to www.keepmasafe.org to sign up to volunteer and a field director will be in touch with you! For the safety and privacy of our children!"
A 2016 picture of Andrew Beckwith, MFI’s president at the time, filing paperwork to launch an effort to strip rights from transgender people in Massachusetts.
Attacks on Schools, Libraries, Kids, and Teachers

In the last few years, MFI has targeted a number of Massachusetts school districts for having LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum, policies, and events, and for hiring LGBTQ+ teachers. MFI has also pressured public libraries into hosting anti-LGBTQ events. Here are some examples of these activities:

  • In April 2022, MFI and members of the Massachusetts Informed Parents group exerted pressure to cancel an “Over the Rainbow” dance for LGBTQ+ teenagers in Newburyport, including asking members to call elected officials in opposition and personally attacking a drag performer on social media. The dance had to change venues, but it went ahead and adults from the community showed up to support youth as they entered (Rogers, 2022; FashAlert MA, n.d.).
  • Also in April 2022, MFI helped file a lawsuit against Ludlow Public Schools for a policy that affirmed transgender children. The case was dismissed by a federal judge and later by a federal appeals court (Barry, 2022; Beckwith, 2022; Fox, 2022; GLAD Law, 2023; Raymond, 2023; Andersen, 2025).
  • In 2023, MFI filed a lawsuit against Middleboro Public Schools on behalf of a student who wanted to wear a transphobic shirt to school. After a circuit court ruled against the student, he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court with legal representation from the Alliance Defending Freedom (Stern, 2023; Butler, 2024).
  • In January 2023, MFI president Andrew Beckwith exerted legal pressure to force the Chelmsford Public Library into hosting a transphobic “Pastor Story Hour” (after the event had initially been canceled for violating the library’s policies). Kendall Lankford, teaching pastor of The Shepherd’s Church, indicated in a blog post that he had planned the event to counter LGBTQ-inclusive drag queen story hours (Fox, 2023; Beckwith, 2023).
  • In 2024, MFI published an “exposé” of Massachusetts school districts with LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum and events, as well as those which had hired non-binary teachers. Targeted districts included Acton, Arlington, Ashland, Billerica, Burlington, Cambridge, Danvers, East Longmeadow, Leominster, Maynard, Natick, Newton, Somerville, Sutton, Swampscott, Uxbridge, and Winchester. Events that MFI objected to included “No Name Calling Week” for elementary schoolers and the reading of picture books featuring trans characters (Richardson, 2024; Massachusetts Informed Parents, 2024). In 2025, it also published attacks on the curricula of Lexington and Beverly Public Schools and Blackstone-Millville Regional School District (Massachusetts Informed Parents, 2025a, 2025b & 2025c).
  • In October 2024, MFI pressured the Tewksbury Public Library to reinstate an event spreading transphobic narratives about transgender athletes, after it was initially cancelled (MFI, 2024; Reynolds, 2024).
  • MFI and Massachusetts Informed Parents maintain a “Parent Advisory Book List” of over 100 books that they advocate to have removed from schools and libraries. Reasons for placing books on the list include “LGBTQIA+ relationship,” “LGBTQIA+ parenting,” “queer & non-binary identities,” and “gay rights” (Newell, 2023; Massachusetts Informed Parents, 2023b).
  • In 2025, MFI’s Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center (MLLC) announced that it would serve as local counsel in a lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, the NCAA, and the Ivy League over the inclusion of a trans woman athlete on UPenn’s women’s swim team (Whiting, 2025b).
  • MFI supports a transphobic bill introduced in the Massachusetts legislature in January 2025, which seeks to legitimize discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming children in high school sports. CORR member Katie Ferreira-Aubin is listed as a petitioner on the bill. In a quote to NBC, MFI’s general counsel Sam Whiting framed the bill as an opportunity to “take the lead of the president,” referring to Trump’s executive order banning trans women from women’s sports (Doran, 2025). MFI held a rally and press conference in support of the bill at the Massachusetts State House on February 5 (MFI, 2025).
Racist Policy Advocacy

As noted by local LGBTQ+ activist group Stonewall Liberation Organization (SLO), “While MFI currently has its sights set on oppressing queer & trans folks, its roots and much of its policy positions remain firmly rooted in racism” (SLO, 2023).

One example is MFI’s 2014 Fatherlessness in Massachusetts report. As SLO notes, “‘fatherlessness’ is a not-so-subtle reference to the racist trope of the ‘absent Black father’ popularized by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.” The 1965 Moynihan Report characterized Black families as a “tangle of pathology” (BlackPast, 2007). Commentators have connected the report’s portrayal of Black families and communities to the rise of the racist “welfare queen” trope and to “tough on crime” laws that led to mass incarceration of Black Americans (Coates, 2015; Klug, 2016; Lopez, 2024). It is notable that MFI’s report quotes Moynihan (MFI, 2014). The original MFI report and a 2023 update also advocate for “Welfare Reform: Reforms to help encourage marriage among those receiving public assistance” (MFI, 2023).

MFI advocates for criminal prosecution for the simple possession of marijuana, a policy that is known to lead to disproportionate criminalization of Black people (SLO, 2023; MFI, 2018). The American Civil Liberties Union calculates that from 2010-2018, “Black people [were] 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, notwithstanding comparable usage rates” (ACLU, 2020).

Finally, MFI’s push for book bans also targets books by Black authors that deal with themes of racism and racial justice, like The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (SLO, 2023; Hogan, 2023; MFI, 2022).

Advocacy Against Abortion Care

The first action of MFI’s Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center (MLLC) was to sue the state of Massachusetts and the nonprofit Reproductive Equity Now over their efforts to raise public awareness about the dangers of anti-abortion centers (so-called “crisis pregnancy centers”) (Whiting, 2024b). These types of centers pose as comprehensive medical providers and use deceptive practices to attract patients. They often “spread disinformation about abortion care and fail to counsel patients about all their options, delaying or dissuading people from accessing abortion” (EOHHS, 2024). MLLC collaborated with the American Center for Law and Justice, a sister organization of Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism, to bring the lawsuit (Whiting, 2024b; ACLJ, 2024; InfluenceWatch, n.d.). They aim to stop the defendants from informing the public about the risks of these anti-abortion centers’ predatory practices. MLLC filed another lawsuit against Reproductive Equity Now in January 2025 (Whiting, 2025a).

In 2023, MFI claimed credit for defeating efforts to curb the deceptive advertising practices of “crisis pregnancy centers” in Worcester, Framingham, and Easthampton (Whiting, 2023).

Affiliated People:
  • Andrew Beckwith (President Emeritus)
  • Michael King (CEO)
  • Mariah Newell (Communications and Social Media Specialist; administrator on Massachusetts Informed Parents Facebook page)
  • Jessica Richardson (Communications and Research Assistant; administrator on Massachusetts Informed Parents Facebook page)
  • Demetri “James”/”Jaymz” Sideras (Board member; Founder of Revive Boston)
  • Mary Ellen Siegler (Director of Communications, Research, and Operations; administrator on Massachusetts Informed Parents Facebook page)
  • David Stubblebine (Board chair; President of the Stubblebine Company)
  • Sam Whiting (General Counsel for MFI and the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center)

Full list of MFI staff here.

Full list of MFI board here.

Sources

ACLJ – American Center for Law and Justice. (2024, August 20). ACLJ Files Lawsuit Against Governor of Massachusetts and the Abortion Lobby on Behalf of Christian Pregnancy Center To Stop Vicious Smear Campaign Aimed at Shutting Down Pro-Life Centers and Promoting Abortion.

ACLU – American Civil Liberties Union. (2020, April 16). A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform.

ADF – Alliance Defending Freedom. (2024, January 10). What You May Not Know: How ADF Helped Overturn Roe v. Wade.

Andersen, T. (2025, February 24). Appeals court rules against parents who sued Mass. school system for concealing child’s gender identity. Boston Globe.

Barajas, M. (2017, September 8). Trump nominates lawyers from anti-LGBT ‘religious freedom’ group to be Texas federal judges. Texas Observer.

Barry, S. (2022, December 15). Federal judge rules in favor of Ludlow schools in lawsuit over treatment of transgender students. Mass Live.

Beckwith, A. (2022, April 19). Defending Parental Rights in Ludlow, MA. Massachusetts Family Institute.

Beckwith, A. (2023, January 13). BREAKING: Chelmsford Library restores today’s Pastor Story Hour after MFI intervenes. Massachusetts Family Institute.

Berger, A., & Hilliard, J. (2024, August 26). Worshipers gather on Boston Common for Revive Boston ‘celebration of faith’. Boston Globe.

BlackPast. (2007, January 21). (1965) The Moynihan Report: The Negro Family, the Case for National Action. BlackPast.org.

Butler, C. (2024, October 10). Middleboro student appeals free speech T-shirt case to U.S. Supreme Court. What to know. The Enterprise.

Cariboni, D., & Hess, J. (2021, November 24). US Christian Right group accused of promoting anti-LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’. openDemocracy.

Coates, T. (2015, October). The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration. The Atlantic.

CORR – Citizens Organized to Restore Rights. (2022, September 26). CORR Mtg 9-26-22 Movie. [Video].

Doran, S. (2025, February 5). Bill would gives female athletes new option in Mass. school sports. NBC Boston.

EOHHS – Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. (2024, June 10). Healey-Driscoll Administration Launches First-in-the-Nation Public Education Campaign on the Dangers of Anti-Abortion Centers [Press release].

FashAlert MA (n.d.) The Anti-LGBT Movement in Massachusetts. Retrieved November 29, 2023.

Ford, Z. (2011, May 25). Jim Daly Still Unsure of Focus On The Family’s Focus. ThinkProgress.

Fox, J. (2022, April 14). Four parents sue Ludlow Public Schools for policy that affirms transgender children. Boston Globe.

Fox, J. (2023, January 12). Chelmsford Public Library reinstates ‘pastor story hour’ after church claims rights were violated. Boston Globe.

FRC – Family Research Council. (2022, April 1). State Policy Brief: Save Adolescents from
Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

GLAD Law. (2023, June 27). Foote v. Town of Ludlow.

Greninger, P. (n.d.) Peter Greninger. LinkedIn. Retrieved November 14, 2024.

Hogan, C. (2023, March 31). Book banning debates grip Rochester, Dartmouth and Mattapoisett school elections. The New Bedford Light.

InfluenceWatch. (n.d.). Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE). Retrieved January 8, 2025.

Klug, S. (2016, Winter). The Moynihan Report Resurrected. Dissent.

Levinthal, D. (2019, November 20). Why you should care about ‘model legislation’. The Center for Public Integrity.

Lopez, A. (2024, March 21). When Southern Segregationists Gave Black Residents One-Way Bus Tickets North. Time.

Massachusetts Informed Parents. (2023a, January 13). Screenshot of a post by Mary Ellen Siegler. Facebook.

Massachusetts Informed Parents. (2023b, March 28). Parental Advisory Book List.

Massachusetts Informed Parents. (2024, February 23). Arlington Public Schools Steals the Rainbow.

Massachusetts Informed Parents. (2025a, February 4). According to the Lexington Public Schools, some kids are “misgendered at birth.” They teach this to middle schoolers. The LPS. [X post]. X.

Massachusetts Informed Parents. (2025b, February 5). Blackstone-Millville Sex Ed Pushes Planned Parenthood on 5th Graders.

Massachusetts Informed Parents. (2025c, March 20). Beverly Public Schools Virtue Signal, Give Literal “Sex Guides” to Minors.

Massachusetts Informed Parents. (n.d) Members. Facebook.

Massachusetts Statewide Ballot Measures: 1919-Present. (n.d.). Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved October 11, 2024.

McMillan, J., Harjai , K., & Kruesi, K. (2023, May 20). Many transgender health bills came from a handful of far-right interest groups, AP finds. AP.

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute. (2014, October). Fatherlessness in Massachusetts: The Economic and Social Costs to Our Commonwealth.

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute. (2018, January 10). Federal Prosecutor Won’t Turn a Blind Eye to Marijuana.

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute. (2022, September 21). Massachusetts Informed Parents is doing a great job of informing parents of the graphic content in schools across Massachusetts! See [Status update]. Facebook.

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute. (2023). Fatherlessness in Massachusetts: The Economic and Social Costs to Our Commonwealth.

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute. (2024, October 4). Free Speech Prevails as Tewksbury Library Reinstates Webinar on Biological Truth.

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute. (2025, January 16). Massachusetts Family Institute Announces Rally and Press Conference for Protect Female Athletes Bill [Press release].

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute (n.d.-a). Meet Our Staff. Retrieved November 14, 2024.

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute. (n.d.-b). MFI Mission. Retrieved October 3, 2024.

MFI – Massachusetts Family Institute. (n.d.-c). 33rd Annual Fundraising Banquet. Retrieved October 12, 2024.

Newell, M. (2023, September 6). Essential Back-to-School Resources for MA Parents. Massachusetts Family Institute.

No on 3 – Keep MA Safe. (2016, July 19). Massachusetts Family Institute’s Andrew Beckwith filing the petition with the Secretary of State’s office on behalf of 21 courageous and [Image attached] [Status update]. Facebook.

O’Hara, M. E. (2017, April 8). This law firm is linked to anti-transgender bathroom bills across the country. NBC News. 

Patkin, A. (2023, January 18). Neo-nazi group interrupts a drag queen story hour in Taunton. Boston.com.

ProPublica. (2023). Massachusetts Family Institute Inc – Nonprofit Explorer. Retrieved October 3, 2024.

Raymond, N. (2023, September 13). Parents challenge Massachusetts’ school district’s gender identity policy. Reuters.

Reynolds, L. (2024, October 2). Massachusetts library’s talk on males, females in sports stirs scheduling snafus. Boston Herald.

Richardon, J. (2024, August 22). Top 10 Woke Things MFI Found in MA Schools. Massachusetts Family Institute.

Robison, B. (2016, August 17). Join us as we fight to Keep MA Safe!. Massachusetts Family Institute. 

Rogers, D. (2022, May 23). Organizers call Newburyport teen dance featuring drag queen a success. The Daily News of Newburyport.

SLO – Stonewall Liberation Organization [@stonewall_liberation_org]. (2023, October 4). While MFI currently has its sights set on oppressing queer & trans folks, its roots and much of its policy. [Instagram post]. Instagram. Retrieved December 9, 2024.

SPLC – Southern Poverty Law Center (2017, December 21). Anti-LGBT Roundup of events and activities 12/21/17. Retrieved October 3, 2024.

SPLC – Southern Poverty Law Center. (n.d.-a). Alliance Defending Freedom. Retrieved October 3, 2024.

SPLC – Southern Poverty Law Center. (n.d.-b). Family Research Council. Retrieved October 3, 2024.

Stern, A. (2023, September 22). What’s Massachusetts Family Institute? Why it backs Middleboro boy in free speech fight. The Enterprise.

The Stubblebine Company. (n.d.). Meet the Team. Retrieved November 14, 2024.

Whiting, S. (2023, October 20). MFI VICTORY in Worcester! Anti-life Ordinance Fails!

Whiting, S. (2024a, August 13). Introducing Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center: Dedicated to Restoring Fundamental Rights in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center.

Whiting, S. (2024b, August 20). BREAKING: Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center and ACLJ Sue State for Attacks on Pro-Life Centers. Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center.

Whiting, S. (2025a, January 29). BREAKING: MLLC Files New Defamation Lawsuit on Behalf of Bethlehem House PRC. Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center. 

Whiting, S. (2025b, February 6). BREAKING: MLLC to Serve as Local Counsel on Ivy League and NCAA Lawsuit. Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center. 

Note: “n.d.” = no date