The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia is facing pressure from social justice groups to backtrack on agreeing to rent out one of its event spaces to the parental rights group Moms For Liberty on Thursday, June 29.

The organization's sold-out “Joyful Warriors Summit" is scheduled to be held at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown on June 29 through July 2, but the museum event will be the summit’s opening day “Welcome to Philadelphia Reception” for summit attendees.

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Pennsylvania State Sen. Nikil Saval, representing the Philadelphia area, wrote a letter last week to the museum calling Moms for Liberty "a hate group" and urged "the museum to cancel this event and stay true to its stated values."

New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz called out Saval on Sunday for pressuring the museum.

"Moms for Liberty are absolutely not a hate group, and attempts to shut them down is due to their effectiveness. How is it not a violation of their First Amendment rights that elected officials are trying to get their event canceled? How is this not government shutting down speech?" Markowicz said.

Several museum staff members recently expressed their opposition to the museum allowing the Moms for Liberty event.

"I’ve been working for the museum for four or five years now, and I’ve always been grateful to work someplace that has been so supportive of me as a queer person. But with this — I feel a great sense of betrayal,” Ben Reed, a member of the LGBT community, said in an interview.

A petition of opposition from over 60% of the museum’s staff to the event was submitted to the museum’s President and CEO, Dr. R. Scott Stephenson. Despite the petition and the staff holding an emotionally-charged internal forum, Dr. Stephenson decided that he would not cancel the event.

“The Museum of the American Revolution strives to create an inclusive and accessible museum experience for visitors with a wide range of viewpoints and beliefs. Consistent with this mission, we make available after-hours and private rentals to groups that organize legally and safely, including federally recognized 501c4 non-profit organizations. Because fostering understanding within a democratic society is so central to our mission, rejecting visitors on the basis of ideology would, in fact, be antithetical to our purpose,” a museum spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement went on to address staff concerns, "Our staff are the lifeblood of this work. We are aware that some members of our staff do not agree with the museum’s private booking, and we will continue to do all we can to listen with intention; to make sure they know they are valued; and to accommodate them when the event date arrives.”

Activists have also been putting pressure on the summit's convention host, Marriott, to cancel its hosting of the parental rights group's annual event.

A Change.org petition titled "MARRIOTT HOTELS - JUST SAY NO TO HATE!! Refuse the Moms for Liberty National Convention" has over 28,295 signatures, and is calling on the hotel chain to "deny groups like Moms for Liberty the ability to host a hate-conference in their facility."

The author of the petition called the event "a violation of Marriott's corporate policy and an insult to their LGBTQ employees and all Americans for them to allow Moms for Liberty to use their property."

The conference speakers will include several 2024 presidential candidates, including former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

On June 30, a coalition of organizations — People for the American Way, Campaign for Our Shared Future, PA STOP Moms for Liberty, Defense of Democracy, and ACT UP Philadelphia — are coordinating a protest with featured speaker State Sen. Nikil Saval outside the Marriott hosting the summit.

Activists protesting Moms for Liberty have a full weekend of protesting planned in Philadelphia.

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"We'll be back at the Marriott dancing our hearts out to spread queer joy before Moms for Hate comes to down," ACT Up Philadelphia tweeted.

In June, the Southern Poverty Law Center released its annual Year in Hate & Extremism report for 2022 and labeled several parental rights groups as "extremist" and particularly focused on Moms for Liberty.