In an email to potential campaign contributors, Theis criticized “Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Snowflake) who are outraged they can’t teach can’t groom and sexualize kindergarteners.”Ĭlearly, some Republicans see this as a potent campaign issue, along with banning certain books from schools and limiting classroom discussion of racial issues. McMorrow then castigated the “closed-minded harmful words from a sitting Senator under the guise of a ‘prayer’” on Twitter, adding that every child in Michigan is “perfect and welcome and loved for being exactly who you are.” Lana Theis, during an invocation, said “children are under attack” because there are “forces that desire things for them other than what their parents would have them see and hear and know.” The dispute started when McMorrow and a couple of fellow senators walked out of an earlier legislative session after Republican Sen. “We cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to scapegoat and deflect from the fact that they’re not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people’s lives.” “People who are different are not the reason our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment, or health care costs are too high, or teachers are leaving the profession. “You can’t claim that you’re targeting marginalized kids in the name of ‘parental rights’ if another parent is standing up and saying no. McMorrow gave some of her personal background and said, “I’m a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom.” A video of the speech quickly went viral. “I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen,” McMorrow said on the Senate floor. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat, publicly called out a Republican colleague for accusing her of seeking to groom children - in a fundraising message. The grooming controversy may have hit a watershed moment last week, when Michigan state Sen. Moran noted that he helped kill an amendment to the Florida bill that would have required teachers to report when students expressed questions about their gender identity or sexual orientation. This is a parental rights thing.”īut he noted that other states have bills on this topic that go further and “some of them are truly dangerous.” I’m consistently reminding everyone: This is not a gay rights thing. “There are some people who are turning this into an attempt to claw back progress on LGBT issues,” Moran said. “This vile and false rhetoric has been used against LGBTQ people for decades now it’s being used to smear anyone who supports our community and any political opponent,” a GLAAD spokesperson told The Hill.Ĭharles Moran, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group representing LGBTQ conservatives and straight allies that pushes for greater inclusivity in the GOP, told the Post he believes critics are overreaching on the Florida bill, which he does not oppose. GLAAD, which has pushed for greater acceptance for LGBTQ people for more than three decades, wasn’t buying it. Pushaw told The Washington Post LGBTQ people were not being singled out “because groomers can be of any orientation or identity.” The current iteration - broader and less extreme sounding - seeks to cast aspersions on and marginalize LGBTQ people and their supporters, replete with some calls to roll back gay rights, including same-sex marriage.
pizza restaurant at the center of the bizarre rumors faced threats and occasional violence from extreme believers. It seemed like a bad joke, except too many people took it seriously. The rumors refused to die, no matter how many times they have been exposed as a sham. The current grooming canard is a direct descendant of the wild “ Pizzagate” conspiracy theory of child sex-trafficking, Satanic rituals and even cannibalism that surfaced in 2016 and targeted prominent Democrats. A “groomer” cultivates a relationship with a child to eventually exploit or abuse that child.