Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called for violence in response to several non-binary camp counselors who may have slept in the same cabins as fifth-grade girls at a three-day science camp in California, before she accused the parents of transgender kids of “grooming” and trying to turn their kids trans because “these mothers that think [having a trans child is] like a handbag.”
“I think it’s straight evil,” Greene told rightwing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his show Infowars.
Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene complains “it just bothers me so much” that people think she’s “crazy”
“First off, if I was a parent and my fifth-grade daughter had to sleep and showered in some kind of cabin at some summer camp that I paid money to send my child to, and there was a man calling himself a woman sleeping in her cabin, showering with her, that guy would, he’d be in jail, he would be in jail,” she continued.
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While it’s still not clear exactly what happened at the science camp in the San Bernardino Mountains, the LA Blade reported that the counselors in question are non-binary and use they/them pronouns.
Moreover, not even the parents who are angered by the situation are accusing the counselors of having showered with the kids.
“Well, first off, my husband would’ve beat him into the ground, and then he’d be in jail,” Greene continued. “But this is exactly how we need to stand up against this stuff.”
“I have three daughters, but even if you don’t have daughters, can you imagine what it’s like to have full-grown men around the country showering with your daughters because they say they are biologically a woman,” Jones responded, even though, again, no one close to the situation is even accusing the counselors of showering with the girls.
“This is such perversion,” Greene said. “But it’s also grooming children. It’s grooming them to believe things that are lies and that are completely wrong. No, children are not born a certain way thinking they’re another gender.”
“Grooming” is a set of manipulative behaviors sexual predators use to gain access to potential victims, to coerce them to agree to the abuse, and to reduce the risk of getting caught, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. The process usually involves training the victims to keep secrets from adults they trust and desensitizing them to sexual discussions and touching.
Nothing in this story indicates that anyone was engaged in grooming.
Greene also denounced the parents of transgender children, saying that they “are training them that way.”
“It’s these mothers that think it’s like a handbag,” Greene said. “They need to have a boy, a girl, and a trans child like as if they’re some kind of accessory.”
Democrats and liberals are denouncing Greene’s hateful and violent rhetoric.
“GOP Rep. Greene went on TV and advocated for physical assault against Trans people,” tweeted Minnesota Democratic Party Chair Ken Martin. “If you think these ideas are outside of the mainstream of the GOP, consider this — she is the biggest GOP congressional fundraiser in the U.S.”
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, @RepMTG, went on TV and advocated for physical assault against Trans people. If you think these ideas are outside of the mainstream of the @GOP, consider this- she is the biggest GOP congressional fundraiser in the U.S. https://t.co/Xwy6gYdWlU
— Ken Martin (@kenmartin73) February 24, 2022
Greene “unequivocally put forward literal physical assault as a preferred ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’ of trans people existing in society,” tweeted author Ron Hogan.
Just to be clear, Greene was not speaking metaphorically. She unequivocally put forward literal physical assault as a preferred “solution” to the “problem” of trans people existing in society.
This is the world people like the signatories on the Harper’s letter hath wrought. https://t.co/6tEcIguhax
— Ron Hogan (@RonHogan) February 23, 2022
A spokesperson for Greene’s office denied that Greene was talking about violence at all when she said that her husband would beat up the camp counselors and said that “is exactly how we need to stand up against this stuff.”
“You are a liar,” Greene spokesperson Nick Dyer told Newsweek. “She didn’t call for violence. Stop regurgitating Democrat activists.”