Failed GOP Senate candidate accuses gay dads of sexually abusing babies by hugging them

Former Republican Senate candidate Lauren Witzke is accusing two gay men of being “pedophiles” for having children and hugging them.

Witzke got the GOP’s nomination in 2020 to run for the U.S. Senate seat in Delaware but lost to Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), but she’s still active in both the media and social media. On Twitter, she posted a video from gay couple Eric and Anthony Vaughn-Trainor’s social media accounts that shows them holding their premature twins for the first time. They had children with help from a surrogate.

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It was a beautiful moment for the Vaughn-Trainor family – “This is the moment we’ve waited a lifetime for,” they wrote on the TikTok video’s description – but Witzke decided to accuse them of stealing their own children and molesting them. Her only evidence of those strong accusations appears to be the sexual orientation of the dads.

“A new fetish with pedophiles consists of robbing babies from their mothers straight out of the womb,” Witzke wrote. “This is human trafficking and in a sane society- would be illegal.”

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In response to her tweet, many people called her out. Some thought that maybe she didn’t understand what she was seeing and described “kangaroo care” to her, where parents – of any gender – hold a newborn baby on their bare chest. Experts say that it has numerous health benefits for the child.

Others accused her of slandering the Vaughn-Trainors and encouraged them to pursue legal action against her.

If you see anything sexual about this youre the pedophile in the situation

— Twice Blaked Potato (@catlovingcommie) March 16, 2023

People have been surrogating children for decades? What a strange thing to say?

— Mark (@MarkusOfCoast) March 16, 2023

Y’all better start adopting some babies because you want to force women to give birth yet also don’t want gay people to adopt children. I’m so tired of you guys acting like you give a shit about children and not doing a SINGLE thing to actually help children. Grow the fuck up

— Ms5000Watts (@Ms5000Watts) March 17, 2023

This is basic kangaroo care for parents of NICU babies to bond. This has been a standard practice for decades. What would ever possess you take someone’s NICU family videos of kangaroo care & accuse them of sexually abusing their premies? Seriously, what is wrong with you? Stop.

— Julia Pulver, MSN, RN, CCM (@VotePulver) March 17, 2023

lmao you're gonna get sued for defamation so hard you'll taste pennies

— Jake Flanagin (@jakeflanagin) March 17, 2023

You are clearly covering for actual pedophiles, by trying to dilute what the word pedophile actually means. Adoptive parents and surrogacy are not pedophilia you absolute creep.

— The Nerdskull, Woke Moralist (@the_nerd_skull) March 17, 2023

I hope they sue you.

— Alexandra Halaby🏳️‍⚧️ (@iskandrah) March 17, 2023

The mothers are paid and volunteer to do that. Why are you so mad when women give babies up for adoption instead of aborting them? I thought thats what you all wanted.

It could also be a surrogate where the egg could be from a donor.

— Josh is Rihanna (@izme_josh) March 16, 2023

If you see a father and baby and instantly think that, I reckon you should be on a list.

— 🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🇬🇧🏳️‍🌈 🐘 (@NEG4TORY) March 16, 2023

This is just straight up homophobia she would’ve ben fine if this was a straight family surrogacy program

— boythatdude (@boythatdude) March 17, 2023

They’re the parents 🤨 pretty sure it’s normal for parents (including male parents) to hold their children after birth

— Fizz-sama (@FizzAgain) March 16, 2023

//idk if this was a surrogacy or adoption but stay with me on this-

So… you people force women to carry their unwanted babies to term.

They put their unwanted babies up for adoption.

Then you people get mad when people adopt them and hold them.

Make it make sense.

— 🌺 Lady Red Cos 🌺 (@LadyRedCos) March 16, 2023

Pedophilia is when you are a man and you hold a baby I guess https://t.co/uzyITIYtze

— DreamLeaf 🌻 (@DreamLeaf5) March 16, 2023

If what Witzke was implying wasn’t clear enough, she made it more explicit when replying to comments.

“Gay couples ‘adopting’ little children is like dangling heroin in front of a drug addict every single day,” she wrote, sharing a story about gay fathers who sexually molested their kids. According to the Stop Abuse Campaign, fewer than 1% of child sex abusers identify as gay or lesbian. The American Psychological Association says, “Homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are.”

Gay couples “adopting” little children is like dangling heroin in front of a drug addict every single day. https://t.co/X2wlcXmtPv pic.twitter.com/h9tyTp7ure

— Lauren Witzke (@LaurenWitzkeDE) March 17, 2023

“The only difference between a groomer and a pedophile is access,” she wrote in a separate tweet. “Keep these creeps away from our kids.”

The only difference between a groomer and a pedophile is access.

Keep these creeps away from our kids.

— Lauren Witzke (@LaurenWitzkeDE) March 17, 2023

Witzke won the GOP primary for her U.S. Senate campaign with 57% of the vote on September 16, 2020. She went on to lose to Coons, getting 38% of the vote to his 59%.

She has since appeared on far-right radio host Rick Wiles’s show TruNews, where she claimed that she and her colleagues “battle demonic spirits” and that Wiles was hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2021 not because he’s unvaccinated but because the devil was retaliating against the show for attacking LGBTQ+ people.

In 2022, Witzke said that the Highland shooter – who killed seven people and injured at least 46 others – was transgender even though there was no reason to believe that he was not a cisgender man.

In 2021, she appeared on an online panel discussion with transgender MAGA influencer Blaire White. White said that she opposes trans children accessing gender-affirming care or transitioning, and Witzke said “Good!”

“Great! The best thing you can do for us is grow out your mustache and tell people not to live like you,” Witze told White.