Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) shared video footage of a chant from New York City’s Pride celebrations over the weekend as proof – for her – that LGBTQ+ people want to sexually abuse children.
The short clip from Friday night’s Drag March in Manhattan shows people chanting, “We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re coming for your children,” a sarcastic response to the rise in anti-drag, anti-trans, and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric accusing LGBTQ+ people of sexually abusing children.
Related:
Hamburger Mary’s wins court victory against Ron DeSantis’ drag ban
The judge called the law “vague and overbroad,” saying it could apply to burlesque shows or a skit at a family BBQ.
“This movement grooms minors to have mastectomies and castration and fuels a multi billion dollar medical child abuse industry,” Greene claimed on social media.
Insights for the LGBTQ+ community
Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
“Pass the Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” she said, referring to her bill to ban age-appropriate gender-affirming care for trans youth. Her bill would also make gender-affirming care less accessible for transgender adults. “Let kids be kids.”
Greene wasn’t the only person on the right who apparently believed that the chant was an actual statement that the people marching were going to sexually abuse children. Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis tweeted: “Remember that thing they said they totally are not doing?”
“This is what EVIL looks like….” conservative podcaster Graham Allen tweeted.
Conservative media outlets – including the New York Post and Fox News – ran articles about the chant.
Several commentators compared the chant to a similar controversy in 2021 involving the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC).
The SFGMC made a video where they said that they’ll “convert your children” so that “we’ll make them tolerant and fair.” The video is obviously intended to be humor with a message – some of the lyrics included “Even grandma likes RuPaul” and “Gen Z’s gayer than Grindr” – but many on the right said that the song was an admission that LGBTQ+ people are child sex abusers and conservatives published SFGMC members’ addresses and photos online.
“We have received emails, phone messages, threats across all of our social media platforms, not just the chorus, but the staff, as well as the soloists who were featured in the song,” SFGMC executive director Chris Verdugo said at the time. “The [YouTube] comment that continues to stick out in my head is the one that said, ‘We’re going to put lead in your head.’”
“Some of our members’ jobs were contacted saying, ‘Do you know you have a pedophile working for you?’ or things of that nature. Singers on their social media have been getting threats. It’s been a harrowing 36 hours,” he continued, adding that their office had to be shut down.
“We will always accept others who may hold different values, but when violence is their choice of expression, since 1969 we have not backed down,” the SFGMC said in a statement.
Don't forget to share: