Florida’s recently-passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill isn’t going as smoothly as Republicans had hoped. The party was hoping to pass blatantly bigoted legislation under the guise of “protecting children”, thinking it would stoke massive support from the ever-grown alt-right base.
However, Americans, Hollywood, and even Disney have taken a massive stand in defense of LGBTQ people in an act of defiance the Republican party has never seen before. Now, conservatives and conservative news outlets are forced to dig themselves deeper and deeper into a hole in order to find “logical” reasons to justify supporting a bill that is widely hated by the American people.
The newest rhetorical attack the Right is pushing is a baseless claim that teachers are apparently all pedophiles. According to RawStory, Fox News hosts have recently started saying things like, “When did our public schools, any schools, become what are essentially grooming centers for gender identity radicals?” and “Liberals are sexually grooming elementary students.”
Things got even wilder this week when Fox News had playwright David Mamet on as a guest. Mamet is best known for writing the play, American Buffalo, but has since become a right-wing nutjob who believes Trump won the 2020 election and that liberals secretly control the country and media.
Deadline reports that when asked about LGBTQ issues in school, Mamet responded by saying “We have to take back control. If there’s no community control of the schools, what we have is kids being not only indoctrinated but groomed in a very real sense by people who are — whether they know it or not — sexual predators. Are they abusing the kids physically? No, I don’t think so, but they are abusing them mentally and using sex to do so. This has always been the problem with education, in that teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia.”
David Mamet on Fox News: "Teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia" pic.twitter.com/azAlXPWRUc
— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) April 11, 2022
It’s insane and horrifying that Mamet seems to think men are naturally inclined to be sexual predators. But more importantly, it needs to be remembered that conservatives have always associated homosexuality with pedophilia in order to demonize the community. It’s also important to remember that this is a complete lie. As The Washington Post reported, studies have found that a vast majority of pedophiles are actually heterosexual.
Sadly, the ones who end up suffering because of these lies is the LGBTQ community, who are once again being scapegoated in order for Republicans to gain political power.
If you want to make a stand against homophobia, join local Pride organizations, consider signing petitions to repeal homophobic bills, and get involved or donate to excellent organizations that fight for civil rights like the ACLU and Lambda Legal.
