Conservative politicians and commentators loosely and frequently accuse opponents of being “groomers” and “pedos.” It’s an ugly slur that conservatives use to target gay and trans people, and really, anyone who advocates for gay and trans rights, or simply a more civil and open society where gay and trans people can live their lives openly and freely.
Although this all seems unhinged, it’s not unprecedented. In the 1960s and ’70s, conservative opponents of school integration, women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights coalesced around a similar narrative. They wrapped concerns about social and cultural change in a grim warning that America’s children were the target of gay people who aimed to “recruit” and abuse them. In many cases, it worked. It set back LGBTQ+ rights in many states and localities and effectively stalled efforts to pass an Equal Rights Amendment and Florida seemed always at the center of the fight. In 1977, country and western singer Anita Bryant, a resident of Miami, Florida, spearheaded a successful effort to overturn standard civil rights protections for gays and lesbians. Her organization Save Our Children (SOC) played heavily into nationwide fears of a child pornography epidemic. The hype was purely fanciful, but it proved resonant.
Why The Groomer Myth Will Not Die?
- Bob Hentschel
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