Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, accused the opponents of Florida’s anti-LGBTQ bill ‘groomers.’ The term is a reference to people who help “groom” children for pedophiles and other abusers.
.@GovRonDeSantis press secretary @ChristinaPushaw calls sex ed bill opponents 'groomers', a reference to pedophiles and those who help them.
Reporting by @ScottFisthttps://t.co/w5WeFqpvrz #FlaPol pic.twitter.com/ohWFPvnebB
— Florida Politics (@Fla_Pol) March 7, 2022
The bill in question is HB 1557, which has already passed in the state House and is on the state Senate’s calendar for Monday.
The bill officially is entitled “Parental Rights in Education.” Opponents refer to the legislation as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill because it bans any mention of homosexuality in lower grade levels like contributions in history by LGBTQ Americans or even mentioning having same-sex parents.
From Florida Politics:
The bill would ban kindergarten through third grade classroom “instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity,” or “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
The legislation does not restrict the topics from being barred across all ages if the school district deems the instruction age-appropriate. Nor does it more broadly restrict sex education for younger students.
Democrats tried to amend the bill to explicitly prohibit “sex education” in those lower grade levels instead of being specifically about LGBTQ issues. Those efforts were shot down. That underscored assertions of the bill’s opponents that the bill isn’t really about banning sex education, but about banning any classroom references to LGBTQ issues.
If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children. Silence is complicity. This is how it works, Democrats, and I didn’t make the rules.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) March 4, 2022
On Friday, Pushaw tweeted, “If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children. Silence is complicity. This is how it works, Democrats, and I didn’t make the rules.”
p.s. 7 Republicans in the House voted against the bill as well.
Recent polling shows only four in ten Floridians support the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and nearly half – 49% – oppose it. So, Pushaw is talking about half of the state’s residents.
This is Governor DeSantis’s press secretary calling LGBTQ+ ppl “groomers” — this is disgusting, homophobic & transphobic, & an insult to people who experience sexual assault.
BTW: 7 House Republicans voted NO on this bill — the opposition is bipartisan because it’s a bad bill. pic.twitter.com/IANJgSDg84
— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) March 6, 2022
Christina Pushaw, the Press Secretary to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), defended the homophobic "don't say gay" bill #HB1557 by falsely comparing opponents of the measure to "groomers", a homophobic trope baselessly painting LGBTQ+ people as "predators."https://t.co/8Ks6ZOIDs4
— Justin Gibson (@JGibsonDem) March 7, 2022
Read the full report at Florida Politics.