Anti-LGBTQ Rhetoric Surges After Passage of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
Florida’s HB 1557, Parental Rights in Education Act—dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by adversaries—resulted in controversy and concern around the country; the opposition specifically has expressed that the rippling effects of the law would harm the LGBTQ community.
Following the passage of HB 1557 on March 8, a wave of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and hate spread across the nation and online.
“Digital Hate Online: Social Media’s Role in Amplifying Dangerous Lies About LGBTQ People,” a report conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and the Human Rights Campaign, states that the month following the enactment of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, “groomer” slurs directed toward LGBTQ Twitter users surged by 406%. Posts rose from 1,307 tweets containing the slur in February to 6,607 in April.
Tweets containing hashtags and “OK Groomer” verbiage spiked by 2,465% resulting in 9,219 tweets per day or one per second.
Ok, groomer. pic.twitter.com/giW0KU76UW
— Matt’s Idea Shop (@MattsIdeaShop) March 27, 2022
“By signing this bill, Governor DeSantis has chosen to target some of Florida’s most vulnerable students and families, all while under the guise of ‘parents’ rights,’” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona says in a statement. “Make no mistake: This is a part of a disturbing and dangerous trend across the country of legislation targeting LGBTQI+ students, educators, and individuals.”
The report also states that “’Grooming’ rhetoric is being spread by a small group of radical extremists as part of a coordinated and concerted effort to attack LGBTQ+ kids to rile up extreme members of their base…”
Researchers identified the 500 most-viewed tweets which were viewed approximately 72 million times and discovered that 10 people had a cumulative 48 million views including, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, author and activist James Lindsay, Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert, Christina Pushaw, and Turning Point USA contibutor Frank Dew Hernandez.
“There are groomers of all sexual orientation and gender identities. My tweets did not mention LGBTQ people at all. Florida’s parental rights law likewise does not single out any identity or orientation.” DeSantis’ press secretary, Christina Pushaw tells NBC. “The only side playing into the hands of bigots are the progressive activists who pretend that ‘grooming’ is somehow unique to the ‘LGBTQ community.’ It is not, and I do not understand why the Human Rights Campaign would want the public to think otherwise.”
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
According to CCDH’s report, the consequences of online anti-LGBTQ hate manifest in legislation, mental health, and physical violence with nearly one and five hate crimes being anti-LGBTQ motivated.
Time Magazine reports that “Pen America, a nonprofit organization that advocates for free expression, tracked 22 other bills that would explicitly restrict educational speech on LGBTQ issues that were introduced into state legislatures this year,” including Alabama’s HB322, which passed April 7. HB322 is the state’s version of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and bans classroom instruction and discussion about LGBTQ issues from kindergarten to fifth grade in “a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate,” according to Alabama state standards.
Two-thirds of LGBTQ youth say the current and proposed state policies have had a negative impact on their mental health, according to NBC News and a survey conducted by The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for questioning and LGBTQ young people.
“Recent political attacks aimed at transgender and nonbinary youth have not only threatened their access to healthcare, support systems, and affirming spaces at school,” Trevor Project Research Scientist, Dr. Jonah DeChants says, “they’ve also negatively impacted their mental health.”
A 2022 Trevor Project survey reports that 45% of LGBTQ youth aged 13 to 18 seriously considered committing suicide in the last year. However, youth who found their community, home, and school to be LGBTQ-affirming had lower rates of attempted suicide.
“We’re in the middle of a growing wave of hate and demonization targeting LGBTQ+ people, often distributed digitally by opportunistic politicians and so-called ‘influencers’ for personal gain,” says Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, in a statement. “Online hate and lies reflect and reinforce offline violence and hate. The normalization of anti-LGBTQ+ narratives in digital spaces puts LGBTQ+ people in danger.”
