Michigan Senator Slams Republican Colleague Over ‘Groomer’ Accusations in Viral Speech

Conversations about approaching history, racism, and slavery in schools are abundant today. We’ve also witnessed a resurgence in harmful LGBTQ, combatting the censorship of LGBTQ history and the existence of LGBTQ people in general, in school settings. While they are tiring to navigate, we’re still reminded of the allies in our court. One lawmaker, Michigan Senator Mallory McMorrow, is a prime example, blasting a republican colleague (and proceeding to go viral) for calling her a “groomer” who supports “pedophilia” because she didn’t want to censor race- and LGBTQ-related content in schools.

McMorrow responded to Michigan Senator Lana Theis, who, in a campaign email earlier in the week, said, “our children are under assault in our schools,” noting “gender-bending indoctrination … inappropriate sexual content, stealing their innocence … Critical Race Theory—pitting children against one another.” The email also named McMorrow,  calling her a troll and a snowflake, and saying she is “outraged” that teachers cannot “groom and sexualize kindergarteners or that 8-year-olds (sic) are responsible for slavery.”

In the now-viral speech, with more than 8 million views on social media, McMorrow fought back:

“I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme. Because you can’t claim that you are targeting marginalized kids in the name of ‘parental rights’ if another parent is standing up to say ‘no,'” McMorrow says. She adds that the Senator Theis then turned to other tactics to marginalize McMorrow as a parent.

Senator Lana Theis accused me by name of grooming and sexualizing children in an attempt to marginalize me for standing up against her marginalizing the LGBTQ community…in a fundraising email, for herself.

Hate wins when people like me stand by and let it happen. I won’t. pic.twitter.com/jL5GU42bTv

— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) April 19, 2022

“You say, ‘She’s a groomer. She supports pedophilia. She wants children to believe that they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they’re white,’” McMorrow says. She calls the notion that lessons about slavery or systemic racism are meant to make white kids feel bad or hate themselves, “absolute nonsense.”

McMorrow says no child alive today, or in the room she spoke in, is responsible for slavery, but “each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history. Each and every single one of us decides what happens next and how we respond to history and the world around us.”

“I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian,” McMorrow says. “We cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to scapegoat and deflect from the fact that they are not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people’s lives. I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.”

As of Wednesday, Theis hasn’t apologized or offered any evidence to support her unfounded claim, despite national backlash over her comments. Though, her re-election campaign issued a statement addressing McMorrow:

“Senator McMorrow is not naïve about politics and fundraising. I know that because it took her mere minutes to turn her Senate floor speech into a plea for campaign donations,” Theis says in the statement. “While Sen. McMorrow is on MSNBC preaching to her choir, I’ll keep my focus on Michigan parents, who Democrats are seeking to undermine as the primary decision-makers in the education of their children.”

Screenshot courtesy of Senator Mallory McMorrow on Twitter