Eh, showed up fine on Politico the other day.
Here I thought you people here were simply weirdos, but nope, turns out it's just another talking point.
Political operatives in Florida are as aware as anyone that language is a powerful tool. It’s why liberal activists have spent considerable effort unofficially rebranding the “Parental Rights in Education Bill” — a piece of legislation that limits what classrooms can discuss about sexual orientation and gender identity — as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. “Parental Rights in Education” sounds unobjectionable and benign. “Don’t Say Gay” makes the argument that the bill seems concerned mostly with the rights of parents who are squeamish about gay people.
Conservatives have responded with their own unofficial branding, and — oh boy. “The bill that liberals inaccurately call ‘Don’t Say Gay’ would be more accurately described as an Anti-Grooming Bill,” tweeted Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), last week. “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.”
Lot to unpack here, but let’s start with terminology: “Grooming,” as defined by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), is “manipulative behaviors that the abuser uses to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse, and reduce the risk of being caught.” As examples, RAINN lists adults encouraging children to keep secrets, or escalating nonsexual contact, like hugging or wrestling into sexual contact. Grooming does not have anything to do with sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s molesters who groom, regardless of whether they’re gay or straight....
....“Pete Buttigieg’s husband is a groomer,” tweeted Sara Gonzales, a television host with Blaze TV, in response to a viral video of the transportation secretary’s spouse addressing children at an LGBTQ summer camp. In the video, campers repeat after Chasten as he recites a playful “pledge” to the rainbow flag, ending with, “affirmation and equal rights for all.”
In conservative circles online, the clip is presented as if it’s bombshell footage of a secret cult ritual. In actuality the clip is part of a documentary about Pete Buttigieg’s improbable presidential candidacy and his wholesome marriage. Chasten performed no grooming at this camp, unless at some point he and the campers currycombed a horse.
Or unless you presume, as Gonzales apparently does, that teaching children equality and self-acceptance is grooming them for anything other than a well-adjusted adulthood. Would she prefer they take a pledge of self-hatred?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/03/12/florida-dont-say-gay-bill/
I am open to the idea that the Florida bill is not itself inherently bad (a solution looking for a problem, perhaps), but when DeSantis' press sec is saying shit like that I start to think there is much more here than appears to the eye...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/03/12/florida-dont-say-gay-bill/
www.newsweek.com
