Kirk Cameron, Lauren Boebert Claim LGBTQ People Molest Kids as Pride Opens

How do we counter? Out loud and proud!

It’s June 1st! Happy Pride! Feel the love, people!

I mean that, despite my harsh headline. Something about June fills me with joy every year as we LGBTQ people celebrate the Stonewall riots, as we come together to protest and party, to raise our voices in love and a defiant howl.

Maybe my joy echoes back from my first Pride marches in New York City during the worst of the AIDS epidemic. If we could be loud, joyful and triumphant in the face of a virus we couldn’t yet see a way to fight, can ANYTHING stop us? We beat HIV despite accepted wisdom that we could not. We made public health in the United States better for everybody, not just for us.

So are we going to let right-wing lies and smears defeat us? Of course not!

Child star and Republican Congresswoman try to rain on Pride parade

2022 is the year of the “groomer,” apparently, a return to 1970s tactics when crusaders like Anita Bryant branded gay people as sexual threats to children, as child molesters in fact or aspiration.

Bryant, a former beauty pageant contestant and orange juice rep, presented a wholesome image then, a paragon of American virtue as she slurred and lied out both sides of her mouth. The Right is trying the same tactic today.

Former child star Kirk Cameron jumps on board the Groomer Train

Cameron’s wholesome image was born with the 1980s TV series “Growing Pains.” He played a dutiful son, devoted brother, and all around sweet kid who sometimes needed a little advice from TV dad Alan Thicke to stay out of trouble. A very young Leonardo DiCaprio launched his career after joining the cast at the end of the show’s run, but roles for Cameron dried up.

These days, the only attention he gets comes from parroting extremist-Christian LGBTQ bashing. In 2012, he made news by calling gay people “unnatural” and “destructive,” citing the Christian Bible’s Old Testament. Alan Thicke called Cameron out on Twitter, GLAAD called his views dated and out of touch, and much of the rest of the nation sighed at the unnecessary hate.

But Cameron never changed his tune, and this week, he jumped on the Groomer Train, joining a growing trend of right-wing Republicans singing Anita Bryant’s old song.

This time, he’s bashing transgender people too.

In widely reported remarks yesterday, the actor told Fox News he opposes public schools because they teach “critical race theory” and “gender ideology,” adding, “It’s sad to say they’re doing more for grooming, for sexual chaos and the progressive left than any real educating...”

Grooming is a word that describes a process sexual predators use to desensitize child victims to sexual boundaries and prepare them to accept being molested. Experts say no evidence exists that LGBTQ people are likely to groom and sexually abuse children, pointing out that the vast majority of abusers identity as cisgender and straight.

That didn’t stop former federal prosecutor Ron Filipkowski and other Republicans amplifying Cameron’s “grooming” slur yesterday on Twitter and other platforms. Calling LGBTQ people child abusers is the Republican go-to these days.

Lauren Boebert sent her own “grooming message”

Boebert, a Republican member of Congress from Colorado, didn’t endorse Cameron’s grooming slur, she sent out her own, complaining about flashcards that feature diverse families being used in a North Carolina kindergarten class.

According to LGBTQ Nation, “the gun-nutty Congresswoman took a break from defending the right to own any type of gun in the wake of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas to accuse ‘the Left’ of ‘grooming our kids’ because of the flashcards.”

Fox News (sense a theme here?) started pounding the flashcard drum before Boebert hit it, aghast at the notion that 5-year-olds might see families that look different from conservative Christian families. But let’s be clear about something. Not a single one of those cards, and you can click here to see them all, is remotely sexual, sexualizing, or inappropriate for children. You won’t see any nudity, sexual behavior, or anything except beautiful illustrations of parents nurturing kids.

That didn’t stop Boebert from taking to Twitter to call LGBTQ people groomers. She didn’t explain why children who see art featuring gay, lesbian, bi, or trans parents might be at risk of being molested, she just put it out there for … reasons.

Mostly, I think she knows the message appeals to her base. Her message doesn’t have to be true, it just has to make her voters mad.

I think she knows she won office by appealing to fear and hate of the Other. I think she’ll keep beating that drum because it works for her and her quest for personal power.

But you now what? It’s June 1, so Happy Pride!

How can we best combat these hateful lies? By being out and proud! So let’s take to the streets. Let’s shout out our joy and Pride. Let’s march and party with our friends, families, and children.

The extremist Right, synonymous with Republican these days, wants to shame us, push us back into the closet, control the narrative in our absence.

Well, I ain’t scared. How about the rest of you? It’s Pride! Time to protest and party, people. Let’s do this. If you’ve never gone to Pride before? If it’s been a long time? If you’re a cis/straight ally not sure you’re welcome?

This is the year. This is the moment. Google “Pride near me” and make yourself part of the solution. See you there!

P.S. Those flashcards are gorgeous works of art, designed by Zainab’s Echo, an acclaimed Pakistani-Canadian designer, calligrapher, and illustrator. If you’re looking for a good Pride gift this month, check them out.

James Finn is a columnist for the LA Blade, a former Air Force intelligence analyst, an alumnus of Queer Nation and Act Up NY, and an “agented” but unpublished novelist. Send questions, comments, and story ideas to [email protected].

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