Page 2 - aruba-today-20220330

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 30 March 2022

Continued from Front groomers are LGBT, all LGBT parents to be engaged in
On Monday, DeSantis people are groomers, or their children's lives," said
signed a bill into law that anything of that nature." Republican Rep. Joe Har-
forbids instruction on sexu- She did not elaborate. ding, who sponsored the
al orientation and gender In Tennessee, country mu- legislation. At Monday's
identity in kindergarten sic singer John Rich testi- signing ceremony, a plac-
through third grade. While fied in front of lawmakers ard affixed to the speakers'
doing so, he railed against that school librarians who podium and signs held up
"liberal politicians" and ac- defend controversial books by young children featured
tivists who fought against about gender identity and the slogan "Protect Chil-
the law, saying, "They sup- featuring LGBTQ charac- dren/Support Parents."
port sexualizing kids in kin- ters "groom" children to be- But Catherine Oakley,
dergarten." come desensitized to sexu- state legislative director
"They support injecting al abuse and pornography. and senior counsel at Hu-
woke gender ideology into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs the Parental Rights in Education "What's the difference be- man Rights Campaign, an
bill at Classical Preparatory school Monday, March 28, 2022 in
2nd grade classrooms," he Shady Hills, Fla. tween a teacher, a librar- LGBTQ advocacy group
added. "They support en- Associated Press ian putting one of these based in Washington, D.C.,
abling schools to 'transition books on the desk of a stu- said conservative groups
students' to a 'different gen- more accurately described tion within the school," said dent, or a guy in a white are capitalizing on the
der' without the knowledge as an "Anti-Grooming Bill." Casey Pick, a senior fellow van pulling up when school fear of unknown materials,
of the parent ... without the The use of the term is an at- for advocacy and govern- lets out, saying, 'Come books and discussion tak-
parent's consent." tempt to distort the goal of ment affairs at the Trevor around kids, let me read ing place inside classrooms
DeSantis never uttered the teachers "who are being in- Project, a nonprofit that you this book?'" Rich asked to propel measures that
word "groom," but his press tentional about expressing provides support services last month. "What's the dif- would place more "surveil-
secretary, Christina Push- their acceptance of LGBTQ for LGBTQ youth. ference between those lance" on teachers, librar-
aw, remarked on Twitter people, or perhaps shar- Asked why she used it, two scenarios? There is a ians and other educators.
that the legislation dubbed ing their own stories ... so Pushaw replied in an email difference. They can run These groups "are really
by opponents as the "Don't that all students can know to The Associated Press, "I away from the van." coming from this idea that
Say Gay" bill would be that they have representa- have never stated that all An Oklahoma school sexual orientation (and)
choice advocacy blog, gender identity is some-
Choice Remarks, shared thing that's being imposed
an article on its Facebook upon kids," Oakley said.
page alleging that pub- "It comes from just a really
lic schools are sexualizing fundamentally wrong po-
children. "Groomers are sition about where a per-
gonna groom," the group son's LGBTQ identity comes
declared in comments ac- from."
companying the article. The current trend to limit the
"The solution is educational teaching of sexual orienta-
choice." tion and gender identity
When the New York State echoes similar campaigns
Education Department of the 1970s in which far-
tweeted a book recom- right religious groups char-
mendation of Maia Ko- acterized people who
babe's graphic novel identified as LGBTQ as try-
"Gender Queer: A Memoir," ing to "convert children,"
the agency was attacked said Sophie Bjork-James,
online as providing "porno- an assistant professor at
graphic" material to chil- Vanderbilt University who
dren, as well as "grooming" researches the U.S.-based
and "preying" on them. The religious right and the white
agency later deleted the nationalist movement. The
tweet. accusation helped stall
DeSantis and other con- the expansion of civil rights
servative politicians and for sexual minorities, Bjork-
parents who have criti- James said.
cized schools' use of books "Adult discomfort has al-
with sexually explicit ma- ways seemed to take the
terial argue that parents, priority over the rights and
not teachers, should be responsibility as a society to
broaching such subjects provide our young people
with their children. with the information that
The main point of the Flori- they deserve," McBride
da law is that it "empowers said.q