As the month of June comes to a close, activists have had a difficult Pride Month. Select companies paid a high price for their involvement and certain polls showed a diminished public acceptance of the activist movement. After conservatives claimed that the gay/trans supporters were targeting children, we received images from Pride marches showing sexualized interactions with kids.
In one particularly damning example, a video from the New York City Pride March showed participants chanting “We’re coming for your children.” These examples completely undercut any denials from the LGBT𝜋 side of the debate, so in an attempt at cleanup, NBC News had its Out & Proud portal rush out to defend the cause. It faces a tough challenge, given that the call for the kids is clear and apparent on the recording, so the attempt was to explain away this problematic proof.
This NBC News component is known as being pro-LGBT, and not for its objectivity. In March, the division reported that Ron DeSantis was allegedly enraged after learning of a drag event in Miami. He then tried to strip NBC News’s hotel license. Prior to the adult holiday show, the hotel had been instructed not to allow minors in. Once it was discovered that children attended an event that was sexualized, the venue was found out of compliance with its liquor license.
Tyler Kingkaid, Out & Proud’s correspondent, struggles to reduce this provocative show to a mere flutter of trouble when confronted with some damning evidence. He spoke to the march organizer and his explanation was not helpful.
The video, according to conservative pundits and activists, confirmed their claims made in recent years about the LGBTQ community “grooming” kids. Brian Griffin, who organized the NYC Drag March in the first place, said that if this is the worst thing they’ve heard, then it’s because he was not there. Griffin claimed that he had chanted offensive things during past marches, such as “Kill, Kill, Kill, We’re Coming to Kill the Mayor” and made jokes about pubic hair or sex toys. The Drag March sings “God Is a Lesbian” regularly.
This is not helpful to your cause at all. This is an example of how to let someone talk without interfering.
Griffin stated, “It’s just words.” “It’s all presented to fulfill their worst stereotypes of us.” The “coming for your children” chant has been used for years at Pride events, according to longtime march attendees and gay rights activists, who said it’s one of many provocative expressions used to regain control of slurs against LGBTQ people.
Where to begin? It doesn’t make the comment any better to say that “Coming for Your Kids” has been chanted for years. This has the opposite effect. There is also the issue of denials from the LGBT community on this subject. How can they claim that they do not target children when the participants at their events have demanded this very thing for years? All this is a desperate attempt to divert attention from the real problem.
One marcher tried to dismiss it as the rantings of an individual, and not representative of the march. There is only one problem: the organizer of the march has declared that it’s a chant used every year at these marches. This eliminates the excuse of a lone wolf. Kinkaid then tries to further complicate the situation by attempting to turn the discussion and attack conservatives for attacking the gay community. The accusation is that the right has weaponized the evidence to support their claims. Imagine.
Conservative politicians and pundits are increasingly calling out advocates of LGBTQ rights as groomers, associating them with pedophiles. They also refer to people who oppose laws restricting drag performances or classroom discussions about gender identity. This is a reiteration of an old trope that anti-gay groups have used for decades to portray the LGBTQ community as a danger to youths in the United States, an accusation that some LGBTQ advocates claim puts LGBTQ people at risk.
It’s amazing. It’s amazing. We had just an organizer dismissing the words as nothing. Now conservatives are being branded a threat for using words – all within a single article. More than that, it is claimed that anyone who uses the word “groomer”, puts gays at risk, while marchers who shout to kill Mayor are merely jovial participants of an endearing occasion. Kingkaid reveals this information about the “groomer’ comments: Previous marches included chants that called for the same thing.
Drag March participants have said that the variation “coming for your kids” has been used in previous years. Gothamist reported that last year people at the Drag March were chanting, “Ten percent is not enough: Groom!” Groom! Groom!”
These damned conservatives and their baseless accusations that these activists target children.
To add to these harrowing descriptions, the LGBT community has also added their own comments of doom. Fussy lo Mein, a drag artist and activist who refused to reveal their real name out of concern for safety, said: “It is really frightening to us.” The same activists have also claimed that conservatives are putting gay/trans people in danger. These same activists claim that the right-wingers are the ones who are afraid. Consider how frequently the term “phobic” has been used by those who are always talking about their fear of…something.
Here’s a summary:
It is wrong to accuse someone of a child-targeting agenda, and equally wrong to use the evidence of those who are calling for children to be targeted. All words from activists should be ignored and not taken seriously, whereas words by conservatives pose a grave threat. The right is said to be scared of gays, while the LGBT groups are afraid for their safety.
This attempt by NBC News Out & Proud is a complete mess, but when you approach a story with emotional fervor and avoid objective reporting this is going to be the result. Kingkaid and NBC should step back and analyze the result when they try defending those coming for children and calling to murder a politician.
