Michigan Lawmaker Lashes Back At ‘Groomer’ Allegations
The Republican Party’s war on sex education in schools and teaching students about the ongoing effects of slavery took a big hit this week in Michigan.
A freshman, Michigan state legislator in the race for her political life against a trump-endorsed opponent, got seriously slapped down after she accused another freshman Democratic colleague of enabling pedophiles by supporting sex education in schools and indoctrinating kindergarteners into believing they are responsible for slavery.
The attack has backfired and generated millions of messages in support of the Democrat and against the demagoguery that is becoming the leading edge of the GOP playbook nationwide.
Republican Sen. Lana Theis took the floor of the Michigan Legislature last week and opened the Senate session with an “invocation praying for our children’s safety” in which she accused the Democrats of enabling pedophiles to groom young children behind the veil of sex education.
“Several of my Democratic colleagues were so offended, they walked out. Our children are under assault in our schools-the last place we should be worried about them,” said Theis, who also has previously introduced legislation to bar transgender boys from cisgender boys’ high school sports teams and transgender girls from cisgender girls’ teams.
Theis’s comments reflect a growing GOP movement to bar teaching about LGBTQ issues, particularly matters of gender identity, and to bar teachers from discussing matters of race or slavery and the so-called critical race theory. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely presidential candidate in 2024, has led an all-out attack against the LGBTQ community, in which the governor said those who support sex education in schools are pedophile “groomers” preparing to assault the innocents.
DeSantis also is the beacon of efforts to bar teaching of critical race theory or related subjects in schools while he also has backed banning books that are deemed reflecting sexual or race theory topics, including a series of math books that were recently considered inappropriate in Florida and are becoming the boilerplate of a national Republican effort against so-called “woke” policies of Democrats.
Theis repeated her accusations in a political mailing in which she attacked Democratic Sen. Mallory McMorrow by name, who Theis referred to as D-Snowflake. McMorrow and Democratic colleagues Dayna Polehanki and Rosemary Bayer walked out after Theis’ invocation.
“These are the people we are up against. Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Snowflake) who are outraged they can’t teach, can’t groom and sexualize kindergartners or that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery,” the mailing claims.
By yesterday, McMorrow had had enough and pushed back with an impassioned, five-minute long response.The video was later shared by many , including Hillary Cllinton, garnering 3.5 million views and counting with fundraising links in the replies.
“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 said, at times peering over toward Theis.
“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.’”
“Groomer” is a term used to refer to pedophiles who “groom” or establish connections with children to gain their trust and ultimately exploit or physically abuse the child. Theis, DeSantis and other Republicans have claimed that those who support sex education in schools are either pedophiles or enablers of pedophiles.
“I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense,” McMorrow continued. “No child alive today is responsible for slavery. No one in this room is responsible for slavery. But each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history… we are not responsible for the past. We also cannot change the past. We can’t pretend that it didn’t happen, or deny people their very right to exist.”
Neither Theis nor the Michigan Republican Party have apologized for the false accusations.
Theis, who was previously a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, accused the Democrats of supporting “gender-bending indoctrination,” “confusing” children about their identities; exposing them to “inappropriate sexual content and stealing their innocence”; and for supporting “race-based education- Critical Race theory- pitting children against each other.”
Theis said those who oppose her views “believe that we, as parents, do not have the right to help our children navigate their adolescence or their education. These enlightened elites believe our rights end at the curb of the school drop-off.”
In February, Theis sponsored a resolution that underscores the “natural fundamental right of parents and legal guardians to determine and direct the care, teaching, and education of their children.”
“Throughout our country, parental rights are being threatened,” Theis said. “They are threatened by activist school boards, teachers’ unions and radical leftist partisans that are doing everything they can to separate parents from their children academically. It is parents — not governors, not legislators, and not educators — who are in the best position to know their kids’ needs and circumstances. It is the parents’ authority that must be respected and maintained to ensure the best decisions for Michigan children’s education, health and wellbeing.”
Theis chairs the state’s Senate Education and Career Readiness Committee, is vice-chair of the Oversight and Regulatory Reform committees and is a member of the Health Policy and Human Services Committee and Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) committees. She also serves as a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on K-12 and Michigan Department of Education.
Democratic State Sen. Stephanie Chang said the Republicans are engaged in attack politics while they “continue to neglect holding their own party accountable for inappropriate conduct.” She was referring to former GOP House Speaker Lee Chatfield who is under investigation for sexual assault allegations, while Republican state Sen. John Bizon faces a year of probation for inappropriately touching a nurse practitioner when he was sick with COVID-19.
Theis is facing a primary challenge this year by Mike Detmer, a real estate manager who previously ran for Congress. Detmer, who has been endorsed by trump, has criticized Theis for accepting the results of a Senate Oversight report that found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. In February, Detmer told supporters they should “be prepared to lock and load” at the polls. In his campaign literature, Detmer notes that he supports the U.S. and Michigan state constitutions, religious freedom, the right to bear arms, is anti-abortion and “pro student” and “pro family.”
Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is running for a second term in what is considered an important battleground state. President Biden won the state in the 2020 presidential election,with 50.6 percent of the vote, compared with trump’s 47.8 percent.
Last October, the government indicted 13 men for orchestrating a plot to kidnap Whitmer and overthrow the state government, their anger fueled by COVID-19 restrictions ordered by Democrats early in the pandemic. Half of the suspects were tied to a paramilitary militia group that called themselves the “Wolverine Watchmen.” Six of the suspects were charged in federal court, while the other seven were charged with state crimes. Two of the defendants were acquitted in federal court and a mistrial was declared for two others when a federal jury could not reach a verdict.