The furore centred on a booklet in a school library that was only available to teachers and older pupils. “The justification for Section 28 was ‘child protection’,” says Mr Moncrieff. He cites the moral panic beginning in 1986 that provoked Section 28, the law prohibiting schools from “promoting” homosexuality, which effectively gagged teachers from mentioning gay people – a facsimile of which is today’s Florida bill. Opinion | I set up a groundbreaking asexuality project with Stonewall – then came the culture warriors 26 April, 2022 Ban on gay author visit at John Fisher School is ‘going back to Section 28 by stealth’ 12 April, 2022 Young LGBTQI+ people more distressed when seeking cancer treatment due to discrimination fears 22 February, 2022 When someone posts a pro-LGBT message they can be met with “groomer” as a response, often multiple times. It manifests mostly online – for now – with hundreds of iterations every hour.
This latest escalation in the culture wars is now on British soil. Another implied violence – “pedophiles don’t get trials”. Protestors outside Disneyland in California held aloft signs accusing the company of “grooming” and “brainwashing our kids”. Disneyland California has been targeted by protesters accusing it of ‘brainwashing our kids’ĭisney was dubbed a “groomer” company by a spokesperson for Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida who last month signed the bill, after the entertainment giant withdrew its support. Organisations that follow suit are given the same treatment. To even suggest LGBT people should be included or discussed with young people is to be called a “groomer”. Republican politicians and pundits, currently trying to pass dozens of anti-LGBT laws across the country, are firing the “groomer” retort at critics of it. Florida’s new so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill – which effectively bans schools from discussing LGBT people – is now being dubbed the “groomer” bill. This linguistic tactic has already taken root in US politics.