A Republican aide has claimed that LGBTQ+ organisations are training eight-year-old children how to use butt plugs and dildos.
In a recently resurfaced speech, Erin Mazzoni, who reportedly works for the campaign of Franklin, Tennessee Republican mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson, alleged that children are being given sex toys by LGBTQ+ activists.
Mazzoni told a meeting of the Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen earlier this that she’d moved to Tennessee from Bucks County, in Pennsylvania, after apparently discovering that an LGBTQ+ organisation was teaching children how to use sex toys, which, she claimed, caused the community to “fall apart”.
Between sobs, she said: “It started out as Pride coming in, and I thought everything would be OK. It ended with a Rainbow Room where eight to 12-year-old kids were given butt plugs and dildos and trained.
I’m on your side of the argument, but I don’t think this is a fair take. We know from history that it’s very difficult for victims to come forward in these cases. Your Catholic Church example is a good case of this; the adults we’re hearing from were children when the abuse took place. Look at the Me Too incident. Hundreds if not thousands of victims all coming forward years after the fact because they feared the backlash. I genuinely doubt there are groups like the woman described in existence, but if there were, it’s understandable that we wouldn’t be hearing about it right away.
The Catholic Church has the power and influence to cover those things up and pressure victims into silence. Hollywood has a huge power imbalance as well. Where in the world does the LGBTQ+ community have such power? The only answer these fascists can give is “the Jews”.
If there was large scale abuse going on in the LGBTQ+ community, it would have been found out for sure; especially considering how many hateful zealots spend their retirement actively hunting the imaginary abuse. (I’m also not saying there’s no abuse because well, humans suck. just that it isn’t large scale, organized, and actively defended like churches and corporate hierarchies)
I mean this is assuming that children are rationally considering the amount of power an abuser has over their lives, which is clearly not the case. To a kid, simply being an adult makes them seem powerful.
The power of the church enables them to influence more than just the kids of course. Also if adults show reverence to priests you bet the kids pick up on that. And also the parents often side with the priest over the kid anyway if the kid actually ever says anything.
Bottom line: the claims of sexual abuse by “tHe gAyS” are unsubstantiated.
Studies have shown that abusers are not more likely to be LGBTQ than straight.
In fact it is statistically the opposite to a significant degree.
So why the claims then?
First, modern right wing Christianity is deeply biased to be anti-gay already and so it is no wonder preachers are dead wrong and spreading bullshit myths as well as classing all LGBTQ people as literally “minions ot Satan”
Second, regressives (right wingers) hate LGBTQ people (because they are different and also because of religion). Spreading damaging myths is an attempt to change culture to be in favor of persecuting and attempting to eradicate LGBTQ people – or whoever else is in the “out group” to be eradicated.
If a lone person with political motives to damage the Catholic Church’s reputation alleged they were abusing children, I’d be demanding the same evidence of victims’ testimonies. No one should be believing allegations of sexual assault without evidence, of which victim testimonies are key. Same with the Me Too movement. I’m a therapist and not at all unsympathetic to how difficult it is for victims of sexual assault to go public with their stories, but from a societal perspective, we should all be skeptical of allegations made without evidence. Is it possible these LGBT groups are abusing kids and we won’t find out until 15-20+ years from now, when those kids decide to come forward with their stories? Sure. But until then, accusations with clear political motivation should be disregarded, and that’s true whether you’re talking about LGBT groups or the LDS Church.
