Draft:Gays Against Groomers

Gays Against Groomers (GAG), founded by Jamie Michell in June 2022, describes itself as "a coalition of gays against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children under the guise of "LGBTQIA+". They have a wide number of supporters among the right, including trans woman Blaire White, lesbian Arielle Scarcella, Chaya Raichik (founder of Libs of TikTok), and drag artist Ryan Woods (aka Lady Maga USA). Michell herself is a Trump supporter, and was part of the 'Stop the Steal' movement in 2020. GAG's main goals are to ban gender affirming care for minors, which they refer to as 'mutilation', end drag events such as Drag Queen Story Hour, and ban discussion of gender identity and pronouns in schools. The organization has been criticized multiple times for being homophobic, transphobic, and just bigoted in general.
 * GAG also has a very similar organization named Trans Against Groomers, founded after GAG.
 * Jamie Michell identifies as a lesbian, and is in a relationship with Sasha Leigh, the treasurer of GAG.

Bans on gender affirming care
GAG vehemently opposes gender affirming care for minors, such as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and gender affirming surgery (i.e., a double mastectomy). GAG frequently refer to minors receiving gender affirming as 'mutilation' and tout slogans such as 'Save the tomboys!' and 'No child is born in the wrong body!'. In one Twitter post, GAG compared gender affirming care to Nazi experiments performed by Mengele. Yes, you read that right.

GAG also believes that gender affirming care does not improve the mental well-being of children who receive it, directly going against the American Psychological Association's guidelines for the care and treatment of transgender/non binary youth. In an interview with One America News, Michell criticized Rachel Levine's support for gender affirming care and conviction that it saves lives, saying that "it's really the exact opposite." She also described children who recieved gender affirming care as "lab rats" taking part in a "sick ideology".

Stopping the overall 'indoctrination' of youth by the LGBTQ community
There are numerous social media posts that show how just how deep the hatred runs at GAG:


 * "The movement to transition children would make Dr. Josef Mengele blush. That is not hyberbole, that is fact." (February 17, 2023)
 * "The growing backlash towards LGB and T people is the expected and predictable outcome of the sexualization and mutilation of children being done in our name." (Retweeted February 16, 2023)
 * "Frequent reminder that the word groomer is not an anti-LGBTQ slur." (February 16, 2023)
 * "CHILDREN ARE NOT MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS. All gender “affirming” care on minors is at this point completely experimental." (February 15, 2023)
 * "You will never be on the wrong side of history standing against the sexualization and mutilation of children." (February 16, 2023)
 * "If you think toddlers should learn about sexuality, it means you want to sexualize them. AKA a groomer." (Posted by MAGAY45, GAG retweeted on February 14, 2023)
 * “Every teacher that has a pride flag in their room should be fired and arrested. " says Frank Rodriguez, Executive Director for Gays Against Groomers." (Posted by FOX26 News, referencing the executive director of GAG)
 * "Our member and detransitioner @OliLondonTV is in DC advocating for the ban of gender affirming care on minors! We are everywhere, and we are winning." (February 14, 2023)

They're 'grooming' the kids!
The word 'grooming' has become the right's go-to phrase for demonizing the LGBTQ community in recent years. Here are just a few examples:
 * Fox News host Laura Ingraham stated that public schools were "grooming centers" where "sexual brainwashing occurs"
 * Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene referred to the Democratic Party as "the party of grooming and transitioning children"
 * Libs of TikTok founder and insurrectionist Chaya Raichik claimed that LGBTQ people were "recruiting" and "grooming" children on her viral interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News in December 2022
 * Chaya Raichik also stated that the Trevor Project (an inclusive LGBTQ foundation) was a "grooming organization"
 * The far-right Christian Heritage Foundation stated that Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act would "protect young children from sexual grooming"

If you haven't learned already, GAG took this idea and went to TOWN with it. A majority of their attacks against the LGBTQ community (i.e., banning gender affirming for minors even under specialist recommendation), rest on baseless accusations of 'grooming' and 'sexualization'. On a Fox News segment, Jamie Michell spoke with host Tucker Carlson about the dangerous invasion of LGBTQ radicals, and stated that "being anti-groomer and anti-child mutilation is not being anti-gay." Michell has appeared on Fox News multiple times, which proves GAG's considerable influence on modern conservative politics. Everywhere on right-wing media sites, there are countless articles about LGBTQ 'grooming', 'sexualization', 'perversion', etc, etc. GAG only serves to amplify these harmful talking points, thus solidifying its hold on the 'They're grooming our kids!' narrative.

Media criticism
GAG has received well-deserved backlash for its views on the Club Q shooting. The gay nightclub was attacked by a gunman, causing 5 members of the LGBTQ community to lose their lives. In an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Jamie Michell expressed this wonderful sentiment: "The tragedy that happened in Colorado Springs the other night, it was expected and predictable...I don’t think [the violence is] gonna stop until we end this evil agenda that is attacking children." The 'evil agenda' that Michell was referring to presumably included gender affirming care and the presented support of queer youth (supposedly 'grooming, in Michell's eyes). Carlson himself is no stranger to anti-LGBTQ rhetoric; he only served to amplify Michell's talking points, nodding along as she continued to attack alleged 'groomers' and healthcare providers. The LGBTQ-inclusive news site THEM.us published an article in November of 2022 calling Michell's segment "flat-out horrifying" and dubbing her behavior "pathetic".

Banned from online payment services
As of 2023, GAG has been banned from both Paypal and Venmo for using their service to spread hateful and discriminatory conduct. Shortly after the ban, GAG tweeted: "We have just been BANNED from @Venmo and @PayPal (within minutes of each other) for 'violating' their user agreements. We are an organization that consists entirely of gay people whose only mission is to safeguard children from abuse. Woke homophobia is real, folks". GAG consistently fails to understand that their 'mission' harms LGBTQ youth, pushes lawmakers to enact more anti-LGBTQ bills in fear of the 'groomer' narrative, and contributes to the mass panic that the LGBTQ community are nothing more than dangerous pedophiles, except for the select 'golden star' gays, like Michell herself.

In response to GAG's ban, fellow twitter user and activist Alejandro Carabello stated it perfectly: "I think it's entirely expected considering the type of group they are and the behavior they've engaged in...They have been one of the bigger accounts over the summer that popped up and really started to push this groomer narrative..."