Who are ‘Gays Against Groomers?’
Gays Against Groomers (GAG) is far-right group, founded by Jaimee Michell.
This article was originally published on the Illinois Eagle on November 30, 2022
Gays Against Groomers (GAG) is far-right group, founded by Jaimee Michell.
In their mission statement, GAG states: “We are a coalition of gays against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children.” GAG has politicized and modified the meaning of the word “grooming” to surmount mere exposure to LGBTQ individuals and topics. Another portion of GAG’s website clarified further that, “This includes drag queen story hours, drag shows involving children, the transitioning and medicalization of minors, and gender theory being taught in the classroom.”
Dictionary.com defines grooming as “an act or instance of engaging in behaviors or practices intended to gradually condition or emotionally manipulate a victim over time, as through friendship, gifts, flattery, etc., in order to entrap the person in a sexually abusive or predatory relationship.”
The LGBTQ community has seen a massive split due to the toxic rhetoric of Gays Against Groomers, and similar online anti-trans talking heads like Libs of TikTok. A tweet from GAG in September, targeted the transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual segment of LGBTQIA people as “the infiltrators.”
Michell, a long-time conservative, was featured on Tucker Carlson Tonight, just two days following the horrific shooting that took place at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Club Q. (Tweet Link)
During the interview on Fox News, Michell stated, “It shouldn’t have to be said, but what is anti-LBGTQ that these people need to understand, and what is putting our community in great danger, it, you know, claiming that all of us support this and just associating all of us with this. You know, saying that ‘groomer’ is an anti-LGBTQ slur,” Michell said. “That is doing irreparable damage to us as a whole, and it’s putting a really large target on our backs. And unfortunately, the tragedy that happened in Colorado Springs the other night, you know, it was expected, predictable. We all within Gays Against Groomers saw this coming from a mile away, and sadly I don’t think it’s gonna stop until we end this evil agenda.”
GAG continues to attack LGBTQ spaces and individuals, and this can be seen on their website on their event page, as evidenced below with events going into December.
A recent incident in Downers Grove, which was scheduled to hold a Drag Queen Bingo event, has now been linked to influence from Gays Against Groomers.
Two days prior to the Drag Queen Bingo event in Downers Grove being canceled due to threats, Awake Illinois reposted content from Gays Against Groomers to their page and attached their PSA about the upcoming Drag event.
GAG is notorious for online harassment and stalking of LGBTQ individuals, particularly transgender advocates, which has bolstered and emboldened violence from the far-right. No doubt in part due to Michell’s heavy following by alt-right, neo-nazi, and anti-lgbtq accounts online known for harassing, stalking, and doxxing others online.
Gays Against Groomers also has a track record of labeling any LGBTQ person or anyone advocating for them, as “groomers” and “pedophiles,” according to reporting from the Daily Dot. GAG is proving itself to be a threat to the LGBTQ community on and offline, as the term “groomer” becomes more politicized rather than used in the literal or factual sense.
This article was originally published on the Illinois Eagle on November 30, 2022