A gay teen who was driven to attempt suicide after his mother came under the sway of the group Moms for Liberty is telling his story publicly.
A Vice exposé details how Moms for Liberty went from a local campaign to harass one Florida school board member to a national organization driving the politicization of education in the U.S. in just a few years. The piece also includes the heartbreaking story of one of those LGBTQ+ students, Tony, and his mother, Carolyn, whose last names are withheld to protect their privacy.
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As writer David Gilbert reports, after being outed by his boyfriend’s parents in early 2022, Tony was berated by his Southern Baptist mother, who told him he was going to hell and forced him into counseling with their pastor, who told him that being gay was evil.
After Tony’s mental health began a precipitous decline—he reportedly stopped playing baseball, locked himself in his bedroom, and engaged in self-harm—Carolyn briefly consented to allowing him to undergo counseling with the local chapter of LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Rainbow Youth Project.
At the same time, however, Carolyn contacted Moms for Liberty after learning about the anti-LGBTQ+ group on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show. For months, the group reportedly bombarded Carolyn with anti-LGBTQ+ misinformation, convincing her that Rainbow Youth Project would “convince Tony to have his private parts removed and changed.”
When Carolyn pulled her son out of counseling with the group, Tony told her, “Mom, you just killed me.” He attempted suicide that same day.
Carolyn continued to engage with Moms for Liberty, receiving a visit from a member of the group’s Austin, Texas chapter who suggested that she sue Rainbow Youth Project for “damaging” her son. Tony’s mental health continued to decline, and a second suicide attempt followed.
“They were trying to indoctrinate me to be a foot soldier for their cause,” Carolyn now says of Moms for Liberty. “Looking back, it was never about Tony. It was about them.”
Crushingly, Tony says that his experience is not unique. He says he knows of at least four other young people who participated in a Rainbow Youth Project virtual peer group “that have been through exactly what I have been, where Moms for Liberty and Fox News have totally pulled their parents into this same trap my mom went through.”
Carolyn now holds Moms for Liberty partially responsible for what the now 19-year-old Tony went through after she found him unconscious on his bedroom floor, overdosing. “I’m responsible because I was literally putting him second to all of this, for lack of a better term, bulls**t, that they were giving to me, and I will never do that again. Ever,” she says.
“They are preying on people and when you have a question and you’re trying to save your kid, they took advantage of me and I honestly believe they do that with other parents.”
Tony said that he and his mother are working on their relationship.
“A lot of people hold her responsible for what happened and she is partially responsible. We’ve had that discussion and she knows how I feel about that,” he said. “But she’s really trying. Our relationship is getting stronger. We’re not there yet, but it’s getting stronger.”
As one California school board member told Vice, the group is “inciting people with conspiracy theories and inflammatory accusations about grooming that put trustees, teachers, and LGBTQ students in real danger.”
Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you need to talk to someone now, call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860. It’s staffed by trans people, for trans people. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgment-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Think of the irrationality of this. This man started shouting obscenities and talking about oral sex in front of kids because he saw a rainbow pin. How exactly is this either protecting kids or rational? He took his self-righteous entitled anger out on store clerks, knowing they would lose their job to fight back against him. Hugs
He shouted about how letting children see rainbows is a form of pedophilia, recording his rant and posting it online.
The employee had enough of this unruly customer so he got securityPhoto: Screenshot
A man is getting roasted online after he had a temper tantrum at a Lego store because some of the employees were wearing rainbow flag pins and then posted it online.
John K. Amanchukwu Sr. – who calls himself a “faith contributor” to the far-right organization Turning Point USA (TP USA) – posted the video in which he asked an employee of a Lego store if “the Lego Group supports” LGBTQ+ people.
The employee called over another who said, “Yes.”
“But the question is,” Amanchukwu asked, “why are you all in here with those pins on? Do you think children care about what man sucks d**k at home? What girl eats vaginas at home?”
“It’s time to leave, man,” the employee responded, probably because there were children present at the store.
Amanchukwu insisted that he wanted an answer and the employee said, “I don’t think they think about that, personally.”
“They think about it when they see your pin!” Amanchukwu responded.
“No they don’t,” the employee said, who then told him to leave again while Amanchukwu said, “That’s called grooming!”
The employee said that he’ll call security and Amanchukwu threatened to tell security “that you’re in here wearing, uh, Pride flags.”
The video then cuts to when a security guard is present and Amanchukwu was still ranting about the pins.
“Most children don’t know!” Amanchukwu said, who then talked about his own kid. “He’s been educated by me. I think it’s grooming, it’s borderline pedophilia and child abuse for these weirdos to come in here and wear that and at the same time kids buy from this store!”
The security guard then told Amanchukwu to leave, and he said that he won’t spend any more money at the Lego store and started shouting to everyone at the store that “this store is intentionally promoting LGBTQ behavior on children!”
Charlie Kirk, the founder of TP USA, then posted the video to Twitter. It does not appear to be on Amanchukwu’s TikTok account anymore.
I can’t wait for the wave of videos of conservatives proudly screaming about sex acts in public any time they see rainbow anything. That’ll really keep the kids safe. https://t.co/WSMrd4Tiwf
People mocked the conservative activists for thinking that shouting about genitalia and sex acts in a Lego store would protect children.
The person yelling “sucking cocks” and “eating vaginas” in a toy store is the person being inappropriate in front of kids. This is simple. The dad is the danger to kids here. I would not want my child (who has two moms) to hear that trash.
It’s very simple. A man and a woman can say they are married and that is not inappropriate. If they talk explicitly about their sex acts in front of kids that is bad. It works exactly the same way when two ladies are married or two men. It is so incredibly easy to understand,
Such feeble-minded, tiresome nonsense. I wouldn’t worry about my kids being around LEGOs. I’d worry about them being around unhinged mooks like this one blathering on about “sucking cock” in toy stores for undeserved social media engagement.
So let me get this straight, a dude walks into a Lego store, starts shouting at workers because they're wearing pride pins, and then starts yelling about sex acts in detail inside a store *for children*, and you're annoyed he was kicked out?
He went into a Lego store and started loudly talking about oral sex clearly looking to just cause a problem and you think it's bad they kicked him out?
Just a strong reminder that not all religious people are hateful, nor are all Christians bigots. We have some great religious people that visit here. Hugs
They even recorded their vandalism, shouting, “This is an abomination!”
Volunteers repaint the church’s steps.Photo: Screenshot
Vandals defaced the rainbow steps in front of the Pitt Street Uniting Church in Sydney, Australia during the city’s World Pride celebration. But the church’s community repainted the steps less than half a day later, refusing to let the hateful act deter them from their welcoming message.
On February 24, someone recorded and posted a video to social media of a man walking up to church volunteers who were painting the steps. He asked them, “Is this Christian? What are y’all doing here… Is God for this?”
The woman in the video smiled and calmly answered, “Absolutely. God is for love, for welcome, for hospitality. God is very hospitable towards this.”
The man then asked where in the Bible God expresses support for same-sex marriage, adding, “God is love? Of course he is, but he’s holy too.”
The man continued, “You believe God is holy, you believe he’s got commandments, and do you believe we should obey them? Because God says, if you love me, keep my commandments. But love is not at the expense of truth, is it? This is an abomination to God. Do you read the Bible? Do you read your Bible?”
The woman repeated that God supports love and then said, “I don’t think these are Christian questions that you’re asking,” before saying that she needed to continue painting the steps.
The man literally growled and told viewers, loud enough for the woman to hear, “She’s disgusting.” He then told her, “You need to repent.”
The man continued, “A Christian is a Christ-follower. You’re not really following Christ. Without Christ, you’re going to a devil’s Hell. Did you know that? You’re being deceived, man, and I don’t want to be deceived. I’m worried for your soul.” He asked her repeatedly, “Do you know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah?”
As he left, his camera scanned the stairs as he said, “This is not Christian. This is an abomination, and God is going to judge those people. It’s wrong. It’s wrong.”
Later that night, two unknown vandals recorded their visit to the church. One poured grey paint onto the steps and spread it with a paint roller. One vandal said, “F**k the LGBT.”
Soon after, Charlie Bakhos, a man who runs the Facebook page Christian Lives Matter, reposted the video. His post said the vandals were “superheroes” who were “adding their artistic touches to the church steps.”
Though the Sydney City Police Area Command is investigating the people behind the two videos, Facebook has previously removed content from the Christian Lives Matter Facebook group for violating the social network’s hate speech policies, The Guardian reported. The group also promoted an anti-LGBTQ+ speech late last month where a large mob physically assaulted a small group of pro-LGBTQ+ protestors. The mob shouted “Leave our kids alone!” and accused police of “protecting the pedophiles,” as the protestors fled by taxi.
Really good to be able to take part in blessing the Christians at Pride at start of @sydneymardigras
Sadly some zealous Christians decided to throw paint over their rainbow stairs at Church this morning…I reminded them that light dispels darkness & perfect love casts out fear pic.twitter.com/c8T9JYE79N
The morning after the vandalism, February 25, the church quickly repainted the steps and then posted photos of them on Twitter. Church members then marched in the World Pride parade later that day, under a banner that said, “Rainbow Christians Together.”
“A place of worship is a sacred space where all people should feel welcome and safe. I stand against these acts of vandalism and verbal attacks on Church members. We send our prayers and solidarity to Pitt Street Uniting Church in Sydney and to all LGBTIQA+ people of faith and their allies.”
Pitt Street Uniting Church’s Rev. Dr. Josephine Inkpin told Insights, “Such an attack is sad but not surprising and part of a range of harassments Pitt Street Uniting Church and fellow affirming Christians are enduring.”
“Pitt Street Uniting Church has met such opposition for years on our stand for various aspects of justice and the quick renewal of the rainbow is part of our strength and determination,” she continued. “We pray however that others may now see the need for more active affirmation in both church and world.”
Pitt Street Uniting Church is providing Applified events with @SydWorldPride.
— @JPMasters@aus.social (He/Him/They/Them) (@JPMasters) February 25, 2023
An estimated 500,000 people participated in the World Pride events, and nearly 300 Pride attendees attended the church’s February 21 pancake breakfast event. The church also regularly holds interfaith events and intercultural events for trans people and people of color.
This gutted me. What if they are in the hallway, or bathroom and all the doors are locked? This shouldn’t be a reality for these kids. Or anyone. pic.twitter.com/0IVCVslkc2
Are schools to now be prisons instead of learning facilities? Is that what we want as a country for our children while other advanced countries give advanced education, healthcare, and decent living for their children / public. Hugs
As I keep writing, this is not about protecting children, but instead it is forcing a religious lifestyle on everyone. Clearly in his mind it is a 12 year old girl marrying an older boy / adult man. He would be the first to be appalled if a 12 year old boy was allowed / forced to marry an older boy or adult male. That is because to some religious minded people, girls / women are property of men for the use of childbearing and providing men with pleasure as the man wishes. It is misogyny at its worse. This is about allowing religious parents and church leaders to set the rules for all other parents and those parents kids. It is the attempt to return to a Christian religion dominated society that these religious people are desperate to have as a way to please their god. I wish people would see how blatant this has become. Hugs
During debate Tuesday on a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, Missouri State Senator Mike Moon suggested children as young as 12 should have the right to marry with parental permission.
“Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married,” Moon said in response to questioning by Democratic state Representative Peter Meredith.
In debate on the bill, Rep. Meredith cited Moon’s stance on child marriage as inconsistent with his aim of protecting children through his bill banning transgender care for minors.
Moon last appeared here in February when he introduced a K-12 “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He first appeared on JMG in June 2017 when he slaughtered a chicken on Facebook Live in an attempt to make a point about abortion. Yes, really. Moon was a primary sponsor of Missouri’s successful resolution calling for a convention of the states, at which right wingers hope to approve constitutional amendments to ban abortion and same-sex marriage nationwide.
@aaroncrossley beautifully standing up to Sen Mike Moon (bigot/pervert), asking him if he believes that the parents in this room are child abusers. Rep Crossley emotionally & powerfully apologized to us, for how terrible it is to have to hear this hate from our legislators.
A southwest Missouri Republican from Ash Grove, Moon’s support of child marriage in some instances has been long documented. In 2018 Missouri passed a law raising the marriage age in the state from 15 to 16 and requiring parental permission for older teenagers to marry. Moon opposed the bill at the time — citing the same anecdote of a couple he met in college who had married one another at age 12.
Moon’s support of the practice resurfaced during a committee hearing on a bill introduced by Moon that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender children. If passed the bill would ban health care providers from performing gender-affirming surgeries on any minor or from prescribing or administering cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs to a minor for a gender transition, unless such minor was receiving such treatment prior to August 28, 2023.
In debate on the bill, Rep. Meredith cited Moon’s stance on child marriage as inconsistent with his aim of protecting children through his bill banning transgender care for minors.
“I’ve heard you talk about parents’ rights to raise their kids how they want. In fact, I just double checked. You voted no on making it illegal for kids to be married to adults at the age of 12. If their parents consented to it, you said actually, that should be the law because it’s the parents right and the kids right to decide what’s best for them. To be raped by an adult,” Meredith said.
If you want to get technical the Bible never specifies an age of consent (for marriage or sexual activity). So IF they want to be biblical they should allow child rape from birth. It’s one of the moral failings that the Bible got wrong. Just like slavery.
Hey, if he thinks 12 year-olds can do adult things like marry he should have no problem with 12 year olds having access to gender affirming healthcare.
This useful idiot accidentally made one of the best arguments concerning healthcare for Transkids.
Girls married off at 12 are not likely to have the knowledge or resources necessary to extricate themselves from that situation. OF COURSE they’re still married! They have absolutely nowhere else to go, as Humbert said about Lolita.
My family is not safe. My son has been taken on the gov's orders, and I've had to send my husband and daughter out of state for their safety.
THIS is the reality of living in DeSantis' Florida.
There is no freedom here. Only retaliatory rule by a fascist who wishes to be king
A week after we filed our lawsuit against the state, a kid claiming to be the cousin of one of my son's classmates joined their snapchat group. They recorded their conversations, and anonymously reported my son to police for sharing a popular internet meme.
They said they had to complete a threat assessment since they received an anon complaint, which both the local cops and the school signed off on as not being a threat. The kids were joking about cops and video games, which included this meme:
Two weeks later, bringing us to earlier today, an officer told me the state issued a warrant for my son's arrest for "digital threats of terrorism."
I asked on whose orders. The officer said it was the state.
They aren't letting him come home tonight. They kidnapped my son.
I had to get my husband and daughter out of here because CPS now interprets my home as dangerous because they've charged my 13 year old son with a felony for sharing a meme.
Less than a week after filing the first lawsuit in America against a state's Covid lies
I'm sorry for not getting back to everyone who is frantically calling and messaging me. I'm trying to keep it together and stay here and fight for my kid.
This state has already gotten away with pointing guns at my son during their raid. I will not let them hurt him again.
We all have seen drag. We all grew up with it. From Red Skeleton to Bob Hope, and so many more up to the 1970s Flip Wilson’s Geraldine who was amazingly popular. People love drag as it is simply dress up. It is Halloween at anytime. Drag is not a threat to society nor to anyone, not even children. What the right wants to make it is a boogieman they can use as a cudgel against others and something to rally up their base because their voting base works only on anger and rage. The right wants everyone to forget their fun drag memories and now think of any guy in a dress acting in drag as a “drag queen story hour reading to kids making them gay and trans” and also they want to make “all drag is trans people” so to spread the hate their base has for trans people to people playing dress up. Heck in their minds trans people are people playing dress up. Wow, how fucked up is that they will deny all medical science to keep their bigotry. Hugs
Knowing a trans or nonbinary person significantly reduced the chance that someone would say that they’re a threat.
A new poll found that a majority of Democratic, independent, and even Republican likely voters believe that there is “too much legislation” aimed at reducing LGBTQ+ rights at the state level.
Theprogressive polling firm and think tank Data for Progressconducted a survey of 1220 participants and asked about the 429 bills presented at state legislatures attacking LGBTQ+ rights. Most of the bills are aimed at transgender youth, and 17 have already become law this year.
Here are all the anti-trans bills that have become law in 2023
Republican lawmakers have worked round the clock to pass oppressive bills targeting gender-affirming care, bathroom usage, drag shows, and trans students.
72% of Democratic voters agreed with the statement that there is “too much legislation. Politicians are playing political theater and using these bills as a wedge issue,” and only 20% agreed that it’s “the right amount of legislation. Politicians are dealing with a real danger that needs to be addressed.” 65% of independent voters agreed that there is too much anti-LGBTQ+ legislation this year.
The more surprising result – considering how the vast majority of lawmakers voting for these bills are Republicans – was that 55% of Republican voters agreed that there is too much anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Only 33% said that there is the “right amount” of such bills.
The survey also asked if people believed that being transgender is a “natural phenomenon that has occurred throughout history” that’s “normal” or if they believed that being trans is a “new phenomenon created by our modern woke culture” that will “harm our children.” Most Democrats (78%) and most independents (58%) agreed that being trans is natural. Only 34% of Republicans agreed that being trans is natural, while a majority (55%) said that it’s a new phenomenon.
While Republicans lag on that issue, Data for Progress noted that a majority of all likely voters (57%) said that being trans is natural, which could indicate that attacks on trans youth might not be the potent electoral winner that many Republican strategists believe it is.
While state Republican lawmakers have been introducing anti-transgender legislation for over a decade, there was an explosion of such legislation in 2021, just several weeks after Donald Trump’s loss in the general election. Democrats accused Republicans – many of whom had never shown any concern for the state of girls’ and women’s sports – of using transgender kids to distract from the GOP’s less popular positions on the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy.
Part of the reason that such a strategy could work is that transgender people make up a small percentage of the population and many people don’t think they know anyone who is transgender. Only 36% of Democrats, 39% of independents, and 25% of Republicans said that they know someone who is trans or nonbinary, and a majority of each group said that they didn’t.
And knowing a trans or nonbinary person decreases the chance that someone will see them as a threat. Among likely voters who know someone trans or nonbinary, 78% said that trans people are not a threat to straight families and 66% said that they’re not a threat to children. Among people who don’t know anyone who is trans, though, those numbers dropped to 52% and 41%, respectively.
Most Democratic voters (54%) and independent voters (63%) believe that Democratic elected officials should be doing more to fight anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. The survey didn’t ask what they believe Democrats should be doing.
When it comes to drag bans, a majority of Democrats (68%) and independents (55%) said that they had seen a drag performance either live or on TV. 53% of Republicans, though, said that they have never seen a drag performance at all.
Photo: flickr / public domain
The employee had enough of this unruly customer so he got securityPhoto: Screenshot
Volunteers repaint the church’s steps.Photo: Screenshot
Photo: Shutterstock
