Gays Against Groomers

Founding Gays Against Groomers was founded by Jaimee Michell, a conservative lesbian who was at the time a content creator and lead designer at marketing company Arsenal Media, a conservative media organization specializing in creating viral content. Michell's website featured examples of her work for conservative candidates and activists. Before the creation of the Gays Against Groomers account, Michell had a history of sharing far-right content, including anti-transgender content and QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theories, across multiple platforms on personal social media accounts, and had accused prominent liberal celebrities to being pedophiles. During the January 6 insurrection, Michell posted support for the rioters on social media, including reposting content from far-right political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos. Michell also compared public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic to Nazi persecution and mocked the murder of George Floyd in 2020. After the latter got her suspended from Instagram, Mitchell complained that "right wing gays" were being treated like "thought criminals". The Twitter account described GAG as a "coalition of gays against the sexualization and indoctrination of children", with the purpose "to protect children from harm being done in our name and by those who have hijacked our community". In response to the accusations that they spread anti-LGBTQ propaganda, GAG claims that, because they are a "coalition of gay people," they cannot possibly be anti-LGBTQ. Additionally, they claim that any criticism of their organization is homophobic. As of April 2023, the social media accounts for Trans Against Groomers are no longer active and their website is gone. Membership In July 2023, more than 22 GAG members quit the organization after it was revealed that Michell had ties to Florida governor and then presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis, who the week prior had made an ad criticizing Donald Trump for his past support of LGBTQ people and friendly relationship with Caitlyn Jenner, a conservative trans woman who had supported GAG up until that point. The ad was criticized by some GAG members for attacking Trump and lumping the LGB in with the T. Jenner claimed that not associating lesbian, gay and bisexual people with trans people is "the core significance of their group". GAG board member David Leatherwood called the ad "a slap in the face" for linking what he called "regular gay people" and "alphabet extremists who push radical woke ideology." Leatherwood also left the organization following the incident. In response to Jenner's exit, GAG posted a thread on Twitter attacking Jenner for her past support of pro-LGBTQ organizations and trans healthcare. Michell made a separate post calling Jenner a "fraud" and "the catalyst for the explosion of trans identifying youth". According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, "GAG leadership, including the group's director of chapters Mario "Presents" Estrada, has been tied to the hate group the Proud Boys, members of which have previously rallied with GAG's Florida chapter leadership." Several prominent GAG members have founded their own similar groups, including GAG's New York chapter leader, Marky Hutt, who founded LGBTrump and North Carolina chapter leader, Brian Talbert, who founded Deplorable Pride. Suspensions and bans from platforms By August 2022, Twitter had suspended and reinstated the social media account four times. GAG responded by using code terms such as "broomer" When Elon Musk bought Twitter, GAG reverted to its old name and tweeted "OK GROOMER". The group also purchased a verified badge. In October 2022, the account directly thanked Musk. Additionally, as of October 2023, Google, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Printful and Wix.com have all suspended or distanced themselves from Gays Against Groomers due to the organization violating their rules on hate speech. In June 2024, Gays Against Groomers was banned from Reddit for the same reason. GAG has responded to many of these bans and restrictions by creating new accounts on the platforms. However, many of these new accounts have been banned as well. == Views ==

The group strongly opposes the transgender pride flag and the trans-inclusive progress pride flag, saying the progress pride flag "needs to be banned in all 50 states." == Activities ==

Protests and rallies In September 2022, the Castro Valley (California) Unified School District approved a student-initiated plan to paint Progress Pride flags on every school in the district. A protester interviewed by ABC7News denied they were trying to foster a non-inclusive environment, saying, "I feel like we've been forced to talk to our kids, our young children especially about things we aren't ready to talk to them about". Also in September 2022, the Miami-Dade School Board was considering declaring October LGBTQ+ History Month. The Board had made a similar declaration the previous year. Before the school board meeting, Gays Against Groomers had trucks drive around the city claiming the district teaches "radical gender ideology." Ultimately, the Board decided against declaring October LGBTQ+ History Month due to concerns that a declaration would conflict with the state's Parental Rights in Education law. Antifa protesters planned to attend, requesting attendees bring "masks, signs, and rage". Both the rally Equality Florida blamed such rallies on Governor Ron DeSantis' anti-LGBTQ politics and rhetoric. Legislative advocacy On August 19, 2022, Michell told OANN that GAG was working toward a federal ban on gender-affirming care for minors. In January 2023, the head of the Arizona chapter of GAG, Robert Wallace, voiced his support for Arizona Senate Bill 1001, which would prohibit teachers and school officials from using a student's preferred pronouns without written parental permission if those pronouns do not match the student's gender assigned at birth. It would also permit school employees to ignore pronoun preferences if doing otherwise would violate their "religious and moral convictions". GAG was cited by Arizona lawmakers in support of Arizona Senate Bill 1030, which targets drag performances. Similar legislation restricting drag performances had been introduced in at least 11 states as of February 2023. In January 2023, Ryan Woods, a drag artist also known as Lady MAGA USA, spoke on behalf of GAG in support of a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in Utah. Woods asserted that children were being groomed. Detransitioner Chloe Cole also spoke in favor of the bill. In June 2023, GAG testified at a California school board meeting that "every teacher that has a pride flag in their classroom should be fired and arrested." In May 2024, GAG's North Carolina Chapter leader, Brian Talbert, spoke at the "Stop School Porn" press conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, organized by the conservative nonprofit group NC Values Coalition, which called on the state legislature to ban "obscene" books from public schools. Talbert said at the rally: "The predators are using gay inclusion and acceptance as a gateway to bring this filth into our schools and into the minds of our children. We will never allow that — as Gays Against Groomers — to ever let that go unchallenged in this state." In June 2024, GAG spoke in favor of a bill in Ohio that would ban drag performers from performing in locations that are not a "designated adult entertainment facility". In November 2024, GAG voiced support for Nancy Mace's proposed bill which would ban transgender people from using single-sex facilities that differ from their sex assigned at birth on all federal property. In March 2025, GAG released a statement voicing support for overturning state bans on conversion therapy for minors in the Supreme Court case Chiles v. Salazar. Harassment of individuals In September 2022, GAG successfully harassed members of the Miami-Dade County School Board in Florida into voting against a resolution recognizing LGBTQ History Month. Also in December 2022, GAG retweeted footage of Rep. Katie Porter which had been doctored to claim she supported pedophilia. Porter had spoken out against the use of Twitter to falsely label people as pedophiles. In October 2023, the Pulaski Community School District in Wisconsin was granted a restraining order against the leader of the GAG Wisconsin chapter, Jose "Rocky" Rodriguez, after GAG along with the far-right Twitter account Libs of TikTok posted false allegations that students at one school in the district were "subjected to graphic sexualized content" by a teacher who does drag. This resulted in harassment and intimidation directed at the district, its staff, and the school board by Rodriguez. In December 2023, GAG doxxed Tara Lipsyncki, a drag queen and transgender activist from Utah. As a result, Lipsyncki faced "constant vitriol, intimidation, and death threats from right-wing extremists" and received "suspicious packages, constant drive-bys, and cryptic phone calls and messages". In April 2024, someone sent a bomb threat to a drag event that Lipsyncki was scheduled to attend. Lipsyncki notified local authorities about the harassment, but nothing was done. By July 2024, Lipsyncki was forced to sell her home to escape the threats and harassment. Appearances in conservative and far-right media In an August 2022 interview with OANN, the group's founder compared gender-affirming care to the experiments on Auschwitz prisoners by the Nazi SS doctor Joseph Mengele. Writing in LGBTQ Nation, Alex Bollinger criticized these comments, noting that the Nazis destroyed Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexology, which "did pioneering work on understanding LGBTQ identities, including transgender people". On November 8, Michell blamed the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting – where a gunman killed five people, including two trans people, and injured over a dozen more – on gender-affirming care. Appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Michell called the shooting "expected and predictable", saying that "I don't think [the violence is] gonna stop until we end this evil agenda that is attacking children". Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Orlando nightclub shooting and press secretary of the LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida, described Michell's comments as "a crystal clear threat: 'The mass murders will continue until you do as you're told. Currie had begun to express gender-critical views on social media in January 2024 and voiced support for GAG that May. == Analysis and reception ==

Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard, described GAG as "a conservative funded propaganda account to push the groomer libel". Them.us has described GAG as a "Great Value version of the notoriously toxic Libs of TikTok". Columnist Wajahat Ali has accused GAG of fueling stochastic terrorism (the public condemnation of a group that leads to violent acts against the group). According to GLAAD, GAG characterizes LGBTQ people as "pedophiles falsely and maliciously with the absolutely clear intent of driving fear", perpetuating the LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory. Describing GAG as "an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist coalition", the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has explained that "any person who pushes false claims and conspiracy theories about all or parts of the LGBTQ+ community" is an anti-LGBTQ extremist, "regardless of how they personally identify". == See also ==