Read the original article by Eesha Pendharkar on Education Week here.
Digital hate directed at the LGBTQ+ community—often from Republican lawmakers or their spokespeople—increased sharply after Florida passed its controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law, according to a new report.
"The sharp spike in hateful rhetoric against gay, lesbian, transgender, and nonbinary people was centered on the false accusation that LGBTQ+ people “groom” children, researchers from the Center for Countering Digital Hate found."
The law, formally titled Parental Rights in Education, was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 28. It bans lessons on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten through 3rd grades.
In all, the research indicates that a right-wing narrative casting schools as sites of gender indoctrination is now having a broader impact on LGBTQ people and youth.
On Facebook, researchers identified 59 ads that promote the “grooming” narrative that were purchased between March and August and were viewed a total of more than 2.1 million times.
In the month following passage of the law, the volume of tweets engaging in “grooming” discourse increased by 406 percent, the report found. The 500 most-viewed tweets that advance the “grooming” narrative were viewed at least 72 million times.