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Rayla Campbell, a Republican candidate running to become the next Secretary of State for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, stunned the state's Republican convention last week after she claimed schools are teaching 5-year-old children to have oral sex.
But Campbell could not provide evidence schools are actually teaching 5-year-olds about oral sex, even when pressed by reporters from The Boston Globe.
Instead, she pointed to a bill concerning sex education currently being debated by the Massachusetts state legislature that would create “medically accurate, age-appropriate” sex education programs in schools and include information about sexual orientation and gender identity.
You can hear what Campbell said to the Republican convention crowd in the video below.
\u201cMA GOP convention was in town and ooh wee. Here is the GOP\u2019s nominee for sec of state with the wildest take of the year. Hopefully @SHODesusAndMero break it down next episode. \ud83d\ude33\u201d— Bone Jaw Nino (@Bone Jaw Nino) 1653170414
Campbell said:
"I don’t think it’s nice when they’re telling your 5-year-old that he can [perform oral sex on] another 5-year-old. Do you?”
“Because that’s what’s happening in your schools! If this makes you uncomfortable, it should.”
Campbell's remarks echo other falsehoods currently favored in conservative circles.
In recent months, Republicans across the country have sponsored a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, much of it directed at transgender people.
Debates about what teachers should or should not teach in school have also taken center stage, largely in response to Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill.
Florida’s Republican-sponsored Parental Rights in Education bill, or H.B. 1557, was recently signed into law by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. The law, colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, aims to “reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children in a specified manner.”
The law wants to prohibit “a school district from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a specified manner” and authorizes parents to “bring an action against a school district to obtain a declaratory judgment that a school district procedure or practice violates certain provisions of law.”
Campbell's remarks sparked considerable backlash
\u201cMassachusetts GOP's convention:\n"Rayla Campbell, the GOP's candidate for secretary of state, baselessly warned the crowd that public schools are instructing 5-year-olds to perform oral sex on each other.\nVote Blue to block these deplorable decadent Republicans from public office.\u201d— \ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f Bob Lawrence --Obama is #1 (@\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f Bob Lawrence --Obama is #1) 1653990174
\u201cI have never heard or seen anything like this in my life. This is a GOP candidate for secretary of state, Rayla Campbell. This is appalling.\u201d— Handmaid (@Handmaid) 1653366463
\u201cWTF .... even Massachusetts Republicans have lost their minds.\u201d— John Tapley (@John Tapley) 1653414200
\u201cRepublicans please don\u2019t vote for someone like this. She will hurt your party! This person does not represent the party with this strategy. Sad \ud83d\ude2b!!\u201d— Deborah Guillory (@Deborah Guillory) 1653922944
\u201cRayla Campbell is the Republican candidate for secretary of state in Massachusetts. She said schools are teaching kids how to perform oral sex. If this is the case wouldn't teachers be jailed and parents suing the schools?! This is outrageous. The U.S. is in trouble.\u201d— Jenee Darden (@Jenee Darden) 1653447050
\u201cInsane. If anyone needs yet another reason why they should vote, here ya go. Even in a progressive state like Massachusetts this is the kind of candidate that the Mass GOP is putting on ticket for Secretary of State.\u201d— Pawlie Pockets (@Pawlie Pockets) 1653340066
\u201cGOP Projection again.\u201d— Racing & Politics Accountabili-Buddy (@Racing & Politics Accountabili-Buddy) 1653366904
\u201cSomething tells me that she\u2019s not the sharpest tool in the shed.\u201d— Bev early (@Bev early) 1653409968
\u201cGOP are such an unfortunate, lying hateful lot.\u201d— ThatBadGirl \ud83e\uddd8\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83d\udcab\ud83e\ude90\u2728\ud83e\udddc\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f (@ThatBadGirl \ud83e\uddd8\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83d\udcab\ud83e\ude90\u2728\ud83e\udddc\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f) 1653268439
If elected, Campbell would become the chief elections official of Massachusetts. She would be in charge of the conduct of elections, including the enforcement of qualifying rules, oversight of financial regulation and establishment of Election Day procedures.
And if elected, she would be the latest in a long line of Republican candidates to regurgitate former President Donald Trump's lies that the 2020 general election was stolen.
During her remarks, she promised that she and her team "are going to crush and destroy these rotten devils that call themselves Democrats," calling her candidacy "a battle of good versus evil.”