Gay conservative YouTuber Dave Rubin made waves by claiming he "might kill" a teacher if they tried to talk to his son about anything related to sexuality or gender.
Rubin—who is married to a man and has a son born this past August—made the comments on his YouTube show Rubin Report.
The comments were in response to a viewer question about the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law in Florida. The nebulous requirements and verbiage of the law sparked controversy among voters and caused chaos in Florida school systems.
Rubin responded by calling for the "Don't Say Gay" law to be adopted in every state, accusing non-bigoted teachers of pedophilia and saying he "might kill" a teacher who discussed gender or sexuality with his son Justin. Oddly, Rubin's fellow conservatives spoke out to condemn him—as a gay man—for having a child.
See his comments below.
Rubin said:
“...[I]magine if I found out that, actually, for three months there was a teacher talking to [my son Justin] about gender or sexuality."
“Maybe calling him Justine instead of Justin, and I didn’t know about that. I might kill that person."
"That’s where we’re at, right?"
Rubin then issued a thinly veiled threat to school employees.
“So, unless you don’t want these people to be killed—and I mean this somewhat flippantly—like, they want to abuse children. They want to abuse children.”
His claim of abuse is similar to the one conservatives aimed at him as a gay parent.
Republicans, starting with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his staff, have repeatedly accused anyone who opposed the law of being a pedophile, or "grooming" schoolchildren to be trafficked for sex.
Rubin's proposed solution for this was a "Don't Say Gay"-style bill to be introduced in every state.
He said:
“[F]irst off, of course, every state should model the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which has nothing to do with being gay."
That claim has become the cornerstone of the right-wing's arguments in favor of the law, but it is actually untrue—or, at least it cannot be said definitively
The law forbids "classroom discussion" or "instruction" about "sexual orientation or gender identity" in kindergarten through third grade, "or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate."
But the bill does not define what constitutes "discussion" or "instruction," nor does it define "age-appropriate" or "developmentally appropriate."
Legal experts say that leaves those terms entirely open to interpretation by school officials, state and local governments and parents, who are empowered by the law to sue over perceived violations of the legislation without burden of proof.
That means a child, their parents, or school employees could be open to a lawsuit simply because a teacher or student said anything about the existence of LGBTQ+ people in the classroom, hence the "Don't Say Gay" moniker.
Legal experts have said the Florida law is likely vague on purpose in an attempt to create an atmosphere of fear in schools. And it has worked.
Chaos ensued in several Florida school districts over issues like whether LGBTQ+ teachers having family photos on their desks constitutes a violation of the law.
Rubin's attacks and "flippant" death threats against people are a strange choice given he has been the subject of death threats himself and his own audience launched a homophobic attack campaign against him after he and husband David Janet announced their plans to have children.
On Twitter, many people criticized Rubin's so-called "flippance."
Rubin rose to prominence with an LGBTQ+-themed talk show on the cable network Here TV, one of the first television networks geared toward an LGBTQ+ audience, before making a hard pivot to the right in recent years.
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