Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was called out after she shared photos of teachers at the 2023 New Jersey Education Association convention, including one teacher posing with two drag queens.
The images came courtesy of anti-LGBTQ+ influencer Chaya Raichik—best known as the woman behind the inflammatory "Libs of TikTok"—who said they were from the New Jersey Education Association’s recent convention.
One photo depicted a woman standing between two drag queens who were holding children’s books related to Stonewall and equality.
Another picture showed three educators at the conference, with two of them displaying books in front of a BookSmiles truck. The books highlighted were And Tango Makes Three, the story of a penguin chick with two penguin dads, and Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maya Kobabe, a book centered around navigating gender and sexuality.
Raichik accused the teachers of promoting "pornographic books," although neither of the mentioned books falls into that category. Raichik also alleged their participation in "drag shows" and "drag queen storytime."
You can see her post below.
Greene echoed Raichik's sentiments by sharing the tweet with the photos, saying that teachers "need to stop teaching their politics and sexualizing children"—even though there was nothing remotely political or sexual depicted in the photographs.
You can see her post below.
Greene was swiftly criticized.
In the past, Greene has called for the arrest of those allowing children near drag queens and has used hashtags like #SaveTheChildren to rally her supporters.
Despite her claims that the GOP merely wants to "protect" children, she was notably one of 28 Republicans who voted against the bipartisan Respect for Child Survivors Act, which addresses the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) mishandling of child sex abuse cases.
Many of the Republicans who voted against the bill claim to be interested in protecting children from sexual predators and have often contributed to the ongoing "groomer" hysteria that has gripped the right-wing, who've accused LGBTQ+ people of building relationships, trust and emotional connections with children so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.
