Dupage Policy Journal

The Illinois Chapter Leader of Gays Against Groomers asked that his name be withheld from this story. He, and colleagues in other state chapters of the one-year-old, grass roots movement, have received death threats over their fight to rid school libraries and public libraries of books with depictions of gay sex between child, drag shows and the promotion of the transitioning of minors.

“They are using LGBTQIA+ as a shield to advance a radical agenda,” the Chapter Leader said. “And they are doing it to promote something that as a baseline should be disgusting.”

A recent eruption by parents in Downers Grove D99 over Gender Queer, a book in the school library containing images of kids engaged in oral sex, came at a roundtable hosted Democratic Congressman Sean Casten. Casten and others on the panel were defending Gov. JB Pritzker’s recently signed legislation that threatens the loss of funds if the Gender Queer book, and other pornographic books, are removed from the shelves.

Classroom

Parent Terry Newsome brought blowups of the Gender Queer depictions to the meeting forcing Casten to call them something that he and other left-wing politicians have thus far resisted - pornographic.

On top of the death threats, Gays Against Groomers, Moms for Liberty, U.S. Parents Involved in Education, and other parent groups have been characterized in news outlets as far right wing and even anti-LGBTQ.

While he describes his political leaning as “center right,” the Illinois Chapter Head insists that Gays Against Groomers is strictly non-political.

“It’s actually hilarious,’ he said. “Imagine calling us a homophobic hate group.”

Their sin, he says, is fighting back against “queer story hours, drag shows involving children, the transitioning and medicalization of minors, and gender theory being taught in the classroom.”

He said every day he and his colleagues ask themselves what’s driving the agenda that's infiltrating the schools.

“I believe that some people really believe, however misguided, they are doing the right thing. For others it’s a lot more nefarious. There is definitely a pedophilia element to it.”