On Tuesday morning, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D) took to the Senate floor to defend herself against a completely unfounded allegation from Republican Rep. Lana Theis that she wants to “groom and sexualize kindergartners.” Her powerful speech quickly went viral.
“I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme. Because you can’t claim that you are targeting marginalized kids in the name of ‘parental rights’ if another parent is standing up to say no,” McMorrow said, at times peering over toward Theis.
“You say, ‘She’s a groomer. She supports pedophilia. She wants children to believe that they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they’re white.'”
McMorrow was referencing portions of Theis’ campaign material, shared publicly by Michigan Advance and others. A “groomer” is someone who establishes a connection with a child in an effort to ultimately exploit or physically abuse that child.
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She did not provide any evidence for any of these accusations but did personally attack McMorrow.
“These are the people we are up against. Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Snowflake) who are outraged they can’t teach can’t groom and sexualize kindergartners or that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery,” the material states.
As McMorrow argued in her speech Tuesday, Theis’ accusations are rooted in a broader national campaign to use highly polarized and often-misunderstood concepts like Critical Race Theory to attack the LGBTQ community and others while painting critics as villains.
“I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense,” McMorrow said.
“No child alive today is responsible for slavery. No one in this room is responsible for slavery. But each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history … we are not responsible for the past. We also cannot change the past. We can’t pretend that it didn’t happen, or deny people their very right to exist.”
McMorrow concluded by saying: “I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen. So I want to be very clear right now: Call me whatever you want. I hope you brought in a few dollars, I hope it made you sleep good last night. I know who I am. I know what faith and service means, and what it calls for in this moment. We will not let hate win.”
McMorrow’s five-minute speech garnered massive attention, receiving more than 1 million views on social media only hours after she posted it.
Watch her speech below:
Senator Lana Theis accused me by name of grooming and sexualizing children in an attempt to marginalize me for standing up against her marginalizing the LGBTQ community…in a fundraising email, for herself.
Hate wins when people like me stand by and let it happen. I won't. pic.twitter.com/jL5GU42bTv
— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) April 19, 2022
