Conservatives Are Grooming Our Kids

Protect the children. It's conservative's favorite talking point but do they actually protect kids or are they once again accusing democrats of something they themselves are perpetrators of?

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Nowadays, you likely heard the phrase, "Protect the Children" or a variation such as "Protect the Kids" or "What About the Children" said by politicians worldwide by both liberal and conservative elected officials. Today, it's mostly being used in the United States to censor LGBTQ books, history, and stop LGBTQ people from having equal rights and protections under the law.

In fact, you've heard it so much that politicians are starting to not say it, opting to show you instead. Just last month, convicted felon, Donald Trump surrounded himself with school kids sitting at classroom desks in a white house photo op while he signed an executive order dismantling the Department of Education. Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida also surrounded himself with kids while signing into law the "Don't Say Gay" law.

Our elected officials love to surround themselves with kids anytime they're doing something to hurt kids because showing us is just as effective as telling us they're protecting the children. So, let's first dive into where this phrase came from, why it's used, and finally cover if our politicians are following their own advice and protecting our children.

So, let's go back to 1914 when child labor laws still did not exist in the United States and children as young as 9 years old were forced to work in coal mines because their tiny hands could sort coal better than adults. That would change in 1938 when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed. And that would change back, like the world’s worst Uno reverse card in 2025 but we’ll get to that in a minute. Anyway, in 1914, the phrase was used widely by the National Child Labor Committee protesting for child labor standards.

Fast forward to 1964 when Walt Disney Pictures published a movie called "Mary Poppins". In one of the opening scenes, Mrs. Banks is begging her nanny not to quit, saying "think of the children!". This same phrase would later be used by the Christian Children's Fund non-profit in a 1980's fundraising commercial for their work helping kids in poverty.

Eward Herrmann and Lois de Banzie playing Franklin D. Roosevelt, a democrat and one of the greatest presidents to ever live, and his suspected lesbian wife Eleanor, even used the phrase in 1982 for a film called Annie in an effort to get support for their New Deal.

But what brought this phrase to the international spotlight the most was arguably in 1990 when a character named Helen Lovejoy on the animated comedy show, The Simpsons, used the phrase in several episodes that season. It became so synonymous with her character that the phrase, "Protect the Children" was ridiculed and nicknamed as "Lovejoy's Law".

Later, in 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton used the phrase in his speech to the International Labour Organization. But in the background, the phrase "Think of the children" has been used by many political movements. In fact, we found evidence that conservatives have been using the "Protect the Kids" phrase in opposition to anything they don't like. From fighting against slavery being abolished, to women having the right to vote, women having the right to make their own healthcare decisions, to gays getting married, and everything in between.

So, with all of this talk, that begs the question: why do they use this phrase so often in opposition to almost everything? Well, it makes it so you cannot criticize their actions. For example, if a politician said they're signing this bill into law to protect the children, anyone who opposes their action signing that bill is immediately attacked for any criticism.

If I asked "who are you protecting the children from?", people might accuse me of arguing children don't need to be protected from anyone. If I said they're hurting more kids by signing the bill, others would counter and say I'm okay with a minority of kids being hurt, just not the majority. They would call me a hypocrite for standing up for LGBTQ rights while not standing up for their white, cisgender, and Christian rights. My point is, it's a lose-lose situation.

Ethics expert Jack Marshall once described this tactic as a way to end a discussion by invoking an unanswerable argument. English professor at the University of Colorado Denver, Andrew Scahill wrote that the phrase is used to create a rhetorical argument for which your opponent in any debate cannot answer, as any counter argument they have would be viewed as a "not for the children" position.

Even the adopted son of former U.S. President, Ronald Reagan, Michael Reagan said the tactic of using this phrase is an illogical argument, an act of desperation by those who felt they had a weaker case with reason-based arguments, adding its use is "obvious political BS." But it's important to note, this tactic was widely used by his father, Ronald Reagan during his presidency.

So, with all of this talk about protecting children, conservatives must be beacons of morality and help kids on a daily basis with their actions, right? Well, let's look at the 10 declaration of rights the United Nations says children have and see if conservatives stand up to those 10. These 10 include:

1 - The enjoyment of the rights mentioned, without any exception whatsoever, regardless of race, color, sex, religion, or nationality;

2 - Special protection, opportunities, and facilities to enable them to develop in a healthy and normal manner, in freedom and dignity;

3 - A name and a nationality;

4 - Social security, including adequate nutrition, housing, recreation, and medical services;

5 - Special treatment, education, and care if handicapped;

6 - Love and understanding and an atmosphere of affection and security, in the care and under the responsibility of their parents whenever possible;

7 - Free education and equal opportunity to develop their individual abilities;

8 - Prompt protection and relief in times of disaster;

9 - Protection against all forms of neglect, cruelty, and exploitation;

10 - Protection from any form of racial, religious, or other discrimination, and an upbringing in a spirit of peace and universal brotherhood.

So, how do conservative values hold up to these 10 rules? Well, conservatives want to protect kids from pedophiles who want to abuse kids. But convicted felon, Donald Trump allegedly has been named in the Jeffrey Epstein files and allegedly went to his island to have relations with underage children.

Conservatives want to force kids to go to church and protect kids from the outside world full of sin. But almost 1,700 priests and clergy from the Roman Catholic Church were found guilty of sexual abuse and possessing child photos and videos of an adult nature. And that's just one single case with new cases popping up all the time. And the catholic church relocates clergy from one diocese to another as much as possible to avoid charges being filed.

Conservatives want to protect kids from gay people by banning LGBTQ books in public libraries, banning LGBTQ education in schools, and banning kids from attending Pride events. But just this week alone, Corey DeAngelis, a right-wing anti-LGBTQ education activist was exposed as a former gay adult film actor.

Back in July 2024, Grindr, a gay hookup app crashed all week from excessive usage at the Republican National Convention. Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor under the Trump administration was just allegedly discovered this week following a black adult film star on Twitter named Big Dick Bottom. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson was alleged to be trying to hookup with men on the DL on Grindr but this claim is only suspected by a few gay men in Washington, D.C. and not official at this time. That's not to mention a 2012 scientific study which concluded that the more homophobic a person is, the more likely it is, they are a closeted homosexual.

They also say they want to protect kids from gay parents and ban gay people from getting married. But in 2023, conservatives are the ones who blocked a bill from advancing which would make it illegal for children under 18 years old to get married. In fact, in this case, it was and still is legal for an adult of any age to marry a 16 year old in Missouri.

But they're not the only state to allow child marriage. In all of these states, labeled in blue, both people have to be 18 years old or older to get married. In these states, labeled in yellow, one or both of the people getting married can be 17 years old. In these states, seen here in orange, one or both of the spouses can be 15 or 16 years old. And in all of these states, labeled in red, a vast majority of which are controlled by conservative super majorities, it is perfectly legal for an adult of any age to legally marry a child of any age with no minimum age requirement.

Conservatives in the United States spent more than $215 million on anti-trans television ads in the 2024 election cycle. But in red states, one of the most widely searched terms on adult film websites last year was transgender. Specifically, trans was one of the most searched terms among 35 to 54 year olds and the 7th most searched category overall. The top 3 trans creators amassed over 347 million views last year alone and there are only about 3 million trans people in the United States so it wasn't just them searching for it.

Just this week, conservatives proposed legislation to ban schools from having litter boxes in school restrooms after the Libs of TikTok terrorist group made up a lie that a school in Syracuse, New York had a litter box for a student who cosplays as a furry. Local news stations even investigated the school and found there were never any litter boxes but Libs of TikTok fans still sent the school bomb threats anyway and now legislation was proposed to make sure litter boxes stay out of schools even though they were never there to being with.

But you should also know "furry" is the 17th most searched term in the same areas those bills are being proposed in. So, conservatives may publicly say they want to ban trans people and furries from bogus issues but they sure do like enjoying their adult films.

Conservatives want to protect kids from abuse but just a few weeks ago, they voted in favor and passed a bill allowing employers to schedule 14 and 15 year olds to work overnight shifts. They also voted and passed the measure to allow 16 and 17 year olds to be scheduled overnight shifts lasting more than 8 hours on school days and lifted the previous restriction that children could only work up to 30 hours per week when school is in session.

Conservatives also say that we should protect the kids from drag shows but Nazis are the ones showing up to those drag shows with assault rifles. Meanwhile parents or legal guardians of every child are sitting in the back of the room supervising and they’re the ones who chose to take their child to the event. So, either conservatives are for parental rights or they just want their parents to decide the rights of everyone else.

And straight parents routinely take their children to breast bars like Hooters where half naked women are serving food. But I’m sure housewives out there swear your husbands take your kids to Hooters for the wings. Sure they do.

They constantly claim Pride events are grooming kids but at a Wisconsin State Championship children's wrestling match just last week, kids were parading around with "Trump 2024 MAGA" flags. And newsflash, children don't have credit cards to buy flags. And why would kids on a sporting team support a man who just cut their funding if not for their parents grooming them into supporting the convicted felon?

My point is, conservatives love to throw this line around like they get royalties every time they say it. They surround themselves with children every time they're passing some bill to hurt children, but the children in the photos are too young to understand the terrible thing being signed into law.

Republicans' motivation was never to "protect the children". If it was, they would keep kids away from Donald Trump, priests, homophobes, bars, and they would pass laws unanimously to ensure no child has to work overnight shifts and no child under 18 can get married. Everything they've been accusing LGBTQ people of, they have been doing themselves.

So, conservatives, please stop using children in your propaganda. Stop putting them in the background for photo ops while you strip away their human rights. Stop trying to pull at your voter's heart strings.

You may not like the crimes your elected officials have committed but don't accuse gay people, trans people, women, people of color, or anyone else of committing crimes for which you have no evidence to support. At the very least, make sure your glass house is clean before you start throwing stones.

Because when it comes to protecting the kids, we’re the ones who are time and again, forced to protect them from you.

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