NC GOP superintendent candidate Michele Morrow falsely links LGBTQ+ to pedophilia

Michele Morrow, the Republican candidate to become state superintendent of public instruction, is under fire for homophobic comments saying the “plus” in LGBTQ+ includes pedophilia.

Morrow made the anti-gay comment Monday in a social media post on X that talks about her Democratic opponent Mo Green being ‘proudly endorsed’ by Equality NC, whose mission statement is to promote LGBTQ+ power.’”

“NEWSFLASH…the ‘+’ includes PEDOPH*L*A!! “ Morrow added. “Mo Green will NOT keep our children safe!”

The social media post was condemned by Green as wrongly accusing the LGBTQ+ community of being pedophiles.

“This is another example in Michele Morrow’s long history of spreading hatred, encouraging violence, and proving she’s unfit to lead our public schools,” Green said in a statement Tuesday. “She’s the wrong role model for North Carolina’s 1.3 million students in public schools.”

Morrow’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday from The News & Observer.

Morrow is a homeschool parent, conservative activist, registered nurse and former Christian missionary who upset incumbent Catherine Truitt in the March Republican primary for state superintendent.

She is running against Green, the former superintendent of Guilford County Schools. He’s also former executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a group that funds progressive causes.

False claims of LGBTQ+ community supporting pedophilia

The claim that the plus in LGBTQ+ stands for pedophilia has been falsely made for years.

“We follow the widely accepted understanding, as stated by our partners at the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) in their Glossary of Terms, that ‘LGBTQ+ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer, with a “+” sign to recognize the limitless sexual orientations and gender identities within our community,’” Equality NC said in a statement Wednesday.

“We encourage all candidates seeking office and their teams to familiarize themselves with these terms.”

Falsely claiming that the LGBTQ+ community supports pedophilia is part of a history of “painting LGBTQ people as a harm to society,” experts have said, according to ABC News.

In 2016 and 2017, “LGBTP” became an online meme promoting the false claim that the LGBTQ community is adding a “P” for “pedophile” to its acronym.

Most child molesters are heterosexual, according to the Zero Abuse Project, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting children from abuse and sexual assault.

In most child sexual abuse cases, the alleged abuser is the heterosexual partner of a close relative of the child, a 1994 study found.

Morrow accused of bullying students

Morrow’s comments are hateful and bully vulnerable LGBTQ+ students, staff and families across North Carolina, according to Green.

“Every child deserves to learn, and every staff member deserves to work, in an environment that is safe, welcoming, and inclusive,” Green said. “Politicians like Morrow use schools as battlegrounds for their culture wars, and it’s simply unacceptable.”

Morrow is dangerous, charged Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

“She is actively bullying children and she’s creating unsafe environments,” Clayton said in a statement Tuesday. “This is the rhetoric of a hateful homophobic dark web internet troll who should never be in a position to oversee the education of North Carolina students.

“Not only does she not have any experience to oversee this department but with 49 days left in the election it is also truly disturbing that she thinks this is a winning message.”

Morrow: ‘No pride in perversion’

Morrow made national headlines after CNN reported on her past social media posts that talked about killing former President Barack Obama and encouraged President Donald Trump to use the military to stay in power in 2021.

During the campaign, Morrow has accused public schools of “teaching children to hate our country” and training students in “transgender theory.”

Morrow has also made multiple anti-gay public comments at Wake County school board meetings. She unsuccessfully ran for the school board in 2022.

“As a nurse I want you to understand something,” Morrow said at the June 6, 2023, board meeting as Wake marked Pride Month. “There is no pride in perversion. What we should be proud about is that we are people of character.”

Also at that June 6 meeting, Morrow disputed the idea that children could be transgender.

“All children are trans,” Morrow told the school board. “They’re transitioning from childhood to adulthood.

“They are the ones, there is no child that feels like a man or a woman, so allowing them to make decisions about their life or who they’re going to love or to know about the lifestyle choices of adults, is abusing the children’s mind at that time.”

Two weeks later, at the June 20, 2023 board meeting, Morrow responded to accusations that some speakers were making anti-LGBTQ+ comments at the meeting.

“They call us Marxists and hateful and bigots and everything else under the sun,” Morrow said. “Well let me tell you: Less than 5% of the entire population in North Carolina identifies as LGBTQ.”

Morrow went on to say that more than 50% of people in the state claim to believe in God, “who made us male and female” and “who made marriage between a man and a woman.”

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