This North Carolina GOP Candidate Is Using Anti-Gay Tropes To Attack Her Opponent
Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for state superintendent of schools in North Carolina, repeatedly used anti-gay tropes last week to attack her Democratic opponent, Mo Green.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Morrow, who has no experience in public education, attacked Green, the former superintendent of Guilford County public schools, after he received an endorsement from Equality North Carolina, the state’s largest political advocacy organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights.
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Green “states he is ‘proudly endorsed’ by Equality NC, whose mission statement is to promote LGBTQ+ power,” she falsely claimed. “NEWSFLASH…the ‘+’ includes PEDOPH*L*A!!”
The plus stands for other identities, such as nonbinary or gender-fluid, that are not encompassed by the letters.
Then on Friday, Morrow, who would be in charge of the state’s schools if she wins, again used the group’s endorsement to further smear Green and malign the organization.
“You should really get to know Mo and Equality NC. They are an organization which promotes allowing boys in girls’ sports and private spaces,” she wrote on Facebook on Friday afternoon. “They want schools to hide pronoun and even name changes from parents. They want to hide curriculum that discusses transgender and sexual activity with five-year-olds.”
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The following day, she claimed on Facebook that students and teachers in North Carolina were under attack and that a student was forced to discuss pornography with her classmates.
In Wake County, a video of a speech by a high school student went viral when she claimed she’d been made to discuss a book that contained incest and sexual content. The student didn’t name the book, but news outlets are reporting that it was likely “Tomorrow Is Too Far” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which depicts a relationship between two cousins.
Morrow claimed that Green supports the attacks and the discussion. She subsequently promised that if she won, “not one more penny of education $$$ will be spent on sexualizing our children.”
Morrow’s attacks on Green and Equality North Carolina are a part of the GOP’s ongoing assault on gay and transgender rights. Smearing the LGBTQ+ community as child abusers is a homophobic trope that has regained popularity in the last few years as conservatives began organizing around homophobia and transphobia.
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Conservative culture warriors have sought to remove books with LGBTQ+ themes from classrooms and school libraries, falsely claiming that they’re sexually explicit or that they’re used to groom children. LGBTQ+ teachers and allies have also been baselessly accused of abusing children.
Morrow first made national headlines when CNN discovered that after attending the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, she made a video saying former President Donald Trump, who incited the riot with his lies about mass voter fraud, should use the military to stay in power. (CNN reviewed videos that showed Morrow inside the restricted perimeter of the Capitol; there is no evidence she entered the building, and she has not been charged in the insurrection attempt.) She also called for the execution of prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.
Last week, North Carolina’s Republicans were dealt a political blow when CNN reported that their gubernatorial candidate, Mark Robinson, declared he was a “Black Nazi” and made other antisemitic and racist comments on a porn website from 2008 to 2012. Morrow has supported his candidacy and posted a photo with a pro-Robinson sign on X last week before the story broke.
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Morrow did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Public schools have become a main focal point for right-wing activists as Republican candidates run for school board and superintendent posts, seeking to push conservative ideology into the nation’s schools.
Fueled by the coronavirus pandemic school closures, several far-right groups, such as Moms for Liberty, have sprung up around the country. These culture warriors have railed against LGBTQ+ and racial justice-themed books, the teaching of accurate racial history, letting transgender students play sports and seeking equity in the classroom.
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