Fox News Falsely Linked Pride Flag to ‘Grooming and Pedophilia’


  • Fox News faced fierce backlash this week as it leaned in on anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
  • A story headline on Fox News suggested the Progress Pride flag promotes “grooming and pedophilia.”
  • The conservative media giant changed the headline after LGBTQ advocates blasted the outlet.

Fox News faced fierce backlash this week after it linked a new version of the Pride flag to “grooming and pedophilia,” the latest anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from the conservative media giant.

The Progress Pride flag, which was created in 2018 and combines the traditional rainbow flag with a five-colored chevron representing transgender and marginalized LGBTQ groups, was recently flown at the White House for a Pride Month event. 

“White House flew controversial new transgender flag that promotes grooming and pedophilia, say critics,” read a now-deleted Fox News tweet and the headline on a story posted on Wednesday. 

The Fox News article — which now has the headline, “White House flew controversial new transgender flag that troubles some critics in the gay community” — cites anti-trans critics saying that the Progress Pride flag “appears to reference a cult of pedophilia infecting many institutions and represents an unwanted takeover of traditional gay symbolism.”

One critic cited in the article is Jaimee Michell, the lesbian founder of the anti-trans group Gays Against Groomers. 

The framing of the story — and the false link between a flag and pedophiles — had LGBTQ advocates enraged.

“They are just saying it with their whole chest now. Fox News is straight up saying the pride flag promotes ‘grooming and pedophilia.’ The ‘say critics’ part is bullshit and they know it,” tweeted LGBTQ rights activist Alejandra Caraballo. 

LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD told its nearly 500,000 Twitter followers in a tweet: “Don’t listen to this untrue, vile lie from Fox News.” 

 

“The Progress Pride flag adds communities of color (Black and Brown stripes), as well as pink, white, and light blue for trans and nonbinary people,” GLAAD said, noting, “The White House is the People’s House, LGBTQ people included!”

Animation writer Benjamin Siemon added in a tweet: “This is Fox. Outright lies and dehumanization. This is why people are storming into Target stores threatening employees when Target has carried pride merch for years.”

“Nothing is different this year except that right wing media has decided to put our lives in danger. Sickening,” Siemon continued.

Ari Drennen, the LGBTQ program director for Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group, noted on Twitter that Fox News host Greg Gutfeld recently praised a female teacher accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student on-air. 

 

Meanwhile, Fox News’ parent company used the Progress Pride flag design on its logo last year in a “Corporate Social Responsibility Report.” 

Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Thursday.





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