Gays Against Groomers struck the City of West Hollywood with anti-trans messaging. A lamp post was vandalized at the corner of Robertson Boulevard and El Tovar Place in front of the West Hollywood Recovery Center at 626 N Robertson Blvd. The post has graffiti with profane, barely legible language, and a sticker that reads, “No Child is Born in the Wrong Body”, which is a calling card with a QR code and website leading to the American far-right anti-LGBT organization.
The vandalism was first discovered last week, on Saturday April 1st, and according to a source, it was reported to a Block by Block ambassador who said she’d report it to code enforcement. The sticker and profane language had not been removed as of this Thursday evening. Someone tore off the sticker by late Friday evening, but the graffiti remains as of the posting of this piece a week later from when the source first found the offensive scribblings.
Gays Against Groomers Vandalism – WEHO TIMESThe group known as Gays Against Groomers has gained notoriety for their opposition to gender-affirming care for minors, as well as protesting outside of hospitals that provide such care. They have also protested against LGBT representation in schools and Drag Queen Story Hour events. According to a spokesperson for the LGBT advocacy group GLAAD, the group uses the term “groomer” as a derogatory slur to imply that LGBT individuals are pedophiles. Gays Against Groomers has also held anti-LGBTQ rallies alongside other far-right and anti-LGBTQ groups, including Moms for Liberty and the Proud Boys.
In June 2022, GAG was launched as a Twitter account by Jaimee Michell, who had previously worked for right-wing communications firms Arsenal Media and X Strategies, and had shared similar content on her personal account. The group’s anti-trans rhetoric has drawn comparisons to the conservative social media account, Libs of TikTok. Michell officially registered GAG as a corporation in September of that same year. GAG has been banned from several social media and payment platforms for violating policies against hate speech, but has received support from right-wing media outlets like Fox News, One America News Network (OANN), and InfoWars.
The Advocate revealed that the founder of Gays Against Groomers, Jaimee Michell, and her partners are former ultra-MAGA Trump followers who spread anti-transgender propaganda with QAnon conspiracy theories and links to extremist militias, according to a Media Matters for America investigation.
In response to accusations that it spreads homophobia and transphobia, GAG claimed that, as a “coalition of gay people,” it and its members cannot possibly spread anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda. Furthermore, they claim that any attack on the group is homophobic.
The graffiti in West Hollywood happened a week before WeHo City and the Los Angeles LGBT Center team up with over 40 LGBTQ+ organizations, faith groups, queer and trans activists, and drag artists host Drag March LA on Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023m to mobilize against the tidal wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the U.S..
Drag Story Hour is also returning to the City of West Hollywood starting on April 15, 2023.
GAG isn’t anti-LGBT. It’s against groomers and pedophilia.
Oh, so it’s against the church? Cool
The only thing more disappointing to learn a group like this exists and is vandalizing property and spreading hate here in West Hollywood is to see the comments from (alleged) WeHo residents spouting such vitriol. I’m beginning to question the mental health of some of these people who have allowed their displeasure with Mayor Shyne to seemingly entirely consume their thoughts. Can we try to follow some basic principals of treating others the way we would like to be treated? If that’s asking too much, maybe consider: if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all? It’s bad… Read more »
Block by Block doesn’t have a clue. Use the Weho App to report any graffiti and it will be removed within 24 hours.
Gay men are not part of the LBTWA BS! Created by a bunch of men hated lesbians like Shy.0ne! Without gay men there would be no movement. It is been totally taken over by a freak show. As witnessed on Santa Monica boulevard with that ludicrous parade. You couldn’t tell the drag queens from the women. This used to be boys Town. There was one hot guy with his shirt off …. the rest were a freak show thar belong to the circus if it still existed. A sideshow of freaks. Hey developers and real estate people.. you better get… Read more »
So grateful people with your mindset are on the way out.
Millenials and GenZ don’t share the same sentiment. Trans people and Drag Queens are always welcome in this city!
OMG a sticker expressing an opinion I don’t agree with? CALL THE POLICE, I’M OFFENDED
Did you all expect Sepi to instruct someone to clean up the Graffiti?
Graffiti is violence? this is beyond any drama queen rhetoric that lost a Louie V. bag. Jeez is this journalism or Fox News
You obliviously don’t live here and do not know the charter of West Hollywood. Hate Has No Place Here. West Hollywood was created as a SAFE PLACE for everyone. Reporting hate, is journalism- HATE and it’s graffiti and its ilk have NO place here. If your world has a place for hate, get out of West Hollywood, You do not belong here. .
Do not insult me or anyone most people have never heard of this group. My point is how this city counsel is again useless for serious issues,
to not take this garbage down.
I believe black spray paint will work boo.
First of all, it’s damn irresponsible that the city has allowed the hate messaging to remain for so long. Demonstrates the lack of follow through and the city’s true commitment to combat hate. Thank you bringing this to the city’s attention again. If the hate message is still there tomorrow, perhaps the Drag March will make a stop and clean it up. And to West, the facts are quite clear and easily confirmed (honey, ever heard of Google?). Defending any of this hate messaging is reprehensible. Get your self an education and if need be, your ass out of West… Read more »
This story is another example of how wehotimes is an embarrassing propaganda rag. No analysis, no nuance, just regurgitating messaging from think tanks and CIA from groups. Paulo, it’s really dangerous to associate people you disagree with as hateful bigots and right wing militias.. You learned nothing from the last two years, did you? Still so quick to slander and call for violence against people with different political views… like you did with the medical freedom movement that ended up being correct about a lot.. you are responsible for enabling political violence against people, Paulo. Nuremberg 2.0 can’t come fast… Read more »
Hi West. Thank you for reading and for your comment. Their ties are well documented and the vandalism reported here speaks for itself. Also, no one is calling for violence. Stop being dramatic.
you wrote a non-story spin piece based on a sticker, Paulo. A real journalist might look at the issue of child transition instead we get your usual slander, gaslighting and poorly-feigned “neutrality.” Another mockingbird operative
You have me confused with a different website, but whatever. Meanwhile, it’s not just a sticker.
The Graffiti isn’t legible and was probably put there by a tagger; it is reasonable to conclude it has nothing to do with GAG and their message. GAG’s message is not hateful; it may be scientifically true.
You gay MAGAs are all the same. You blame people for the all the crap you are guilty of doing yourselves. Who is gaslighting who here? I non-story spin on a sticker? So nevermind all the hate speech written around it? Unlike other cities in LA county graffiti is not common in Weho. Vandalism of city property is very much a local news item. Gay MAGAs spreading their propaganda on city property is an issue for those of us who want to feel safe in the city. Anyways I’m more interested in why the city hasn’t removed this yet. This… Read more »
Are you a bot? Troll?
They have been named by the Anti-Defamation League as “online amplifiers of anti-LGBTQ+ hate and extremism.”
There’s no place for their stickers and graffiti in our neighborhood.
What they did is an intentional act of vandalism, meant to provoke and terrorize.
This site’s reporting is fair. No gaslighting is being done. Hate groups don’t get neutrality.
I actually wouldn’t give them the attention of an article, I would have just painted over it and moved on.
Wow, you really have take a HARD far-right turn in the past few years.
In the last few years I helped get a serial killer off the streets, launched outreach for Asian massage workers in weho and Chinatown, protested imperialist wars, organized against police surveillance state, pushed back on political censorship even when it’s unpopular, called for investigation of alleged child rapists protected by the local political class, and held our elected officials accountable for abuses of office despite retaliation. But weho artist says I’m a right winger, so it must be true.
You are entitled to your own views, but when you present them as fact while slandering opposing voices you cross the line of journalistic ethics and social responsibility. This regular abuse of your platform had enabled political violence against real people, but you don’t even seem to care about the damage it causes in peoples lives. You should be ashamed of yourself.
It is clear that you don’t have any real knowledge of trans issues. If you did you wouldn’t be spouting this crap. Listen to every major medical association in the country. Listen to trans people themselves. Don’t listen to conservatives who’s credibility is so bad we have conversations of them talking about how they don’t believe anything they say on air.
These “opposing voices” are just hate speech, nothing more.
You are in a minority that is based on ignorance. Either educate yourself from legitimate sources or just be quiet.
Well since you so kindly asked… I was a founding member of St Johns Trans Right to Health Committee, have provided countless trans competency trainings, a published researcher on trans safety, and am some one who myself detransitioned after years of HRT. I know these issues.. But the point is that it’s fair to debate child transition without being dismissed as bigoted or ignorant. Again Paulo does the following 1) presents an opinion as beyond debate 2) smears and attacks those who disagree as bigots or “maga” 3) feigns neutrality and gaslights those who call out his bias. Not hard… Read more »
Cherry pick and candy coat Gays Against Groomers all you want West. Who they are and where they come from is not a matter of opinion. It is in fact, who they are and where they come from. Their name speaks for itself.
“but when you present them as fact while slandering opposing voices you cross the line of journalistic ethics and social responsibility.”
This is BEYOND ironic because another local publication is guilty of this almost daily and you have never said anything about it over there. Maybe it’s because they post those the flyers for those pathetic picnics of yours?
Thank you Weho Artist. I thought EXACTLY the same thing. But you said it.
Ur OBSESSED with Wehoville.. focus on upping your own game and maybe you would be more relevant, man
You want WeHo Times to up their game and be more relevant like Wehoville!!!??? That’s actually pretty hilarious. I’m so sorry West. I know better than to engage. But I’m kinda/sorta thinking you’re the one who’s obsessed here.
Don’t waste your time debating with ideologues like Paulo
“They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. You cannot change their mind. Even if you present them with authentic information. You cannot change the basic perception and logic of behaviour. The process of demoralization is complete and irreversible.”
-Yuri Bezmenov, Former KGB Spy
I’ve called out Wehoville plenty of times particularly around conflating antisemitism with anti Zionism. Sorry weho artist, do I know you? Cos you don’t know me or my politics, clearly. There’s an entire intellectual world outside the neoliberal bubble, babe.
Thank you for blurring out the QR code for not promoting their website. I guess that’s why they put it on the post in the first place, so that people could share it all over social media.
A fundamental flaw in the article seems to be an assumption that the graffiti and poster were placed by the same person or persons. Perhaps it is an oversight, or perhaps it is an intentional way to fuel a narrative.
Thank you for your comment Alan Strasburg. It’s nice to see you get out of that blog’s bubble. Calling me out on fundamental flaws, oversights and intentional narratives is actually pretty RICH coming from you, but WeHo Times welcomes you anyway. Keep coming back.
Paulo is personally replying with passive aggressive snark to commenters these days… and it’s the most engagement this propaganda rag ever gets lol
Why keep coming back to a place that seems to make personal attacks on those willing to engage in the civic square, especially the few of us who will actually attach our real names to our commentary? Civic square, or echo chamber?
Oh please Alan. You smile for my camera and then my friends send me screen grabs where you’re constantly dissing and dismissing the work that we do here. And you can’t say I’ve treated you differently when we’ve met in person. You hold me up to a different standard, that much is obvious, but don’t expect me to genuflect just because you grace WT with your presence–not when we’ve been at this for seven years. There is no echo chamber here. We report West Hollywood news. Period. You choose not to engage and that’s fine. It’s just laughable to me… Read more »
It’s sad that because they seem to hate themselves, that they must vomit up hate for others. This is very sad. And the graffiti should have been removed immediately.