Democrat Erik Bottcher, a gay New York City Council Member, called out his Republican colleague Vickie Paladino after she called LGBTQ+ people "groomers."
Paladino's rhetoric offers further examples of the ongoing "groomer" hysteria accusing LGBTQ+ people of building relationships, trust, and emotional connections with children so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.
The controversy erupted last week, after Paladino waded into the recent conservative uproar about drag queens performing for kids, calling it not just "unacceptable and grotesque" but indicative of "a deeply disturbing national pattern."
\u201cNYC is spending taxpayer dollars to bring adult drag queens into elementary schools across the city to perform for small children. This is unacceptable and grotesque, and follows a deeply disturbing national pattern. I was elected to hold the line on major issues like this.\u201d— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@Councilwoman Vickie Paladino) 1655138091
Paladino said she would reconsider allocating "funding for district schools for repairs, upgrades, and new programs" if they are "found to have participated in these activities."
\u201cI have thus far allocated MILLIONS of dollars in funding for district schools for repairs, upgrades, and new programs because I am a major advocate for education. This funding will be reconsidered if a school is found to have participated in these activities.\u201d— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@Councilwoman Vickie Paladino) 1655138091
She then directed a wider attack against progressives, accusing them of having "no problem with child grooming and sexualization" and stressed her own commitment to ensuring that children receive "a quality education free of political manipulation and sexual content."
\u201cProgressives may have no problem with child grooming and sexualization, but I do. This will not happen on my watch. Kids deserve a quality education free from political manipulation and sexual content. And that's what the kids in District 19 will get.\u201d— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@Councilwoman Vickie Paladino) 1655138091
Paladino's remarks angered Bottcher, who during a city council meeting took her to task for her rhetoric, saying:
“I cannot think of a more nauseating term than the term ‘groomer.' That’s what child molesters do. They cultivate trust with someone they’re about to victimize.”
"Enough. Enough of that word. Enough of this rhetoric."
Bottcher later shared the clip of his remarks to Twitter and demanded that Paladino "acknowledge this is wrong and tell others to stop also."
\u201cThe term \u2018groomer\u2019 is absolutely nauseating. \u2018Grooming\u2019 is what child molesters and sexual predators do. And the term was used repeatedly by Council Member Vicky Paladino to describe my community. @VickieforNYC, we need you to acknowledge this is wrong & tell others to stop also.\u201d— Erik Bottcher (@Erik Bottcher) 1655420703
Many have echoed Bottcher's criticisms.
\u201cOur office proudly funded Drag Story Hour this year and you better believe we'll be funding it again next year.\u201d— Shahana Hanif \ud83e\uddbe (@Shahana Hanif \ud83e\uddbe) 1655394934
\u201cThis person is a disgrace to New York City.\u201d— Lunar Dysphoria (@Lunar Dysphoria) 1655440213
\u201cThis is incredibly bigoted, and is also a huge red flag for our trans brothers and sisters who are already being targeted by this kind of rhetoric. The amount of homophobic, anti-trans, and anti-queer talking points that have again moved mainstream is not something we can ignore.\u201d— Liza Schwartzwald (@Liza Schwartzwald) 1655400770
\u201cYour homophobic ass is going to lose your seat\u201d— Aria Blooms \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Aria Blooms \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1655403653
\u201cThe only thing I see in this tweet that is a bad example to children is your bigotry.\u201d— Monae Priolenau For State Committee AD56 (@Monae Priolenau For State Committee AD56) 1655416394
\u201cOn top of the vile & bigoted hate-mongering and the appalling cruelty to colleagues here, it\u2019s also a violation of the New York City human rights law to discriminate with public funds based on gender identity or expression.\n\nI\u2019ll be asking @NYCCHR to investigate.\u201d— Brad Lander (@Brad Lander) 1655432308
\u201cAnother fake Christian spreading hate and encouraging violence and fear. @VickieforNYC\u201d— Theodore (@Theodore) 1655469306
\u201cRepublican NYC councilwoman who won by <400 votes now using her position to threaten schools who bring in \u201cdegenerate\u201d people to read books to kids.\u201d— Ben Bradley (he/him/his) (@Ben Bradley (he/him/his)) 1655558616
Earlier this month, Bryan Slaton, a Texas state Republican Representative, complained about a Dallas gay bar that hosted a family-friendly drag brunch for young children and vowed to introduce legislation to stop what he called the “disturbing trend in which perverted adults are obsessed with sexualizing young children."
Shortly after, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio took to Twitter to gloat after shaming an Air Force base into canceling its drag queen story hour.
Rubio said it was "good" the Air Force had canceled the event, which would have featured a drag queen reading stories to young children, after he wrote a letter to them expressing his outrage.
Drag queen story hours have received considerable pusback nationwide from conservatives who have alleged that they are an opportunity to "indoctrinate" children into the LGBTQ+ community rather than an opportunity to impart values of inclusivity and acceptance.
"Violent threats" recently prompted one North Carolina town to cancel a scheduled drag queen story hour during Pride Month festivities.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung presenting U.S. President Donald Trump with honors and gifts at the Gyeongju National Museum in Gyeongju on October 29, 2025.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
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