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(Update August 19, 2022: Edits headline, lede and paragraph 4, and adds paragraph 11 for further clarification)
Social media users have been sharing posts online that falsely imply the LGBTQ community is accepting of “pedosexuals” and some posts claim that the community will add the letter P to the acronym LGBT. The association of pedophilia to the LGBTQ+ community is an offensive and debunked trope.
Examples can be seen here , here and bit.ly/3gyvqKs .
LGBTQ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning and/or queer. The community has been wrongfully associated with pedophiles in the past. It has been widely reported that this link is untrue and offensive. (See here and here)
The LGBTQ community does not condone “pedosexuals” and no recognized LGBTQ+ groups say that they do.
A spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights organization working to achieve LGBTQ equality, told Reuters via email: “The LGBTQ movement absolutely rejects any suggestion that our community is linked to non-consensual interpersonal behaviors.”
A common iteration of the claim shows a post with a poster that includes the acronyms for LGBT and adds the letter “P” at the end, allegedly standing for “pedosexuals” (here). The shared post comes from a Twitter account called @EqualLuv4All, nowsuspended for violating Twitter’s rules. An archived version of the post, dating to April 1, 2017, can be found (here). It is unclear if this was posted by the account as an April fool’s joke.
Snopes reported in 2017 that the graphic appears to stem from a 4chan misinformation campaign from 2016 (here).
GLAAD, an organization that works for acceptance of the LGBTQ community through media (www.glaad.org/), told Reuters via email: “This flyer first appeared on social media years ago and is not from an LGBTQ group. No LGBTQ organization has condoned pedophilia or advocated for a ‘P’ to be added to the acronym in support of pedophiles. There is a long-standing, homophobic and transphobic tactic of inaccurately comparing LGBTQ people to pedophiles and being LGBTQ to pedophilia. It’s debased and vile. It pains me to have to clarify that no, the LGBTQ community does not embrace pedophilia, and LGBTP is not an acronym used or supported by the LGBTQ community.”
Another post shows a digitally edited graphic that reads “Love is love” with the words “not race, not age, not religion” (here). The screenshot has been edited to appear like the popular page LGBT News posted it. This post is false, and was never posted by LGBT News ( www.nostraightnews.com/ , www.facebook.com/NEWSLGBT ).
LGBT News told Reuters via email: “A poor Photoshop attempt […] this image is all over the internet with different names attached to it, various age groups etc. We are against any and all forms of Pedophilia obviously. Whoever is spreading these images are trolls and haters trying to give the LGBT community a bad name. We meet them often in our inbox and in the comments.”
An expanded acronym «LGBTQQIP2SAA» stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, androgynous and asexual, as discussed (here), (bloomingtonpride.org/glossary). It includes the letter «P», but this stands for «pansexual», a person attracted to all gender identities or attracted to individuals regardless of gender.
False. The LGBTQ+ community in no way supports “pedosexuals” and the letter “P” has not been added to the acronym.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
