#2931: Diane Gramley

A bit outdated, perhaps, but Diane Gramley, president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Family Association (AFA), was for a decade or so around Obergefell one of the more central figures in the anti-gay movement. And yes, she promoted all the familiar nonsense, such as claiming that the “real goal” of Pride celebrations “is to indoctrinate and they are seeking to promote their deviant sexual behavior” and that America’s future depends on Obergefell being overturned. She did not react well to the legal dismantling of gay marriage bans back in the 2010s either. And she would support much of her hostility toward (and silliness related to) gay people with QAnon-like conspiracy theories; she has, for instance, tried to argue that the police officers who infamously raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969 were really “trying to rescue a young boy who identified as transgender,” and who “was being used sexually and the police were trying to rescue him”.

 

According to herself, Gramley cares a lot about the welfare of kids, though she does so from a perspective typical of her ilk: Gramley is an “authentic Christian” and, according to her, “authentic Christians” recognize that although bullying is bad, being gay is worse. As such, school boards “aid child corruption and insult faithful families when they allow ‘gay-straight alliances’” and “homosexual indoctrination”. She has also said that “promoting a ‘smoking club’ would be safer than promoting a ‘homosexual club’” – at least she would support any measure necessary to ensure that being gay in school would be as unsafe as possible.

 

Gramley has also promoted election fraud conspiracy theories – indeed, she was an early promoter of such theories, warning already before the 2016 election that if Trump lost Pennsylvania, it would be due to voter fraud: “There is a lot of support in Pennsylvania for Donald Trump. So for him to lose, I would attribute that to voter fraud”, said Gramley.

 

Diagnosis: Even in today’s climate, Gramley comes across as something of a relic from the past. But she is definitely insane, stupid and hateful, and we can’t rule out that certain powerful groups might still find a use for her.