Source: Getty Images

Post Accusing Trevor Project of 'Grooming' Among Thousands of Posts Deleted by 'Libs of TikTok'

Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.

The formerly anonymous holder of anti-LGBTQ+ Twitter account "Libs of TikTok" is deleting posts now that their true identity is known – and among the posts is one accusing The Trevor Project of "grooming" kids, according to the Daily Dot.

The account holder was identified as Chaya Raichik by the Washington Post on April 19, the Dot recalled. Thousands of the account's posts have been deleted in the wake of that revelation – though, as the saying goes, the internet is forever, and content scrubbed from the account has found its way back online as a controversy rages around claims that Raichik was "doxxed" by the newspaper.

"Raichik has echoed her defenders' claims that she's been doxxed and harassed by the Post, which it denies," the Daily Dot noted. "Some found Raichik's claim ironic given that her account essentially did the same thing to others, some of whom she recently said are educators who subsequently lost their jobs."

"[T]he Twitter feed has influenced conservative politics and media by posting videos of teachers speaking about LGBTQ+ issues and identities," Newsweek noted.

Tweets from "Libs of TikTok" have "bragg[ed] about making educators resign or getting them fired," the Daily Dot detailed, going on to add: "Many of the deleted tweets called people groomers."

"Accusing LGBTQ people of being groomers is a common trope based on the false assertion that they're pedophiles," the article clarified.

But "Libs of TikTok" also turned the smear against The Trevor Project, an organization that actively works to prevent suicide among young LGBTQ+ people, the Daily Dot said. "In [a] deleted tweet first noticed by @MattBinder, she called the Trevor Project 'a grooming organization,'" the article said.

The slur prompted pushback on Twitter.

"Raichik also misgendered people and accused LGBTQ people of having mental illness in deleted tweets," the article added, noting also that in yet another deleted tweet she called Pride Week "garbage" that was being "fed to kids."

The slur of "grooming" has been used to smear opponents of legislation like the recently passed "Don't Say Gay" law in Florida, which criminalizes classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ issues through third grade – and in all grades, if such discussion is deemed inappropriate for the developmental level of the students. Advocates worry that the broadly worded law, which puts a bounty on schools and teachers by encouraging lawsuits against them, will intimidate school staff into silencing LGBTQ+ youth, further marginalizing students who are already at a higher risk of suicide than their heterosexual and cisgender peers.

The Daily Dot zeroed in on the irony of Raichik and her supporters claiming she has been "doxxed," given that the "Libs of TikTok" account included a racy image that, Raichik posted, included a person who she said had "sent me a DM a while back begging me to take down her video." Addressing that person, Raichik added: "Go private. And don't do provocative stuff like this for attention."

Noting that Raichik's "identity had become public knowledge on social media," the Washington Post's senior managing editor, Cameron Barr, pointed out that the paper "did not publish or link to any details about her personal life," thus disputing claims that the paper had doxxed Raichik, Newsweek noted.


by Kilian Melloy , EDGE Staff Reporter

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.

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