GOP Politician to Pay $200,000 for Defaming Drag Performers
metroweekly.comsued Love in April 2022, saying he had defamed them in remarks he made during a hearing on a bill he introduced calling for libraries to conduct background checks on employees and volunteers.The performers contended that the bill — which Love cast as an effort to protect children from being in proximity to sex offenders — was an attempt to block Drag Queen Story Hour events from taking place.
Love sought to justify introducing the bill by claiming that “a convicted sex offender” had hosted the Drag Queen Teen Time program in Nashua, N.H., in 2019, comments widely understood to be referring to Champion.He alleged that another performer, understood to be referring to McMahon, had been seen “rubbing butts with children” at a similar event in Derry, N.H.Love repeated his accusations multiple times during that month, including making remarks opposing drag-related events at a Derry Town Council meeting on February 15, 2022, where he introduced himself as a state representative, imploring lawmakers to “leave the kids alone” and “let them grow up normal” by preventing them from being exposed to LGBTQ-related content.According to the lawsuit, Love also told a reporter from Manchester Ink Link that he “hope[d] to God” that Champion wasn’t a sex offender, but claimed to have read that Champion was convicted of sex offenses in a newspaper — though he couldn’t remember which one.“I don’t know if it was a Boston Herald or the Union Leader or what,” Love said at the time. “I’ve done more research on that and haven’t found [the article].”He also claimed to have been “told by a couple [of] constituents” about the claim that McMahon was “rubbing butts” with children.
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