16/01/2025
Small victories in the legal sphere can have a major impact, particularly when dealing with the lies and misinformation of right wing commentators. So, LGBTQ Nation reports this week as a Republican state representative in New Hampshire is forced to pay two drag queens he defamed as having inappropriate relationships with children some two hundred thousand dollars. State Rep. David Love (R) settled with the drag queens, Robert Champion and Michael McMahon, after a two-year court fight following Love’s accusation. The plaintiffs filed suit after Love made the accusations in February 2022 while introducing a bill that would mandate library employees and volunteers obtain criminal background checks. Both Champion and McMahon had participated in drag queen story hours. Love accused Champion, who appeared as Monique Toosoon in a story time event in Nashua in 2019, of being a “convicted sex offender.” The lawmaker also accused McMahon, as Clara Divine, of “rubbing butts” with children and “just really going way too far” at another event in Derry in 2021. Love repeated the false accusations over the objections of Champion and McMahon, local officials, and community members who challenged him over the spurious claims. “After being provided with inaccurate information, information that I failed to verify, I publicly accused Robert Champion aka Monique Toosoon of being a registered sex offender and Michael McMahon aka Clara Divine of ‘rubbing butts’ with children,” the state rep posted in his retraction. “I have since learned that those assertions were completely false.” Following the settlement, Champion told The Washington Post: “When you say things that are that damaging or harmful about someone, they’re not going to just sit there and let it happen.”
