Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Press Secretary Christina Pushaw wrote on Twitter Friday: “The bill that liberals inaccurately call ‘Don’t Say Gay’ would be more accurately described as Anti-Grooming Bill.”

The bill that liberals inaccurately call “Don’t Say Gay” would be more accurately described as an Anti-Grooming Bill.

— Christina Pushaw ???????? (@ChristinaPushaw) March 4, 2022

RELATED: Student who Planned & Organized ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Protests Indefinitely Suspended

“If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children. Silence is complicity. This is how it works, Democrats, and I didn’t make the rules.”

If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children. Silence is complicity. This is how it works, Democrats, and I didn’t make the rules.

— Christina Pushaw ???????? (@ChristinaPushaw) March 4, 2022

Florida Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups were quick to criticize Pushaw, who told the publication Florida Politics that “pedophiles groom kids by talking to them about sex.”

The Hill:

Pushaw’s comments come just before the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which is officially titled the Parental Rights in Education bill, is set for a full floor vote in the Senate, where it is expected to pass. The legislation, which has been condemned by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, Hollywood and the White House, would prevent primary school teachers from talking to their students about gender identity or sexual orientation.

Should the bill pass in the Senate, it would head to DeSantis’s desk. The governor has not yet indicated whether he would sign the bill into law but has said he supports it.

Florida Democrats were quick to denounce Pushaw’s comments and called on action from DeSantis.

“Less than 5 weeks ago I sent a letter to Governor DeSantis when his spokeswoman Christina Pushaw politicized Nazis demonstrating in Orlando by questioning their motives calling for him to take action. Today, she posted a meritless tweet where she alluded to multiple openly gay members of the legislature being pedophiles,” state Sen. Annette Taddeo said Sunday in a statement.

“This pattern of posting reckless, unfounded allegations warrants action by the Governor,” she said.

“Bigoted attacks like this against LGBTQ people are the worst of the worst,” state Rep. Carlos G. Smith (D), who is gay, wrote Sunday on Twitter in response to Pushaw’s comments, adding that Pushaw “must resign.”

#Desantis spokesperson, paid for with our money, called opponents of the hateful #DontSayGay bill PEDOPHILES— the oldest, most dangerous anti-gay trope that exists. They just proved this was never about parental rights. If #DeSantis doesn’t remove her, he’s embraced her hate. pic.twitter.com/FVCwBOHNsb

— Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) March 8, 2022

Democratic state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who is also openly gay, said that DeSantis “personally owes millions of Floridians an explanation as to why his spokesperson — whose salary is paid wholly with tax dollars — believes it is acceptable to label opponents to this bigoted bill as ‘groomers,’ a code word for pedophiles.”

Hey ya’ll. When #DeSantis spokesperson used #DontSayGay to accuse us all of pedophilia, she was doing it from her ‘personal’ account on a Sunday so everything must be fine. https://t.co/hWsrf8dNPU

— Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) March 8, 2022

In a statement, the advocacy group Equality Florida called Pushaw’s tweets a “bigoted anti-LGBTQ rant.”

The snowflakes over at #DeSantis office get sensitive when we call it #DontSayGay. ❄️#HB1557 bans classroom instruction of ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity’.

It doesn’t ban ‘sex ed’— it bans a group of people they want to erase from the classroom. #LetFreeFloridaSayGay pic.twitter.com/yoGwVK6HZW

— Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) March 8, 2022

“Governor DeSantis’ spokesperson said the quiet part out loud: that this bill is grounded in a belief that LGBTQ people, simply by existing, are a threat to children and must be erased,” a portion of the statement reads. “Make no mistake — this is a tacit announcement from the Governor that he supports the true intent of the Don’t Say Gay bill: the erasure of LGBTQ people.”

Pushaw told the publication Florida Politics that she believes “talking to kids about sex” falls well-within her definition of “grooming.”

“There is no reason for 3- to 8-year-olds to learn about sex in school, and anyone who wants to teach kids that young about sex — particularly over parental objections — is creating an environment where grooming can easily occur,” she wrote to Florida Politics in a text message.

“Pedophiles groom kids by talking to them about sex,” she added.