Former Trump spokesperson Stephanie Grisham said on Tuesday morning that her 14-year-old son recently came out as gay—and that he told her he was deeply embarrassed that she worked for former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
Having spent months publicly apologizing for her time as Trump’s White House press secretary and distancing herself from the twice-impeached ex-president, Grisham’s rehab tour seemingly paid off on Tuesday as she was tapped to serve as a guest co-host of The View.
At one point during the ABC daytime broadcast, the panel touched on Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education bill. The legislation, which opponents have labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill as it would ban “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in elementary schools, passed the state’s GOP-controlled Senate on Tuesday and will head to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has championed the bill.
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With DeSantis—a possible 2024 GOP presidential candidate—expected to sign it into law and other states forging ahead with similar bills, the hosts of The View took turns blasting the bill and its impact on both children and their teachers.
“So is this bill shaming kids from being who they are and punishing teachers who actually want to help them? I mean, I’m not sure what the point of this is,” moderator Whoopi Goldberg declared.
Co-host Sara Haines added that this bill “isn’t accomplishing anything” before recounting her own sibling’s experience. “My brother is gay and I remember him sharing this story,” she said. “He started to feel different at about five or six. If he asked a question, he could have been in a situation where he turned to a teacher that had to betray him. I think this is going in the wrong direction.”
Goldberg also wondered about kids who have same-sex parents, asking if this bill would prevent those students from talking about their household experiences in the classroom. “I don't understand making kids’ lives harder than they need to be,” she added.
“I think the cruelty is the point,” co-host Sunny Hostin responded. “It’s to shame family. It’s to shame children. We could see this coming, I think, when you start banning books, when you start banning history in the classroom. What’s the next step? It’s banning discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity. It’s banning discussions about certain religions.”
Turning to Grisham, Hostin noted that the cultural has been on this trajectory since Trump took office and “started to say the quiet part out loud,” prompting the former president’s ex-flack to bring up her own son.
“This one is personal to me,” Grisham proclaimed. “And you bring up a good point because of my former boss. I have a 14-year-old son who is gay, recently came out as gay. I have his permission to talk about this.” She continued: “He didn’t want to tell his friends where I worked. He was ashamed of where I worked, rightfully so.”
The “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Grisham said, is “making children feel different,” and it is “creating a problem” where one didn’t previously exist.
