Does an image show a legitimate "pedosexual" acceptance flyer that lumps pedophilia into the acronym LGBT? No, that's not true: The "flyer" is a fabricated document designed and spread by online networks that are biased against LGBTQ+ causes. Pedophilia is not an accepted sexuality under the LGBTQ+ umbrella.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly Twitter, on May 9, 2024. The post included an image adding the letter "P" ("Pedosexual") to the acronym "LGBT" (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender). The post was captioned:
LGBTP
where the 'P' stands for Pedosexual.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed May 29 14:28:14 2024 UTC)
The acronym LGBT and its other variations, including LGBTQ+, were developed in response to increased public awareness of varied gender and sexual identities (archived here). There is no "P" championing a sexual identity of pedophilia in any of the variations of the acronym (archived here). The notion that pedophilia is a part of LGBT identification is rooted in bias and discrimination.
Lead Stories performed reverse image searches using Google and Yandex on the "flyer" shown in the post making the claim. We did not find any credible sources reporting that the "flyer" was an authentic part of a campaign or movement. However, a TinEye search of the "flyer" did lead us to a board published in 2016 on the forum website 4Chan. The board showed that the "flyer" was used in a campaign to undermine the contributions of LGBTQ+ activists. Thus, the "flyer" is a product of a coordinated effort to disparage those who identify with the gender and sexual identities included in the umbrella term.
At the time this was written, the claim had previously been reviewed by multiple fact-checking organizations, including Snopes in 2017 and by Reuters, AFP and USA Today in 2020. The "flyer" has also been used as disinformation outside of the U.S., with a peer-reviewed research article mentioning it as exemplary of a category of online disinformation in Poland (archived here).
Previous Lead Stories fact checks involving the LGBT community and claims of pedophilia can be found here.
