Congratulations are in order for the now-former Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton, a Republican who just became the perfect face of his party’s purported crusade against “groomers.”
And by perfect, I mean perfectly hypocritical.
The Texas House of Representatives voted unanimously on Tuesday to expel Slaton, who’s 45 years old, over allegations of sexual misconduct with a 19-year-old staffer. Slaton preempted his expulsion by stepping down from his position on Monday. In his resignation letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, Slaton made no reference to the allegations, which were laid out in a detailed report from Texas House investigators that called for his expulsion.
Nonetheless, the unanimous vote to give him the boot indicates the Texas representative had run out of helpful allies. Even the Texas Freedom Caucus, which is normally aligned with Slaton on policy, called for his expulsion after the report dropped.
What makes this moment so rich is that Slaton has led some of the Texas GOP’s attacks on LGBTQ-inclusive practices, which many Republicans these days baselessly characterize as “grooming.” Slaton, for example, introduced a bill seeking to ban minors from viewing drag performances, which he claimed was necessary to protect youths from “perverted adults.”
But the Texas House report detailing the Slaton allegations suggests he’s the one engaging in manipulation for his sex. Or, put another way: behaving like a so-called groomer.
From NBC News:
According to the report, Slaton had sexual intercourse with a legislative aide whom he had primary responsibility for overseeing. He invited her to his apartment late March 31 and served her several alcoholic beverages, the committee found. The aide testified that she consumed “a lot of alcohol” and felt “really dizzy” at Slaton’s apartment. Sometime on the morning of April 1, the two had sexual intercourse, and the aide got Plan B to prevent pregnancy later that morning.
NBC noted that investigators…
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