South Carolina state Rep. RJ May (R) — an anti-LGBTQ+ politician who has accused drag queens and transgender people of harming kids — pleaded guilty last Friday to distributing child sex abuse material (CSAM) after first denying it, Newsweek reported — including images of adults sexually abusing seven-year-olds. The anti-LGBTQ+ “parents’ rights” group Moms for Liberty honored the child pornographer as their 2023 Legislator of the Year.

May used the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange 265 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the Kik social media network during spring 2024. Representing himself in court — despite not having a law degree — May had originally asked the judge to throw out the warrant used to search his home, laptop, and mobile devices, as well as evidence that he had flown to Colombia to film himself having sex with three underage girls.

However, last Friday, May changed his plea to guilty, thus avoiding an October trial, which would have laid out all the evidence against him — he now faces up to 100 years in prison, fines of up to $250,000, and must register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors said that May showed sexual interest in incest between young children and their parents, as well as an interest in children the same age as his own kids. Because some of the images featured children the same age as his own child — a seven-year-old — prosecutors recommended he be held without bail until his trial, and May was.

May has made anti-LGBTQ+ statements in his time in the state legislature. In a January 2024 House speech on transgender issues and kids, he said, “We as legislators have an obligation to ensure that our children have no harm done to them.” In a November 24, 2022, post on social media, he said that “exposing children to drag shows and pushing sex changes on toddlers” were forms of “child exploitation.”

He also compared Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care to the state paying for “lifestyles” like drug addiction, adding, “We as legislators have an obligation to ensure that our children have no harm done to them.”

Wonder if this includes exposing children to drag shows or pushing sex changes on toddlers? https://t.co/rTzWan9nju
— R.J. May III (@RJMayIII) November 25, 2022

Moms for Liberty (M4L) — the anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group regularly seeks to ban LGBTQ+-inclusive children’s books as a form of “pornography” and regularly accuses LGBTQ+ people and their allies of “grooming” children for sexual abuse — honored May as their 2023 Legislator of the Year and had him speak at their 2022 event on “Reclaiming Education in America.”

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