In April 2022, The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz revealed the identity of the woman behind Libs of TikTok, an account seemingly dedicated to perpetuating virulent anti-LGBTQ+ and far-right content. This week, Lorez sat down with Chaya Raichik, the former real estate agent turned social media influencer. The pair discussed a wide range of topics, including the death of Nex Benedict, which Raichik described as “very tragic” — before she added that she doesn’t believe in gender-affirming care for nonbinary people, like the teen.
The nearly hour-long interview is meandering and confusing throughout, though through no fault of Lorenz’s. Raichik, who makes a living creating and pushing her own content, repeatedly failed to put together coherent thoughts or to even answer a question.
In one clip that has circulated widely on X (formerly Twitter), Lorenz began, “If you eradicate transgenderism, which I believe you suggested in a post today—” before Raichik interjected, “No, I never said that.”
Lorenz replied, “Oh, OK, you reposted a post that was advocating for that. What would happen to the people that have already medically, socially completely transitioned, and are leading happy lives? What would happen to them? I mean, what’s your plan for that? If transgenderism doesn’t exist, which it seems like you’re, that’s what you believe. What happens to all the people living happy lives as trans people?”
Raichik, who showed up to the interview wearing what appeared to be a homemade shirt with Lorenz’s face on it in attempted mockery, replied, “Well, first of all, the whole trans, it’s based on a lie. You can’t change your… you can’t change your gender.”
“So… they could, they could, go live their life. I mean, I can’t tell someone what to do in their house,” she added.
Lorenz said, “It sounds like you do want to tell people what to do in their house.”
“I never said that,” Raichik answered.
“So you’re totally OK with people being trans, just not as long as they’re in public,” Lorenz replied.
“No, I never said that,” Raichik said. “They could… the whole thing is based off of a lie, and I think that this lie cannot be mainstream in our society. It’s just… it’s a lie.”
“And what harm is it causing, do you believe?” Lorenz asked.
“Um, I like the truth,” Raichik answered. “I like truth.” After she blinked several times, Lorenz replied, “Right, but I’m saying, what’s the harm of people expressing their gender identity differently than you believe it to be? What harm are they causing?”
“Like I said, we are a nation of truth,” Raichik said. “And I seek the truth.” The pair went back and forth on variations of the same question for another 20 seconds, until it became clear that Raichik had no interest in answering further.
Raichik came under fire on Thursday after Oklahoma City Councilor Sean Cummings accused her of fanning the flames of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in the state. Raichik, who lives in California and travels to Florida frequently, was named to the Oklahoma Library Media Advisory Committee by Republican schools superintendent Ryan Walters this year.
That the TikTok content creator holds influence in Oklahoma at all is confusing; by her own admission, Raichik has only been to the state once. Benedict, 16, died after being physically assaulted by a group of girls at Tulsa’s Owasso High School. Their family members have insisted that Benedict’s death came after they endured months of bullying for their gender identity.
Raichik told Lorenz that she got involved in politics in Oklahoma after she began to interact with teachers from the state online. She added that the people of Oklahoma “unfortunately have a lot of wokeness in a red state, and I’m trying to help.”
But Raichik’s “help” has sometimes come with dire consequences. Numerous bomb threats have been called in to schools that she’s accused of “wokeness” in videos posted online. NBC News reported on at least 33 instances that date back to November 2020 in which “people or institutions singled out by Libs of TikTok later reported bomb threats or other violent intimidation.”
Raichik’s rise in right-wing politics can be credited to her attendance at the Jan. 6 Insurrection. From there, she began posting videos about child sex trafficking and Joe Rogan began to promote her account. She left her job as a real estate agent after she received funding from Seth Dillon (the pair have since ended their professional relationship).
Watch Taylor Lorenz’s full interview with Chaya Raichik in the video above.
