Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Michelle Obama Heckled by Gay Activist

photo rude.gif

From Washington Post
Obama was addressing a Democratic Party fundraiser in a private Kalorama home in Northwest Washington when Ellen Sturtz, 56, a lesbian activist, interrupted her remarks to demand that President Obama sign an anti-discrimination executive order.

. . . “One of the things that I don’t do well is this,” she said to applause from most of the guests, according to a White House transcript. “Do you understand?”

A pool report from a reporter in the room said Obama “left the lectern and moved over to the protester.” The pool report quoted Obama as saying: “Listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”

. . . The audience responded by asking Obama to remain, according to the pool report, which quoted a woman nearby telling Sturtz, “You need to go.”

Sturtz was escorted out of the room. She said in an interview later she was stunned by Obama’s response.
“She came right down in my face,” Sturtz said. “I was taken aback.”









The interruption came less than two weeks after President Obama faced a Code Pink protester who loudly advocated for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison during the president's national security speech.
The president, who was making his remarks before cameras and a large audience, handled the situation differently than his wife's confrontation Tuesday night.
"This is part of free speech, is you being able to speak but also you listening and me being able to speak, alright?" Obama said upon the interruption. The president has used the tactic before when interrupted.
~ CNN Political Ticker

Attendees escorted the protester out as she yelled further, at one point identifying herself as a “lesbian looking for federal equality before I die.”
Heather Cronk, a co-director of GetEqual, a group that advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, later identified the heckler as one of its activists, Ellen Sturtz. Three other GetEqual activists were also at the event, Ms. Cronk said.
Tickets for the event ranged in price from $500 to $10,000, Democratic Party officials said.
~ New York Times

Sturtz, who was planted at the fundraiser by gay rights group GetEqual, stated that she was "taken aback" by Obama's response, because apparently the idea that she would do anything besides hand Sturtz the microphone and get her husband on the phone is surprising.
~ The Root

Notice the language Sturtz uses to describe the encounter. Rutgers Anthropology Ph.D student Donna Auston emphasizes that Sturtz’s word choice of “taken aback” is one of distinct privilege; Sturtz sees herself as above reproach in this situation. As Auston inquires, why was Sturtz surprised at Obama’s response? “Is it because you did not expect her to exercise agency? Did you not expect her to assert that she is your equal?” Auston asks. Either black women are supposed to tacitly accept maltreatment and disrespect, or when they do exercise their agency, they are branded as the “Angry Black Woman.”
The choice of words Sturtz employed indicate that she has cast the First Lady as the aggressor who over-zealously responded to reason with anger. And once you label a black woman as “angry,” you have, in essence, invalidated any response, no matter how justified or rational it may be. You can silence any challenge or dissenting thought from a black woman by even remotely alluding to this offensive stereotype.
~ Lauren Rankin on PolicyMic

. . . the moment we play the “I just couldn’t help myself ” card we shut down meaningful conversation. Yelling at someone is not “interaction.” Sure, we get noticed, but it’s easy to get noticed. A no-nonsense mom like Michelle Obama could tell you that any 2-year-old in a WalMart can get noticed just by throwing herself on the floor of the sporting goods aisle. That doesn’t mean anybody is going to take her seriously.
~ Mary Elizabeth Williams on Salon

Via Towleroad
The GetEQUAL organizers involved in the demonstration have issued the following statement.

"LGBT people in North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio and all over the country are dehumanized in our jobs, and we are forced into the closet in order to participate in the American dream. We value the First Lady's leadership and invite her to lead the charge within the Democratic Party to end employment discrimination. President Obama has an executive order sitting on his desk that can protect a quarter of the labor force in the U.S. from workplace discrimination, we will continue engaging leaders in the Administration and the Democratic Party until President Obama fulfills a promise to our community made five years ago."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~










































Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Talking to Neanderthals ~ Megyn Kelly VS. Erick Erickson and Lou Dobbs

photo MegynKelly.jpg

Erick Erickson on Red State
Many feminist and emo lefties have their panties in a wad over my statements in the past 24 hours about families. I said, in a statement reflecting the view of three quarters of those surveyed in a Pew Research Center poll, that more women being the primary or sole breadwinners in families is harmful to raising children. This result came from a survey that found “nearly four in 10 families with children under the age of 18 are now headed by women who are the sole or primary breadwinners for their families.”
I also noted that the left, which tells us all the time we’re just another animal in the animal kingdom, is rather anti-science when it comes to this. In many, many animal species, the male and female of the species play complementary roles, with the male dominant in strength and protection and the female dominant in nurture. It’s the female who tames the male beast. One notable exception is the lion, where the male lion looks flashy but behaves mostly like a lazy beta-male MSNBC producer.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~







Have these men lost their minds? (and these are my colleagues??!! oh brother… maybe I need to have a little chat with them) (next thing they will have a segment to discuss eliminating women’s right to vote?)
~ Greta Van Susteren of Fox News on Gretawire

MEGYN KELLY: So I'll start with you, Erick. What makes you dominant and me submissive, and who died and made you scientist-in-chief?
ERICKSON: Oh, it doesn't have anything to do with submissiveness per se, and it was certainly poorly constructed how I said it. What I meant by that was, when you look throughout society, look at other animals, the male of the species tends to be the protector, the dominant one in that regard, and we've gotten to a point in this country where you have a lot of feminists who think that the male and female roles are completely interchangeable, that there is no need for a man to support his family. You've got men walking away, you've got women becoming single mothers not by their choice, you've got a lot of people thinking it's a lifestyle choice. This isn't healthy for society when we think that roles of gender are completely -- can be interchangeable. No one's saying women can't be or shouldn't be a breadwinner or even the primary breadwinner. It's just that when we forced ourselves to this point in society where they have to be, that's not a good, healthy thing for society.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DOBBS: . . . And for people and for anyone in any discussion, in any debate on what is happening with women in the workplace to ignore the fact that we have marriages breaking up, shattering in this society and we know that reduces by at least --

KELLY: Why are you attributing that to women in the workforce?

DOBBS: Excuse me. Let me just finish what I'm saying if I may, oh dominant one. The fact is --
KELLY: Excuse me?

KELLY: . . . In this country in the ’50s and ’60s there were huge numbers of people that believed that the children of interracial marriages were biologically inferior and that is why it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry in some states in the country up until 1967. And they said it was science and fact if you were the child of a black father and white mother or vice versa you were inferior and not set up for success. Tell that to Barack Obama.




When Lou Dobbs called her "oh dominant one" I wanted to toss my computer out the window and go on a misogyny ax murder spree.
She handled it better than I would have.
~ ValeriesDancingMuppets on Jezebel

Maybe we've finally found some aspect of modern conservatism that the Blond Brigade can't stomach. The utter dismissal bot Lou and Erick give her & her opinions is both infuriating and deeply satisfying. This is who these people are, Megyn - it's who they've always been and always will be. They don't respect you and they never, ever will. Kick them both in the nuts and walk away. You can still save yourself.
~ iamlegion on Crooks and Liars

So, 69 studies in 50+ years says it makes no difference who the bread winner is and Erick THINKS, it makes a difference. There's a scientific study, what Erick the racist/bigot/sexist thinks.
~ Gump on Crooks and Liars

You know that when the Fox News Spokesmodels are trashing you for your misogyny, you've gone just a few steps too far.
~ Dave K. on Crooks and Liars

Megan doesn't seem to get it. She works for a network that promotes the kind of social conservatism that holds women in low esteem.
~ Sugarfunk on Huffington Post

That's it Megyn, come to the light.
COME TO THE LIGHT.
~ Revrant on Huff Post
















Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)