“We cannot continue to be assholes to women.”
— Nancy Mace, Republican US Rep. from South Carolina
I would not have been shocked to see Tennessee legislators pile out of a clown car in full regalia, Cameron Sexton wearing a big red nose, bright-orange fright wig, and floppy shoes, at the beginning of the recent “Special Session” of the Tennessee legislature called by Gov. Bill Lee to address “public safety.” From the start, it was clear that the event would more appropriately be called a circus of the absurd.
Highlights of the brief circus included a massive phalanx of Tennessee Highway Patrolman meant to intimidate and limit any concerned citizens who dared to show up to advocate for gun safety laws. Space for concerned citizens was extremely limited. New “rules” against allowing proponents for gun sanity to hold 8 1/2″ X 11″ paper signs were mandated by Speaker Sexton. (Really?) Water bottles weren’t allowed in hearing rooms (though you could bring your gun) and the drinking fountains were conveniently out of service.
Grieving mother’s holding signs were dragged out of hearings by officers of the above THP. The ACLU filed suit against the sign ban on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. They won. Then AG Skrmetti, the legal beard of the TN legislature (and Covenant Church member) challenged the ruling for Sexton saying Cammie had every right to mandate rules in his chamber. He lost. Signs eventually won the day. Looking back, it seems a hollow victory.
The whole event was a diaper fire. But the thing that stood out most to me as the final gavel fell, as physical skirmishes and name calling between legislators ensued, and as body guards hustled their bodies out of the chamber, were the shrieks and tears of the assembled women who had thought that they could make a difference with their paper signs — that there would be legislation passed to reign in the dangerous proliferation of guns in Tennessee communities — that they could save the children.
Ladies, tears and shrieks haven’t worked since Lucy Ricardo used them on Ricky to get her way back in the day. What you were trying to organize was not a bake sale fund raiser. You brought tears and some Southern sass to a gun fight and got slaughtered. I hope y’all learned something through this experience.
I used to carry a stack of voter registration applications around with me to encourage folks to vote. I was stunned by the number of women who told me they weren’t interested. In fact, most of the women told me that they had never voted. How many of the women who formed the prayer circle around the Capitol the first day of the session were registered voters? They prayed as armed Proud Boys unfurled their banner on the front railing. That image is what this fight is all about.
One video clip from the “special session” spoke volumes about the naivety of the women who came to the legislature to call for common-sense gun laws. A woman approached Justin Jones to pin a Covenant ribbon on his lapel like it was some sort of sorority rite saying, ” I want you to know, I’m a Republican, but you guys stood up for us.”
Why in heaven’s name did this woman feel compelled to qualify her tribute to Jones by saying she was a Republican? Our legislators did everything they could think of to humiliate y’all. The Tennessee legislature is predominantly a group of Republican men who created a law that mandates, in the event of a catastrophic complication to a pregnancy, a woman will be left to bleed to death while their doctor stands by unable to save her. And what other role did the Tennessee legislature play in what happened at the Covenant School? And where were the fathers of the Covenant children?
These are important questions for these newly politically active women to consider before they take on the legislature again. Toughen up, buttercups! Refine your strategy! You have some unique, powerful weapons. Win for all the women and children of Tennessee!