Thursday, March 01, 2012

A fluff of the Afro to Missouri’s “Silenced Seven” – way to represent!


Hi y'all!

I’m circling back to a reproductive justice story from last week because it really made me proud of the pro-choice champions we have in the Missouri Assembly.

Last week the Missouri House wasted the people’s precious legislative time debating a resolution opposing the Obama administration’s contraception coverage mandate.  The resolution was yet another overt pander to the powerful Catholic lobbyists who seem to have more pull under the dome than the majority of Missourians who support birth control coverage without a co-payment.  During the debate several women Representatives stood up to speak up and…well, represent their districts in support of birth control coverage and in opposition to the panderfied resolution.

And guess what?

The Rep. presiding over the debate, a certain Rep. John Diehl of the ‘I fear the voice of reason!!’ Diehls, refused to recognize the women to speak.


Yep, it seems that those who have an outrageous tolerance for using the weapon of government to pander to the Bishops are allergic to hearing valid as hell and thus painfully accurate opposition to their bullshit.

All Missourians, regardless of political beliefs, should be horrified that women elected to represent their districts in the House were not allowed to speak on behalf of their constituents.

I’m disgusted and it takes a lot to disgust me after years of watching similar disgusting behavior under that dome.

But our champions under the dome did not sit back and just take that public display of disrespect.

Seven of the women, calling themselves the “Silenced Seven”, and several of their pro-choice colleagues held a press conference outside of the Capitol – you can listen to it here.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

There are moments during our legislative sessions when it seems like trying to plea the people’s case just isn’t worth it…it almost feels like the Catholic influence a body has to wade through in the halls is waste high and thick as shit…but then there are moments like the Silenced Seven press conference, where those elected to represent Missourians actually struggle to do so, that make the work of citizen lobbyists seem worth it.

So, here’s a belated fluff of the Afro to the 45 Reps including the Silenced Seven who voted in the people’s interest against HCR 41.

Way to represent!

1 comment:

Bill Everday said...

Shark-fu, encourage everyone to write to these legislators thanking them and encouraging them....paper mail weighs a lot more than electronic mail and folks seem to remember it better when the times get tough.

keep up the good fight.

b.

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