Republicans have abruptly taken the decision to stop using gendered language in the Virginia House of Delegates so they dont have to refer to groundbreaking trans politician Danica Roem as a woman. Democratic delegate-elect Danica Roem made history earlier this month as the first openly transgender lawmaker to be elected to a state legislature, after unseating GOP incumbent Bob Marshall, who penned anti-transgender bathroom legislation. Roem is set to take up her seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in January. But ahead of the new session, the Republican-controlled body has opted to make drastic changes to the chambers 400-year-old rulebook. Under the changes, politicians speaking on the floor of the House will no longer have to refer to eachother as Gentleman or Gentlewoman, and will instead use the term Delegate as a gender-neutral address.
While the removal of unnecessarily-gendered language might be cheered by liberals in other occasions, the GOPs actions appear to be preventing lawmakers from having to refer to Ms Roem as a Gentlewoman.
House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) confirmed the change.
In a statement to the Washington Post, his spokesperson said: All members will be afforded the same respect and courtesy that this nearly 400-year-old institution commands.
Speaker-designee Cox believes the gentlelady and gentleman terminology is outdated, and that referring to everyone as delegate is more timely and appropriate. Republicans repeatedly referred to Ms Roem as male during the campaign, with Marshall focussing much of his campaign on attacking his opponents gender identity. Delegate-elect Roem, who focused her campaign on local infrastructure issues, did not rise to her opponents jibes.
After the election result, she said: Bob is my constituent now. I dont attack my constituents. Politics professor Bob Holsworth told the Post that the Republicans are trying in some way to thread a needle with their own base. He added: Theyre willing to change the tradition in this sense before they will explicitly acknowledge Danica Roem as a woman. Delegate-elect Roem said: What matters the most is that Im there. What matters the most to the people of the 13th District is that the woman they elected to serve them will be working on their behalf. I will be the delegate from Prince William, and I will conduct myself as the gentlewoman from Prince William while Im in Richmond and in any other official capacity in which I serve. Marshall, who will be unemployed in January, co-authored the states now-defunct constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He refused to debate Roem or refer to her as a woman during the campaign, calling her him on campaign flyers. In her victory speech, Roem said: This election has to prove nationwide that discrimination is a disqualifier. When you champion inclusion, when you champion equality, when you champion equity and you focus on the issues that unite us, like building up our infrastructurethose are the issues that you have to focus on, she added. I believe in building up our infrastructure instead of tearing down each other. That is fundamental. When the negative ads started coming out, attacking transgender kidswe stayed on our message while decrying discrimination. Roem told everyone watching: We cant get lost in discrimination, we cant get lost in B.S., we cant get lost tearing each other down. No matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship, who you love, how you identify and yeah, how you rock if you have good public policy ideas, if youre well-qualified for office, bring those ideas to the table, because this is your America tooand we are stronger together, Roem told the crowd. She dedicated her win to everyone whos been discriminated against.
Drawn for me: Volkswagen_Bros, ShinobiNinjaX, Popcorn_Fairy + Nayr626. https://imgur.com/gallery/B4o8m League Summoner Name: DontIoseYourWay (the I is an i)
Republicans have abruptly taken the decision to stop using gendered language in the Virginia House of Delegates so they dont have to refer to groundbreaking trans politician Danica Roem as a woman.
