On this date in 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” first profiled Terri Lee Weaver, who has served the Tennessee House of Representatives for District 40 since first being elected back in 2008. Now, CSGOPOTD has definitely seen its fair share of right-wing nut jobs from the Volunteer State, but Weaver managed to raise herself above the pack in February of 2017, when she submitted a bizarre bill that would declare any child born through any form of artificial insemination with the help of a fertility clinic would be “illegitimate”.
Now, chances are you’re asking yourself, “Why the hell would a party renowned for being pro-life go out of their way to try and argue some children aren’t legitimate?”
Great question. The answer is, “To f*** with same sex married couples, of course.” Terri Lynn Weaver was one of 53 members of the Tennessee GOP beside themselves and who got involved in September of 2016 in a same-sex marriage divorce that dealt with the custody of a child born through artificial insemination. Weaver and the other lawmakers asserted that the lesbian wife of the child’s mother should not be considered a “legitimate” parent under the current statute. Now, Weaver doesn’t seem to care about the implications of what might happen if both women in a lesbian relationship had a baby, and both wanted custody… or she does and just wants to make sure same-sex couples can’t have custody of children, whatsoever. There are efforts to be cruel to LGBTQ couples, and then there’s what Weaver did.
Now, maybe Weaver is getting some really extreme and twisted views on Christianity, that she’d go out of her way to hate gay people that much. Then again, her pastor is such a pillar of sensitivity that there’s a photo of him with Weaver where he’s wearing blackface and pretending to be Aunt Jemima. We can’t believe we just typed that sentence, either, but there it is. Oh, and Weaver defended her pastor for it, to boot.
But anyway, it seems more that Terri Lynn Weaver is just obsessed with babies and pregnant mothers in general, even outside of your standard anti-abortion fanatical fervor. In 2014, she was the Tennessee state legislator behind a controversial bill to jail pregnant mothers found to be on drugs during their pregnancy. Critics pointed out there wasn’t accurate testing to determine of a baby was born “addicted” to a drug, and that even if it was easily diagnosed, the law would do little to prevent the problem, and might instead cause pregnant drug addicts to do even more desperate things to avoid getting caught, that they might not be more forthcoming with their doctors about being pregnant in the first place, or that it could lead to a lot of children being raised away from their birth mothers if so many were being thrown in jail for it.
Again, Terri Lynn Weaver seems indifferent about the details. That’s probably why her voting record features her support for some of the Tennessee GOP’s worst bills, including stricter Voter ID law aimed at suppressing the vote using the pretense of in-person voter fraud that is statistically non-existent, a bill written to gather “abortion statistics” that would help anti-choice extremists identify women going to clinics to seek abortions, a bill aimed at naming the Bible the state book, and attempts to nullify federal gun laws. She also was a co-sponsor if HJR 587, a resolution against the United Nations Agenda 21 treaty, for fears from hard-right conspiracy theorists that it’s a plot to establish global domination as well as HB 553, a bill aimed at preventing Civil War monuments from being renamed..
While Terri Lynn Weaver’s district is solidly Republican, what with her winning office by 45 points in 2016, and after getting out of the GOP Primary in 2018, faced no Democratic challenger in November.
She immediately went to work trying to handle the most important issues for the people of Tennessee… like protecting the statue commemorating the military career of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the KKK. When confronted with protesters at the state capitol for telling her how it’s racist to keep honoring the founder of a hate group, Terri Lynn Weaver literally defended herself by assuring the protesters that some of “her best friends are black”.
Terri Lynn Weaver continues to try and prove she’s not a bigot by doing things like sponsoring a resolution to criticize Gov. Bill Lee for daring to accept Syrian refugees. We’ll be sure to send her a coupon to Bed, Bath, and Beyond for new sheets that she can hopefully match to the hoods she’s got in her closet.
One Year Ago, April 16th, 2019: Terry Lynn Weaver (TN)… 2019 Update
One Year Ago, April 16th, 2018: Terry Lynn Weaver (TN)… Original Profile
Two Years Ago, April 16th, 2017: Dan Bongino (MD/FL)
Three Years Ago. April 16th, 2016: Janet Adkins (FL)
Four Years Ago: April 16th, 2015: Stella Tremblay (NH)