This went viral and is all over my feed on multiple sites. Democratic Missouri state Rep. Ian Mackey gave probably the most powerful speech ever heard in that state House. I’ve heard many an impassioned screed in my time, but this was the first time I recall tearing up. It hits home because here in Florida, I know exactly what he’s talking about.
In the video Mackey, who is openly gay, was outraged by yet another anti-LGBTQ+ bill because Republicans across the nation are going all in on the culture war, and gay and trans people are this year’s targets. (Women also made the cut. Sorry, Black protesters and migrant families. They’ll get you next year.) Mackey asked the sponsor of this anti-trans bill, Republican Representative Chuck Basye, to recall his speech just last year about his brother coming out as gay. Basye likes to use his gay brother as a prop point when introducing hateful legislation, such as his 2020 bill to require schools to report to parents, under penalty of lawsuits, any class material that mentions sexual orientation.
Well, Mr. Mackey (@IanMack03007724) was done playing nice.
He let Basye have it:
I can’t find a transcript of the full speech, and writing the words doesn’t do them justice, but you can mostly read it here if you can’t play the video.
As expected, the bill to ban transgender student athletes from all youth sports teams was approved on an 89-40 vote. If you watched the whole exchange, you might note that Bayse tried to imply what a nice guy he was, and that he even lets his kids play with his gay brother. Yet just so you are aware of the real person he is, after the bill passed taking away all sports from trans youth, Bayse said “I went home afterwards, enjoyed a delicious glass of Maker's 46 Bourbon then laid down and slept like a baby!!" That’s the kind of hateful people we deal with.
The speech hit me hard because I know how f-ing exhausting it is keeping up with all this hate, but it’s even worse than that. It’s worse because, just like with Mackey, my neighbors in this red community are so damn pleasant: they always offer to help, invite you places, and are nice to your face. Yet then they turn around and vote for asshats who don’t believe in legislating policy, but rather legislating cruelty. My next-door neighbors fly a Trump flag, despite having a niece and nephew who both have the exact same disability that Trump made fun of. They vote for people like Ron DeSantis, who just made it a crime for gay kids to be themselves, and personally gerrymandered the state to get rid of the Black districts.
I’m so tired of this, but Mackey is right: The Republicans may win many of these battles today, but they will lose the war. One in five Gen Z Adults identify as LGBTQ+, and this new generation sees diversity and inclusion as a good thing. It’s just a matter of time, which is why the GOP is flooding the state legislatures with this kind of hateful nonsense. In the very end, they will fail.
However, I also want to personally applaud Mackey for another reason. I was so moved because he actually called them out. He actually got angry. He told the entire world exactly the kind of person Bayse is, and I was so there for it. Even after the bill passed, I knew—as did his constituents—that he was fighting like hell for them. I don’t see that nearly enough on our side. Instead, I have to watch Senators Chris Coons and Dick Durbin prostrate themselves to Republicans for daring to do the right thing by standing up for us once in a while.
Democrats aren’t the stupid party. We know the challenges they face to get things done and having an opposition party so committed to winning that they will literally hurt their own people if it means denying us a victory. But I’m angry as hell, and I expect you to be as well. These are NOT nice people, as much as they pretend to be. It’s long past time to stop treating them as such.
@thesemdem / Sem on the FB