Two female legislators in Michigan can’t catch a break. First, the women were banned from the floor for trying to speak out against the worst abortion measures in the country and using the word “vagina” to discuss the bill. Then, the spokesman for the GOP House majority leader said the women were having “temper tantrums” over the bill.
Now, in the latest sexist move on the part of the Michigan Republicans, state Rep. Wayne Schmidt (R) compared the two women to children, saying that they were given a “time out” for misbehaving:
You know, as I said to someone up north here, it’s like giving the kid a time out for a day. Hey, time out, you went a comment too far, you spoke your piece, we’re gonna let these other people have their dissenting comments, and then we’ll get back to business. But unfortunately, business has become a sideshow.
You can hear the radio show host immediately latch on to the sexism of the comment, saying “time out, temper tantrum, it makes people — makes women angry.” Listen:
Progressives are pushing back against this sexism. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has launched a petition demanding an apology from Michigan’s Republican legislature. The petition so far has garnered nearly 36,000 signatures.
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