Now with a trans woman in the Virginia House of Delegates what will the Republicans do about her? How will they treat another legislator, will they listen to her? Or will they be spiteful?
“They’re trying in some way to thread a needle with their own base,” said Bob Holsworth, a former Virginia Commonwealth University political-science professor. “They’re willing to change the tradition in this sense before they will explicitly acknowledge Danica Roem as a woman.”
But delegate–elect Roem has taken the high road once again.
Roem said she thinks it’s remarkable that Republicans are willing to upend years of tradition because of her victory. But, she added, in the end it doesn’t matter much as long as other transgender people know that it’s possible to win elected office.
“What matters the most is that I’m there,” she said. “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 I’m in Richmond and in any other official capacity in which I serve.”
Legislators do have some crazy rules but they are embedded in traditions.
In Connecticut the legislators do not talk directly to one another but say, “Though you Mister/Madam Speaker.” However, what they are doing in Virginia mean-spirited just so they do not have to call her gentlewoman, how low can they go.
After Roem’s election, Va. GOP leader wants to do away with ‘Gentlewoman’ titleSo the Republicans are once again being petty,
Washington Post
By Antonio Olivo
November 21, 2017
With Virginia’s first openly transgender elected official preparing to take her seat in the House of Delegates, the Republican leader of that chamber says it is time to end a tradition of addressing lawmakers by formal male and female pronouns.
Instead of the “gentleman” or “gentlewoman” from a given jurisdiction, lawmakers will all be referred to as “delegate” if Republicans maintain control of the chamber, House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) said through a spokesman Tuesday.
Conservative lawmakers hailed the change as a way to avoid what they said could be a potentially awkward situation. But one of the longest-serving House Democrats called the decision “shameful” and said lawmakers “ought to be big enough to get over these hang-ups we have.”
[…]
His statement to The Washington Post on Tuesday came in response to questions about how Del.-elect Danica Roem (D) — who in a campaign ad spoke about the power of being referred to as “the gentlewoman” from Prince William County — would be referred to when the legislative session begins in January.
“They’re trying in some way to thread a needle with their own base,” said Bob Holsworth, a former Virginia Commonwealth University political-science professor. “They’re willing to change the tradition in this sense before they will explicitly acknowledge Danica Roem as a woman.”
But delegate–elect Roem has taken the high road once again.
Roem said she thinks it’s remarkable that Republicans are willing to upend years of tradition because of her victory. But, she added, in the end it doesn’t matter much as long as other transgender people know that it’s possible to win elected office.
“What matters the most is that I’m there,” she said. “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 I’m in Richmond and in any other official capacity in which I serve.”
Legislators do have some crazy rules but they are embedded in traditions.
In Connecticut the legislators do not talk directly to one another but say, “Though you Mister/Madam Speaker.” However, what they are doing in Virginia mean-spirited just so they do not have to call her gentlewoman, how low can they go.
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