Where Has Civility Gone?

Through you Mister Speaker…

When I first went to listen to the debate on the non-discrimination bill in the Connecticut House I was intrigued by the way the debate was handled, none of the representatives addressed each other directly but addressed the Speaker of the House.

It would go something like this…

A housemember would say: Through you Mr. Speaker I would like to ask the good member from Hartford why...

And the Speaker would repeat the question to the representative.

I thought this as being rather peculiar but then someone told me that they do that to keep the debates civil. It is kind of hard to get into a shouting match if you have go through an intermediary.

When I started to give testimony at hearings for bills I realized that support for the bill was split right down party lines I was a little nervous having to field questions from the Republicans but their questions were not mean but rather inquisitive they asked intelligent questions and always addressed me as Miss.

Now compare that to what happened down in Texas when trans people testified.

TX Special Session – Anti-trans sports bill advanced out of committee
Planet Transgender
By Kelli Busey
July 13, 2021


Austin TX: Republican Senators took advantage of the Democrat’s absence Monday and bullied, lied to, misgendered, and insulted every transgender person in Texas before calling the first gender-expansive witness to testify.
[…]
It is always the worst day of the year to testify at the Texas legislature, but Monday was the worse by far. The transgender people in the Senate gallery, waiting to testify, were subjected to an extremely hostile environment, the likes this citizen/reporter has never seen. If this had taken place in a workplace or on the corner in front of a seven-eleven someone would have been sued or it would have been called a hate crime.

That is so totally wrong and unprofessional. It is more like the Republicans are in a bar and not on the floor of the most prestigious building in Texas, they showed that they have no respect to for the citizens  who took time off from work to do their civic duty nor the institution that they were elected to by the people.

When I was in the Legislative Office Building both in hearing rooms and in the building I was treated with respect and dignity something that the Texas Republicans don’t seem to have. They have become not but a bunch of thugs.

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Hate has become the new “Normal.” Before hate was kept out of sight, societal pressures kept them quite but now thanks to Trump hate was given the green light, the hater crawled out of the swamp into the light of day.

You can see it all the from the Texas legislature to a library in Wyoming.

Transgender woman cancels Wyoming magic shows after threats
AP
July 14, 2021


GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) — A magician and comic has canceled performances at libraries in northeastern Wyoming because of online and phoned in threats over a social media post about her being a transgender woman, she said.

The Campbell County Library posted on its Facebook page that Mikayla Oz, 24, was cancelling shows planned for Wednesday and Thursday in Gillette and Wright out of safety concerns for herself, library staff and patrons, the Gillette News Record reported.
[…]
She was initially willing to do her show despite some complaints, but then she started receiving violent and frightening threats online and by telephone, she said.

The haters won.

How do you think that we can get the haters to crawl back into the swamp. There has always been haters but the hate was covert but now it is overt and violent, how do we change that?

I am serious, how do you think we can end this rash of hate crimes? I am on a council that is supposed to advise the governor on how to end hate crimes and I would like to hear your ideas.