A Connecticut State Democrat has earned rare praise from conservatives for standing up for mothers everywhere.
Connecticut State Rep. Robyn Porter accomplished this by proposing an amendment to a bill designed to maximize “federal resources for mental health services for young children, their caregivers, and pregnant persons,” according to the CT News Junkie.
The use of the term “pregnant persons” wasn’t accidental. It was the brainchild of “progressive” state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, who co-chairs the human services committee from where the bill originated.
But Porter didn’t care for this language and made this abundantly clear in remarks made on the Connecticut House floor this Thursday.
Dem Rep. Robyn Porter had the gall to veer from the DEI playbook today by insisting that simply using “pregnant persons” doesn’t provide women—mothers—with that feeling of inclusivity her party promotes. Met with mansplaining by some old guy Dems, opposition from suburban libs. pic.twitter.com/Kz5sI4ZDH1
— CT HRCC (@cthrcc) April 4, 2024
“My children call me mother, ma, mommy — it depends on the day,” she said, according to the Hartford Courant. “I don’t answer to pregnant person or birthing person. That’s not what I answer to.”
“A huge part of my identity is wrapped around being a mother and a grandmother. So I find it an affront that someone would try to tell me that what they’re putting on paper for the purpose of policy covers me when I’m telling you that it doesn’t,” she added.
She continued by pushing back on the argument that it’s “inclusive” and “non-discriminatory” to use the term “pregnant persons.”
“We want to talk about discrimination?” she began. “Well, I’m here to tell you that black people in America know that very well. … This is where I really get frustrated in this building because what we say is dismissed, disregarded, disrespected. … I’m always asked to compromise when I come to the table, and I’m expected to do so.”
“We were mothers first. Yes, times are changing, and I’m fine with that because that’s life. … But you don’t get to grow, and you don’t get to talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion and exclude me and the other women like me who identify as mothers. You don’t get to do that,” she added.
Her remarks prompted praise on social media:
God bless her!!
— (@kris10ryan54) April 6, 2024
A rare Sane Democrat sighting – good catch!
— Double Secret Mutation (@horsewithnonick) April 6, 2024
I love to see black women waking up and realizing how far off the rails suburban white women have gone.
— A Gentleman from New Haven (@MrIkeTurner14) April 4, 2024
Dear #RobynPorter
Thank you
Sincerely,
Mothers everywhere— Quaintly (@Quaintlyi) April 6, 2024
However, Gilchrest pushed back on Porter’s fierce defense of motherhood by arguing that “pregnant person” and “pregnant persons” are the so-called correct terms to use.
“Pregnant person is actually the inclusive term,” she said. “It is a gender neutral term, and it would encompass expectant mothers, pregnant women.”
“As we talk about DEI, this is the direction we are hoping to move in in this state and ideally across the country. And so the term pregnant persons is the more inclusive term, and so I would ask my colleagues to oppose the amendment,” she added.
Gilchrest was joined by allies like state Rep. Peter Tercyak, also a Democrat.
“In the country right now, part of our big divide is cutting people out of what should be available to everybody,” he said. “If we say mother, we should say every single other thing that comes under that heading of pregnant people.”
“I hate that I have to vote on this, but I’m going to vote no because I worry that it is going to be used against us in the future,” he added.
But luckily for Porter, most of the House sided with her.
“Culturally, as a Puerto Rican person, there is nothing more sacred than a mother. … There is only one mother. … Just as I opposed the word Latinx, I oppose the word expecting person,” state Rep. Geraldo Reyes, a Democrat, said.
“It’s nothing against the LGBT community. It’s nothing about them. … Nothing against them. We support them. … We recognize that they have rights, but where are my rights? I have the right to defend my rights,” state Rep. Minnie Gonzalez added.
State Rep. Anthony Nolan meanwhile kept things very blunt.
“In black culture, who really are ingrained with that word mother, for us to go home and call our mother something other than a mother, we would end up with a slap across the face,” he said.
“We’re not removing anything. We’re just asking to add something that is dear to those that are speaking in regards to it, especially in the black culture,” he added.
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Author: Vivek Saxena
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