Virginia’s Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears is facing allegations of “misgendering” a transgender Democratic state senator.
Senator Danica Roem, who identifies as a transgender woman, had a heated reaction and left the Senate chamber after Earle-Sears referred to her as “sir.” Following this incident, members of the Democratic party called for an apology from Earle-Sears. Subsequently, Democratic legislators took action by adjourning the Senate session twice.
Earle-Sears subsequently addressed the incident by issuing a statement that contained an apology.
“I upset Senator Roem,” she said.
“I am not here to upset anyone!
“I am here to do the job that the people of Virginia have called me to do, and that is to treat everyone with respect and dignity.
“I myself have at times not been afforded that same respect and dignity.
“But in this body, and as long as I am president of the senate, and by the grace of God, I will be treated with respect and dignity, and I will treat everyone else with respect and dignity,” Earle-Sears continued.
“We are all equal under the law,” she added.
“And so I apologize, I apologize, I apologize, and I would hope, I would hope, that everyone would understand there is no intent to offend but that we would also give each other the ability to forgive each other.”
Earle-Sears subsequently addressed the incident by issuing a statement that contained an apology.
“Senator Danica Roem was gracious in the face of the Lieutenant Governor’s disrespect, but the fact is that she shouldn’t have to deal with that nonsense in her workplace,” said Matthias.
“We support Senator Roem and every other LGBTQ+ community member who has to face this kind of unprofessional conduct from people in power,” she added.
“Winsome Sears’s tired old bigotry is a relic of a previous age, and we applaud Senator Roem and other progressive voices in the General Assembly for their continued work to move our Commonwealth forward.”
Earle-Sears previously made headlines when she objected to the demand that a murderer not be misgendered.
“Hang on, you know what: This person murdered six people,” she said to Bill Maher on his show in April.
“I don’t really care who you say you are.
“You murdered six people and three of them were children.”
