Democratic state Senator Mallory McMorrow blasted the Republican lawmaker who baselessly called her a groomer who supports pedophilia by proving that she’s the better person – and by providing the way to respond to the right’s hateful lies.
Her speech on the Michigan Senate floor decimating state Senator Lana Theis has gone viral, making local and national headlines, and appearing on national television.
“We have to push back against hateful garbage,” Sen. McMorrow said on MSNBC Wednesday morning. “This moment is going to require straight white suburban Christian moms to stand up and get uncomfortable and say, ‘this is not OK.'” And then she called Sen. Theis “a coward” for not even looking her in the face.
Here’s her speech, including the full text:
I didn’t expect to wake up yesterday to the news that the Senator from the 22nd district [Lana Theis] had, overnight, accused me by name, of grooming and sexualizing children in an email fundraising for herself. So I sat on it for a while wondering, “Why me?”
And then I realized: because I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme. Because you can’t claim that you’re targeting marginalized kids in the name of “parental rights” if another parent is standing up to say “no.”
So then what?
So you dehumanize and marginalize ME. You say I’m one of THEM. You say she’s a groomer, she supports pedophilia, she wants children to believe they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they’re white.
Well here’s a little bit of background about who I really am.
Growing up my family was active in our church. I sang in the choir. My mom taught CCD. One day, our priest called a meeting with my mom and told her that she was not living up to the church’s expectations and that she was disappointing. My mom asked why. Among other reasons he was told it was because she was divorced, and because the priest didn’t see her at mass every Sunday.
So where was my mom on Sundays?
She was at the soup kitchen. With me.
My mom taught me at a very young age that Christianity and faith was about being a part of a community, about recognizing our privilege and blessings and doing what we can to be of service to others – especially people who were marginalized, targeted, and who had less, often unfairly.
I learned that service was far more important than performative nonsense like being seen in the same pew every Sunday or writing “Christian” in your Twitter bio and using that as a shield to target and marginalize already-marginalized people.
I also stand on the shoulders of people like Father Ted Hesburgh, the longtime president of the University of Notre Dame, who was active in the civil rights movement, who recognized his power and privilege as a white man, a faith leader, and the head of an influential and well-respected institution – and who saw Black people in this country being targeted and discriminated against and beaten, and reached out and locked arms with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he was alive, when it was unpopular and risky, and marching with them to say, “We got you.” To offer protection and service and allyship, to try to right wrongs and fix the injustice in the world.
So who am I? I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense.
No child alive today is responsible for slavery. No one in this room is responsible for slavery.
But each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history. Each and every single one of us decides what happens next, and how WE respond to history and the world around us.
We are not responsible for the past. We also cannot change the past. We can’t pretend that it didn’t happen, or deny people their very right to exist.
I am a straight white married suburban Christian mom.
I want my daughter to know that she is loved, supported, and seen for whoever she becomes. I want her to be curious, empathetic, and kind.
People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment, that healthcare costs are too high, or that teachers are leaving the profession.
I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian.
We cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to scapegoat and deflect from the fact that they’re not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people’s lives.
I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.
So I want to be very clear right now:
Call me whatever you want. I hope you brought in a few dollars. I hope it made you sleep good last night.
I know who I am. I know what faith and service means, and what it calls for in this moment.
We will not let hate win.