Chaos erupted in the Virginia state legislature after Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Sears referred to a transgender state senator as “sir.”
Democrat Sen. Danica Roem (D-VA), a biological male who identifies as transgender, stormed out of the chamber after Sears was asked a question over deliberations regarding a routine bill on appointments to the state Board of Medicine.
“How many votes would it take to pass this bill with this emergency clause?” Roem asks.
“That would be four-fifths, Senator,” Sears replied.
“And what would be the exact number for that, Madam President?" Roem asked.
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“Yes sir, that would be 32,” Sears said.
Roem then immediately turned off his microphone and fled the chamber, leaving before he could cast a vote in the roll call vote moments later.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears doesn’t care what you identify as—she’s gonna refer to you by your biological pronouns. pic.twitter.com/FyLXBQoN7T
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 26, 2024
Following the incident, Sears publicly apologized. However, she did not specifically apologize for referring to Roem as “sir.”
“I upset Sen. Roem," Sears said. "Let it be known I am not here to upset anyone. I am here to do the job 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, 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. It is never my intention to make anyone offended, and I hope that others would consider that they would try not to offend me as well. We are all equal under the law. 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. I have seen us conduct ourselves in ways that we would not expect of our own children or nieces or nephews, and so I would hope that we would take this opportunity to be kind to each other, to be gracious to each other, to be about the people’s business.”
