Courage Against Bigotry

We cannot imagine Missouri State Rep. Ian Mackey’s (D-St. Louis) pain and rage as spoke on the House floor of his own personal story of homophobia.

The issue up for floor debate was restricting transgender kids from playing school sports, a perilous amendment which would allow local public school districts to decide, proposed as an add-on to a voter ID elections bill, HB2140. A number of anti-transgender bills, including prohibiting children’s transgender medical treatments, have flourished in the Missouri legislature the past several years, each based on outright bigotry. 

Never mind that parents and transgender kids have flooded hearing rooms and Capitol offices over and over, testifying, and pleading with legislators to please leave their families alone.

But bigotry has a tight incendiary hold on the Missouri Capitol, fueled by extremist views of prejudice and ignorance.

Rep. Mackey couldn’t hold back. He had asked his GOP friends to abandon this particular amendment, to NOT fan flames of hate in the remaining final weeks of session. But they refused, abandoning their pretense of bi-partisan friendship.

Rep. Mackey could not separate his childhood and own identity from all the other Missouri kids he knew would be in danger if the cruel anti-trans amendment passed.

A former preschool teacher, he could see the faces of those who had begged him in his own Capitol office to help fight against hate. He knew now was time to tell his personal story, as he had long encouraged others to do. He had thought of telling it before many times but now, time was running out.

Mackey inquired of Rep. Chuck Basye, the amendment sponsor.

“This is the only issue that I take personally that we discuss. We can agree to disagree and still love each other and still move forward unless (quoting author James Baldwin)…the root of our disagreement is in my right to exist.”

Mackey’s voice grew in intensity: “I was afraid of people like you, growing up in Hickory County, Missouri. I grew up in a school district that would vote tomorrow to put this in place. For eighteen years I walked around with ‘nice’ people like you, who took me to ballgames, told me how smart I was and then went to the ballot to vote for crap like this.”

“I couldn’t wait to get out, to move to a part of the state that would reject this stuff. Thank God I made it out!”

“But I think every day of the kids who are still there, who haven’t escaped, from this kind of bigotry!”

He concluded forcefully, “Gentleman, I’m not afraid of you anymore because you’re going to lose. You may win this today, but you are going to lose.”

WATCH HIS WHOLE SPEECH HERE.

His fury could be felt through the livestream, knowing that it took every ounce of control he could muster. Mackey laid bare his soul, pushing back against hate which many of us will never experience. His words were chilling.

After three hours of hot debate, the amendment passed by a predominate party-line vote, 89-40. 

Mackey’s impassioned words began traveling via social media as soon as he sat back down. In less than 24 hours, over 800,000 people had viewed his debate. AS OF TODAY, 5 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE SEEN IT.

This past Friday evening MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell interviewed Mackey on national television, telling viewers the floor speech, “is one of the best political speeches of perhaps this whole year, simply burst from Mackey in a controlled mix of pain and strength and truth and hope”. WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE.

It took raw courage for Rep. Mackey to speak out last week. It is frightening real to publicly expose one’s personal pain, especially to those in power who blatantly refuse to care.

Rep. Basye responded on Facebook by referring to his House colleague as “a loudmouth crybaby” and that “radical democrats attacked my character and made many slanderous accusations! I was called a Nazi, misogynist, a supporter of sexual assault and abuse, and I was aligned with North Korea, Russia and Iran!”

But never mind those callous remarks.

Rep. Ian Mackey showed us exactly how to stand up to bullies and bigots.