i'll answer it anyway

Point of inquiry: at what time does a female senator have to raise her hand or her voice to be recognized before her male colleagues in the room?
—Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, Texas Senate, 6/25/2013

This is why I need feminism.

Comments

[scrollgirl]

I'm very anxious to know whether the vote was legal or not.

[seperis]

It wasn't! Though it comes back on July first, but whatever. It will pass, I get that, but it hasn't yet.

[scrollgirl]

You know, I just keep thinking that some of these assholes don't seem to grasp that the logical conclusion of their "no abortions, having sex = being a slut, no sex education" attitude is that the only way for women to win is to never ever have P-in-V sex with a man again, ever. Which you'd think would be of some concern to these asshole men.

[ilyena_sylph]

I've been muttering for the last several days that what it's going to take to stop this onslaught of anti-choice legislation is a massive, organized wave of sex strikes (like the ones in Liberia and Kenya) by straight and bi women.

Unfortunately, most of the anti-choice men I know have pro-life wives...

[nagasvoice]

The ones I've spoken to were also of the no-condom, no-protection, no-stopping-STDs school of risktaking, also.

[nagasvoice]

She was AWESOME.

[seperis]

Wendy and Leticia--and all the men who supported them that night--blew my mind. They fought that shit to the ground.

[kass]

omg, Wendy Davis is the AWESOMEST.

[seperis]

I KNOW. GOD.

[ilyena_sylph]

Last night.

I. Wow.

Just. Last night.

[seperis]

I was crying through the last five minutes so hard I couldn't even see the livefeed.

[grammarwoman]

How's the mood right now, with the bill shot down?

I still want to know why Wendy Davis had to do the endurance marathon version of a filibuster, when all the US Senate has to do is say the word for the same result.

[seperis]

Texas filibuster rules are different from Federal, really different. I actually approve of (some of) the rules, because it can't be used casually, and you gotta mean it when you do it, and it happens so rarely that doing it brings attention, a lot of attention to what they're doing and why. Much more than you'd get it if it was easier. I don't say that the Republicans didn't twist up the rules like a lot, even if they kept with the law if not the spirit, but whose in control will eventually change, and some of what they did during that filibuster to try and break it will bite them in the ass when democrats are in control again.

[nagasvoice]

From your computer to God's ear, rillly!
They oughta have karma bite 'em for this because they made Wendy keep to the letter of the rules while they were crunching the rules all to bits by the end of it. And why bother, when all they have to do is ask Rick Perry to keep waving the magic wand of new sessions until they get whatever they want?

[druidspell]

Obviously not speaking for everyone in Austin or Texas, but among my cohort we're thrilled that we won this particular battle (because the eyes of more than 170,000 people were watching livestreams to prove that the vote was not concluded until after midnight, therefore rendering the vote illegal) despite Republican obstructionism--but at the same time, we know that Perry the Fuckstick will call another special session to impose his will on the bodies of women. And in the meantime, it took Texas' government less time than it takes to barbeque a pig to disenfranchise minority and low-income voters: within two hours of provisions of the VRA being struck down, Texas had begun "redistricting" (read: "gerrymandering") and implemented the most restrictive voter ID laws in the country.

[scrollgirl]

On the flip side, when DOMA got struck down, this immigration judge immediately adjourned a hearing that could have resulted in splitting up a gay couple and deporting one partner back to Columbia.

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/26/judge-stops-deportation-hearing-minutes-after-court-strikes-down-doma/

[seperis]

I like you so much for this link.

[scrollgirl]

*hugs*

[druidspell]

THAT IS AWESOME :D :D :D

[seperis]

Dude, I was one of them. I thought about driving down to the capital myself, but between teh allergy attack and child, I watched the live stream.

within two hours of provisions of the VRA being struck down, Texas had begun "redistricting" (read: "gerrymandering") and implemented the most restrictive voter ID laws in the country.

They've been doing that since Republicans got control of the government; I work for HHSC and trust me, we're aware of the policy changes since republicans got in power. I'm not saying it's not going to get worse, it is, but it also just got better. I don't think in history that the people sustained a filibuster themselves with the power of their voices, and a lot of people just realized that they aren't so powerless after all.

[druidspell]

Watching the people realize that they could make their voices heard and prevent bad laws from passing was probably one of the best things about my week (and my team won the Stanley Cup, so I was already pretty excited). I'll be at the Capitol on Monday (work schedule permitting) to be part of the crowd for the second special session, because I'm actually excited to see my state senator work his ass off to keep this from passing. (Shoutout to Kirk Watson--keep being stellar!) I'm really hopeful for what this means in terms of midterm elections and the Democratic party, that people are realizing that their government is of them, by them, for them--and if they aren't working to improve our lives, we can overrule them and make our voices heard. And sometimes we make our voices heard when Leticia Van de Putte drops the mic with the best burn I've ever heard on live news coverage.

[nagasvoice]

Agreed that seeing SO MANY PEOPLE there was awesome.
And spooky too--that soft distant screaming of the Erinyes outside the building after the troopers booted everyone out of the gallery? Spooked the hell out of me. Anytime you hear the Furies wailing outside your palace like that-- yeah, those boys oughta be afraid.
Watson and Van de Putte were awesome. I want 'em in Wendy Davis' Cabinet when she becomes President, right?
Also, on your earlier comment about taking more time to barbecue a pig than to disenfranchise voters (great turn of phrase there!!) I get the impression they take barbecuing a lot more seriously than they do the need to do something substantive about their "voter outreach problem". Like, ya know, how to get that changing demographic of voters to buy into their program. The tighter they circle their rich-only club wagons, the fewer people are gonna swallow the propaganda machine saying it might actually include them for reals.

[fanofall]

I love Leticia Van de Putte. She doesn't represent my district but she has a significant portion of the available awesome. Aside from that quote, I additionally loved her arguing with not-Dewhurst: "I was *at my father's funeral,* and was not on the Internet at the time, so I don't know what the objections were."