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By Guy Page
Two days after transgender activists disrupted a peaceful, educational National Detransitioning Awareness Day event at the Vermont State House, and one day after the Senate and House (Democrat) Majority Leaders blamed the Vermont Family Alliance event organizers for their “attack” on trans rights, the VFA is demanding an apology.
VDC’s video footage of biological males dressed in women’s clothing singing and shouting in Room 11 so loud as to make VFA speaker Renee McGuinness inaudible was aired Wednesday afternoon by VDC and rebroadcast on major online media such as Libs of Tik Tok and, last night, on the Fox News program Jesse Waters Primetime. This morning Fox News published a news story with the VDC footage and an extensive interview with Chloe Cole, the nation’s highest profile detransitioned young person and detransitioning advocate.
Sergeant-At-Arms Agatha Kessler at no time asked the disrupters to stop or leave, and instead announced she would clear the room in five minutes in the disturbance didn’t stop. It didn’t and the meeting was shut down.
As upsetting as the disruption of the long-planned event, and Kessler’s approach to stopping it, was for McGuinness, she was even more upset by the condemnation of her organization in Vermont Democrat Party public statements.
A March 12 Vermont Democrat Party statement declared in a headline that “Vermont Senate and House Democrats Reject Today’s Attacks on Transgender Community.” Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and House Majority Leader Lori Houghton were quoted at length in the press statement.
“I would like to see a public apology from Vermont Senate and House Democrats for mischaracterizing our event as an attack on the transgender community,” Rene McGuinness, Public Policy Analyst for the Vermont Family Alliance, said. “Our first amendment free speech rights were denied, while disruptors were granted the special privilege to use the room we had booked for 15 minutes by the Office of the Sergeant at Arms, Agatha Kessler. This spectacle made national news. It was a shameful display of lack of decorum in our State House.”
This morning, Kessler approached VDC in the State House cafeteria and told me how “disappointed” she was in our coverage. I asked her why. She repeated that she was “disappointed” and when pressed said it was due to “misinformation.” Asked to explain details, she declined, repeated that she was disappointed, and departed.
VDC will gladly publish any added comments by Kessler, and any response by Ram or Houghton to McGuinness’s request for an apology.
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Categories: Media, State Government
The Sergeant at Arms failed miserably in the handling of this event.
I tend to think that she succeded in her actual intentions.
Good for you, and your reporting Guy. You reported what you witnessed.
And nothing from Scott or Rodgers. Sad, very sad.
I was there and asked Agatha Kessler, why she was not stopping the disruption.
Her words to me :
“ This is a public room, they are not breaking any laws and they have a right to their free speech”.
I realized Kessler had had lied to us when she said , she didn’t have the resources to stop the disruption when I walked out of the room and standing there were 3 or 4 armed policemen.
I would like to know a few things.
1. Did the organized LGBTQ+ protesters who gathered outside on the state house steps, before the SPEAKVT event, have a permit to be there?
2. Why were some of these same protesters , (which are easily identifiable on the WCAX news cast and then on videos taken from rm 11 ), allowed to set up in the reserved room at the same time SPEAKVT was there?
3. Did Kessler not know beforehand of the protestors outside and of their continued presence inside the state house in rm 11?
4. If she did know, wouldn’t there have been ample time to call on security and have rm 11 safe for SPEAKVT’s event?
This is all very suspicious to me.
In my opinion, Ms. McGuinness, and anybody else who took time out of their busy day to go to this meeting is owed an apology from the Sgt. At. Arms.
We’re watching our setting for “doing the public’s business” maintain itself as a toxic hostile environment. Perhaps we should cancel legislative sessions for a couple of years and let the virus play itself out.
Amen, we have now seen the true colors of Kessler with regards Free Speech. STATE HOUSE SPACES RESERVED FOR FREE SPEECH EVENTS MAY BE SUBJECT TO MY POLITICAL ALLIES SLASHING YOUR TIRES IN THE PARKING LOT ETC….
Please feel free to convey to Ms. Kessler my profound disappointment in her and the way she enabled the group to blatantly deny the VFA their right to free speech. Not only should apologies be forthcoming but there should be an investigation into how the situation was mishandled by Ms. Kessler. She is guilty of allowing her personal beliefs cloud her judgement and compromise her role as Sargent of Arms. If this is such a conflict for her, perhaps she should not continue in this position. As for the comments made by the Majority Leaders…they are not unexpected. Shameful, but certainly predictable. No one was attacking transgender rights…did these two even know what the meeting was about? As I understood the article, it was a forum to educate others on de-transitioning and how to help someone should they decide to revert back to their biological gender? How is that an attack….they’re were not trying to recruit trans people and make them transition back. I am so tired of the knee jerk reactions from the Dems. I truly hope that the voters take note of these three…they are clearly not interested in listening to any opinion that doesn’t fit their agenda. I didn’t see it mentioned, but were the people disrupting the seminar actually sponsored by any organization? It strikes me a somewhat cult like when a group is so afraid of the members learning that they can change their minds. Is this why the meeting was so threatening to them? Something to ponder.
Rainbow Bridge Community Center in Barre organized the “Trans Takeover” event. It’s on their Facebook page.
The people in Barre City wonder why they can’t seem to shake the moniker of Scary Barre – well, duh! Interesting when this group opened their hub of ill repute, a spanking brand new shiny heavy-duty pickup truck was parked outside, front and center. Grifters gotta grift and degeneracy pays off bigly.
In fact I’ve noticed that “Rainbow” supporters tend to be elitist, exclusive, far from supporting equality.
Another nationally broadcast story of Vermont moonbats gone wild. If we weren’t catapulted to new heights of mockery or repugnancy before, we are certainly hitting it out of the park these days. Great for tourism and business prospects! We only attract more moonbats and weirdos. Our future is dimming fast with each broadcast of those bozos and our corrupted, dead-eyed leadership.
In between these broadcasts hitting new heights of views on social media, an ad pops up of Becca Balint pontificating her representation of “all” Vermonters and upholding the Constitution. As well as, Energy Efficiency ads peddling their deceptive claims, practices, and questionable preditory, by hook and crook lending. The optics and narrative put out for all the world to see is gag inducing. It is also a dark, ugly stain on a once decent, hospitable, civil, and livable State. Shame on all of them!
There will be no apology as they double down and dig in like ticks on a dog’s behind. There is no discussion to be had with heavily medicated, disturbed malcontents. They will reap what they sow. In the meantime, keep speaking out, exposing the lies, and be prepared for the worst of the financial chaos coming soon.
The last thing I would expect is an apology, in this case of typical progressive gaslighting. Vermont’s trans-friendly legislators very publicly register any mention of the phenomenon of de-transitioning as an affront to their delusional agenda. They simply label ANY questioning of ANY aspect of the trans agenda as hateful and therefore unacceptable bigotry, which is perfectly acceptable to shout down and shut down.
Our Vermont Dems should apologize for their statement issued after the DeTrans debacle. But … why crickets from our Republicans when it comes to denouncing what transpired?
Who ever is responsible for choosing, supporting and maintaining the Office of the Sgt at Arms for the VT Statehouse should, in my opinion, be reconsidering Agatha Kessler for the position. The behavior of the organized trans protesters seemed an intentional disturbance of the peace. Apparently they had not obtained a permit for using the room at that time. If not, they knew they hadn’t. Once they were informed that another group had previously and properly booked the room, they should have either departed or remained without disrupting the event. Instead, by choosing to disrupt the event, ignoring Sgt at Arms warnings, the Sgt at Arms should have cleared them from the room, using the law enforcement back up as required. In no way should this have disparaged the VFA, nor should they have lost their opportunity to conduct their meeting in a timely manner.
The Sgt at Arms made no attempt to warn the disrupters to behave in a civil manner or be removed. The Sgt at Arm’s first and ONLY option was to shut down the event.
I certainly hope that the Sargent of Arms and the dem leaders apologize with sincerity and that the VFA group will be given another opportunity to have a NEW open discussion meeting rescheduled on detransitioning for the public to attend without any interruptions by any radical groups that are trying to prevent the meeting from happening. How undemocratic of them—-They need to be fired!!!
The moon bats in Vermont actually made Babylon Bee on this one.