'You're Not a Mother,' MTG Tells Union Leader Stepmom

'It'd be nice if we didn’t attack the witnesses,' Democratic lawmaker said after her remarks
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 28, 2023 10:49 AM CDT
'You're Not a Mother,' MTG Tells Union Leader Stepmom
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, testifies during aLA, Wednesday, April 26, 2023.   (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

After GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told a stepmother that she wasn't a mother at a House subcommittee hearing this week, things got a little divisive. Greene asked Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union, if she was a mother, and Weingarten said she was a "mother by marriage" and thanked her wife, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, for being present at the hearing, Mediaite reports. Kleinbaum has two daughters. "By marriage, I see," Greene replied, adding, "You haven’t taught school since the '90s, so you’re not a teacher anymore."

Later in the House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee hearing on COVID-19 school closures, Greene told Weingarten that she didn't understand the impact of school closures and should not have made recommendations to the CDC because she's not a "biological mother." "The problem is, people like you need to admit that you’re just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother, and not a medical doctor," Greene said, per USA Today. Greene's remarks were condemned by Democrats on the subcommittee. "It'd be nice if we didn’t attack the witnesses, particularly making a decision about whether or not she's a mother," Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia said in response. Rep. Raul Ruiz said the comments were "reflective of the cruel, personal attacks to any adopted mother or father who love their children."

In other remarks to Weingarten, Greene said, "While kids were forced to stay home, and you approve of this, the diagnosis of youth with gender dysphoria surge," the Advocate reports. Greene also attacked the emojis on Weingarten's Twitter profile, including a Ukrainian flag and an image of flexed biceps that Greene described as "digital blackface." A New York Times Magazine profile of Weingarten looks at how she became so hated by conservative Republicans that Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state, described her last November as "the most dangerous person in the world." (More Marjorie Taylor Greene stories.)

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