Representative Morgan disrupted the committee hearing of her bill

"In twelve years of going to the Rhode Island State House and sitting through countless committees, I have never seen such behavior from an elected official."

Rhode Island State Representatives Patricia Morgan (Republican, District 26, West Warwick) and Charlene Lima (Democrat, District 14, Cranston) approached the clerks during last night's hearing of the House Health and Human Services Committee and held distracting conversations as members of the public attempted to deliver testimony on a bill that seeks to make the provision of gender-affirming healthcare for children a crime.

“The bill presented to you and the testimony that you've heard in support is based on incorrect information and a complete lack of understanding about the needs and experiences of transgender non-binary and gender diverse people” said Ryan Fontaine, testifying on behalf of Thundermist Health Center.

“Ryan, can you hold on just a second please?” asked Representative Brandon Potter (Democrat, District 16, Cranston), the second vice-chair of the committee. “Can I just remind the audience please that if we're going to have conversations, please take them outside?”

“Representative Lima!” said Representative Megan Cotter (Democrat, District 39, Richmond, Exeter, Hopkinton). “That's you.”

Representative Lima stepped away as Fontaine continued her testimony, but the conversation between Representative Morgan and the clerk didn't stop. If anything, it intensified. It was so distracting that she lost track of her testimony.

“I'm sorry,” said Ryan Fontaine.

"Representative Morgan, you're disrupting the testimony," said Representative Cotter.

“I'm chatting to the clerk,” said Representative Morgan, unperturbed.

“That doesn't matter,” said Representative Cotter. “Have respect for the people who come here to testify.”

In twelve years of going to the Rhode Island State House and sitting through countless committees, I have never seen such behavior from an elected official. Neither had anyone else who witnessed it. Representative Morgan sat down and was mostly quiet for the rest of the testimony.

Ryan Fontaine was allowed to start her testimony from the beginning. Still, she was forced to cut her testimony short because rather than the two minutes everyone testifying was promised and was given, the clerks cut her off after 80 seconds.

No one interrupted the testimony of the five people who came out to support the bill.

For her part, Representative Morgan was comforted by the small group of people - including Amy Rodriguez and Jasmine Roy of the Washington County, Rhode Island Chapter of Moms for Liberty - who had come to testify in favor of the bill.

The only other time there was an outburst in the room was when the Reverend Doctor Donnie Anderson, a transwoman, was taking questions from the committee members. An ally of Representative Morgan who spoke in favor of her bill persisted in making comments and outbursts until Representative Cotter asked for some decorum.

This did not sit well with the target of her criticism, who vocally objected.

“Please, you had your time to talk. Everybody gets two minutes,” said Representative Cotter. “Please be respectful of others.”

The person continued to object until a member of the Capitol Police leaned in and said, “This is a warning.”

During her testimony, Wendy Becker, Professor of Social Work at Rhode Island College, thanked the committee for trying to maintain decorum and pointed out that “trans people have been the ones interrupted.”

The point of the outbursts and interruptions was the same as the point of the legislation: Dehumanizing and hurting trans people. I wrote about that here, and Jaye Watts from Thundermist testified to that better here:

“This bill would not only ban evidence-based, medically necessary care for trans youth. It would do so by overruling a parent's right to seek essential healthcare services for their child that is backed by every major reputable medical authority in the country, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association. But it does not stop there because the plan was never for it to stop there. As we're seeing in other states... it's not just about kids. It's about going after the very existence of trans people in society under the guise of protecting the children.

“The guise of protecting the children has already been dropped across the country as bans have been enacted and critics have become emboldened to push forward the next piece of the agenda, which is to expand those bans to include adults and by banning insurance coverage to make access to care nearly impossible. There are elements of that agenda in this legislation. There's language that states specifically that we're talking about health insurance and exclusion not just for minors but for all people…

“Specifically, on page seven of the bill, line 22, the language says an insurance policy or other plan providing healthcare coverage in this state is not required to provide coverage for gender transition procedures. The line above it references minors and the line below it references minors. That line does not. That is not an accident.

“Even in the testimony that you heard earlier, you heard testimony that slipped in [that] perhaps we should be pushing this off to age 26¹ because they're not looking to stop medical care for trans kids. They want people to just not be trans.”

Professor Becker summed up the incoherence of the anti-trans agenda being spearheaded by Representative Morgan and Moms for Liberty:

“Today, Representative Morgan is sponsoring a bill to deny the rights of parents to join with their children and their children's medical providers to make decisions about their healthcare. She wants to pass this bill, one that would take away parental rights, the parental rights to allow children to live healthy, authentic lives. Tomorrow, without any sense of irony or shame, the same Patricia Morgan is sponsoring a parent's rights bill being heard in House Education that bill asserts, ‘It is a fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children.’

“Today Representative Morgan wants to deny parental rights tomorrow she wants to embrace them. Which is it?

"Actually, it is neither. the extremist anti-LGBTQ Moms for Liberty ‘gender-binary or bust’ crowd is not about parents' rights. They are about eliminating their own discomfort.”

In a letter signed by a coalition of over 470 medical and human rights organizations and individuals, the scope of the issue was laid bare. [More on that letter here.]

“The proposed bills introduced in the Rhode Island State House are built on model legislation from extremist ideological groups seeking to use government to impose their views on everyone. Censoring accurate and robust education and preventing students from fully participating in school life is a disservice to all our young people. Banning access to legal, life-saving medical care that is supported by every major United States medical association - representing 1.3 million doctors- as safe, effective, standard-of-care medicine is dangerous and harmful to everyone in the Ocean State.

“The arguments used to push forward these harmful measures aren't new. Opponents are evoking the same kinds of disinformation used against LGBTQ+ people from the 1970s through the Supreme Court decision settling marriage equality. Significantly, what has changed is their target. The groups opposing LGBTQ+ people's visibility in public life are now targeting the trans community, and especially young transgender people, for bullying, harassment, and intimidation. As in the past, those pushing harmful policies claim their interest is in ‘protecting the children,’ but they use their platforms to do the exact opposite.”²

“These campaigns are not necessarily meant to win,” said Gregory Wakmulski, speaking on behalf of Amnesty International and thanking the House Health and Human Services committee members for their steadfastness. “They're made to make this forum look unreasonable, to encourage unreasonable people to get involved, and encourage you guys to not stay involved.”

1. In her testimony Representative Morgan said that her bill would prevent people from accessing gender-affirming care until the age of 18. “I wish we could say it till 26,” said Representative Morgan, “but I'm at least hoping that we can say till 18 because we shouldn't be allowing it.”

2. Full disclosure: This author signed onto that letter.