Fireworks erupted in the Virginia Senate on Monday afternoon after Lt. Gov. Winsom Sears referred to transgender Sen. Danica Roem as “sir” during the chamber's deliberations.
The House was forced to recess twice due to Democratic outbursts because Sears initially refused to apologize.
New: Hearing @winsomers Referring to @pwcdanica On the @VASenate The word is called “sir.”
The room went into recess twice after Sears reportedly “refused to apologise.”
“I'm not here to bother anyone, I'm here to do the job the Virginia people asked me to do.” #option pic.twitter.com/IyO8JaAQIG
– BK (@BradKutner) February 26, 2024
“I understand that Senator Roem is upset,” Sears said. “I'm not here to bother anyone. I'm here to do the job the people of Virginia asked me to do.”
Yahoo News reports, “Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl Sears eventually said she was sorry, but she did not specifically say so to Sen. Danica Roem, a Democrat from Prince William County. Instead, she looked at each section of the room and said, “I apologize.”
“However, she appeared troubled in making this apology, saying that although she did not mean disrespect in her comment, she did criticize Senate Democrats for what she claimed was a ‘show of disrespect towards me,’” the report added.
“Roem in 2018 became the first openly transgender person to sit in a state legislature in the country when she took her seat in the Virginia House of Delegates,” the Washington Blade reported.
