Her husband suffers hecklers on a regular basis, usually greeting unexpected outbursts with composure and calm, but Michelle Obama decided to take a somewhat more direct approach when a protester interrupted a speech she was making last night.
The First Lady, who was speaking at a private fundraising event at a Washington residence, approached the heckler, a lesbian activist, and threatened to leave if the woman continued to talk over her.
Mrs Obama was about 12 minutes into a 20-minute address when Ellen Sturtz, 56, began shouting in support of an executive order on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
“One of the things that I don’t do well is this,” Mrs Obama replied, according to a pool report from a journalist in the room. Mrs Obama’s words greeted by loud applause. She then left the lectern and walked towards Mrs Sturtz, asking the woman to “listen to me, or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”
The crowd shouted that they wanted Mrs Obama to stay. One woman near the protester said: “You need to go!” Ms Sturz was then escorted out, yelling that she was a “...lesbian looking for federal equality before I die.”
Mrs Obama’s threat to leave was absent from the official White House transcript of her remarks, which only noted an “inaudible audience interruption.”
Ms Sturtz, an activist with pro-LGBT rights group GetEqual, said in interviews later that she was stunned and disappointed by Mrs Obama’s response. “She came right down in my face. I was taken aback,” she told the Washington Post. She said that she had told the First Lady she was happy to take the microphone - a response that, she claimed, appeared to fluster Mrs Obama.
The proposed executive order that was the subject of Ms Sturtz’ interruption would make ban federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. “I said I want your husband to sign the executive order. Her husband could sign this order tonight and protect 22 per cent of the work force in this country,” she said.
Having praised his support of gay rights in the run-up to his re-election, campaigners have voiced disappointment in recent weeks that President Obama has yet to act on the proposed order.
It is not the first time that activists from GetEqual have heckled an Obama. During the President’s first term, protesters from the group interrupted him during speeches, calling for more progress on gay rights. Ms Sturtz told the Huffington Post that she gave a donation of $5,000 to the Democratic Party and Mr Obama’s campaign in 2008, largely because she believed the president would fight to end discrimination in the workplace.
“Basically, I was asked by the first lady to be quiet, and I can’t be quiet any longer...I was surprised by how negative the crowd seemed to be. It was actually a little unsettling and disturbing.” said Ms Sturtz. “She obviously thought she was going to make an example of me or something. I wasn’t scared at all.”
The scene of the run-in was an event hosted by Karen Dixon and Nan Schaffer, a married couple from Chicago who previously hosted a $35,800-per-person LGBT fundraiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign at their Washington home. Mrs Obama’s address was introduced by Ms Dixon last night.
In her speech, Mrs Obama urged supporters to remain engaged even in non-presidential years. “So let me make the point that I was making before,” she said following the interruption.
“We are here for our kids. So we must recapture that passion. That same urgency and energy that we felt back in 2008, 2012. Understand this -- this is what I want you all to understand. This is not about us. No one back here. It’s not about you or you or your issue or your thing. This is about our children.
“We cannot wait for the next presidential election to get fired up and ready to go. We cannot wait. Right now, today, we have an obligation to stand up for those kids.”
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