At a listening session last Tuesday at Peterborough Town Library, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, State Rep. Jonah Wheeler faced a passionate and largely negative response to his vote supporting a bill that “permits classification of individuals based on biological sex in lavatory facilities and locker rooms, sporting competitions, and detention facilities.”
His Democratic Peterborough and Sharon colleague, state Rep. Peter Leishman, did not attend the session. Leishman and Wheeler were the only two Democrats to support the bill.
When voters elect a representative, they do so believing that person will represent their values. Peterborough and Sharon Democrats elected Leishman and Wheeler believing they would protect the rights of our most vulnerable individuals rather than legalizing discrimination. Trans people are the target of this vote. We wonder who will be next. If Wheeler and Leishman won’t protect our rights and civil liberties, who will?
At this newspaper, we care about our Constitution and proudly support the freedoms it protects, from freedom of the press to freedom to vote to protections of civil liberties. Not for some, but for all. This should not be a Republican or Democratic issue. All elected representatives should be supporting our Constitution and the rights it protects.
Wheeler and Leishman need to wake up, before they become part of the undoing of our democracy, of the undoing of legislation that protects the civil rights of trans people, gay people, women and anyone who is not a white Christian man. They need to take a hard look at the agenda of the “majority” they are listening to, and wake up to the fact that they have fallen for persuasive propaganda that has them digging in rather than listening and even risking reelection rather than voting as their constituents would have them vote.
Representatives should speak up for those who are less able to speak up for themselves, or step aside. Following the “majority” is the easy way out, but doing the right thing takes courage.