Democrats in the Arizona House will no longer have access to meeting rooms controlled by the House speaker except for caucus meetings and hearings after the speaker said one Democrat “lied to” him about the nature of a drag story hour held at the Capitol on Tuesday.
Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma, a Republican, said that Democratic Rep. Lorena Austin sought his approval for the event in the Arizona House basement without informing him of the true nature of the event.
Austin described the drag story hour as a “stakeholder meeting,” Toma told KJZZ, when it fact it was an event promoting what he called “dangerously perverse ideology,” and co-hosted by Planned Parenthood.
“Democrat Rep. Lorena Austin deliberately misled House leadership to reserve a conference room to host a drag story hour with Planned Parenthood,” Toma later posted on X. “Use of House facilities for radical activism to promote dangerously perverse ideology will not be tolerated while I am Speaker.
“As a result, I’ve ordered that Democrats have lost the privilege of accessing House meeting rooms until trust can be restored,” he added.
Democrat Rep. Lorena Austin deliberately misled House leadership to reserve a conference room to host a drag story hour with Planned Parenthood.
Use of House facilities for radical activism to promote dangerously perverse ideology will not be tolerated while I am Speaker.
As… pic.twitter.com/yuOnkjn8zR
— Ben Toma (@RepBenToma) April 30, 2024
Toma apparently didn’t become aware of what was happening in the House basement until it was too late. KJZZ reported that he sent “legislative staff” to revoke the permission to use the space, but the event was already over by then.
Should the lawmaker who organized this event be punished?
Toma may have been alerted to what was going on by a tweet from a political rival, fellow Republican Anthony Kern, a state senator currently running against Toma for the U.S. House seat currently held by Rep. Debbie Lesko, who is not running for re-election.
Kern posted on X less than a half hour prior to Toma’s post, calling his post an “ARIZONA ALERT” (emphasis original).
“Drag Queen story hour going on now at the Arizona State House of Representatives sponsored by Planned Parenthood!” Kern posted.
“Why is @RepBenToma allowing this?” he asked.
ARIZONA ALERT:
Drag Queen story hour going on now at the Arizona State House of Representatives sponsored by Planned Parenthood!
Why is @RepBenToma allowing this? @AZHouseGOP pic.twitter.com/2WlRNed9rQ
— Anthony Kern (@anthonykernAZ) April 30, 2024
Arizona House Democrats, however, denied that anyone had lied in requesting the use of the room.
“It was described as a drag story hour when Rep. Austin’s assistant called to reserve the room,” House Democratic Whip Nancy Gutierrez said in a statement cited by KJZZ. “I was there.”
She added that she and other Democrats had spoken to Toma and were “working toward a resolution.”
A spokesman told the outlet that no minors were present for the drag story hour event — “just a handful of adults listening to a storybook reading,” according to the report.
