Toma banned House Democrats from using conference rooms in the House and unleashed a torrent of anti-LGBTQ+ venom at Rep. Lorena Austin. The Mesa Democrat, the state’s first nonbinary and gender nonconforming legislator, hosted the event with Planned Parenthood on Tuesday.
“Use of House facilities for radical activism to promote dangerously perverse ideology will not be tolerated while I am Speaker,” Toma said in a social media post.
Toma also accused Austin of misleading House leadership about the event, which was attended by about 20 people.
Democrat Rep. Lorena Austin deliberately misled House leadership to reserve a conference room to host a drag story hour with Planned Parenthood.
— Ben Toma (@RepBenToma) April 30, 2024
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
Bagels and a ‘sparkly outfit’
Austin and House Democrats fired back at Toma.“This is the people's House, and that includes the LGBTQ+ community, whether my colleagues on the other side of the aisle like that or not,” Austin said in a prepared statement. “It is nothing short of ridiculous that I have been described as dishonest, deceitful and perverse and have been subjected to calls for punishment and expulsion.”
Austin described the event as educational and part of the mission of the Arizona LGBTQ Legislative Caucus.
“What is true is that I hosted a drag performer who read stories about LGBTQ+ history and inclusion. There were no minors present, but also no content that would offend a minor. We were completely transparent when we reserved the room, and the content was not, or should not be, controversial,” Austin said.
“I will never apologize for teaching people to be inclusive, to accept others as they are, and to stand up to hate and bigotry,” Austin added.
House Democratic Whip Nancy Gutierrez called Toma’s ban “knee-jerk retaliation.”
“No one was misled about scheduling this event,” Gutierrez said in a press release. “It was described as a drag story hour when Representative Austin’s assistant called to reserve the room. I was there. We ate bagels and listened to a person wearing makeup and a sparkly outfit read a book and some poems about inclusion, acceptance, and LGBTQ history. It wasn’t ’perverse,’ it was lovely, funny, and inspiring.”
State Rep. Lorena Austin said a drag story event on Tuesday at the Arizona Capitol taught inclusion.
Arizona State University
Double-standard discipline
Toma, presiding over a bitterly divided chamber, retaliated against two LGBTQ+ lawmakers — Republican Rep. Matt Gress and Democrat Rep. Osar De Los Santos — on April 24. The two lawmakers helped push for a repeal of the state’s 160-year-old abortion ban reinstated by the Arizona Supreme Court on April 9.After the House approved the repeal 32-28, De Los Santos and Gress were removed from the House Appropriations Committee. De Los Santos was also removed from the Rules Committee.
Toma’s explanation for the move? “’Cause I’ve decided so,” he told reporters.
Later that day, a trio of House Republicans filed ethics complaints against De Los Santos and Rep. Analise Ortiz, a Phoenix Democrat. The two lawmakers sharply criticized Republicans ahead of the repeal vote on April 24. The ethics complaint accuses the two lawmakers of orchestrating an "insurrection" on the House floor.
The ethics complaint came a day after two Republicans — Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern — were among 11 fake electors indicted for their alleged efforts in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Neither Hoffman nor Kern have faced any discipline in the Senate in the wake of the indictments.
Kern was the first lawmaker to call out the drag story hour on social media, according to the Arizona Mirror. On April 8, Kern led a prayer group speaking in tongues on the Senate floor — also without consequences.
Toma is among a roster of right-wing Republicans running for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District seat. He’s polling fourth in the GOP primary behind Blake Masters, Abe Hamadeh and Trent Franks. Kern is fifth in the race.
Masters flopped in the U.S. Senate race against Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022, while Hamadeh, the failed Arizona Attorney General candidate, picked up the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. Frank once represented the seat but resigned in 2017 after he allegedly asked two female staffers to serve as his surrogate mothers.
