Hood College Republicans public meeting recap

The Hood College Republicans held its regularly scheduled meeting Sunday, inviting the public to join and ask the executive board questions.

The public had a lot to say.

First, context.

The Display:

(The photographs posted above, posted as a display, are low-resolution; it’s difficult to read the various quotes.)

The Forum Speakers 

The forum began out with the Hood College Republicans faculty advisor (who also advises the Hood College Democrats) to make a brief statement about the display and encourage civility.

The College Republican board kicked off its forum with a few statements about female members who refused to be part of the panel because they felt harassed.

Below are the speakers who spoke during the HCR’s open board meeting.

“Flannel Hipster.” 

(I did not catch everyone’s names; therefore, and for this report, generic descriptor names will be assigned.)

“Flannel Hipster” complained that Republicans refrained from participating in her causes, including equal pay, violence against women, and “The Vagina Monologues.”

One panel member present, it turns out, attended the vagina monologues twice in the previous two years, and another organized an event for equal pay and violence against women last year.

Incidentally, “Flannel Hipster” did not attend the Valuing our Veterans forum that the HCR’s put on March 22nd.

The HCR executive board reinforced an important concept: the display represented “Big Tent Conservatism.” Only two board members – a Black female and an Asian male – claim they stand behind the concept.

Transgender woman

The transgender woman disputed conservative commentator Ben Shapiro‘s classification that transgederism is a mental illness.

A member of the HCR board read Ben Shapiro’s quote aloud, and the speaker left the microphone. The same HCR board member subsequently read from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM-5) and the International Classification of Diseases concerning gender identity.

Drunk Hippie

“Drink Hippie” complaint the HCR board failed to include American Psychological Association (APA style) citations; he claimed the board “weaponized words.”

Feminist

She touched on abortion issues and discussed hate speech as it relates to abortion. She also cited a dubious statistic that one in five women will be raped on college campuses.

“But readers should be aware that this oft-cited statistic comes from a Web-based survey of two large universities, making it problematic to suggest that it is representative of the experience of all college women,” writes Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer of the Washington Post’s Fact Checker.

Frederick County Republican Central Committee Vice Chairman Jason Miller

Miller is inclined toward verbosity, but his comments ended when “Hipster Bucks” interrupted him. The interrupter complained that Miller lectured the group similar to that of a college professor.

Miller pointed out that his wife, who is Jewish, as Miller pointed out, is a Donald Trump supporter whose friends equate Trump to Adolf Hitler. He also cited a U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed the First Amendment rights of a Student Communist group.

Another student began speaking after Miller, specifically about the racial issues.

Liz Matory

Former Maryland congressional candidate Liz Matory jumped up from her seat and began to speak about the display board.

Eric Beasley is Deputy Editor of A Miner Detail. He can be reached at Eric@AMinerDetail.com.