State Rep. Julie Stokes, a Kenner Republican, let her male colleagues on the House floor have it Wednesday. The rep’s ire was provoked by a “joke” amendment from fellow Republican Rep. Kenny Havard to a bill that would bar anyone under 21 from being an exotic dancer. Havard’s amendment would have mandated that strippers couldn’t be over 28 years old or weigh more than 160 pounds. He quickly pulled the amendment after a protest from Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, and later explained that it was a joke meant to highlight lawmakers’ habit of “over-regulating” things.
But Stokes was having none of it, taking to the speaker’s podium before her mostly male colleagues.
“Looking over this body, I’ve never been more repulsed to be a part of it,” Stokes told House members, adding that solons “need to call an end to this. I hear derogatory comments about women in this place regularly. I hear and see women getting treated differently than men, and you know what, you gave me a perfect forum to talk about it.”
That’s a righteous thing to say — and utterly hypocritical: Last year when Rep. Stokes was a member of the House Labor and Industrial Relations Committee she was instrumental in defeating a bill that would have guaranteed equal pay for women in Louisiana, where females earn about 66 cents for every dollar earned by a man for the same work.
Practice what you preach, Julie!
Jump to 3:00 in the video for Stokes’ comments.