The video of the moment
when a gay rights activist heckled the First Lady was caught on tape and has
now been released to show the tense exchange. After she was interrupted,
Michelle Obama threatened to leave the Democratic National Committee fundraiser
unless the activist, identified later as Ellen Sturtz, was removed. 'It felt
like she was within a few inches – in my face,' Ms Sturtz told ABC News,
in an account that several witnesses have corroborated. The video, obtained,
shows how the First Lady got down from her platform and went directly over to
the heckler and told her to stop or else she was going to leave and allow her
to finish. The crowd cheered for Mrs
Obama and told the heckler to stop talking. The First Lady then walked
aside, going over to talk to other supporters briefly- as if to shake off the
incident- before returning to the lectern. Moments before the confrontation,
Sturtz had interrupted Obama to demand that her husband sign an executive order
barring discrimination by federal contractors based on sexual orientation. 'One of the things I don't do well is this,' Mrs Obama replied to loud
applause, according to a pool report. 'Listen to me or you can take the mic,
but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.'
The crowd urged the first
lady to stay, and she returned to the podium to continue speaking. White House
Press Secretary Jay Carney later said that Mrs Obama handled the interruption
'brilliantly.'
Sturtz described herself to ABC News as an 'old, grey-haired
lesbian' and said she felt compelled to interrupt Mrs Obama because she doesn't
feel she has the time to wait around for action on gay rights. 'I’m too old to wait for
it,' she said. 'I don’t want to see us continue to be second-class citizens.' Sturtz
is an activist for the pro-LGBT rights group GetEQUAL and she was one of four
protestors at the event. But when the White House's transcript arrived, The Daily
Caller reported Tuesday night, it didn't include any
indication of an acrimonious exchange -- and was missing Mrs. Obama's threat to
leave the event. The only indication in that transcript that anything was amiss
is a note about an '(Inaudible audience interruption.)'
'I lived and worked in the closet, hiding who I was in order
to earn a living,' Sturtz said in a statement late Tuesday night. 'I had planned to speak tonight with DNC officials but, as
the First Lady was talking about our children's future and ensuring that they
have everything they need to live happy and productive lives, I simply couldn't
stay silent any longer.' 'I'm looking ahead at a generation of young people who
could live full, honest, and open lives with the stroke of the President's
pen,' she insisted.
The home where the heckling
happened belongs to power couple Karen Dixon and Nan Schaffer, formerly of
Chicago, who have hosted fundraisers for the Obamas in the past, including one
that raised $1.4 million for the president's reelection campaign in February
2012. Dixon is an attorney who serves on the national board of Lambda Legal, an
organization working for LGBT rights. Her spouse, Schaffer, is a veterinarian
who works to preserve the rhino population through artificial insemination. She
is also a minority shareholder in Windy City Media Group and founded Outlines,
a Chicago newspaper, in 1987. The White House did not immediately respond
to a request for comment. But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney took an
oddly coincidental question earlier in the day during his regularly scheduled
briefing about the same discrimination issue that had Sturtz shouting at the
top of her lungs.
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