It wasn’t meant to be a LITERAL attack on a sexual basis, gender, or race. … I posted on my personal page at my own volition. “In fact, it’s the previously said bias that people are focusing on (that isn’t even part of the meme). “It doesn’t come close to addressing a single issue, such as guns,” he wrote. “It illustrates more the frustration I have experienced by some politicians (including these TWO in the picture) on a variety of issues,” Hardy wrote.įurther, he wrote that the CCDL didn’t endorse the post, nor was he acting in his capacity as a member of the CCDL when he posted the meme. Hardy removed the image from his personal Facebook page and initially responded by posting that the meme was not meant to be “‘sexual’ in the medical sense.” It’s emboldened many men to say these things they’ve been thinking all along.” “Our current president said he would touch women against their will, and he was elected,” she said. She said she’s noticed a significant increase in such behavior since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016.
I wish people would focus on more positive things and filling their time with more constructive ways of engaging in civil discourse.” They say ‘That’s made up by the Democratic Party.’ And the recent law enforcement reforms, that set them off. If I post something about wearing a mask, that sets them off. “Any time I post something like the current COVID stats, that sets them off. She said she’s also been the target of offensive message on social media and via email. The police accountability legislation led to a Facebook user to post a meme of Gilchrest dressed in kente cloth. She also supported the recent police accountability legislation that passed earlier this summer. In the past, Gilchrest, a first-term state representative in the Connecticut General Assembly, has proposed a tax on ammunition, with the revenue going to support gun violence prevention programs. But I do push some people’s buttons when I speak out and work on issues that upset them. “The beliefs they’ve had about women have been there all along. “The current political climate has emboldened some men to speak more freely than they may have a few years back,” she said. She noted young male politicians don’t have similar memes made about them. Gilchrest, for her part, said the image, while at first jarring, speaks to the current political climate, drawing a through line to President Donald Trump, as well as highlights deep-rooted sexism in the U.S. The resulting backlash has led some to call for Hardy’s ouster from the CCDL or the removal of the CCDL’s status as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with the IRS. The original photo image appears to be of sex workers from an adult film. Ned Lamont stands adjacent to the Black men, holding a long, black fist with an obscene message on socialism photoshopped on it. Four Black men stand behind the couch gazing at the woman, with the words “BLM,” “COVID-19,” “Democrat Policies,” and “Media Bias” on each man’s shirt. Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, superimposed on the body.
6, depicts a white woman sitting on a couch with the head of state Rep. The meme, posted by Jonathan Hardy, who is an executive member of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, on Sept. Jillian Gilchrest, who represents West Hartford’s 18th District, was depicted in an obscene meme posted on Facebook by an official with the Connecticut Citizens Defense League.Ī West Hartford state representative was the target of a racist, misogynistic meme posted on social media by an official of a state gun rights group over Labor Day weekend.