Ellen Sturtz, the GetEqual activist who
heckled First Lady Michelle Obama, has defended her demands for LGBT
protections.
Sturtz interrupted Obama while she was
speaking at a fundraiser being held at the private home of Washington
D.C. lesbian couple Karen Dixon and Nan Schaffer.
Sturtz demanded that President Barack
Obama sign an executive order prohibiting workplace discrimination
based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Obama appeared upset by the
interruption and reportedly approached Sturtz.
“One of the things I don't do well is
this,” she told Sturtz. “Listen to me or you can take the mic,
but I'm leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”
The crowd begged Obama to stay and
Sturtz was escorted out.
In an op-ed, Sturtz defended targeting
the first lady.
“Some have said that the first lady
wasn't a proper target because she is not an elected official.
However, time and again, the first lady has come to our community and
asked us to 'max out' on our contributions to the DNC. In fact, she
had just made the same request of several hundred LGBT attendees,
days after Senate Democrats had refused to include same-sex
binational couples in their immigration reform bill. Despite the
Democratic Party happily cashing LGBT checks, I have not seen the
Obama administration 'max out' on the myriad ways that the government
could protect the LGBT community,” she
wrote.