Marjorie Taylor Greene launches cruel attack on stepmum: ‘You’re not a mother’

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Marjorie Taylor Greene has lashed out at non-biological mums, saying stepmothers and adoptive parents don’t count as mothers.

The far-right Republican representative’s inflammatory remarks came during a House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Select Coronavirus Crisis hearing on Wednesday (26 April). It addressed school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The heated exchange began when Greene interrogated Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), who attended to testify about COVID-specific school closures, but ended up facing questions about her personal life.

“Are you a medical doctor?” Greene asked, to which Weingarten responded that she isn’t a medical doctor.

Greene proceeded to ask if Weingarten was a mother, to which she answered she is a “mother by marriage”, and then mentioned that her wife, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, was also attending the meeting.

‘Cruel personal attacks’

Greene then butted in, stopping Weingarten from speaking further. The Republican representative for Georgia said “I see”, before launching into a tirade where she invalidated Weingarten’s motherhood and lambasted her for being nothing more than a “political activist”.

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“People like you need to admit that you’re just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother and not a medical doctor,” Greene said, before asking Weingarten to determine the role the AFT played in school closures during the pandemic.

Greene criticised the measures taken by schools during the pandemic, adding that her three children were “affected” and calling the impact on pupils something Weingarten “can’t understand”.

Congressman Raul Ruiz eventually stepped in to defend Weingarten from Greene’s tirade, saying her remarks were offensive not only to stepmothers, but to adoptive parents.

Addressing Greene’s remarks, Ruiz called them: “Reflective of the cruel, personal attacks to any adoptive mother or father who loves their children … who love them dearly and see them as their own.”

Following the debate, Greene was not willing to let the issue lie, tweeting another attack on Weingarten.

This isn’t the first time Marjorie Taylor Greene has commented on “non-biological” parents.

In July 2022, Greene said that children are in danger because “traditional family values are being destroyed” as part of a religious rant.

“The idea that mom and dad together ― not fake mom and fake dad ― but the biological mom and biological dad, can raise their children together and do what’s right for their children, raising them to be confident in who they are, their identity, their identity is, you know, they’re a child made by God,” Greene stated.

More recently, Greene was criticised for calling trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney “one of the biggest paedophiles in America today” on her podcast.

The episode was removed a few days later.