Michelle Obama spoke at a Democratic National Committee fundraising event on Tuesday night in Washington, where she was faced with a heckler and got so infuriated that she threatened to leave.
The heckler was identified as gay rights activist, Ellen Sturtz, from the group GetEQUAL. She caused a disruption in the First Lady’s speech when she kept persisting about wanting President Obama to sign an executive order that would ban discrimination on sexual orientation by federal contractors.
Cameras were not present, but a reporter recalls Obama saying “One of the things I don't do well is this," CNN reports. She then walked over to Sturtz and said "listen to me or you can take the mic, but I'm leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”
Sturtz was then kicked out of the event, held at a private residence. As she was escorted out, she continued to shout, at one point saying she was a “lesbian looking for federal equality before I die,” The New York Times reports.
Obama continued her nearly 20-minute speech when Sturtz was gone, saying “So let me make the point that I was making before,” adding “We cannot wait for the next presidential election to get fired up and ready to go. We cannot wait. Right now, today, we have an obligation to stand up for those kids,” urging the audience to support government policies regarding children even when it’s a non-election year.
image: NBC