Rep. Quattrocchi asks LGBTQ legislator if she’s a pedophile at committee hearing
By Steve Ahlquist, Uprise RI
After State Representative Rebecca Kislak (Democrat, District 4, Providence) introduced the Equity Impact Statement Act on Friday in the House Committee on State Government and Elections, the committee welcomed questions.
Representative Robert Quattrocchi (Republican, District 41, Scituate) asked first if under her bill he had to take into account those whose sexual orientation was “pedophile”.
After Rep. Kislak pointed out that “pedophile” is not a type of
sexual orientation and that the question was offensive, Rep. Quattrocchi asked
Rep. Kislak if she was a pedophile. The entire room reacted with shock and
outrage.
Shortly
after this exchange Representative Quattrocchi packed up his stuff and left the
hearing.
You
can watch the entire exchange below, or skip to the offending comments here.
Representative Shanley: Thank you. Any questions from members of the committee? Representative Quattrocchi.
Representative Quattrocchi: Thank you, chairman. So we have departmental help
in assessing fiscal impact in this building. So I was going to ask you who
would be responsible for these reports, but you said it, it could be up to us
or any group or whatever – special group, specialty group. So my question is
this an opinion based document attached to a bill?
Representative Kislak: Yeah. And Rep, you might write something very much
different from what I would write, and then we could say, “You completely
disagree with my equity analysis, and think actually it will impact different
communities in these different ways.” So so yes, we thought about, and I think
that there may be room for a state department to be doing some really in-depth
equity analysis. Another bill in this package is going to ask the governor to
do an equity analysis, specifically around the budget. He has staff and
departments and access to data that we might not have as easy access to. We
also thought about whether to add an FTE to JCLS, maybe to be doing equity work,
and that’s certainly something that I think we should talk about because I
think that there is room for it. But for this year, to get us going and to get
us started doing it, I did not want to put in something that would cost money
and have a fiscal impact.
Representative Quattrocchi: It just seems like a lot. You don’t feel that all
the anti-discrimination laws that we have already, which are many, protect all
these classes that you are listed in this bill?
Representative Kislak: I think that we do a lot of work on equity here in
Rhode Island, and that’s great and really important. I also know that if we’re
not thinking about it, it might not occur to us. If we don’t say it outright
that lead pipes affect folks, particularly in Providence, particularly in black
and Latino neighborhoods.[It] also affect renters. Renters tend to be more
people of color disproportionate to the overall population. So we can talk
about that, but we might have a whole bill where we don’t talk about that at
all. I think it’s really important for us to say that our housing policies have
been discriminatory and we have created situations where there is segregation
in our communities, and we can look at maps and we can see it and we can say
it, but if we’re not saying it, we’re not unwinding it intentionally.
Representative Quattrocchi: Right. And I guess for as an example what you
mentioned with the lead pipes – you know, perhaps a a landlord might not want
to install new pipes or whatever like that. But I guess that’s where the opinion
would come in in my mind. It could be your opinion that that’s the case. Maybe
it could be mine or someone else’s opinion that a landlord simply can’t afford
to do that, right?
Representative Kislak: Which is why this legislation, which is not what
we’re talking about, but it’s why the legislation is so great, because it
creates a pathway for funding. But it can, we can then also have the
conversation about who are the landlords and who are the tenants, and should
the landlord be allowed to make public health decisions for the tenants? And
what kind of equity or inequity does that create?
Representative Quattrocchi: Okay. One more question, chairman, if I can. In the
bill it states that a broad equity impact statement, accounting for race,
color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, all the
things listed, people listed here. It seems very, very broad. So, for instance,
in my thinking about bills that I want to present, do I have to take into
account, for instance, religion? Do I have to take into account how it affects
Satanists in Rhode Island, or do I have to take it to account with sexual
orientation, how it affects pedophiles in Rhode Island, anything like that?
Representative Kislak: Well, first I want to point out that pedophilia is
not a sexual orientation.
Representative Quattrocchi: Oh, I’m sorry.
Representative Kislak: So like, my equity right now is pointing out that
that was really offensive.
Representative Quattrocchi: Oh, I didn’t mean to. Are you a pedophile? I’m
sorry.
Representative Shanley: I think we’re getting a little off track here.
Representative Hull: Can we stick to the merits of the bill?
Representative Quattrocchi: I didn’t mean to offend anybody.
Representative Shanley: It’s okay. Let’s just ask questions about the bill.
If you have any questions about the bill, you can pose them.
Representative Kislak: So, I think this is an example of why we need to be talking about equity because we all need to be having these conversations about what is equity and what isn’t equity. I haven’t seen the signup sheet, but I know that they’re probably half a dozen people from our community advocacy organizations here to talk about why they, from their perspectives as a community, want us to be legislating like this. This is a part of our work – to be the people’s house and to support communities and to build together a state that is getting better and better all the time.
Can you help Uprise RI?
Funding for Uprise RI reporting relies on the generosity of readers like you. Our independence allows us to write stories that hold RI state and local government officials accountable. All of our stories are free and available to everyone. But your support is essential to keeping Steve on the beat, covering the costs of reporting our stories. If you are able to, please support us. Every contribution, big or small is so valuable. You provide the motivation and financial support to keep doing what we do. Thank you.