Blue Beard – A candidate running as a registered Democrat who often votes for Conservative policies and laws.
The name is a play on the term “beard” which is used to refer to anyone who, knowingly or unknowingly, acts as the heterosexual partner of a person in order to disguise their partner’s true sexuality.
Here at The Womxn Project, we’ve noticed that some of Rhode Island’s elected officials who identify as Democrats are not nearly as progressive as they should be. Because conservatives running as Democrats has almost become the norm, we’ve decided to give them a name: Blue Beards.
Historically, Rhode Island leans more progressive, and it’s not often that a Republican will be elected into office here. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have been controlled by Democrats for decades, and currently, out of the 113 members of our General Assembly, only 14 of them are Republicans.
It’s no secret that Republicans aren’t popular here, but perhaps this also gives us some insight as to why we even have Blue Beards to begin with. Is it possible that Blue Beards run as Democrats rather than Republicans because they know that having an “R” next to their name will turn voters away from them?
Based on the way these conservative democrats vote, it’s clear that their values don’t align with what we expect to see from the Democratic party these days– and that’s saying a lot considering the Democratic party isn’t even all that progressive to begin with. These democrats seem to lean more conservative, and at times favor policies that can only be considered as such. In fact, some of these policies are not just conservative– they’re extremist, and that’s concerning.
For example, back in March, the Senate introduced the Save Women’s Sports Act, a piece of legislation that’s blatantly anti-trans, to say the least. The bill, filled with misinterpreted science, oversimplified biology, and selectively cited claims, essentially bans transgender girls from playing on their school’s girls’ teams, forcing them to either play on the boys’ teams or withdraw from sports completely. It doesn’t stop there, however, as it then allows students to sue their school if they believe a transgender athlete cost them an athletic opportunity.
Of the Senators who introduced this bill, several were Democrats: Burke, Dimitri, Patalano, and Raptakis. The introduction of this bill is a perfect example of what the questionable and conservative behavior from some of our Democrats looks like, and in this case, it is extreme, transphobic, and far from progressive.
That said, Rhode Island’s Blue Beards are not always this obvious about where they actually stand on certain issues, which is why we’ll be monitoring each and every one of our General Assembly Members with our Bodily Freedom Forever Index. (BFFI) Our goal is to know who supports Bodily Freedom, and to expose those who do not. It’s time to hold these Blue Beards accountable and demand transparency, because having that “D” next to their name is simply not enough.
