In the past few months, political conservatives and pro-lifers increasingly are becoming targets of hostility, threats and violence.
The owner of a yarn store in Tennessee found out just how hostile the culture has become after she spoke out against the vulgarity she witnessed at the Women’s March on Washington.
The Federalist reports Elizabeth Poe, owner of The Joy of Knitting in Franklin, posted a message on the shop’s Facebook page a few days after the pro-abortion march, commenting about the pink “pussyhats” that so many women wore in reference to a crude comment President Donald Trump made many years ago.
Poe asked that people who wanted to buy yarn for the hats, a symbol of female genitalia, shop somewhere else.
“The vulgarity, vile and evilness of this movement is absolutely despicable,” Poe said of the march. “That kind of behavior is unacceptable and is not welcomed at The Joy of Knitting. I will never need that kind of business to remain open. Two wrongs will never ever make it right.
“As the owner of this business and a Christian, I have a duty to my customers and my community to promote values of mutual respect, love, compassion, understanding, and integrity. The women’s movement is counterproductive to unity of family, friends, community, and nation.”
Poe’s post quickly drew attention. Some people supported her but others lashed out, some even lobbing threats against her. A few hours after posting the message, Poe said she called the police because she was alarmed by the threatening tone of some of the comments.
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The next day even more flooded in. She told The Federalist she received hundreds of phone calls over the next few days, including several threats of rape and other violence. A few also complained about her to the Better Business Bureau, she later learned.
Here’s more from the report:
To Poe, all of the hate is worth protecting her customers from exposure to unnecessary vulgarity. Recently, one of her female customers confided in Poe that she had been sexually assaulted as a child. Poe says these women shouldn’t have to relive their painful experiences in her store by being confronted with vulgarity. These women — her customers — have been through so much, Poe tells me. They don’t deserve to have a man or a woman come in here and ask for a ‘P hat.’”
During our 86-minute phone call, Poe never once uttered the word “pussyhat.” Instead she referred to the pink caps as a “P hat,” to avoid uttering a slang term for a woman’s genitals.
“This is not what women marched for 50 years ago,” she said. The women who protested Trump, including actress Ashley Judd, whom Poe tells me lives 20 miles from her store, “sunk below a level way below what he ever did” by using coarse language and playing on sexual innuendos.
Poe said she will not back down or apologize for her comments.
“We’ve just gotta open up that dialogue,” she told The Federalist. “We’ve got to learn to disagree without being vulgar and starting fires and punching people in the face.”
The Jan. 21 Women’s March officially supported abortion on demand, among other issues. It initially touted itself as inclusive and inter-sectional, but it took a decidedly pro-abortion turn after abortion activists learned that the march had welcomed three pro-life groups as partners.
After abortion activists made a huge fuss on social media, the march organizers quickly caved to the pressure and kicked out the pro-life groups from its partner list.
