Conservatives mocked a Democratic representative’s decision to conclude a Sunday prayer opening the 117th Congress with the words “amen and awoman.”
“We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, [unintelligible], and God known by many names and by many different faiths. Amen and awoman,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., an ordained United Methodist pastor, said at the end of his prayer to open the new session.
Cleaver’s use of “awoman” sparked a backlash on social media as conservatives pointed out that “amen” means “so be it”—so that a literal translation of Cleaver’s prayer would read “so be it, and a woman,” as the Washington Examiner’s Jerry Dunleavy pointed out.
“‘Amen’ is a Biblical Hebrew word: ???. It is a word simply meaning ‘may it be so.’ It has nothing to do with the word ‘man’ or ‘woman’ because it is FROM HEBREW,” The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro tweeted.
“Can I get an AWOMEN?” tweeted Lone Conservative founder Kassy Dillon.
“Amen and Awoman?!?! Don’t they know that gender isn’t binary,” tweeted Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. “What about the other 42 genders??”
The prayer came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., announced a resolution Friday intended to “honor all gender identities” by modifying pronouns in the House rules for references to family relations, such as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, and sister.
These words in the updated rules would be changed to “parent, child, sibling, spouse, or parent-in-law,” according to the resolution.
Although Pelosi herself announced the changes, the California Democrat’s Twitter profile retains language that does not follow these guidelines. As of Monday morning, her profile still said: “Speaker of the House, focused on strengthening America’s middle class and creating jobs; mother, grandmother, dark chocolate connoisseur.”
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