During debate over bill, RI GOP lawmaker asks Democrat — 'Are you a pedophile?'

PROVIDENCE — A State House hearing on the pros and cons of requiring an "equity impact" statement before lawmakers vote on any piece of legislation took an unexpected turn Friday when Rep. Robert Quattrocchi asked the sponsor if that meant he had to take into account the impact on "Satanists" and "pedophiles."

What happened in the hearing?

Here's how it went:

Talking about the proposed requirement in H 5763 that lawmakers take into account the impact of their bills on people of different races, religions, sexual orientations and the like, Quattrocchi said: "It seems very, very broad."

"In my thinking about [bills] that I want to present ... do I have to take into account, for instance ... how it affects Satanists in Rhode Island?" Quattrocchi asked. "Or do I have to take into account, with 'sexual orientation,' how it affects pedophiles in Rhode Island – anything like that?"

"First I want to point out that pedophile is not a sexual orientation," the sponsor, Rep. Rebecca Kislak, responded. And "that was really offensive."

"Oh, I didn't mean to. Are you a pedophile? I'm sorry," Quattrocchi, a Scituate Republican, said to Kislak, a Providence Democrat who describes herself as a lesbian.

At that point, Rep. Evan Shanley, chairman of the House Committee on State Government, jumped in, saying, "We're getting a little off track here ... Let's just ask questions about the bill."

"I didn't mean to offend anybody," Quattrocchi said.

This was Kislak's initial response on Friday, the day of the hearing: "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 ... 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."

On Monday, however, Kislak, who describes herself as "one of two openly LGBTQ reps" in the House, said, "Wrongly and dangerously conflating sexual orientation with pedophilia is repeating ages-old prejudice."

Added Janson Wu, the executive director of GLAD – which stands for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders: "It's important to understand these offensive comments in a larger context of increasing attacks against LGBTQ people ... much of it based on dangerous fear tactics around LGBTQ people as 'groomers'."

"These dangerous stereotypes are not only harmful – and danergous – but they are intended to distract the public away from really critical issues facing our country: the health of our democracy, the health of our climate, the health of our economy," Wu said.

By Tuesday, the controversy had drawn this joint statement of condemnation from an array of groups - from Coyote RI, Youth Pride, Pride in Aging RI, Planned Parenthood Votes! RI, The The Womxn Project, the Thundermist Health Center and other advocacy groups: