November Lecture #1: Midge Potts

This month, Midge Potts was invited by VCU's Queer Action group to lecture here at the school. Midge, now popular for her protests and super-leftist political beliefs, originally became known for her 2006 political campaign for Congress in Missouri under the Republican party. Midge Potts stood out from the other candidates for many reasons - she made all of her campaign signs out of cardboard, dumpster-diving for all the materials, handmade all of her pins from old bottle caps, and even wrote her own press releases - But the biggest difference between Midge and the other potential congressmen was that she was a transgender candidate, not a white male.
Midge's campaign was, "Transcending Traditional Politics." She knew that many people would not take her seriously, and that the best way to be heard and get publicity was to play up her gender identity. Even though Midge felt her running for Congress was a bit of a stunt, she was/is really serious about politics and her beliefs. Though she mostly associates with the Green Party, Midge ran as a Republican because she believed it was the only way she would make herself known. Missouri is rather conservative - no one even really looks at any other candidates besides the Republican ones, and the Congressman she was running against had been re-elected before. In order to be known, Midge had to be in the same party to recieve a bit of attention.
Even though Midge lost, she came in third with 4,275 votes - 8% of the votes. Now Midge Potts works for CodePink, an organization of women for peace, where she became famous for interrupting Valerie Plame's testimony before the House. The video circulated through the media and landed her an interview on CNN. She has been jailed 6 times for Civil Disobedience, and has only had a couple issues with the police accepting her transgender lifestyle. At first, the government booked her in the Mens side - aggressively searching her by male police officers, and placing her in a cell with other men. Now after having been arrested a few times, Midge is given the respect she deserves, and is placed with the women and sometimes given her own cell.
The lecture was incredibly interesting. When Midge spoke, she seemed a bit out of it - A bit air-headed? Tired? Even drunk, perhaps? She'd forget where she was going, stop mid-sentence for longer then neccessary... but what she had to say was incredibly intelligent - she knew a lot about politics, the current state the government was in, and had very strong beliefs about how to make a positive change. She was able to laugh at herself, joking about her lifestyle, which showed confidence in her ability to be an influential/distracting aspect of our political system.