If politics is the new reality show, Wednesday afternoon at Legislative Plaza was some Real Housewives meets Corrine on The Bachelor level of crazy. What happens when protesters stop being polite ... and start getting real?

Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) and Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) found out in a hurry.

The two Republican legislators were supposed to hold a press conference Wednesday to discuss their patently unconstitutional legislation, a so-called "bathroom bill" and the "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act," because they want trans people to not exist and they just will not give up hoping gay marriage can somehow be overturned. The pair held a town hall meeting last week out in Mt. Juliet but wouldn't take questions about the bills, saying they would discuss them at a later town hall.

It's unclear whether Wednesday's press conference was supposed to be that town hall — some people in attendance clearly assumed it was — or whether it was supposed be just a normal press conference, in which the only people asking questions are the press, which is what the Capitol Hill Press Corps assumed. The room was almost full well before the 3:30 p.m. start time, and most of those in attendance had signs.

Pody began by reading the language of the state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage that Tennessee voters adopted in 2006. He then started to explain why this justified the need for the new marriage bill, insofar as banning gay marriage in the state — which, once again, cannot constitutionally be done — would be enacting the will of those 2006 voters, never mind how attitudes on gay marriage have changed in the past 11 years.

Pody spoke for just more than a minute — maybe 90 seconds — before he was interrupted by a man who shouted, "My marriage is just as good as yours!"

Pody replied, "Would you like us to go on?"

The man replied, "I don't care if you do or not, frankly."

Almost immediately, chants of "Pull the bill! Pull the bill!" filled the room. "You're wasting taxpayer money!" someone shouted. "What you're doing is un-American!" yelled someone else.

With that, Beavers and Pody walked out of the room. But the crowd grew louder.

Reporters followed the legislators down the hallway, having been told by an aide that we'd still get a chance to answer questions. But before any reporters could ask questions, some of the protesters arrived. As Pody and Beavers tried to back away again, they got an earful:

"Really, you can't talk to us?"

"Cowards!"

"You people are filled with hate and fear!"

"What if someone tried to take away your marriage? You've taken my money for long enough!"

At this, Pody cracked half a smile — absolutely the wrong move.



"It's funny to you? Really? It's funny to you?" shouted the woman who had just spoken. Beavers turned and started for her office as another man cornered Pody.

"Some kind of Christian you are, that you won't allow someone else to have equal rights under God, that you have to dictate what I do in my bedroom like it's your business. It isn't! So stay out of it!" he shouted.

Pody stood stonefaced.

Another woman, draped in a rainbow flag, tried to calm things down.

"There's nothing special about us. We just want to live our lives. By you interfering, we don't get to and that's not fair to us. We just ask that you take some time to talk to us and get to know us, to see that we're not whatever it is you think that we are," she said.



"I believe I tried to," Pody said. "And you wouldn't even let me talk."

Then the cacophony started once more. Pody started walking away, followed by his aide and a handful of reporters. Others pursued Beavers while Pody walked quickly down the hall toward the elevators, followed by people shouting, "Shame! Shame!" and "You work for us!"

Protesters and reporters pressed their way into the elevator with him. No matter what was said, Pody refused to respond. He finally told a reporter that part of the press conference was going to be about putting a bill on hold, but he refused to say which one, even when asked repeatedly. His aide also refused to say.

Once in War Memorial Building, Pody fled down the hall to his office — but not fast enough to shut the door before an African-American protester stuck his foot in it.

"What makes you different from the Southern politicians in our past who used discrimination as a way to make my people feel inferior?" the man asked. "Discrimination is discrimination, no matter who supports it."

Shouting broke out as Pody's aide tried to shut the door on him, as other protestors shouted, "This is not a private office, this is the people's office!" Finally a state trooper convinced the man to step aside.

After a lull of a few minutes, in which some of the protesters talked to reporters, the office door opened again. But Pody was not addressing the crowd, he was fleeing again — this time the building, escorted by state troopers on all sides, down one elevator and then another into the parking garage.

Beavers had apparently already also left in the same manner. All in all, the fracas, from the start of the press conference to Pody's disappearance in the elevator, lasted around 17 minutes.

"Can you believe that just happened?" one staffer commented as the elevator doors shut.

It seems Pody and Beavers had trouble believing it, too. But if either of these bills move forward, they might need to get used to the drama — the protesters are here, some of them are definitely queer, and they are not going anywhere.

It's going to be a long session.