First Lady Michelle Obama surprised by a heckler Tuesday evening at a Democratic National Committee event in Washington, D.C., however, she quickly an promptly addressed the heckler, making it clear she was not there to tolerate that behavior.
While the first lady was speaking to approximately 200 Democratic Party loyalists who paid up to $10,000 to attend the event at a posh Washington home of a wealthy lesbian couple, the heckler interrupted Obama's speech after she was 12 minutes into her 20 minute speech.
The First Lady was interrupted by activist Ellen Sturtz from LGBT rights group GetEqual. The protest called for President Obama to sign an executive order that would prohibit contractors from discriminating based on sexual orientation or identity. The First Lady's response was not quite as graceful as her husband's two weeks ago during his national security speech. President Obama patiently allowed the protestor finish his point, saying her "voice is worth paying attention to," before finishing his speech.
Michelle Obama's was the complete opposite. As soon as Sturtz interrupted her speech, Obama paused her speech and confronted Sturtz "eye to eye", The Washington Post reports. The exchange was deleted from the official transcript.
"One of the things that I don't do well is this," she said to applause from most of the guests, according to a White House transcript. "Do you understand?"
Obama then left the lectern and moved over to the protester. According to the report, Obama said to Strutz "Listen to me or you can take the mic, but I'm leaving. You all decide. You have one choice."
The audience immediately began to shout that they wanted the First Lady to stay, and a woman seated near Sturtz told her, "You need to go!"
After Sturtz was escorted out, she was asked what she made of what had just transpired. "She came right down in my face," Sturtz told the Washington Post. "I was taken aback."
