Who's afraid of the big bad WoLF?? Jason A Smith!

Virulent misogyny is his superpower

Previously, I posted that several Democratic members of Congress so feared women that they cancelled our in-person, Washington, DC, meetings with them to discuss women’s sex-based rights. Many of you contacted PA Senators McCormick and Fetterman to schedule meetings with us. Senator McCormick never replied, but Senator Fetterman’s legislative assistant Mr Curtis Newman scheduled a meeting with us at 2:00 pm on May 20, 2025. Women from WoLF, WDI, PA4SBR, LGB Alliance, and ROAR Women NYC participated.

As you may have read elsewhere, our meeting with Senator Fetterman’s staff went as badly as I had feared. It was truly a travesty. Let me report all the shenanigans chronologically.

First, before we even arrived in DC, an unnamed Fetterman staffer responded to an alphabet-soup reporter on social media and denied that the Senator had even scheduled a meeting with us. (See my post above about the kerfuffle.)

However, I never received any cancellation notice directly. So we all assumed that we had a meeting with Mr Newman. We all decided that if Mr Newman refused to meet with us, we would stay until someone else would. Either the staffer on social media didn’t know about our meeting or he outright lied. Either would not surprise me.

Some of our group arrived at 1:50 pm at Senator Fetterman’s office. I checked in with Max, a young man staffing one of two reception desks. He confirmed that our meeting with Mr Newman was scheduled, but that the legislative assistant was in another meeting and is running late. I thanked Max and our group waited in the hallway.

Here are the flags outside Senator Fetterman’s office. Many members of Congress display flags for various causes, especially POW-MIA. Senator Fetterman and several others also have the eyesore version of the Pride flag.

Here are some of us in front of Senator Fetterman’s office.

Some of our group could not be photographed or videoed because of serious, negative professional and/or personal repercussions, i.e., cancellation. More of us were in our group than appear in this photo.

At 2:02 pm — yes, I noted the time — Max came in the hallway and informed us that Mr Newman would be even later. I thanked Max and said we would continue to wait for Mr Newman. Max invited us to sit in the small reception area, which was now empty, so some of us did.

At 2:12 pm, Max asked us if we had a “hard stop.” After I asked him what that meant, he asked if we need to leave right at 2:30. I said no, we could wait, and everyone concurred. I added that we were “here for the duration” and would wait for Mr Newman. Max said that he would inform him.

While we waited, many people came to the reception desk, briefly spoke with Max, then left. After each young man left (I looked up Mr Newman on LinkedIn), I asked Max if he was Mr Newman. After several nos, Max finally said one of them was Mr Newman. I asked if he was ready to meet with us, and Max said no; he was still in another meeting. I thanked Max and said we would continue to wait.

Finally, at 2:40 pm, 40 minutes after our meeting was supposed to start, a man brusquely entered the reception area, briefly spoke with Max, then left. Max came to us and told us that another Fetterman staff member would meet with us instead of Mr Newman since the latter was still in his other meeting. Max told us that this was “even better” because we’d be meeting with the legislative director. Max then escorted us to a small conference room.

Immediately, I knew that we’d been had. Fetterman’s staffers had purposely kept us waiting. They had assumed we had a “hard stop” at 2:30. When we said that we didn’t have any other meeting and continued to wait patiently and nonchalantly, the staff were stuck — and angry. Somebody had to meet with us because we obviously weren’t going away. Doubtless Mr Newman had a “hard stop” sometime, and if his later appointments reported as scheduled, we’d know immediately what was happening and protest. While we waited, I decided what I would say should this transpire.

I should add that, although Max appeared nervous a few times while we waited, I personally do not think he was in on the intentional delay. I think he was simply doing his job as a receptionist. Maybe the higher-ups instructed him to make us wait or messaged him claiming they were running late, but I don’t think he knew why. While to me he seemed relieved when we left the reception area, he remained courteous and personable with us throughout our wait. (In our partial-group photo above, Max is seated at the far right at his desk.)

As we seated ourselves around the conference table, Mr Jason A Smith, Legislative Director and Chief Counsel for Senator Fetterman (LinkedIn; note the pronouns in his bio. Plus no photo. Plus he attended Evergreen State. That explains a lot), distributed his business card to everyone.

As we took our seats, Mr Smith remarked “So you’re the women’s libbers?”

That’s a helluva thing to say, I thought. I liked neither his tone nor choice of words. He didn’t sound as though he were joking. He sounded impatient and kinda pissed.

I asked Mr Smith where we could connect with Senator Fetterman’s constituents via the Webex link that Mr Newman had sent me. I told him that several of our group were unable to attend in person because of their jobs. He shrugged and said he didn’t know anything about Webex or how to set it up: “That’s Curtis’s thing.” I asked if we could connect Webex to the big monitor on the wall. He repeated that he didn’t know how. Okay, I replied, I’ll call them and put them on speaker. And I did. Three additional constituents heard most of the meeting over my mobile. (Yes, I kept them updated during our long wait.) Mr Smith completely ignored Senator Fetterman’s constituents participating by phone.

In a few days prior to DC, a small group of us had carefully researched and planned what we would discuss with Mr Newman. Our careful plans all promptly went to hell.

I took copious notes throughout the carnage.

At 2:42, our designated spokeswoman began our meeting by reading our prepared statement. She unequivocally stated that no one should be a target of abuse or discrimination. Everyone has basic human rights to medical care, housing, employment, education, and physical safety. She also stated that no one’s asserted “rights” should come at the expense of someone else’s — particularly those of a legally protected class like women. She commended Senator Fetterman for his work on labor, gun violence and crime, social needs programs like Medicare and Social Security, reproductive rights, LGB rights, and voting for the Take It Down Act.

While our spokeswoman was speaking, I carefully observed Mr Smith. At first, he leaned forward with his elbows on the table, holding his hands palms together in front of his face, then after about 10 seconds he sat back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest, and glared. Glared.

We lost him, I thought. We never had him at all.

Readers, bear with me, please. This entire article has been very difficult for me to write. I remain furious, sad, and incredibly hurt that a man whose salary our tax dollars pay — and who officially represents a democratically elected member of Congress — could be so outrageously unprofessional.

Dear readers, I’m not gonna pull any punches here.

Mr Smith was a complete fucking dick.

Mr Smith was combative, contemptuous, and downright abusive throughout our meeting. He constantly interrupted and either denied what we told him was true or mansplained why we were wrong. He refused to shut up and actually listen to anything we said. He rarely let us complete a sentence without interrupting. Whenever we correctly said “trans-identifying males,” he would interrupt us, raise his voice, and say “trans WOMEN!” And laughing. Always fucking laughing.

I've been meeting with legislators for years about many issues. None has ever abused me or my group of constituents. No one even comes close. Mr Smith is in a class by himself. His parents must be very proud.

First, Mr Smith said he had “never heard of single-sex spaces.” When we attempted to explain, he said he was “just a straight white guy” and laughed, as though his skin pigmentation and sexual orientation had any relevance to women’s single-sex spaces.

When one of us explained that she is a rape survivor and was unable to find any women-only rape support services, Mr Smith laughed at her.

That fuckwit laughed at her. Laughed. In. Her. Face.

When one of us told Mr Smith about men incarcerated in women’s prisons, he outright denied that this is occurring. Several of us described the rapes that men have perpetrated against women in prison and the current lawsuits against those states’ bureaus of corrections. Mr Smith interrupted us and insisted that no women have ever been raped in prison. “That’s the craziest thing I ever heard, and I’ve talked to people who believe in aliens.” We told him that all these data are publicly available and he could look them up himself. He just laughed.

I told Mr Smith that lesbians like me are losing our lesbian-only gatherings, dating apps, and ability to freely associate with each other because men think they can become lesbians. I explained that this phenomenon began back in the 1940s-1950s in homophile groups. Women are no longer allowed to set our own boundaries. I said that if biological sex does not exist, then neither does sexual orientation. Right now TQ+ are always prioritized over women and LGB, and this is simply unfair. I was surprised that Mr Smith didn’t mansplain what “homophile” means, assuming he even knew. He simply sat, smirked, and laughed at us as we told him about our experiences and concerns with men (“trans WOMEN! Trans WOMEN!”) in lesbian places.

One of us told him about being unable to find any women-only group residences or services for her severely disabled sister. Her sister is at risk of male violence in a coed unit. Laughing, Mr Smith said he didn’t understand what relevance disability has to single-sex spaces, despite claiming a few minutes ago that he didn’t know what single-sex spaces are.

Jesus Christ, I thought. Are you really this massive idiot or just acting like one?

At that point, Max opened the conference-room door and the rest of our DC group entered. Their meeting with another legislator had ended. As they squeezed into the cramped room, the what-the-fuck and oh-shit-I’m-surrounded looks on Mr Smith’s face said it all. We horrible women’s libbers scared the living shit out of him. He knew he was in trouble and needed a quick exit.

“So what are y’all talking about?” asked one of our new arrivals.

“He doesn’t know what single-sex spaces are,” one of us replied.

So once again, we attempted to explain to Mr Smith what single-sex, women-only spaces are and why women need them. Whenever you allow a special group of men to use women’s facilities, we said, you open the door to any man who will game the system. Acting all offended, he vehemently denied that men would exploit women that way. He wouldn’t stop laughing.

We told Mr Smith that numerous women, especially lesbians, voted Republican in 2024 for the first time in their lives because of the Democrats’ abandoning women to gender ideology. Women are leaving the Democratic Party. Laughing, he replied, “Go ahead. Leave. I don’t care about lesbians.”

“Do you think this is funny? Why are you laughing? We’re telling you the truth about women’s lives and this is all a joke to you?!” one of us raised her voice at Mr Smith.

Still laughing, Mr Smith abruptly stood up, opened the door, and said “We’re done. Get out.” The time was only 3:00 pm. Those 18 minutes felt like a frickin’ eternity.

As we filed out, many of us told Mr Smith that we pay his salary; we will vote Senator Fetterman out of office; women aren’t going away; more lesbians will vote Republican. After each comment, he just laughed and said, “Yeah, right,” or “I’m sure you will,” or “Yeah, you do that,” or “Please vote Republican.”

I was the last to leave. Numbly I placed WoLF’s position papers on the table in front of Mr Smith. I told him what they were and asked him to read them. “We won’t be using any of those,” he sneered.

I thanked him for meeting with us and left.

I was shaking with rage.

Afterwards, all of us met on the Capitol lawn to debrief and make this video chickening Senator Fetterman. Again, not all of our group could appear in our video.

Readers, I don’t know if I can convey the flagrant gaslighting, virulent misogyny, and overt abuse Mr Smith exhibited during our meeting. I have never been so completely ridiculed or infuriated by any civil servant. I doubt any women in our group, or any of you, have either.

Mr Smith is the poster child for dictatorial, progressive patriarchy and misogyny.

Clearly, gender ideology is this straight white guy’s religion.

Nothing we could ever say, no data we could ever present, would have caused him to merely shut up and listen to us. He is so thoroughly brainwashed that he needs a cult deprogrammer to return to planet Earth. He's been talking to too many aliens.

Moreover, trantifa had warned Senator Fetterman’s staff that the evil phobes/bigots/haters/Nazis were coming. Mr Smith tried to make us go away, then intimidate us, and when he failed, when we refused to be silent and dutiful and invisible like good little girls, he tried to mask his terror with laughter. When we challenged him, he immediately ended the meeting and laughed us out of the conference room.

Paraphrasing Lisa Simpson, derisive laughter is the last refuge of a terrified scoundrel.

On Mr Smith’s planet, all LGBTQIA+ are equal, but TQ+ are more equal than GB, and most certainly more than L. “I don’t care about lesbians… Please vote Republican.”

Whose fucking ally are you?

Rhetorical question, of course. We all know where his loyalty lies.

You can read the WoLF report on our DC trip, including our meetings with other members of Congress and their staff. All of our meetings went much, much, MUCH better than with Mr Smith. I participated in about half our scheduled meetings because of my schedule.

Here’s an LGBA video about our DC trip.

We chickened other members of Congress, too. But we didn’t have time to get to everybody who deserved it, including Senator McCormick.

Recall that Representative Ross is a cochair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, yet she was too afraid to meet with us.

Senator Schiff cancelled our meeting after trantifa got to him.

What can we do about the worthless POS called Mr Jason A Smith, Legislative Director and Chief Counsel for Senator John Fetterman?

Complain to the Democratic Party about Mr Smith’s unprofessional behavior here. (I predict they will add us to their email list without ever specifically replying to our complaint… but what the hell. Why not? Go on record rejecting Mr Smith's appalling conduct.)

Complain to Mr Smith directly about his sickening behavior. His job is to meet with Senator Fetterman’s constituents and hear our concerns regardless of his personal ideology. And please post your complaints on your social media, Senator Fetterman’s social media, the Democratic Party’s social media, and the Senator’s official website. As my mother would say, they should be ashamed of themselves.

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the brave women who had to occupy the same cramped conference room as the colossal asshole Mr Smith! Even though this meeting sucked, we all did a VERY GOOD THING for women and girls!

ANOTHER HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who made our trip to DC possible, including donors, emailers, and all uppity women! We cannot do this without you! Your support means everything to us!

Note: In this article I expressed my personal recollections, notes, thoughts, and reactions during our group’s meeting with Mr Smith. I speak here as an individual and not as a representative of any group.