Top Michigan Democrats Go Maskless for Indoor Wedding Celebration
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) celebrated her wedding Friday, appearing maskless next to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) for the indoor gathering, according to a photo Nessel posted to social media.
Stevens, Stevens’ husband, Nessel, and Nessel’s wife stood together maskless for the photo while tables filled with maskless attendees were visible in the background.
Nessel wrote that she officiated the wedding, stating, “So honored to officiate the wedding of my Congressfriend @HaleyLive. May she and Rob have many wonderful years of love and happiness”:
So honored to officiate the wedding of my Congressfriend @HaleyLive. May she and Rob have many wonderful years of love and happiness. pic.twitter.com/M0DUsFQmpO
— Dana Nessel (@dananessel) September 4, 2021
The event appeared to take place at Cherry Creek Golf Club in Shelby Township, an area the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) deems as “high transmission” for coronavirus.
The CDC recommends to vaccinated individuals that “to maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.”
Though Stevens’ event was private, Michigan Freedom Fund’s Tori Sachs blasted the Democrat congresswoman for mask hypocrisy, citing school mask mandates with the hashtag “#RulesForThee”:
Good for Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens (@HaleyLive) to not require masks at her well attended indoor wedding reception.
Why, again, are kids in school required to weak masks while all these people don’t have to? #RulesForTheepic.twitter.com/Q9mtP9kNUY
— Tori Sachs (@Tori_Sachs) September 4, 2021
While Michigan has lifted its statewide mask mandate, state guidance still strongly encourages masking in many settings.
Stevens represents portions of Oakland and Wayne Counties, both of which have gone further than the state and imposed mask mandates for all K–12 school employees and students. Nearby Macomb County, where Shelby Township is located, has not instituted a school mask mandate, but county officials are facing pressure to put one in place.
Stevens’ maskless celebration also comes after she notoriously lost control during a speech about coronavirus on the House floor in March, yelling wildly while wearing pink latex gloves for people to “take the disease seriously” and declaring, “I wear these latex gloves to tell every American to not be afraid!” as she was repeatedly gaveled down and told she was “out of order.”
Michigan, like most states, is experiencing a noticeable increase in new cases, to the point that one of the state’s major newspapers, the Detroit News, published an article this week titled “COVID transmission is so high that all of Michigan should mask up, CDC suggests.”
Another prominent Michigan Democrat, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, sparked outrage last month when she, too, was recorded maskless at a wedding, dancing among a crowd of other maskless individuals:
She’s setting a great example by showing us all that we have nothing to be afraid of. Live your life. pic.twitter.com/LRxOyMFJsD
— Gina Bontempo (@FlorioGina) August 9, 2021
In perhaps the most high-profile recent case of Democrat masklessness, former President Barack Obama held his 60th birthday party for at least a couple hundred guests at his house in Martha’s Vineyard last month. The party on the small island — also designated as an area of “high transmission” — raised eyebrows for its celebrity-packed invitation list and photos and video that emerged of crowds and maskless attendees, including Obama himself.
