Rep. Ilhan Omar was applauded at a Muslim event on Tuesday after she condemned an audience member’s question about female genital mutilation (FGM).
Ms. Omar was asked during the Muslim Caucus Education Collective conference in Washington whether she would be willing to “make a statement against” FGM, to which the Minnesota Democrat responded that it was “appalling” that only Muslim congressional members are asked such questions.
“Should I make a schedule? Does this need to be on repeat every five minutes?” Ms. Omar asked the woman.
“Should I be like, so today I forgot to condemn al Qaeda, so here’s the al Qaeda one. Today I forgot to condemn FGM, so here it goes. Today I forgot to condemn Hamas, so here it goes,” she continued as the audience cheered her on.
“It is a very frustrating question that comes up. You can look at my record. I’ve voted for bills doing exactly what you’re asking me to do. I have put out statements upon statements,” she said. “I am quite disgusted really, to be honest, that as Muslim legislators we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to, because the assumption exists that we somehow support and are for [FGM].”
Ms. Omar added that she and other Muslim lawmakers such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan believe that FGM is “so abhorrent, so offensive, so evil, so vile” that it’s offensive people think they could ever support it.
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