Portrait of an American Hero: The Lesbian POC Woman Who Saved Republican Lives

[Madam45for2923]

Last edited Thu Jun 15, 2017, 08:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Both Griner and Bailey are minorities. Crystal Griner is a female minority, who just so happens to be married to a woman. In 2015, Griner married Tiffany Dyar in Baltimore.


It’s not that people should be defined by their skin color, gender, or who they love. But in this case, these details are important enough to focus on for a moment.

Capitol Police special agents Crystal Griner and David Bailey are widely credited with saving Republican lawmakers and staff during the horrific shooting in Alexandria, Virginia that left Representative Steve Scalise in the hospital in critical condition.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said of them during a House floor speech, “We are, as ever, awed by the tremendous bravery of the Capitol Police.”

Both Griner and Bailey were wounded.

Both Griner and Bailey are POCs.

Crystal Griner is a female minority, who just so happens to be married to a woman. Griner married Tiffany Dyar in 2015.

As ESPN’s LZ Granderson pointed out, Griner saved the life of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who is opposed to same-sex marriage:

Link to tweet

more in link:
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/15/portrait-american-hero-gay-minority-woman-saved-republicans.html

edited to add David Bailey's photo:

[Vinca]

1. I really admire that woman's courage.

It also takes a special person to ignore what offensive things someone stands for and put your life on the line to save them.

[dbackjon]

2. K&R

Maybe this will change a few minds...

[pangaia]

5. Surely you jest...

[Demsrule86]

3. What a hero...

I wonder if Scalise knew her orientation?

[EffieBlack]

54. He may or may not have known hers, but she surely knew his views-and she STILL put her life

on the line for him.

Hero to the max.

[Demsrule86]

89. Indeed she did ...my daughter is gay you know.

[Heartstrings]

4. K & R........nt

[HipChick]

6. Scalise who identifies with David Duke?

but without the 'baggage'?

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/lawmaker-news/228922-scalise-david-duke-and-the-stain-on-the-republican-party

[bullwinkle428]

7. Big K&R. I also understand that Scalise's injuries have required the

use of blood transfusions. My secret hope is that some of that blood comes from a person/people of color, and that blood then allows him to make a complete and glorious recovery.

[dbackjon]

8. which are possible thanks to Dr. Charles Drew - who was black...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Drew

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Nicely done. nt

[IronLionZion]

31. Which are disputed by white supremacists like Steve King

That's an interesting fact I didn't know. Thanks for sharing. We need more like Dr. Charles Drew in this world.

[blueseas]

59. Thanks for the info

[oswaldactedalone]

29. My friend told me

that he once needed blood transfusions and the only available donors were African-American. He was very appreciative but shortly thereafter noticed that he had a very strong craving for chitlins!

Seriously though, those two are heros and I hope they'll be recognized for that early and often.

[linuxman]

9. Nonsense.

I've been assured that good "guys" with guns never save anyone. Obviously fake new.

[Madam45for2923]

13. TRAINED.

[gordianot]

20. Shooting is my hobby I am not qualified to use firearms as law enforcement.

I am a better shot with a pistol than my son who is a firearms training officer and holds NRA training credentials. I understand my limitations my son knows much more about law enforcement.

[hunter]

23. I'd much prefer people like Hodgkinson didn't have guns.

I think gun love is a mental illness. I don't respect recreational gun use.

I think anyone who wants to own a gun should face six weeks of military boot camp level training, living 24/7 alongside people they might hate and despise in a stressful environment. No guns for anyone who flunks out, especially anyone who flunks out for anger management issues, racism, misogyny, religious intolerance, or hatred of LGBT people. No guns for anyone who has had entanglements with the law over these issues.

Guns held by people not so qualified would be automatically confiscated and destroyed, antiques, collectible, no exceptions.

That would be "a well regulated militia."

Gun lovers can tsk-tsk me, tell me that will never happen, but I'm happy to get under their skin if I can.

Gun love is disgusting.

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. +1000000!

[emmadoggy]

37. .

[linuxman]

44. Your fetishization of a starship trooper-eque fascist requirement for rights

is cute, but no thanks. I already meet all of your ridiculous right-exercising purity trials anyway, but I'm not the kind of selfish guy who says "I got mine! Screw ya!".

Should "military boot camp level training" be required to vote? After 2016, I'm of the belief that exercising the right to vote can be far more damaging that the right to own a firearm...then again I'm not about to advocate for literacy tests.

Privileges are earned. Rights simply are.

[hunter]

58. Nothing "cute" about me. Gun love is disgusting.

I'm not sure you noticed, but Starship Troopers was mocking it too.

Or maybe that's your point.

Either way, I'll gladly accept the compliment of your reply.

[linuxman]

62. Take what you can get

I suppose.

[hunter]

87. We can argue about systemd if you like.

As an old BSD guy, I'm against it.

I first logged onto a BSD system in the late seventies when BSD was new. I'm now a Debian guy, and for now systemd is optional. If that changes I may return to BSD.

[LakeArenal]

88. That's cute that you would minimize a commenter by calling their ideas cute.

You are so cute with your ridiculous need to not comment on content but someone's giving their opinion. Anytime someone refers to anyone's opinion as cute or ridiculous I suspect a troll.
Yes, I am trolling you.

[LanternWaste]

43. Your creative and heavily edited narratives are most consistent...

Your creative and heavily edited narratives are most consistent in their faith-based dogma, regardless of what you merely allege to have been assured of.

[linuxman]

45. Do you actually read what people write here,

Or just repeat your title line while trying to sound like a freshman straight out of a rhetoric course?

[EffieBlack]

55. The good guys who are TRAINED to use guns save people all the time

This has nothing to do with "good guy" v. "bad guy." This is all about the fact that more guns will not make us safe.

I shudder to think of the carnage that would have ensued if a bunch of non- LE "good guys" had whipped out guns on the baseball field yesterday and started firing.

[linuxman]

57. My response is to the constant claims of

*Sarcastic* statements like "If only there was a good guy with a gun*.

I'm assuming you're referencing the old "Everyone will pull a gun and then everyone will just start shooting everybody" canard. Has this actually happened outside of anti-2nd amendment right proponents' heads?

[EffieBlack]

85. Actually, it happens all the time

And I'm sure that if the lawmakers who go around saying - WITHOUT sarcasm - that we need to have "more good guys with guns" really believed that crap, they would allow the average "good guy" to bring guns into THEIR workplaces (you know, state and federal Capitol buildings, etc.).

Funny thing, though - they all happen to work within the safety of buildings ringed with magnetometers and guards to make sure that civilians with firearms don't get anywhere near THEM. That's because the only people they want carrying guns around THEM are trained and licensed law enforcement officers. Yet they tell the rest of us that we should tolerate having every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to walk around with a weapon bringing them into into OUR workplaces, schools, churches, restaurants, etc.

This is all pure hypocrisy and purely to gin up and feed ignorant, insecure, frightened people who think that guns are the answer to their fears and inadequacies. You don't seem to fall into that category, but, for some reason, you surely are co-signing for them.

And, fyi, this has nothing to do with being "anti-Second Amendment." I'm pro-Bill of Rights all the way. But I also recognize that, in a free and civilized society, every right has some limits - the First Amendment does not give me the right to defame you, the Fourth Amendment does not mean that my person and property can NEVER be searched, the 15th Amendment doesn't allow me to vote as many times as I want in a given election, and so on.

But, oddly, many of those claiming to be such strong advocates of the Constitution seem to think that the Second Amendment is the only right that should be exercised completely without restriction. Recognizing that the Second Amendment should have some reasonable limits does not make anyone "anti-Second Amendment." It just means we're rational beings.

[linuxman]

93. "Actually, it happens all the time"

Sure it does.

[EffieBlack]

94. The fact that the only response you could come up with to my post

was to repeat the subject line and insert an eye roll emoji speaks volumes.

Thank you. I rest my case.

[linuxman]

95. The fact that you asserted "it happens all the time"

While producing zero evidence was all I needed to dismiss your post. I mean, that's a pretty bold claim to make without evidence.

Tell you what. Show me it happens "all the time". For the sake of the argument, I'll be willing to concede the threshhold for "all the time" as say...10 times per year in the US. Do that and I'll concede you aren't full of it.

[JI7]

64. That was her job that she was trained and paid for . not some random jackoff

with fantasies about saving the world and taking people out.

[linuxman]

65. Was she or wasn't she

a good "guy" with a gun?

[JI7]

66. i don't know if she was good/bad as a person. but she was good at the job she was trained for

[linuxman]

67. Kills a guy shooting innocent people and you can't make a value judgement.

LOL

Stellar.

[JI7]

68. what's funny is you trying to compare random gun nut jackoffs to her

[linuxman]

69. Not quite as funny

as you not being able to identify the good "guy" in a situation where the cop kills the would-be assassin.

[JI7]

70. pathetic. as if those who support gun control wanted to disarm law enforcement officials

you were called out on trying to compare random gun nut jackoffs like george zimmerman to the trained officer and have no answer to that.

since pro gun control people are not calling for actual law enforcement officials to be disarmed you have no argument here.

[linuxman]

71. That never happened except anywhere in your head

For the record, I'm sleeping soundly tonight under the belief that you (thank God!) don't own firearms.

[JI7]

72. oh course it did because pro gun control people are not referring to law enforcement

when they ridicule the gun nut fantasy about good guy with a gun.

[linuxman]

73. Are cops not good "guy" with guns?

Your words, not mine.


Anyway, I beg of you, PLEASE DON"T EVER BUY A GUN.

Now at the very least you can't say pro rights folk want everyone (regardless of mental stastus ) to have one.

[JI7]

74. no, because the gun control measures are not about law enforcement

[EffieBlack]

86. And the people who bleat out the "good guy with a gun mantra" aren't referring to Crystal Griner

They're talking about George Zimmerman.

[Straw Man]

91. They're talking about her ...

... and about people like this:

"Escaped Georgia inmates captured in Tennessee after chase

...

Dubose and Rowe ran from the vehicle into some woods but they were discovered by a homeowner who called his neighbor and they each grabbed a gun. The fugitives lost their weapons in the crash and surrendered, authorities said."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/15/us/escaped-georgia-inmates-captured/index.html

[Straw Man]

75. Umm ...

"since pro gun control people are not calling for actual law enforcement officials to be disarmed you have no argument here."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10025388814
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10026595708
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1172166661
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10025909598
https://www.democraticunderground.com/117245716

[JI7]

76. those are just threads on a discussion board. i'm talking about actual legislation that has been

proposed by elected officials.

[Straw Man]

77. Maybe you are NOW ...

"those are just threads on a discussion board. i'm talking about actual legislation that has been proposed by elected officials."

.. but this is the first time you've mentioned "elected officials," etc. Your prior reference was simply to "those who support gun control." Surely that encompasses more than elected officials.

[JI7]

78. you can find anyone saying anything on the internet. i find michael moore mostly about seeking

attention for himself than about issues.

the fact is serious attempts at gun control have not been about disarming officers.

[Straw Man]

79. Keep moving those goalposts.

What's a "serious" attempt? Is there a metric for that?

[JI7]

80. your argument is pretty much like republicans claiming people will marry their dogs if same sex

marriage becomes legal. and then finding some dumbfuck who had a marriage ceremony with their dog in their backyard as proof .

[Straw Man]

81. Not really.

Not unless you can find five threads right here on DU espousing interspecies marriage.

[JI7]

82. no, it really is. just like the transgender bathroom issue.and fuck the gun nuts

[Straw Man]

90. It took you four posts ...

... to get to incoherence and name-calling. Kudos on the forbearance.

[boston bean]

84. You think every US citizen should have their own privately trained security detail?

[Madam45for2923]

10. More links plus photos

BRAVE AND THE BOLD
The Hero Cops Who Prevented a Congressional ‘Massacre’
Friends aren’t surprised by the courage officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey displayed in taking down James Hodgkinson.

A mass shooting during a congressional baseball practice early Wednesday morning could have been a full-blown “massacre,” Congress members say. Instead, two special agents put their lives on the line, potentially saving dozens of others.
Capitol Police officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey are special agents on Rep. Steve Scalise’s security detail. Scalise was standing near second base in an Alexandria, Virginia park when the bullets began flying from behind the third base dugout, striking Scalise. While Scalise dragged himself to safety, Griner and Bailey lept into action. In an extended firefight, the two agents took down shooter James Hodgkinson while battling through injuries of their own. Both were taken to the hospital after the gunfight, and are recovering from their injuries, officials say.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hero-cops-who-prevented-a-congressional-massacre

[Madam45for2923]

11. Crystal Griner

?quality=65&strip=all&w=780

http://heavy.com/news/2017/06/krystal-griner-capitol-police-crystal-officer-shot-photos-david-bailey-james-hodgkinson-facebook/

[Madam45for2923]

12. David Bailey

?quality=65&strip=all&strip=all

http://heavy.com/news/2017/06/david-bailey-us-capitol-police-officer-special-agent-alexandria-shooting-krystal-griner/

[Madam45for2923]

15. Crystal Griner Walking Behind Scalise. She probably saved his life!

Capitol Police Officer Crystal Griner, right, walks behind House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, middle, on Nov. 15, 2016. Andrew Harnik / AP

[lunatica]

35. she probably saved all their lives

[Madam45for2923]

48. OMG! Yes! You are right! Brave woman she!

[EffieBlack]

56. Hubba Hubba

Oh . . . sorry. I got carried away there for a moment.

[Madam45for2923]

61. LOL! Here is video of him Today! David Bailey, officer wounded in VA shooting, throws out 1st pitch

Gives you chills. David Bailey, officer wounded in VA shooting, throws out 1st pitch at Congressional Baseball Game.

BTW: He was hit by shrapnel during the shooting.

Link to tweet

[hunter]

14. I read this story on a site that allows comments. Don't read the comments.

They will make you sick.

The Trump deplorables are mean, stupid, ignorant bigots, beyond all comprehension. How do they get that way? It's got to be a combination of things like fetal alcohol syndrome, lead poisoning, domestic abuse, and hateful families, churches, and communities. They've got so much in common with the shooter Hodgkinson, and yes they've got guns, some of them bragging about it.

[Madam45for2923]

16. I guess I will skip doing that. Thank you!!

[MyOwnPeace]

19. "Stuff" like that..........

leaves you wondering how much better off we will be even WHEN we get rid of Orange Cheat-o!
I thought it was ugly enough when the Obamas suffered through what they had to, only to have the LIAR-IN-CHIEF be there to encourage and support more of the same!

[hunter]

26. Trump really has opened the floodgates of ugly.

We have an indecent president and now all the indecent people feel free to spew their own sewage, when before they might have kept it to themselves.

[jmg257]

18. Great post - after reading/hearing almost endlessly about the nut-job shooter, nice to find out

more about the heroes.

[sarge43]

21. Oh the irony

Make some popcorn and watch how the bigots tap dance around this.

[Liberalagogo]

22. At least it turned out better than this story:

Oliver Sipple, who said Pres. Gerald's Ford's life.

A lot of wrong on both sides in that story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Sipple

[progressoid]

28. I had forgotten about that.

Thanks for the reminder.

[barbtries]

24. i wonder

if this will change his hateful outlook. i really do. of course as of right now he is still in critical condition i believe so it may be premature to assume he will survive.

[Madam45for2923]

25. Rep Mo Brooks (AL) "They had pistols, he had a rifle, not a fair fight" video here:

Meet the 2 police officers who prevented a 'massacre' at GOP baseball practice


http://abcnews.go.com/US/meet-police-officers-prevented-massacre-gop-baseball-practice/story?id=48037013

[7962]

30. I'm sure both will be honored on the floor of the House when they're healed.

As it should be

[JI7]

34. how about given equal rights for griner ?

[7962]

53. Which ones are she lacking?

[JI7]

63. lol, you want to pretend the ones she saved don't want to deny her equal rights ?

[7962]

83. You said why not give her equal rights, I asked which ones she didnt have.

I would like to think maybe this incident may help some of these people see that she never should have been denied any to begin with. I think back to decades ago when "certain" people refused black doctors....until one saved their life.

[Gothmog]

32. These two officers are heros

[LeftInTX]

33. Nothing on CNN about them

I have not heard a word.

Usually they are good at reporting about other injuries in events like this.

This time they are silent.

[lunatica]

36. I heard plenty about them on CNN this morning

[LeftInTX]

39. Good to hear!!

I flipped on CNN around 11:30 and just turned it off.
Guess they covered it earlier.

[lunatica]

42. this morning they had everything about it on

including all the Republicans praising the DC police. Even the one's who are still so nervous they were stuttering and trembling.

All of them claimed categorically that it would have been a massacre without them running into the danger.

[LeftInTX]

40. Wish they would have included it in their noon broadcast

[lunatica]

41. On an aside

If you could get all those taco trucks going back to Mexico by making the gif go backwards that would be funny in light our new boy president

[Ilsa]

38. I saw her and Bailey's pics on msnbc this morning.

I was very happy to see them finally get some public recognition of a job well done. These two people ran AT DANGER to protect the lives of people who have no problem engaging with racists and bigots and misogynists, if they aren't themselves.

[nolabear]

46. And not once did she ask who he loved and what color his mama's skin was.

She just saved his life. That's all.

[Madam45for2923]

47. Yeah! She with a pistol put her precious life on the line against a crazy w/a rifle!

Her precious life! Her only life!

[nolabear]

49. To save the guy who helped him get it. That's some dedication to duty right there.

I hope she has a long and wonderful life.

[Madam45for2923]

50. She was shot on the ankle but yes, I hope she will recover and go on to enjoy a most awesome life!

[Tarheel_Dem]

51. Kudos and long life to Officer Griner.

[Cha]

52. Mahalo for this, Madam!

[blueseas]

60. I hope she feels better soon

A true hero -

[Akamai]

92. Very nice observation! Thanks for pointing it out!