Gretchen Whitmer’s Cringe Wokeness
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer likes to market herself as a mild-mannered moderate who succeeds in fulfilling California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal of making the Democratic Party more “culturally normal.”
Upon closer inspection, however, Whitmer reveals herself to be a devotee of 2020-style no-holds-barred wokeism, the type of wokeism that any normal person immediately cringes at. (RELATED: Is Gretchen Whitmer Back In?)
At the end of last month, Whitmer released a document, the “Menopause Memorandum,” on her “Menopause: It’s a Movement!” initiative.
This makes menopause, as Anna Hoffman pointed out in the Michigan Enjoyer, not a life stage for women that requires healthcare support, but rather “a cause you’re supposed to join.” The “movement” spans the gamut, Hoffman explained, from “celebrities, storytellers, comedians, webinars, training, reports, [and] a statewide tour” to “government oversight.”
The “Menopause Memorandum” document, which prioritizes the goal “De-stigmatize and normalize the conversation around menopause” and highlights Whitmer’s “community conversations” with menopause-obsessed actress Halle Berry, does have some practical recommendations beyond making menopause into an ideological “movement.” It calls on employers to provide “Easy access to cold drinking water” and for supervisors and HR staff to receive “menopause awareness training.”
Perhaps the saving grace here is that the document largely refers to women as women, except for when it refers to “menopause able respondents” when discussing a survey. Calling women women has not always been the case for the Whitmer administration.
When the Michigan Constitution was amended in 2022, under Whitmer’s leadership, to guarantee a right to kill one’s child up until the point of viability, the amendment was careful to use gender-neutral language. “Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” begins the amendment. The amendment goes on to use the term “pregnant individual.” Women are never mentioned. The amendment took seriously Planned Parenthood of Michigan’s 2021 guidance that “sexual and reproductive health” should be written about “in a way that does not exclude people who are not women.” (RELATED: New Planned Parenthood Report Has a Disturbing Takeaway)
Whitmer herself has not been above using gender-neutral terms to refer to women. In 2021, she referred to “people with a period.”
“A bipartisan tax cut will help reduce the economic burden of the cost of menstrual products, especially for lower-income Michiganders,” she said in a TikTok video. “Saving people with a period from paying taxes on up to $4,800 in spending over the course of their lifetime.”
Whitmer is a diehard advocate of unlimited abortion (better known as child killing). At one point during her reelection campaign, she touted as her plan for economic growth the full legalization of abortion. When speaking to the Detroit Economic Club alongside Republican challenger Tudor Dixon, Whitmer said that enshrining a right to abortion in the Michigan Constitution would allow her to “go to Purdue and talk to every woman engineer, as well as Ohio State, to tell them that in Michigan they can have full rights to make your own decision about your healthcare and your body and a great job.”
“I think,” Whitmer said, “we’re going to have a powerful story to tell, and I’m really excited about telling it.”
Again, Whitmer’s “powerful story” that will draw women from Indiana and Ohio to Michigan is that they will be able to murder their own children in the Great Lakes State.
Dixon, for her part, commented, “I think that’s an odd economic plan.”
Speaking of odd economic plans, in 2023, Whitmer rolled out a slate of cringeworthy ads to attract progressives in red states to move to Michigan.
One ad says, alongside imagery of a lesbian couple with a noticeable age gap, “Discover the benefits of living in a state that protects your rights.” Another shows a black couple alongside the phrase “Enjoy the freedom to be who you are.” A third advertisement says, “Enjoy your right to reproductive freedom,” while showing three women blissfully walking through a college campus, happy they can kill their babies.
“Gov. Whitmer is literally running ads in other states encouraging women to move to Michigan to get an abortion,” appropriately commented Tori Sachs.
Others noted that the abortion- and lesbianism-touting ads were (a partial) replacement for the celebrated Pure Michigan campaign, which focused on the state’s natural beauty and featured Tim Allen as the narrator.
“It is truly disappointing how far we have fallen since our beautiful Pure Michigan campaigns,” said state Sen. John Damoose of Harbor Springs.
A member of the lesbian couple featured in the ad was thrilled, however. “It shows that families can be anything,” she said.
Gretchen Whitmer’s wokeness in some ways strains credulity. Last month, Anna Hoffman of the Michigan Enjoyer noted the radical left-wing nonprofits that received state funding from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in 2025. Hoffman obtained these nonprofits via a Freedom of Information Act request. The fact that these organizations are receiving state funding shows the true extent of Whitmer’s wokeness.
$184,000 went to the organization Passenger Inc., which offers support services to artists in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Its classes include a “Witches Recovery Circle” every Friday at noon and a twice-weekly support group for “LGBTQ+” people with a substance use disorder. The “Witches Recovery Circle” is described as “a space for witches in recovery (and those exploring a Pagan path) to ground, reflect, and reconnect with intention. We open the circle with a check-in, work with tarot or oracle cards, share what’s alive in our recovery journeys, and close with gratitude and spiritual anchoring.” And this is what receives state funding in Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan.
Another $293,000 was doled out to MiGen, home of the “trans aging project.” The project provides “health advocates” to self-identifying “transgender” older adults who ensure they receive “affirming care” at medical appointments.
$55,000 was also awarded to Stand With Trans, which Hoffman describes as an organization whose services include “advocating for boys in girls sports, pronoun guides, and hotlines, and even a reporting form for gender-affirming care concerns.”
Gretchen Whitmer has really made no secret of her wokeness. In 2022, she announced to the Washington Post that her 20-year-old daughter had come out as gay. Whitmer publicly touted in that same interview that she had asked her 20-year-old and 18-year-old daughters if they wanted to pursue “long-acting birth control.” The 18-year-old daughter agreed with her mother’s suggestion, while the 20-year-old daughter said it was only the reversal of Roe v. Wade that made her agree to her mom’s suggestion. “There are people out there who would force me into conceiving,” she explained. “It’s a scary thought, but I’ve made the decision.” Again, this is not a family with any political moderation.
As Gretchen Whitmer lays the groundwork for a potential presidential campaign, she will continue playing the part of the small-town Michigan moderate. But that is very far from the truth.
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