It Shouldn’t be Dangerous for Women to Speak Up

Let’s talk about what happened in Idaho - and what you can do.

Many of you have seen the horrific video by now. A woman is sitting in a town hall organized by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. After she interrupts the speakers onstage she is approached by a set of stern, and frankly menacing, unidentified guards in plain clothes.

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When she refuses to leave, the off-duty sheriff and private security guards forcibly remove her from her seat. She is dragged out of the auditorium, losing a shoe in the process, and at one point her shirt nearly comes off. Her wrists are zip tied together. Shewas charged with battery for daring to fight back. Those charges have been dismissed.

The woman is Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl, She has a doctorate in education leadership and is a Democrat who ran for a state legislative seat in 2024. You can follow her on Instagram here.

When I posted this video on my Instagram the reaction was swift. Here are some of the comments:

Too many people sat there and did nothing. My heart is racing. I hope she sues the hell out of the town.

This is truly bone-chilling. I’m sick over this. And that so many sat idly by. What the fuck.

If you don’t think they’re coming for your rights, you’re wrong.

I think all of us who watched the video were alarmed by the scene of private security guards attacking a woman for speaking. We were appalled by the moderator’s statements, "Look at this little girl over here, everyone. Look at her…Your voice is meaningless right now. ... I can talk over all of you." And within the greater context of today’s political moment, when broligarchs are taking over our government, it was a warning sign to heed.

A comment I’ve seen a lot from conservative commentators is that she deserved it - she spoke out of turn. So there’s important context to note here. During the town hall, a lot of the crowd was speaking out of turn. According to PBS:

“Videos show cheers and jeers were erupting throughout the group at times. “Women are dying,” one person in the audience shouted. “And doctors are leaving our state!” another yelled. A moderator tried to quiet the crowd, scolding people for “popping off with stupid remarks.”

Dr. Borrenpohl said, “Nobody was telling people cheering to stop cheering, but any time there was a negative reaction, we were scolded… I felt comfortable expressing displeasure because people were very openly expressing their appreciation for the legislators there.”

The moderator, Ed Bejarana, a local website developer and audiobook narrator, cut in to scold audience members who he claimed were "just popping off with stupid remarks." Dr. Borrenpohl said the security personnel grabbed her after she yelled about Republican State Sen. Phil Hart, cutting timber from state owned land.

The not-uniformed Sheriff who approached her and refused to identify himself as law enforcement is Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris. He was off duty, but wearing a hat that said “Kootenai County Sheriff.”

“I was really dumbfounded because he said, ‘Do you want me to pepper spray you?’” she recalled. “That was the first thing he said to me that I remember.”

Norris likely knew who Dr. Borrenpohl was. Here’s audio of him from last year patronizingly calling her an “activist leader” and saying it’s important the community not elect her:

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Norris has put out seemingly false and, frankly, super defensive comments about his actions. He’s denied knowledge of the event’s security arrangements but also said his handling of Dr. Borrenpohl was in line with protocols that were set before the town hall began. He clearly directs the two security personnel to act in the video, but then claimed he didn’t know the security personnel.

There is going to be an independent investigation by an outside law enforcement agency to determine if his conduct aligned with office policy.

The men, by the way, were not sheriff's deputies. They were PRIVATE SECURITY GUARDS who were not acting within compliance of the law. The company, LEAR Asset Management, has had its license to operate within the city revoked. According to The New Republic:

“The man who founded and runs [LEAR] is Paul Trouette, who was seen in Coeur d’Alene several months ago at a city council meeting, opposing a local ordinance that would have required private security outfits more clearly identify themselves. At the time, the Kootenai Journal reported, Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White “made references to situations in which security personnel were confused with law enforcement officers, or acted as if they were law enforcement officers, within the last year in Coeur d’Alene.””

LEAR has operated in California going back at least to 2012, with Trouette running what “looks like a military assault force,” as Time magazine observed in 2014. “Clad in body armor and camouflage and carrying AR-15 rifles, they creep through the trees toward their target: one of the illegal marijuana gardens dotting Mendocino County.” More recently, LEAR seems to have turned up pro bono and perhaps uninvited to clear an encampment where unhoused people were living near Ackman Creek in Mendocino County. After a local news outlet reported on Paul Trouette doing security at the clean-up, a county agency involved in the effort said “it is unclear to us who contacted Lear.”

Coeur D’Alene has a long history with hate groups and extremism. It is a place where the far right is incubating its tactics for takeover.

I found this quote from Dr. Borrenpohl particularly chilling:

“I think that my civil rights were stripped from me in that moment in a really embarrassing way,” she said. “Admittedly, I spoke out of turn. But do we live in a country where you speak out of turn and the result is three men assaulting a woman?”

If this was a public event, an open forum, people have a first amendment right to cheer and jeer. This wasn’t a regular business meeting with an agenda. The organizers are trying to claim it is private, which will undoubtedly be litigated.

Nearly 300k has been raised for Dr. Borrenpohl’s legal costs. The GoFundMe is here. Almost 10k people have donated. According to the website:

No American should fear being carted away by an unnamed paramilitary force without cause. The protection of our freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to be free from unlawful detention—should never be taken for granted. Dr. Borrenpohl is not just fighting for herself; she is fighting for every one of us.

I’m going to write more on this, about how I think this can serve as a galvanizing moment for all of us. Because if you’re anything like me, that moderator’s words are still echoing in your mind:

"This little girl does not want to leave.

She spoke up and now does not want to suffer the consequences."

It’s not just condescending, it’s a threat wrapped in a sneer. It’s the patriarchal playbook in action: diminish, demean, and then destroy. When a woman dares to raise her voice, their system’s knee-jerk reaction is to remind her of her “place.” And if she doesn’t retreat on her own, well, there are men hiding in plain sight ready to make sure she does by whatever means necessary.

But let’s dissect this idea of “consequences.” Consequences for what, exactly? For being an educatedwoman with a voice? For refusing to sit quietly while our rights are eroded? For choosing to stand up, not just for herself but for her entire community?

When Dr. Borrenpohl spoke up, she was doing what women have always done: sounding the alarm, asking the hard questions, refusing to be a silent witness to injustice. The consequence she faced wasn’t the result of bad behavior, it was punishment for her autonomy. It was an attempt to make an example of her, to show the rest of us what happens when a woman decides she will not be quiet and compliant. It was a warning, and that is one of the things that scares me the most.

We have a choice here. We can internalize that threat, letting it shape our actions, making us smaller and quieter, or we can make this a galvanizing moment. We can choose to reject the fear they’re trying to instill in us.

Because let’s be clear: These weren’t legitimate security professionals maintaining order. These were paramilitary cosplayers, grown men playing dress-up as authority figures, using intimidation and force to suppress a woman from speaking out. We know better than to be cowed by their costumes and their bluster.

At the same time, we have to be smart and strategic. This is not a call for reckless confrontation.

It’s about turning every instance of their intimidation into an opportunity for our strength. If they think they can drag one of us out of a room and scare the rest into silence, then we need to show them just how wrong they are.

This can be our moment, the point where we stop being shocked by the audacity of their authoritarianism and start organizing against it. Where we transform our outrage into outcomes, our fear into fuel, and our silence into strategy.

The question isn’t whether there will be consequences for speaking up. There always have been. The question is whether those consequences will make us quieter or louder.

And I think we all know the answer to that.

Some questions to ponder:

• What would you do if you saw something like this happening right in front of you? Really, what would you do?

• How comfortable are you with stepping in directly? Would you speak up, intervene, or call the authorities while it’s unfolding?

• If you did respond, how would you handle what comes next? If you were arrested, who would you call? What kind of support would you need from them?

These aren’t hypothetical questions, they’re practical ones. Because in moments like this, preparation isn’t just empowering; it’s necessary. And all of us need to be prepared to act.

The bystander effect is a psychological phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. The larger the crowd, the more likely it is that each person will assume someone else will step in, leading to a paralysis of inaction. It’s a chilling reminder of how human instincts can be overridden by social cues and diffusion of responsibility. In the Coeur d’Alene town hall incident, we can see the bystander effect in action. When no one speaks up, when no one steps in, those in power learn that they can act with impunity. And the message sent to the rest of us is clear: Stay quiet, or suffer the consequences. Overcoming the bystander effect requires a conscious, often uncomfortable choice to act, to break the spell of inaction by being the person who says, “This isn’t right,” even when everyone else remains silent.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center has very helpful guidelines for how to be a good bystander. They were created in the wake of #MeToo but they will also work in a situation like what happened to Dr. Borrenpohl.

Directly Engage the Harassed Person

How to do it:

• Position yourself between them and the harasser

• Ask them clearly: "Are you okay? Do you need any help?"

• Offer an exit: "Would you like to come sit with me over there instead?"

• Give them an excuse to leave: "Didn't you say you needed to make that phone call?"

• Ignore the harasser completely while helping the person leave

Speak Up When Safe

How to do it:

• Use a calm, firm tone: "That behavior is not okay."

• Set a clear boundary: "Please stop talking to them that way."

• Use "we" statements to indicate community standards: "We don't treat people that way here."

• Ask questions that highlight the inappropriate behavior: "Why would you think it's okay to do this?"

Enlist Others Around You

• Make eye contact with other bystanders and gesture for help

• Approach staff or security together: "We noticed someone being harassed and need your help."

• Form a physical barrier between the harassed person and harasser

Document What is Happening

• Film or photograph the incident, focusing on the harasser

• Note the time, location, and details of what happened

• Offer to share the documentation with the harassed person

• Be prepared to provide details to authorities if needed

Prioritize Safety

How to do it:

• Assess the situation before acting.

• Keep a safe distance if you sense danger

• Trust your instincts about which approach feels safest

• Have an exit strategy before getting involved

So, What Can You Do?

IRL: A lot of commenters have asked me what they can do, and I get it, watching something like this unfold can leave you feeling helpless, angry, and desperate to take action. The truth is, the most effective use of your time is something I can’t just give you a link for, it’s getting involved locally. This is where your voice can have an outsized impact. Start by attending your own town hall meetings, not just when there’s a crisis but consistently, so you’re part of shaping the conversation from the ground up.

To the best of my knowledge, there are two organizations that are organizing town hall based activism, Indivisible and Fair Share America. But you don’t need to be part of an organized group to get locally involved.

ONLINE: Post a photo of you with your family or out doing something you love and put this text over it: “If speaking up has consequences, then silence is not an option.”

You can add this caption: I stand with Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl.