title:  Tennessee House Speaker Warns Interns To Stay Far Away From Sleazy Male Lawmakers
text: Apparently, male Tennessee Republican lawmakers are so sleazy and horny that the female House Speaker has warned interns to stay far away from them.In the wake of state GOP Rep. Jeremy Durham resigning his position as Majority Whip after getting caught creepily sexting female interns, House Speaker Beth Harwell is instructing the Director of the Internship program to institute new rules to keep interns safe from the wandering eyes of male lawmakers. As a precautionary measure, I have instructed the Director of the Internship program that interns are not to attend receptions or events related to the legislature, and they are not to give their cell phone numbers to members,  she announced on Monday.Harwell also announced the formation of a committee to review the 20-year-old sexual harassment policy that somehow hasn t been changed over the years. If any personnel have suggestions for improvement, I urge them to give the committee their recommendations,  Harwell said.  At the conclusion of this review, the members will go through sexual harassment training. But Talking Points Memo reports that Democrats are criticizing the new rules because they appear to be blaming the female interns for the behavior of male lawmakers instead of focusing on keeping the lawmakers in check. Signaling out one group of women and asking them to change their behavior is a completely inadequate and inappropriate response to a problem with alleged behavior by a lawmaker,  Rep. Mike Stewart said.Stewart does have a point. At the very least, new restrictions could be instituted regulating how lawmakers interact and behave around female interns. Instead of focusing on just the interns, focus on the lawmakers equally.As for Durham, Harwell and other GOP leaders have called for him to reign his seat entirely. If the rumors I continue to hear regarding Representative Durham are true, Representative Durham needs to focus on his family and receiving the help he needs,  Harwell said.GOP Chairman Ryan Haynes also called for Durham to step down. In light of these recent revelations, I do think it is important that Representative Durham step down from his position as a member of this body so that the legislators can continue to focus on the important work that Tennesseans expect us to focus on. Seriously, Tennessee. You need to get your act together because this is just embarrassing. Featured image from Twitter