An Oklahoma woman who dances at a “gentlemen’s club” has filed a protective order against State Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), the homophobic conservative Republican who compared the “spiritual battle” of God-Fearing Americans to the Holocaust when he was sworn in.
Perry’s spokesperson says she is mentally ill, and that the claims are false. You can read her innermost thoughts on Twitter and judge for yourself.
Folks, I’ve met a few crazy politicians and a few crazy strippers in my time, and I’m gonna say here that either possibility is entirely plausible. They can also both be nuts.
From Salon’s roundup of this salacious story:
The woman, Cynthia Lynn Ortiz, filed a handwritten request for the protective order in Creek County, Oklahoma, where she claims she moved after Perry began stalking her in 2010. Ortiz says she met the lawmaker at a Lubbock, Texas Republican Women’s event in 2009, but later relocated to Denton, Texas, and then to Oklahoma, when he would not leave her alone. According to the protective order request — of which Ortiz posted a photo on Twitter — Perry recruited acquaintances to help him keep tabs on the woman.
“I could not go outside without one coming to watch especially if I was on the phone,” Ortiz’s request states. “A man in a brown truck would follow me everywhere I went.”
Ortiz also claims the lawmaker hacked her computer, interfered with her relationships and her work, vandalized her car and installed surveillance cameras in her home, according to the Oklahoman. Perry’s office has denied each of her claims and taken to attacking Ortiz’s character, in addition to requesting that a judge dismiss the protective order.
“She simply needs real help and treatment,” a spokesman for the senator said Tuesday.
If what the senator’s camp says is true, good luck to her. Because finding affordable, accessible mental health care when you’re a single mom working at a strip club is a hell of a lot harder than it was before Republicans gutted the hell out of America’s mental health care system. And we have politicians like Perry to thank for exactly that.
More: “Oklahoma stripper accuses Texas senator of stalking” [The Oklahoman]
@maddow Protective order filed against TXState Senator Charles Perry. Tired of it already.Want him2leave me alone. pic.twitter.com/dKqfJ3eq8b
— Alana (@TipAStripper) May 11, 2015
Alana Ortiz (@TipAStripper)