'Vagina Protest' Staged In Lansing With Famous Playwright

LANSING (CBS Detroit) Famous playwright Eve Ensler Tweeted these words Monday morning: "Many thanks to all people who signed up, tweeted & are supporting VAGINAS in MI. We are so behind brave MI women & lawmakers."

Using the hashtag #sayvagina, Ensler and others used social media to plan an event Monday night on the steps of the state Capitol featuring a reading of Ensler's Tony-winning play "The Vagina Monologues." The play has been performed by some of the world's leading figures at venues across the globe.

The Michigan recitation is a protest aimed at Republicans who censured Democratic state Rep. Lisa Brown for using the word "vagina" in the House of Republicans during an abortion debate. Her words on the House floor Wednesday were: "And, finally, Mr. Speaker — I'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no."

She was banned from participating in the debate after that, with Ari Adler, spokesman for House Speaker James Bolger saying, "It was the context in which it was used and the way it was used, that was the problem."

It ignited a firestorm that spread all the way to Eve Ensler, with organizers calling the protest "Vaginas Take Back The Capitol."

Brown will perform 'Vagina Monologues," a series of vagina-themed vignettes, with eight other female state legislators and Ensler on the Capitol steps. The event is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m.

"Censoring a woman for saying a word that is a body part that 51 percent of their constituents have is a repression that we have not and should not ever witness in this country," Ensler said in a statement Friday, according to the New York Post.

A Facebook page created for the event by Michigan Senate Democrats had 3,268 RSVPs by Monday morning.