Ruben Vives | Los Angeles Times (TNS)
PASADENA, Calif. — The annual gathering of cat owners at the Pasadena Convention Center, known as CatCon, was underway late Saturday morning.
Inside the center’s large ballroom and exhibit space, thousands of attendees dressed in costumes or wore cat ears, furry tails and shirts with hiss-terical puns as they strolled and gawked at hundreds of exhibition stands selling cat-related merchandise and products.
But amid the sea of feline aficionados, 43-year-old Shannon Peace stood out for a different reason — her shirt. Printed on the front, it read: “Childless Cat Ladies for Kamala.”
“I had a different shirt picked out for today; it had several cats and it said: ‘Ew, people,’” she said, chuckling. “But then he made those comments.”
Peace was referring to Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, who made headlines last week when a video clip of a 2021 interview with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson resurfaced in which Vance likened Democrat leaders to “childless cat ladies.”
“We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too,” he said. “It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”
Harris has two stepchildren and Buttigieg was in the process of adopting twins at the time.
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But the clip, along with others in which Vance described people without children as “sociopathic,” “psychotic” and “deranged,” went viral on social media and sparked widespread backlash, including from celebrities such as comedian Chelsea Handler and actor Jennifer Aniston.
“All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day,” she posted on her Instagram story. “I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.”
Vance later addressed his remarks on “The Megyn Kelly Show” and said they were a sarcastic comment toward the Democratic Party.
“It’s not a criticism of people who don’t have children. … This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child,” he said.
But for Peace, the senator’s remarks felt like an attack on her.
“You’re talking about me, this is who I am: I’m child-free by choice, I have cats by choice. It’s like he pointed a finger at me, and I didn’t appreciate it,” she said. “I’m someone who never misses a chance to vote, and I do have a stake in the future of this country, so I was very offended by it.”
At the convention, she said many people were complimenting her on the shirt.
“The feedback that I’m getting is not so much about him, which I love, nobody is saying his name, nobody cares about him, it’s this idea that we need to stop marginalizing people,” she said. “I think people are over it … and to act like anybody has less stakes in this country or is a lesser person because of the choices they made is repugnant to most of us.”
Cat conventions are anything but political. That much was noticeable at Saturday’s event, where guest speakers and panelists never brought up Vance or his remarks. Instead, they focused on informing the public about research studies and improving the health of cats.
Elsewhere at the convention, families, couples and single men and women stood in line to adopt kittens. More than 100 would be adopted by the end of the day. Some people stood in line to take photos with cat celebrities or members of the Australian Firefighters Calendar.
Among them was Virginia Sambrano, 72, of Lawndale, who was attending the convention for the first time with her daughter. She said she was interested in meeting the firemen after seeing them on the TV. She said she took a photo with them and purchased their calendar.
“I’m a Gemini, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy June,” she said, laughing.
Asked if Mr. June had signed her calendar, Sambrano paused.
“Oh, I need to go back.”
Susan Michals, founder and organizer of the convention, said the two-day event — now in its ninth year — serves as a gathering place for people to celebrate cat culture together while also receiving information on the latest trends and products.
But CatCon, which attendees have described as the Comic-Con for cat people, is also trying to debunk the “cat lady” myth.
“Frankly, ‘cat lady’ used negatively is sexist,” Michals said. “It implies the opposite of a fulfilled woman, but this isn’t the 1900s anymore,”
As for Vance, Michals said his remarks were simply divisive.
“I don’t really think about him, but he obviously thinks a lot about cat people.”
It was a few minutes past 11 a.m. when Melissa Bell, 36, arrived at the Felinious vintage clothing booth. Bell said that since hearing the remarks made by Vance, she had been hoping someone had designed a T-shirt taking a dig at the senator.
Dangling on a hanger at the booth that morning, Bell said she spotted a black shirt that read, “Childless cat lady ready to force my misery on conservatives.”
She immediately purchased it.
Dug Rusinek, 39, owner of Felinious, a clothing brand based in Florida, said the idea for the shirt originated from an Instagram post he made shortly after hearing the senator’s remarks. He said people were telling him to create a T-shirt out of it, so he did.
“We’re just guys in a cat ladies’ world,” he said. “We’re just out here to support the ladies.”
Rusinek said he didn’t agree with Vance’s remarks.
“I don’t understand people who have issues with pets, or cat ladies,” he added. “Women shouldn’t be birthing machines.”
He said people who don’t have children can still care about the world and questioned why global warming wasn’t more concerning to conservatives if they cared about families and children.
Nearby, Bell took a photo holding her new shirt. It was the first time she and her roommate had attended the convention. They had learned about it on social media.
“So far we’re having a good time,” she said. “I love that so many people love cats this much.”
Bell said she and her roommate planned to look at various knickknacks and make a stop by the adoption center. She said that she recently lost her two cats — Boogers and Shy Guy — and that both were more than 10 years old when they died.
“They lived a long, happy life,” she said.
Bell said that until now she’s always had a cat, adding that she felt pretty certain a kitten would be adopted by the end of the day.
“I’m pushing for the cat,” she said, chuckling. “[My roommate] doesn’t know it but we’re buying a cat today.”
By the end of the day, she would successfully adopt a kitten, naming it Homer.
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