On Wednesday’s broadcast of NBC’s “Late Night,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) argued that “we need to get away from this caricature that’s been made of DEI, say the actual words, tell me what’s wrong with diversity.” And that Title IX “enabled me to play sports. It enabled me to have a professional career, actually, in sports. And I sure would not be Governor today were there not in place laws that said, you know what? We need to have women at the table in schools, in the military, in business, in government.”
Host Seth Meyers said, [relevant exchange begins around 18:25] “You stood up recently for DEI, and, basically, I heard you in an interview say, like, what is so wrong about the ideas of diversity, equity, and inclusion? And that, to me, was refreshing to hear, because, look, I think you can have, sometimes, criticism on the way those ideas are executed. But the core idea of DEI, I think, is something worth standing up for.”
Healey responded, “Yeah. I totally agree. And look, I am the product of Title IX, which was the federal law passed in 1971, ’72, it’s around the time I was born actually, that said, people have got to be treated equally when it comes to education. That enabled me to go to school. It enabled me to play sports. It enabled me to have a professional career, actually, in sports. And I sure would not be Governor today were there not in place laws that said, you know what? We need to have women at the table in schools, in the military, in business, in government. We need to have people of color. We need to have people with disabilities. We need to have gay people, right? Like, why is that bad for our country? And so, we need to get away from this caricature that’s been made of DEI, say the actual words, tell me what’s wrong with diversity. It’s only made us stronger as a country.”
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