Everyone has seen the embarrassing headlines: Michigan Legislator Sterilizes Herself Because of Trump!
State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) thought she was making a grand emotional stand when she declared on the steps of Michigan’s Capitol that she had undergone a sterilization operation out of a fear of “navigating” an unwanted pregnancy in “Donald Trump’s America.” But she seems not to have realized how insane it would sound or how badly it would land with her constituents.
Evidence suggests that Pohutsky’s ability to read the room is questionable.
Prone to taking the bait and getting whipped up into controversy, Pohutsky showed up at a BLM protest on the steps of Livonia City Hall in June 2020. She spoke in front of a crowd of approximately 2,000 people carrying signs declaring, “Defund the Police,” “F*** the Police,” and “ACAB”—an acronym for ”All Cops Are Bastards.”
Ironically, she gave this speech under the protection of the Livonia police, who secured the area and stood nearby as she spoke into a bullhorn in front of a sign declaring them to be murderers.
At one point, she responded to someone yelling, “How do we defund the police?” with “I’m going to get to that!” The audience was delighted.
Multiple sources said her statements at this event raised eyebrows and concern, even from city officials, and other progressive city officials and elected seat holders made themselves scarce during the rally.
Interestingly, Pohutsky never seemed to promote any video of herself speaking at this event. Several Detroit media platforms covered the protest and filmed multiple speakers but never reported on Pohutsky’s speech. The only video that seems to exist is a livestream from WXYZ-TV, with no caption identifying Pohutsky as the speaker.
If you look into Pohutsky’s political identity, one might find the tell-tale indicators of a white female talking the talk of the New Left, but perhaps not walking the walk.
She refers to herself as the first openly bisexual woman elected to the Michigan Legislature, but she’s been married twice, both times to men. I’ll give her a pass on that. I care little about her private life.
Her radical rhetoric, however, I won’t, and it may be bought and paid for. According to Open Secrets and Transparency Now, two groups that track political contributions, Pohutsky has received political donations from a Soros-linked “dark money” group called the Future Now Fund.
Why is a virtually unknown state representative with a small constituency receiving funds from a shady and hyperpartisan progressive national Super PAC funded by a billionaire known for promoting some of the most deleterious political policies and politicians in the nation? Because the mission of the Future Now Fund is to target and contribute to progressive candidates and, in battleground or red states, to slowly flip them blue. The group labels itself a counterweight to win governing majorities in Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and several other states.
This might explain why Pohutsky is seemingly working against Livonia, rather than for it. In a recent bill she co-sponsored in the legislature, Pohutsky sought to remove the SMART Bus opt-out for Livonia residents, who are taxed to fund an empty mass transit line very few in the city use. This is an unpopular program that residents don’t want to pay for, and city officials see as a cost-sink due to its lack of end users.
Why isn’t Laurie Pohutsky working to save money for Livonia taxpayers? Why is she giving speeches critical of the police in her hometown? Why is she constantly lecturing, hectoring, and lamenting white people “as a white female” on X and promoting self-sterilization?
In short, what’s her deal? I aimed to find out by going to one of her in-person events at the Redford Public Library.
Much to my surprise, I found her quite likeable, engaging, and not at all the angry, high-heeled mafia progressive that I’ve seen in various clips on the internet.
I asked gracefully, “Are you taking questions about your recent speech on the Capitol steps?” She was eager to talk about it and asked who I wrote for. I answered—without hesitation—The Enjoyer. She smiled knowingly.
I asked her a series of questions, including, “Did you plan to give that speech or was it an emotional spur-of-the-moment declaration?” “Did you regret giving the speech?” And finally, “How are you coping with your recent fame?”
She didn’t deflect or give HR approved lawyer-speak. In fact, she expanded on her speech, stating that her operation was done out of fear that she may not be able to have the surgery in the near future. She said her healthcare provider was planning on limiting or ending such surgeries, but didn’t elaborate.
Pohutsky reported being a little unsettled by how viral the story had become and noted she’d just given an interview about it to a publication in London. That said, she reported all was well, and she was not dealing with any blowback from Democrats and was enjoying the conservative outrage, but only slightly.
Others in the room, clearly supporters of Pohutsky, were outraged that I had the temerity to ask her questions. Several began to hector and lecture me. One lady was visibly shaking, and she sternly finger wagged me for questioning Rep. Pohutsky’s medical history, even though I didn’t.
A second woman seemed outraged that I was even there and lectured me on the disrespect I was showing by not acknowledging Rep. Pohutsky was the former President Pro Tempore of the House, as if that was some shield against civil discourse.
None of this was more than a minor annoyance, but a third woman in the room was particularly upset with me: Delisha Upshaw, a woman I cited in a prior article for purchasing a billboard advertising Livonia as a racist city.
She was pissed off, and wrongly claiming that I lied in my reporting. “Are you J.Z. Delorean?” I answered yes, without hesitation. J.Z. DeLorean, my pseudonym, a riff on the late Detroit automaker John DeLorean, was a means to shield my career as a professional investigator.
Upshaw claimed I misreported her involvement in the billboard. I cited the reporting of multiple news sources—ones she had given interviews to—that stated she had purchased the billboard.
Ms. Upshaw wanted to set the record straight. “Fair enough,” I said. “Who did purchase it?” Ms. Upshaw refused to tell me and only claimed that she did not spend one single penny of her own money to buy it. She demanded my contact information and an interview with her in the future. Hard pass.
During this exchange, Pohutsky remained quiet but did admit moments later that I was respectful and polite in my questioning of her in front of her audience.
Boom, over. I packed my laptop and left. But I felt uneasy.
Sure enough, 24 hours later, I was made aware that photographs of me were being shared on social media, and progressive activists were on the hunt for my real identity. Within hours, my real name and employment information was being shared.
In that moment, J.Z. Delorean died and Jay Murray emerged, feeling unburdened by what had been.
I’m actually thankful. Using a pseudonym was becoming troublesome, and less necessary in recent months. Progressives did not just lose an election on November 5, they also lost the culture war.
Losing the pulse of the nation has allowed right-wing reporters like myself to assert themselves without fear. Doxxing in 2025 isn’t the weapon it once was. Now, it’s just a desperate and feeble defense mechanism.
The BLM radicals may have killed off J.Z. Delorean, but Jay Murray is still in the game.
Jay Murray is a writer for Michigan Enjoyer and has been a Metro Detroit-based professional investigator for 22 years. Follow him on X @Stainless31.
