The annual meeting of cat owners at the Pasadena Convention Center, known as CatCon, took place on Saturday morning.
Inside the grand ballroom and exhibit hall, thousands of attendees dress up in costumes or wear cat ears, furry tails and dresses with hiss-terical sounds as they walk and laugh at the hundreds of exhibitor stands selling cat merchandise and products.
But in the sea of feline aficionados, 43-year-old Shannon Peace stands out for a different reason – her outfit. Printed on the front, it read: “Childless Cat Woman for Kamala.”
“I have a different outfit for today; there are some cats and say: ‘Ew, man,'” he said, chuckling. “But he made that comment.”
A shirt showing Sen.’s comments. JD Vance’s “childless cat lady” was sold at the Homocats booth.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Peace refers to the candidate for vice president of the Republic of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who made headlines last week when a video clip of a 2021 interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson resurfaced in which Vance compared the Democratic leader to “a cat without a child. A woman.”
“We are effectively run in this country through the Democrats, through our corporate oligarchy, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and the choices 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, the AOC – the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people who don’t have children.”
Harris had two stepchildren and Buttigieg was adopting twins at the time.
But the clip, along with others in which Vance describes childless people as “sociopathic,” “psychotic” and “deranged,” went viral on social media and sparked widespread reactions, including from celebrities such as comedian Chelsea Handler and actors. Jennifer Aniston.
“All I can say is … Mr. Vance, I hope your daughter is lucky enough to have a child of her own one day,” Aniston posted on her Instagram story. “I hope they don’t need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you’re trying to take it from them too.
Queen Olivia III, of New Zealand, is ready for a close-up at CatCon.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Vance then spoke on “The Megyn Kelly Show” and said it was a sarcastic comment on the Democratic Party.
“It’s not a criticism for people who don’t have children. … This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for being anti-family and anti-child,” he said.
But for Peace, the senator’s remarks seemed to attack him.
“You talk about me, this is who I am: I’m child-free by choice, I have cats by choice. It’s like they’re pointing fingers at me, and I don’t respect that,” he said. “I’m someone who never misses an opportunity to vote, and I have a stake in the future of this country, so I’m very offended.”
At the convention, she said many people complimented her outfit.
“The feedback I get is not much about him, who I love, nobody mentions his name, nobody cares about him, so this idea should stop marginalizing people,” he said. “I think people are done … and act like anyone who has a low stake in this country or a lesser person because the choices they made are disrespectful to most of us.”
Cat conventions are not just politics. That much was evident on Saturday’s show, where guest speakers and panelists never brought up Vance or said anything. Instead, they focus on informing the public about research studies and improving the health of cats.
Dug Rusinek, 39, owner of Felinious, wears one of the shirts the company makes and sells at the Homocats booth at CatCon.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Elsewhere at the convention, families, couples and single men and women lined up to adopt kittens. More than 100 will be adopted by the end of the day. Some people stand in line to take photos with celebrity cats or members of the Australian Firefighters Calendar.
Among them was Virginia Sambrano, 72, of Lawndale, who attended the service for the first time with her daughter. He said he wanted to meet the firefighters after seeing them on TV. She said she took a photo with him and bought him a calendar.
“I’m a Gemini, so I’m sure I’ll like June,” she said, laughing.
When asked if Mr. June had entered the calendar, Sambrano stopped.
“Oh, I have 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 described as Comic-Con for cat people, also tried to dispel the “cat lady” myth.
“Frankly, ‘cat lady’ being used negatively is sexist,” Michals said. “It means the opposite of a full-fledged woman, but it’s not the 1900s anymore,”
As for Vance, Michals said his remarks were just divisive.
“I don’t think about him, but he always thinks about cats.”
Janay Masters, 32, poses with a man in a cat costume.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
It was a few minutes past 11 am when Melissa Bell, 36, came in Feline vintage clothing booth. Bell said that ever since he heard Vance’s remarks, he’s been hoping someone designs a T-shirt to take a dig at the senator.
With a hanger in the booth that morning, Bell said he saw a black shirt that read, “Childless cat lady ready to force my misery on conservatives.”
He immediately bought it.
Dug Rusinek, 39, owner of Felinious, a clothing brand based in Florida, said the idea for the shirt came from an Instagram post he made shortly after hearing the senator’s comments. He said that people told him to make t-shirts, so he did.
“We’re just men in a world of cat ladies,” he said. “We’re out here to support women.”
Rusinek disagreed with Vance’s statement.
“I don’t know anyone who has a problem with pets, or cat ladies,” she added. “Women shouldn’t be birthing machines.”
He said that childless people can still care about the world and asked why global warming isn’t more important to conservatives if they care about families and children.
Nearby, Bell posed for a photo holding her new outfit. It was the first time he and his roommate had attended a service. They have learned about it on social media.
Cynthia Bettis, left, and Mary Salazar, both of Riverside, dressed as cat trees at the Mad Catter’s Tea Room display.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“We’re having fun right now,” he said. “I love that so many people love cats so much.”
Bell said she and her roommate planned to look at various knickknacks and make a stop by the adoption center. She said she recently lost two cats — Boogers and Shy Guy — and both were more than 10 years old when they died.
“He lived a long and happy life,” he said.
Bell said that so far she has always had a cat, adding that she is confident that the cat will be adopted at the end of the day.
“I pushed the cat,” he said, chuckling. “(My roommate) doesn’t know, but today we bought a cat.”
At the end of the day, they will successfully adopt a kitten, named Homer.
