By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-19 02:34:46 | Updated at 2024-11-19 04:29:05
1 hour ago
A trans war has broken out on Capitol Hill after a Republican lawmaker proposed a measure that would block the first transgender member of Congress from using biological women's restrooms in the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Nancy Mace is pushing for the new rule ahead of the arrival of Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride, who will take office in January as the first openly-trans lawmaker in the United States.
McBride blasted Republicans after the proposal, claiming they were using it as a 'distraction' tactic.
'This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,' McBride said in a statement.
'We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars.'
Mace, a staunch conservative, stood by her measure.
'Playing make believe dress up doesn't mean you should be allowed in women's private spaces,' she wrote on X.
Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, who is the first openly-trans member of Congress
The proposal has set off a firestorm on Capitol Hill with Democrats rising to the defense of their soon-to-be colleague. McBride was elected last month and will take office in January.
'The cruelty is the point,' Democrat Rep. Becca Balint, a co-chair of the Equality Caucus, told Axios.
'This is not just bigotry, this is just plain bullying,' Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said.
Mace's proposal prohibits House members and staffers from 'using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.'
The proposal would require the sergeant at arms to enforce the measure.
'Biological men do not belong in private women's spaces. Period. Full stop. End of story,' Mace said in a statement.
She told reporters on Capitol Hill she was standing up for women's rights and protecting female spaces.
Republicans backed the proposal with some suggesting expanding it to all taxpayer facilities.
'I support a resolution that keeps biological men out of women's bathrooms,' Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told reporters on Capitol Hill.
She even suggested expanding it to 'all taxpayer funded facilities.'
'He is a man,' Greene said of McBride. 'He is not allowed to use our women's restrooms, our women's gym, our locker room, our spaces that are specified for women. He's a biological. He has plenty of places he can go.'
She rejected the notion of adding gender-neutral bathrooms to the Capitol.
'No he can go in the men's room. And he has a bathroom in his office,' she said.
She pointed out the election decided the issue, when many Americans showed their disapproval of biological men participating in women's sports.
'The American people spoke in the election. They're sick of this s***,' Greene said.
Transgender issues have become a political flashpoint and Republicans used it to their advantage in the election.
Donald Trump's campaign ran ads against Kamala Harris featuring her touting her support for transgender athletes. The strategy was credited with helping him win the White House.
McBride, 34, is from Delaware. Her candidacy was backed by President Joe Biden. She is replacing Lisa Blunt Rochester, who was elected to the Senate.
McBride came out as transgender during college in 2012. She had worked as a campaign staffer for Beau Biden when he ran for Delaware attorney general. He supported her when she came out, as did Joe Biden, who was vice president at the time.
Joe Biden wrote the forward to McBride's 2018 memoir. His administration has tried to expand transgender rights in schools and federal health care programs but those proposals have faced legal challenges from conservatives.
As part of her response to Mace's proposal, McBride asked for kindness: 'Every day Americans go to work with people who have life journeys different than their own and engage with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster that same kindness.'
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace introduced the measure, which would ban transgender women from using biological women's restrooms at the U.S. Capitol
McBride, a longtime political activist, is part of series of transgender firsts.
In 2012, she was the first openly trans woman to intern at the White House; in 2016, she was the first to speak at the Democratic National Convention; and in 2020, she was the first to be elected to a State Senate.
Now she's been elected to Congress amid a growing culture war in the United States.
Mace is pushing for the measure to be included in the rules package for the 119th Congress, which would be approved on January 3rd when the new lawmakers take the oath of office.
If it's not part of the rules package, Mace will push for it to be brought to the floor and voted on as a stand-alone rule outside the package.
Republicans are considering passing the measure.
'We're going to talk about that. We're working on the issue,' Speaker Mike Johnson told Axios.
