WASHINGTON — Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., launched a decision Monday that will ban transgender girls from utilizing feminine loos within the Capitol simply weeks earlier than Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware is about to change into the primary out transgender member of Congress.
The measure would prohibit any lawmakers and House workers from “utilizing single-sex amenities apart from these similar to their organic intercourse.”
Asked by reporters whether or not her decision was meant to focus on a marginalized individual, Mace stated, “Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say on this.”
“This is a organic man attempting to drive himself into girls’s areas, and I’m not going to tolerate it,” she added.
McBride, who gained the race for Delaware’s lone House seat this month, slammed the measure Monday.
“This is a blatant try from far right-wing extremists to distract from the truth that they don’t have any actual options to what Americans are dealing with. We must be centered on bringing down the price of housing, well being care, and little one care, not manufacturing tradition wars,” she stated in an announcement.
“Every day Americans go to work with individuals who have life journeys completely different than their very own and have interaction with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster that very same kindness,” she stated on X.
Mace advised reporters that her decision is about “girls’s rights” and defending them in “non-public areas,” arguing that the “radical left” was attempting to erase these rights.
A spokesperson for McBride advised NBC News that Mace didn’t attain out earlier than she launched the measure and that McBride discovered about it within the media.
Mace’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The House sergeant-at-arms could be tasked with imposing the decision if it passes. The measure wouldn’t require passage by the Senate or a signature from the president.
Mace stated Monday that she plans to reintroduce the measure within the subsequent Congress, when Republicans will retain management of the House.
Republicans spent greater than $200 million on community tv adverts focusing on trans folks this yr, in line with knowledge shared with NBC News this month by AdImpact, a agency that tracks political advert spending.
The Republican Party platform this yr leaned closely into anti-trans rhetoric, calling for banning trans folks from competing in sports activities that align with their gender identities, proposing undoing Title IX protections for LGBTQ folks and calling for barring using taxpayer {dollars} for funding gender-affirming surgical procedure.
In the times following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, some Democrats blamed their celebration’s place on transgender rights as contributing to Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat.
Those Democratic lawmakers stated the celebration went too far and pandered to what they referred to as “the far left” whereas attempting to not offend anybody.
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, stated Monday that Mace was merciless and discriminating in opposition to her incoming colleague, calling the decision a “political charade by a grown-up bully.”
“It can also be one other warning signal that the incoming anti-equality House majority will proceed to concentrate on focusing on LGBTQ+ folks quite than the price of residing, worth gouging or any of the issues the American folks elected them to unravel,” spokesperson Laurel Powell stated in an announcement.