House Republican introduces measure to ban transgender women from women’s bathrooms in Capitol

WASHINGTON – Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C., introduced a resolution Monday that would ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms in the Capitol just weeks before elected Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware is set to stay the first transgender member of Congress.

The measure would prohibit any legislators and house staff from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”

Asked by reporters if her decision was intended to target a marginalized person, Mace said: “Sarah McBride has no say in this.”

“This is a biological man trying to force himself into women’s spaces and I will not tolerate that,” she added.

McBride, who won the race for Delaware’s lone House seat this month, struck Monday.

“This is a blatant attempt by far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing. We should be focused on reducing the cost of housing, health care and child care, not on manufacturing culture wars,” she said in a statement.

“Every day Americans go to work with people who have different life journeys than their own and engage with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster the same kindness.” she said on X.

Mace told reporters that her decision is about “women’s rights” and protecting them in “private spaces”, arguing that the “radical left” was trying to erase those rights.

A spokesperson for McBride told NBC News that Mace did not reach out before she introduced the measure and that McBride found out about it in the media.

Mace’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The House sergeant-at-arms would be tasked with enforcing the resolution if passed. The measure would not require Senate review or a presidential signature.

Mace said Monday that she plans to reintroduce the measure in the next Congress, when Republicans will retain control of the House.

Republicans spent more than $200 million on network TV ads targeting transgender people this year, according to data shared with NBC News this month by AdImpact, a firm that tracks political ad spending.

The Republican Party’s platform this year leaned heavily on anti-trans rhetoric, calling for banning transgender people from competing in sports that align with their gender identities, proposing to undo Title IX protections for LGBTQ people, and calling for exclude the use of taxpayer dollars to finance gender. -confirmatory surgery.

In the days following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, some Democrats blamed it their party’s stance on transgender rights as contributing to the defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Those Democratic lawmakers said the party went too far, pandering to what they called “the far left” while trying not to offend anyone.

The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said Monday that Mace was cruel and discriminatory against her future colleague, calling the resolution a “political rant by a grown bully.”

“It’s also another warning sign that the incoming House majority will continue to focus on targeting LGBTQ+ people rather than cost of living, price gouging or any of the issues the American people elected them to address,” spokeswoman Laurel Powell said. in a statement.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com