Rep. Nancy Mace’s attitude towards the LGBTQ community seems to have changed

Rep. Nancy Mace has recently made headlines and faced protests for her rhetoric surrounding the transgender community, particularly her efforts to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms in the US Capitol, just as the first transgender representative has been elected to Congress.

This month, Mace, RS.C., used a slur against the transgender community in a video on social media. She used the term in reference to protesters demonstrating in the halls of Congress against the ban on trans bathrooms.

Now Mace is back in the headlines for accusing foster carer advocate James McIntyre of assault. According to court documents obtained by ABC News, McIntyre allegedly approached Mace to shake her hand after she spoke at an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of legislation benefiting foster youth.

Mace claimed to officials that “the subject began to aggressively and in an exaggerated manner shake her arm up and down in a hand-shaking motion. The effect of the motion was described as her arm fluttering for about 3-5 seconds.”

McIntryre is said to have stated “trans youth deserve advocacy” during the interaction. Mace told police she had pain in her wrists, arms and armpits from the incident, but refused help from paramedics. McIntyre was arrested and has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting a public servant.

In a post on X after the incident, Mace called McIntyre “a pro-tr*ns man.”

Mace’s latest remarks appear to be a shift from her comments in years past, where she had referred to herself as “pro-transgender” and “pro-LGBTQ.”

ABC News has reached out to Mace’s office for comment.

Before the legislation to ban transgender women from Capitol bathrooms, Mace supported the “Fairness for All Act,” expressed support for socially-adjusted youth and faced backlash for what critics called her pro-transgender support.

2021: Mace says she supports ‘LGBTQ rights and equality’

In an interview with Washington examiner in 2021, Mace told a reporter, “I strongly support LGBTQ rights and equality … no one should be discriminated against.”

In the interview, she discussed her opposition to the Equality Act, which would expand federal civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. She instead supported the “Fairness for All Act,” which aimed to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but to allow certain exceptions for religious organizations.

According to the magazine, Mace agreed that, for example, secular businesses should not be able to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity — but that religious organizations need not “violate their moral or religious conscience,” the magazine wrote.

“It’s not a black-and-white issue,” Mace said in the interview. “I believe that religious freedom, the First Amendment, gay rights, and transgender equality can all coexist. I’m also a constitutional scholar, and we need to make sure that anti-discrimination laws don’t infringe on First Amendment rights or religious freedom.”

She told the outlet that she has “friends and family who identify as LGBTQ … It’s important to understand how they feel and how they’ve been treated. Being around gay, lesbian and transgender people has given my meaning through my life.”

At the time, she said younger conservatives were becoming more supportive of LGBTQ rights: “People don’t want the government in their bedrooms or their boardrooms.”

2022: Mace faces attack ads for his views

In the 2022 primary race, Mace was the subject of political attack ads from the conservative American Principles PAC targeting her for her pro-transgender support.

The ad claimed that Mace supported “men in girls’ locker rooms, men in women’s prisons and even men in battered women’s shelters,” referring to transgender women as men.

2023: Mace appears to support social transition for minors

In an interview from 2023 with CBS News, Mace said, “I’m pro-transgender rights. I’m pro-LGBTQ. Just don’t go to extremes with our kids.”

She spoke about her support for banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth, stating that “sex reassignment surgeries, hormone blockers that sterilize our children. We shouldn’t be doing that.” Medical experts have said that puberty blockers are reversible and do not permanently sterilize patients.

However, Mace appeared to express support for young people who are transitioning: “If they want to take on a different pronoun or a different gender identity or grow their hair out or wear a dress or wear trousers or do these things as minors — those are all things that I think most people would support. Be who you want to be, but don’t make permanent changes as a child,” Mace said.

2024: Mace institutes bathroom ban due to rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment

In November, Mace introduced a measure to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms in the US Capitol, targeting newly elected Sarah McBride, the first transgender person elected to Congress.

“Yes, and absolutely. And then some,” Mace told reporters at the Capitol when asked if the legislation was a response to McBride’s election.

“I don’t want to stand for a man, you know, someone with a penis, in the women’s locker room,” she said.

Mace cited her own experiences as a rape victim as part of the reason she introduced the measure.

“It’s not okay. And I’m a victim of abuse myself. I’m a rape survivor,” Mace said. “I have PTSD from the abuse I suffered at the hands of a man and I know how vulnerable women and girls are in private spaces so I will absolutely 100% stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women’s room, in our locker room, in our locker room, I will be there fighting you every step of the way, she said.

McBride responded to the bill on X: “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.”

After House Speaker Mike Johnson said transgender women cannot use women’s restrooms in the Capitol and House office buildings, McBride responded to imposed rules: “I’m not here to fight for bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to reduce costs to families, like all members, I will follow the rules outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them.”

Each representative’s office has a private restroom, and unisex restrooms are also available throughout the Capitol.

Opponents of the ban say the narrative surrounding “fear” and “personal safety” surrounding transgender bathroom use is rooted in discrimination. They argue that transgender people are not inherently dangerous and are actually more likely to be victims of violence than cisgender people.

Mace said she wanted to expand her efforts and push a measure that would ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms on all federal property: “This should not be happening on any federal property. If you’re a school or an institution that gets government funding, that kind of thing should be banned,” she said.

Transgender people — who make up less than 1% of Americans over the age of 13, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute research organization — have been the subject of hundreds of Republican-backed bills across the country in recent years.

When protesters entered the Capitol to protest efforts to restrict the use of transgender bathrooms in early December, Mace responded with a video on X in which she called protesters a derogatory remark to transgender people.