Nancy Mace, Sarah McBride: Republicans introduce anti-transgender bathroom resolution at Capitol after first transgender woman elected to Congress

CNN
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A House Republican is pushing to ban transgender women from women’s restrooms in the US Capitol, two weeks after history was made with the election of America’s first transgender person to Congress.

South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace introduced a resolution Monday to change the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives less than two months before Democrat-elect Sarah McBride, a Delaware state senator, is sworn in in January.

“Sarah McBride doesn’t get to say anything. I mean, this is a biological male,” the South Carolina Republican told reporters Monday, adding that the lawmaker “doesn’t belong in the women’s room, the women’s bathroom, the locker room, the locker room, period, period.”

Later Monday, McBride wrote in an apparent response on X that “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.”

The congresswoman-elect continued in another post: “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 focus on reducing the cost of housing, health care and childcare, not on manufacturing culture wars,” she continued. “Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible, and that’s what I’m focused on.”

Pressed by reporters earlier in the evening about whether she was going after a marginalized person, Mace told CNN: “This is a biological man trying to force himself into women’s space, and I will not tolerate that.”

She continued, “I’m the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. If a guy in a skirt came by and said, ‘No, that’s my accomplishment.’ I’m going to be there and stand in the way and say, ‘Hell no.’ I’m not going to allow men to erase women or women’s rights.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 and her party’s efforts to retain female voters, Mace — the first woman to graduate from the Citadel’s Corps of Cadets — has often said she is looking for ways to show the GOP is “pro-women.”

McBride didn’t lean on the historic nature of her campaign during her run in the reliably blue state to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester — who went on a successful Senate run. She emphasized her work that led to a bipartisan push to pass paid family and medical leave in the state and touted the support of unions and her work to raise the state’s minimum wage. But on the trail, she alluded to a broader theme of respect — specifically, that everyone deserves a member of Congress who respects them and their families.

Sarah McBride elected first transgender person in Congress

Similar bans on transgender people using bathrooms associated with their gender identities, particularly in schools, have sparked controversy in recent years — with supporters arguing the measures protect students, while critics say they are dehumanizing and unnecessary.

In 2023, Republican-led legislatures in several states passed bills to ban transgender students from using locker rooms and bathrooms associated with their gender identities in what the Human Rights Campaign — the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the United States — called the biggest “bathroom” year. bills.” The Ohio Senate last week greenlit its own measure, which now awaits a signature from the state’s Republican governor.

CNN’s Arit John, Jack Forrest and Karina Tsui contributed to this report.