Rep. Nancy Mace confronted by trans activist after anti-trans bathroom rhetoric

On By Littum

A prominent digital rights activist who is transgender confronted Rep. Nancy Mace at a public event Thursday, days after the South Carolina congresswoman introduced a resolution to ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms in the US Capitol.

Evan Greer, the director of Fight for the Future, stood up during the kickoff panel at “The Summit of the Future of the Internet” at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and displayed an LGBTQ pride flag. Mace spoke with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna and radio host Charlamagne tha God on the topic of “Bipartisan Tech Solutions to Unite a Nation.”

“We’ve had dozens of trans people die this year because of the hate and lies that you guys are spreading,” Greer said to applause from the audience as she was escorted out of the room. “Are we building an Internet with freedom of speech for all or just the privileged few?”

Mace responded by misgendering Greer and making a comment about her genitalia, which the audience booed. A representative for Mace and Project Liberty, the organization that hosted the summit and invited Greer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Greer’s organization is known for its viral protest efforts against internet censorship and surveillance and in support of net neutrality.

Videos of Greer at the event have been viewed more than 1 million times on X, with conservative influencers and Mace continuing to insult and insult Greer.

In an interview with NBC News, Greer said Project Liberty has yet to reach out to her or make any statements about the panel, her protest or Mace’s remarks. While Greer said she had hoped that other people, including cisgender people (who identify with their assigned gender at birth), would have joined her in opposing Mace’s presence on the panel, she said: “To finally I was there in the room and I just couldn’t sit still.”

“My goal is to call the progressive technology policy community and ask ourselves, what is our strategy going into the next four years?” Greer said. “Should we try to get people whose goals are diametrically opposed to human rights, or should we draw some lines in the sand and build a meaningful strategy of collective resistance to the role that technology will play in the execution of human rights violations?”

Greer said, “I’m not trying to convince her of anything, but really my goal was to spark a conversation in the technology policy space, to ask ourselves, ‘What are we really fighting for?’

After joining in 2021, Mace originally said she was pro-LGBTQ rights. But in recent days, she has made headlines and increased engagement on social media by leading an anti-transgender campaign against the only trans member of Congress, Sarah McBride, one who has received the support of House of Representatives Mike Johnson.

McBride, whom Mace has repeatedly misgendered, said in a statement that she would follow the new bathroom rules as outlined by Johnson, even though she disagrees with them. In her congressional office, McBride will have a private bathroom, while all other public bathrooms in the Capitol will be off-limits to transgender people.