Washington — Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced legislation Monday to change House rules to prohibit transgender women from using women’s bathrooms and other facilities on Capitol Hill, a proposal that comes just before the House prepares to swear-in the first openly transgender member of Congress.
Mace’s two-page resolution would bar House members, officers and employees from using single-sex facilities in the Capitol or House office buildings that do not correspond with their biological sex. Her proposal claims that allowing biological males into women’s restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms “jeopardizes the safety and dignity” of female lawmakers, officers and Capitol Hill employees.
The House sergeant-at-arms would be tasked with enforcing the measure, if approved.
The South Carolina Republican’s legislation appears to target Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, who became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress when she won the race for the state’s only House seat two weeks ago.
McBride called Mace’s resolution a “blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing. We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars.”
“Every day Americans go to work with people who have life journeys different than their own and engage with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster that same kindness,” she wrote on social media.
But Mace attacked the “radical left” and claimed they are “trying to erase women.”
“Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say in this,” she said. “This is a biological man trying to force himself into women’s spaces, and I’m not going to tolerate.”