Republican lawmakers are attacking new Congress member Sarah McBride and her right to use the bathroom. She isn't taking the bait

Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, elected this month as the first openly transgender member of Congress, called U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s attempts to keep her out of women’s facilities at the U.S. Capitol a distraction.

Mace, R-S.C., introduced a bill Monday prohibiting lawmakers, officers, and House employees from using “single-sex facilities” like restrooms and gym locker rooms “other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”

Mace, 46, hasn’t shied away from the fact that the bill takes direct aim at McBride, 34, a Democrat. When a reporter asked directly if Mace introduced the bill because McBride is coming to Congress, she responded, “That and more.” Mace misgendered McBride and said the incoming lawmaker “doesn’t get a say” and “does not belong in women’s spaces.”

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., also repeatedly misgendered McBride when discussing the bill with a reporter and insisted she is not a woman and should not be able to use women’s spaces. She said transgender women should be banned from using the women’s bathroom in any government-funded facility.

But McBride isn’t taking the bait.

In a post on X, McBride said that Americans work with people “who have life journeys different than their own and engage with them respectfully” every day, and that she hopes fellow lawmakers “can muster that same kindness.”

“This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,” McBride added. “We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars. Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on.”

In June, as President-elect Donald Trump was campaigning on an anti-transgender rights platform, McBride said “the MAGA movement’s obsession with trans people” is part of a “manufactured culture war” and a distraction from problems Trump doesn’t have solutions to.

“Once you respect someone as a really, really hardworking legislator, it’s hard not to then see them as a person; it’s hard not to see other people like them as people,” McBride said in the interview.

Trump and his surrogates made attacks against transgender people central to their campaign, even as Trump publicly acknowledged the issue was not a priority for his supporters.

Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican commentator, said on CNN that Mace could be putting forth this bill, in part, to prove her allegiance to Trump and his allies’ ideology.

“She’s run afoul of Republicans in the past for anti-Trump stances,” Soltis said of Mace. “She’s had quite a journey on that front, and so it wouldn’t surprise me if this is part of saying, like, ‘Look at me, I’m a true conservative, I’m taking this action.’”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday morning after the House Republicans’ weekly conference meeting that the House is going to find a resolution, and that he will build “consensus” around Mace’s effort, The Washington Post reported.

Johnson said House Republicans welcome “all members with open arms,” and that the House will “accommodate the needs of every single person,” the report said.

“I believe it’s a command we treat all persons with dignity and respect,” he said. “I’m not going to engage in silly debates about this.”

But in clarifying remarks published by The Post, Johnson seemed to invalidate McBride’s gender identity while still emphasizing the need for respect.

“Let me be unequivocally clear: A man is a man, and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman,” Johnson said. “But I also believe that we treat everybody with dignity, and so we can do and believe all those things at the same time.”

Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said in response to Johnson’s remarks that while he claims he’ll treat every lawmaker with dignity, “actions speak louder than words” through spokesperson Delphine Luneau.

“The voters of Delaware sent Sarah McBride to represent them in Congress, and the House has an obligation and duty to treat her with humanity and decency,” Luneau said. “The proposed House rule that targets her and other trans officers and staff members must be rejected, and the nation’s lawmakers need to focus on doing their jobs to deliver results for the voters they represent.”

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Ma., said that it wasn’t a “great start” for the new Republican House majority to focus on “where one member out of 435″ is going to use the restroom, the Post reported.

McBride’s team said that her response to Johnson’s remarks remains the same as her post on social media in response to the bill.

Mace said she spoke with Johnson about the bill on Monday and that he would consider incorporating it into the House rules for next session. If he doesn’t, she plans to file a privileged resolution next year that would force a vote within 48 hours of its new introduction, the Post reported.

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