The Transgender War

Susan Estrich on Nov 23, 2024

She has yet to even be sworn in. But the hateful Republican women in the House of Representatives have already declared war on the first openly transgender woman to be elected to Congress, Sarah McBride. She is my new hero.

Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who The New York Times describes as "one of the more attention-seeking members of the House," announced this week that she was introducing a resolution that would ban McBride -- and any other transgender women employed or visiting the Capitol -- from using the ladies' rooms in the House. She didn't even pretend that she wasn't targeting the newly elected congresswoman.

"Sarah McBride doesn't get a say," she told reporters on Monday night. "I mean, this is a biological man." She said that McBride "does not belong in women's spaces, women's bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms -- period, full stop."

Mace's mean move quickly gained the support of other hateful Republican women attention seekers. "He's a man," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told reporters on Monday night. "He's a biological male. So he is not allowed to use our women's restrooms, our women's gym, our locker rooms. He's a biological male. He has plenty of places he can go."

Greene said she was "fed up with the left shoving their sick trans ideology down our throats and invading our spaces and women's sports."

Mike Johnson, the House speaker, initially tried to duck the issue. On Tuesday, he told reporters "I'm not going to engage in silly debates about this. ... There's a concern about uses of restroom facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before. We're going to do that in a deliberate fashion with member consensus on it, and we will accommodate the needs of every single person."

Later the same day, he convened reporters just off the House floor, supposedly to clarify his remarks. "A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman," Johnson said. "That said, I also believe that we treat everyone with dignity. We can do and believe all of those things at the same time."

Actually, he couldn't. So much for dignity. By the next day, Johnson had signed on to Mace's hateful resolution. Profiles in cowardice. Johnson on Wednesday said single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House office buildings would be available only to those of that biological sex. "Women deserve women's only spaces," Johnson said in a statement, unequivocally backing Mace's resolution.

Democrats denounced the move.

Said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Democrat of New Mexico, "For my female colleagues to go publicly after another colleague, and openly attack her, I find disgusting, disgraceful, irresponsible and anti-democratic. Why are you here in this institution?"

Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, said Tuesday that the proposal was "mean" and "cruel."

But effective? Donald Trump closed his campaign with an ad attacking Kamala Harris for enforcing a law, which he also enforced, providing gender-affirming care for prisoners, complete with the tagline that Kamala Harris is for "they/them," Donald Trump is for "you." Many believe it helped him clinch the election. Republicans clearly believe that.

For her part, McBride has refused to take the bait. On Wednesday, McBride said she would "follow the rules" laid out by Johnson, "even if I disagree with them." She said she was "not here to fight about bathrooms" and called the controversy an "effort to distract from the real issues facing this country."

Transgender Americans are right to be afraid. These people are not afraid to put down a duly elected member of Congress. Where does that leave others?

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