Republican introduces anti-transgender bathroom resolution at Capitol after first transgender woman elected to Congress

By Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju and Haley Talbot, CNN

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

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace on Monday introduced a resolution to amend the rules of the US House of Representatives less than two months before Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, a Delaware state senator, is sworn-in in January.

“Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say. I mean, this is a biological man,” the South Carolina Republican told reporters on Monday, adding that the lawmaker “does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop.”

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

The congresswoman-elect continued in another post: “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.”

“We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not 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.”

Mace, pressed by reporters earlier in the evening on whether she was going after a marginalized person, told CNN, “This is a biological man trying to force himself into women’s spaces, and I’m not going to tolerate it.”

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

On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he is working to “provide accommodations for every member of Congress.” He refused to acknowledge specifics of the GOP’s plans and said, “This is an issue Congress has never addressed before.”

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

McBride, 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 — didn’t lean on the historic nature of her campaign. She emphasized her work leading a bipartisan push to pass paid family and medical leave in the state and touted support from unions and her work to raise the state minimum wage. But on the trail, she did allude to a broader theme of respect — specifically, that everyone deserves a member of Congress that respects them and their families.

Similar bans targeting trans people using bathrooms associated with their gender identities, particularly in schools, have sparked controversy in recent years – with supporters arguing that the measures protect students while critics say that 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 US – called the biggest year for “bathroom bills.” The Ohio Senate last week greenlit its own measure, which now awaits a signature from the state’s Republican governor.

This story has been updated with additional reaction.

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

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