Republican’s effort to block first transgender House member from using women’s bathrooms brings campaign issue to the Capitol

On one side of the Capitol, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace vowed to “stand in the way” of Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, the first out transgender woman elected to Congress, using women’s bathrooms in the US Capitol.

On one side of the Capitol, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace vowed to “stand in the way” of Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, the first out transgender woman elected to Congress, using women’s bathrooms in the US Capitol. Across the building, McBride was privately counseling her Democratic colleagues how to balance both pushing back on dehumanizing rhetoric while also staying on message. McBride, who came up through the Delaware legislature, assured Democrats that she has faced similar attacks before and was not going to let this define her. “This is not her first rodeo,” Democratic Rep. Becca Balint said of McBride. “I’m so impressed by the way Rep. McBride is really helping us navigate this. Because she said, ‘If we let them, this entire Congress, all we’ll talk about is bathrooms.’” Transgender rights, and how politicians talk about them, became a divisive issue that President-elect Donald Trump emphasized at the close of the presidential campaign, and Republican lawmakers are picking up the baton to carry the culture war forward on Capitol Hill. The GOP effort has also resurfaced frustrations among Democrats who believe the party failed to forcefully respond to the anti-transgender attacks from Republicans during the campaign. Mace, of South Carolina, introduced a resolution Monday to amend the rules of the US House of Representatives to ban transgender women from women’s restrooms at the Capitol and filed broader legislation that would apply to every federal building and federally funded school. GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia took the rhetoric further, threatening violence against McBride if she entered a women’s bathroom and calling the congresswoman-elect “mentally ill.” On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he is banning transgender women from using the women’s restrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms in the Capitol but did not outline a plan to enforce it.