Nov. 19 (UPI) — Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has introduced a controversial bill to ban transgender individuals from using Capitol Hill bathrooms that align their gender identity.
The legislative move is targeted at Sarah McBride, a Democrat from Delaware who will be the first transgender member of Congress when she is sworn in this January.
The brief bill unveiled by Mace on Monday states: “A Member, Delegate, Resident, officer or employee of the House may not use a single-sex facility (including a restroom, changing room or locker room) in the Capitol or House Office Buildings, other than those corresponding to the biological sex of such individual.”
The prohibition is to be enforced by the Sergeant-at-Arms, according to the legislation.
“Biological men do not belong in private women’s spaces. Period. Full stop. End of story,” Mace said in a statement announcing the bill on X.
Although Mace argues that the ban is necessary, claiming allowing “biological males into single-sex facilities … jeopardizes the safety and dignity of Members, officers and employees of the House who are female,” studies have shown that there is empirical support for such bans. There is also no evidence that transgender people using bathrooms that match their gender identity increases safety risks.
Responding to accusations online that the bill was targeting McBride, Mace responded, “Yes and then some.”
“Also, Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say here,” she said. “I will always protect women and girls.”
When questioned by reporters on Capitol Hill about how the Sergeant-at-Arms would enforce the rule, Mace stated that “biological men shouldn’t be in women’s private spaces. End of story.”
“This is about real women and women’s rights and the far left radical left, they want to erase women and women’s rights.”
McBride responded to the bill by calling it “a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that 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 said on X. “Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on.”
