By Hannah Parry
Associate News Editor
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is leading Democratic members of Congress in condemnation of proposal by House GOP members to ban trans lawmakers from using the bathrooms of their choice. South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace filed the resolution after Sarah McBride was elected to become the first openly transgender woman to serve in Congress, this month. Ocasio-Cortez called the proposal "just plain bullying," while Rep. Becca Balint said, "The cruelty is the point." Rep. Joe Morelle added that McBride "is a woman. She should use the ladies room." McBride member-elect for Delaware's at-large congressional district has urged "kindness" from her fellow House members. However, several House Republicans have expressed support for Mace's measure; Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said she backed Mace's proposal and referred to McBride as "a man" and "he" several times in a video posted to X.
Newsweek's Live Blog is closed.
Nov 19, 2024 at 08:07 PM EST
Will Mace’s bathroom bill pass?
...
The proposal to limit who can use the bathrooms in Congress would only require a simple House majority to pass.
It would not have to be approved by the Senate or the president.
However, the GOP barely held onto the House in the last election, leaving it with a very thin majority.
With some Republicans already indicating they are not interested in the bill, it is unlikely to get through the House.
However, Mace has said that she will find another way to force it through, including a privilege motion, or she will lobby for it to be added to the House rules package.
Nov 19, 2024 at 08:00 PM EST
Some House GOP urge members not to get distracted by bathroom bill
Not every House Republican agreed with Rep. Mace or Rep. Taylor Greene.
Some have pushed back, telling their fellow members to not get distracted by the "bathroom debate," but to focus on policy issues instead.
"I'm not getting involved in a bathroom debate. It's not what I came to Congress for," Rep. Tom Cole, told NPR. "We ought to be doing disaster relief and appropriations bills."
Nov 19, 2024 at 07:57 PM EST
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says Mace’s proposal ‘doesn’t go far enough’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene praised Rep. Mace's proposal today but said "it doesn't go far enough."
"A resolution is just a statement by Congress saying that Congress disagrees with something we need, something more binding," she said outside the Republican conference meeting, Tuesday.
"And that's what I just brought up at the microphones there, in our conference, I directly asked Speaker Johnson what the men in our leadership are going to do about this, because this this has to be stopped."
Nov 19, 2024 at 07:50 PM EST
Rep. Mace doubles down and pledges to file trans bathroom bans in every state
...
Rep. Nancy Mace has said she plans to introduce even more legislation to ban transgender people from using their bathroom of choice "in every state of the nation."
Mace told Fox News' Laura Ingraham that she was "doubling down" after receiving backlash over her proposal to prevent trans Congressmembers from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity after Sarah McBride was elected as the first openly trans representative.
Republican Congresswoman Mace said she's received death threats over the anti-trans bill.
"They are threatening to kill me now because I, as a woman, am standing up to protect other women from men being in our private spaces," she said on Fox.
"I will not be bullied into silence. I'm going to double down on this.
"I'm going to file even more legislation to protect women, beyond the Capitol, in every state in the nation.
"I will push back harder than ever before."
Nov 19, 2024 at 07:37 PM EST
Rep. Nancy Mace: ‘If being a feminist makes me an extremist, I’m totally here for it’
Rep. Nancy Mace has said that she is comfortable being labeled an "extremist" over her proposal to ban transgender members of Congress from using the bathroom of their choice.
In an interview from Capitol Hill, Mace told reporters: "If being a feminist makes me an extremist, I'm totally here for it."
Mace said that as a rape survivor, she knows "how vulnerable women and and girls are in private spaces."
"I'm not going to stand for a man, someone with a penis, in the women's locker room, that's not okay," she added.
"I'm absolutely,100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a woman's restroom."
Nov 19, 2024 at 07:21 PM EST
Sarah McBride accused GOP of ‘manufacturing culture wars’ over House bathroom ban bill
Sarah McBride has accused Republican House members of using their trans bathroom ban bill to distract from "the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing."
McBride, who was elected to become the first openly transgender woman to serve in Congress, this month, urged "kindness" from her fellow House members after South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace filed the resolution to ban trans lawmakers from using the bathrooms of their choice.
The member-elect for Delaware's at-large congressional district added that Mace and those that supported her, were simply "manufacturing culture wars" to distract from their lack of policy.
"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," she said on X.
"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."
Nov 19, 2024 at 07:12 PM EST
Who is Sarah McBride?
...
Sarah McBride is the member-elect for Delaware's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
She previously served as a Democratic state senator in Delaware since November 2020. She is the highest-ranking transgender elected official in United States history and the first openly transgender member of the United States Congress.
But even before her career in professional politics, McBride was a trailblazer. The year before she graduated, she became the first trans woman to intern at the White House, and in 2016, she was the first trans person to speak at the Democratic National Convention. The Wilmington native publicly came out as a transgender woman at 21 through her university's student newspaper and a viral Facebook post.
Read in full from Martha McHardy on Newsweek.
Nov 19, 2024 at 07:08 PM EST
Mike Johnson on first trans congresswoman: ‘A man cannot become a woman’
...
House Speaker Mike Johnson weighed in Tuesday on incoming Congresswoman Sarah McBride's gender identity, saying that "a man is a man, and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman."
Johnson made the statement after initially dodging a question from a reporter who asked him whether McBride, who is transgender, is a man or a woman.
"Look, I'm not going to get into this," Johnson said earlier in response to the reporter's question. "We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people."
He added: "I believe it's a command that we treat all persons with dignity and respect, and we will, and I'm not going to engage in silly debates about this. There's a concern about the uses of restroom facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before and we're going to do that in deliberate fashion with a member consensus on it; and we will accommodate the needs of every single person. That's all I'm going to say about that."
Read in full from Sonam Sheith on Newsweek.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines