The proposal must have the support of Republicans in the House of Representatives. Democrats say the measure is “bullying”, the author of the proposal calls the transgender congresswoman a “man.”
The culture wars have already invaded the interior of the Capitol. After the elections that took place in November in the United States led to the election of the first openly transgender congresswoman, Sarah McBride, a Republican representative announced that she will vote on a proposal to prevent her from entering women’s bathrooms in the Congress building. And it must have the support of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
As The New York Times reports, it was also during orientation week for new members of Congress — days when newly elected representatives learn how to introduce a bill or receive cybersecurity training — that Republican Nancy Mace of Carolina of the South, announced that he plans to introduce a proposal that would prevent transgender women from using women’s bathrooms and locker rooms on Capitol grounds.
And he spoke specifically about the case of Democrat Sarah McBride, telling reporters that she “doesn’t have a word to say” and that he considers her “biologically a man,” which is why, in his opinion, McBride “has no place in the spaces.” for women, bathrooms, locker rooms, locker rooms, period.”
“I will, with 100% certainty, put myself in the path of any man who wants to be in a women’s bathroom,” he said.
Firsts in the US: the first transgender woman in Congress, the first Korean senator and the first two black women together in the Senate
Initially, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, told reporters that he would refuse to get into “silly debates” on the issue, in response to a question about whether he considers McBride a man or a woman. women. And he said that there is a “concern” about the use of these spaces; a new concern, since it is an issue that “Congress has never had to address before,” and which guaranteed that it would be considered “accommodating the needs of all people.”
A few hours later, Johnson expressed his support for the proposal, as the Associated Press reported here. “We are not going to have men in women’s bathrooms,” he stated, guaranteeing to have a “consistent” position on the matter. Some Democrats have already reacted to the proposal, calling it a form of “bullying.”
Target Democrat McBride argued that this is a “blatant attempt by right-wing extremists to distract us from the fact that they have no real solutions for Americans”: “We should focus on lowering housing prices, health care and child care and not manufacturing cultural wars.”
This is a blatant attempt by far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans face. We should focus on reducing the cost of housing, health care and child care, not manufacturing culture wars.
Delawareans…
—Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) November 19, 2024
When she was elected, after a campaign in which she managed to raise more than three million dollars and after being in 2016 the first openly transgender person to participate in a convention of one of the largest American parties, McBride said that her election showed that In his state (Delaware) candidates are judged “based on their ideas and not their identities.”
Outside the walls of the Capitol, the Republican Party has presented several proposals in this regard. At the federal legislative level, there are several states where the party has proposed laws to prevent people who do not identify with the sex they were identified as at birth from using another bathroom. Additionally, at least eleven states have adopted proposals to prevent transgender girls and women from entering girls’ bathrooms in public schools.
Source: Observadora
