Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride Became the first openly trans person elected to the House this November, marking a historic milestone for the body. His arrival, however, is being met with targeted — and anti-trans — attacks by Republicans in Congress who deny the existence of trans people.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that she was banning trans women from women’s bathrooms at the Capitol, A proposal follows From Rep. Nancy Mays (R) of South Carolina to do just that.
“I want to make sure that no man is in women’s private space, and it doesn’t end there,” Mays told reporters Tuesday “Such things should be banned.”
Asked whether the move was in response to McBride’s arrival in Congress, Mace was clearNoting, “Yes and absolutely and then some.” Mays’ office did not immediately respond to requests for comment and Johnson’s office statement instructions He made it about his belief in treating everyone “with dignity”.
The new rules are the latest extension of an ugly attack on trans people by Republicans during the recent campaign cycle and over the past few years. Dozens of states have introduced anti-trans bills that restrict children’s access to gender-affirming care, restrict athletes from playing on sports teams that match the sex assigned at birth, and bar trans women from using women’s bathrooms. All of these principles underlie — and advance — the rejection of the idea that trans women are women.
As Vox’s Aja Romano explains, Republicans have used their focus on the issue to rally their base against a “common enemy,” framing trans people as threats, including the safety of other women in bathrooms. A 2018 UCLA study At issue was no evidence that trans people using bathrooms that match their gender identity increased safety risks, but that data didn’t change GOP rhetoric. Instead, the GOP has invested in anti-trans attacks and channeled more harm to trans people, who already are Unequal issues of violence And those already Experience high rates of self-harm.
Now, the pushback from House Republicans highlights how central such ideas have become to the GOP agenda — and how open they are to singling out a colleague to prove a point.
Capitol Hill’s new, anti-trans bathroom policy, briefly explained
Because the Speaker of Parliament Broad jurisdiction over facilities In the House, Johnson has had significant say in imposing rules such as new bathroom regulations.
He informed this information in a press release on Wednesday“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House office buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” Johnson said. In practice, this means trans women are not able to use women’s bathrooms.
Johnson noted that every member of Congress has a bathroom in their office, and that the Capitol also has unisex bathrooms that could theoretically serve as an alternative. “Women deserve the only place women can,” she said in a statement.
Besides discriminating against McBride, the rule creates serious practical obstacles: The Capitol complex is a huge building, and lawmakers often rush from the main chamber to committee meetings to other events. By denying McBride access to the women’s room, the policy effectively tells her to return to her office, which is located in a separate building, to use the men’s restroom or find a unisex bathroom.
Limiting a member’s access to the bathroom makes their job harder and more inconvenient.
Hill’s new bathroom rules are part of a wider range Republican anti-trans attacks
McBride responded to Mace’s initial proposal In a post on Tuesday X, It was “a callous attempt by far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”
“We should be focusing on reducing housing, health care and childcare costs, not producing culture wars,” he added. In a post Wednesday, McBride reiterated that message and said he would abide by Johnson’s rule, saying he saw the entire fight as a distraction from other policy concerns.
Republicans have made anti-trans policies equally focused on the economic concerns McBride highlighted. During the 2024 campaign, President-elect Donald Trump has invested billions in advertising Criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris’ past support for funding gender-affirming care for incarcerated individuals. And it wasn’t just Trump: Republicans and their allies spent the least $215 million in anti-trans ads last cycle Those who have ads are displayed Some resonate with swing votersAnd the GOP seems bolder now when it comes to going after trans people.
Ahead of the election, as Vox’s Nicole Naria and Fabiola Sines wrote, there was an explosion of anti-trans bills in state legislatures in 2023, At least 19 states approve such laws. As Naria and Sinius explain, these bills were fueled in part by right-wing evangelical members of the Republican base (and lawmakers trying to pander to that faction). But recent actions — from election ads to Johnson’s new rules — show efforts to mainstream anti-trans policies.
Overall, the Republicans’ actions indicate that they plan to redouble their war on trans-culture in the coming years.
