South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace fired off a brutal response to a reporter wondering why she does not want the first trans member of Congress to use women’s restrooms.
‘If being a feminist makes me an extremist I’m totally here for it,’ she sharply replied.
‘I’m a victim of abuse myself. I’m a rape survivor. I have PTSD from the abuse I’ve suffered at the hands of the man, and I know how vulnerable women and girls are in private spaces.’
‘So I’m absolutely, 100 percent gonna stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women’s restroom, in our locker rooms, [or] in our changing rooms,’ Mace went on.
The question was related to a measure proposed Monday by Mace that would mandate that trans individuals use bathrooms corresponding to their biological sex.
Her proposal targets trans congressional members and staff and comes just after the first ever openly trans candidate won a seat in Congress.
Delaware Democratic Representative-elect Sarah McBride, who announced they are transgender in 2012, is expected to be sworn in come January 2025.
McBride is the highest-ranking openly trans elected official in U.S. history.
Mace, a rape survivor who has PTSD resulting from her assault, told the reporter her proposal is directly related to McBride’s arrival on Capitol Hill, and that she believes her proposal will help protect women.
‘I’m not going to stand for a man, you know, someone with a penis, is in the women’s locker room,’ she said tersely. ‘That’s not okay.’
Mace’s sounding off comes just hours after rabble-rouser Marjorie Taylor Greene stirred up drama by repeatedly and purposefully calling McBride a ‘man.’
Speaking to reporters on the Capitol steps Monday evening the Georgia Republican gave a full-throated endorsement of Mace’s proposal.
‘He’s a man. He’s a biological male, so he is not allowed to use our women’s restrooms, our women’s gym, our locker rooms and our spaces that are that are specified for women,’ Green said.
‘He’s a biological male,’ she said again. ‘He has plenty of places he can go.’
Greene even shot down the idea of having gender-neutral bathrooms in Congress.
‘No,’ she said to the idea, adding ‘he can go in the men’s room and he has a bathroom in his office just like all of us do.’
‘I use the restroom most of the time in my office,’ Greene reasoned. ‘He has a bathroom that will be designated for him.’
Mace’s proposal prohibits House members and staffers from ‘using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.’
Greene even suggested expanding the trans bathroom measure to ‘all taxpayer funded facilities.’
Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday told the Republican conference at large that Mace’s proposal will be included in an upcoming legislative package.
Coming out of the private meeting Greene confirmed Johnson approves of the measure.
‘He said there’s not going to be any biological men using our restrooms,’ Greene said.
The proposal would require the sergeant at arms to enforce the measure.
Though how the sergeant of arms will go about checking and enforcing this proposal is unclear.
The trans bathroom debacle on Capitol Hill is just the latest aside to a larger cultural war being waged by Republicans on the normalization of transgender policies.
Donald Trump repeatedly spoke about ridding schools of ‘critical race theory and transgender insanity’ while campaigning for president.
He also vowed to crowds across the country to ‘keep men out of women’s sports.’
It was also reported that Greene told her colleagues in the private meeting that she would start a ‘physical confrontation’ should she encounter a biological male in the women’s restroom.
That means McBride will likely be forced to use the men’s bathrooms on Capitol Hill come January.
The vote on the package containing the trans bathroom measure is expected to happen later this week.
When pressed on whether McBride is a man or woman on Tuesday, Speaker Johnson demurred, saying ‘Um, look, I’m not gonna get into this.’