Mace says effort to ban transgender women from Capitol women’s restrooms aimed at McBride

Isabella Murray, John Parkinson, and Lauren Peller, ABC News

November 19, 2024

Rep. Nancy Mace; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) -- Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said Tuesday that the bill she introduced to ban transgender women from using biological women's restrooms at the U.S. Capitol was "absolutely" in response to Rep.-elect Sarah McBride's entering Congress.

"Yes, and absolutely. And then some," Mace told reporters at the Capitol.

"I'm not going to stand for a man, you know, someone with a penis, in the women's locker room," she said.

McBride, a Democrat from Delaware, didn't respond to questions on the topic as she entered the House Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday morning.

Monday night, she responded to Mace in a post on X, saying, "This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing."

Outside the Republican conference meeting, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called McBride a "biological man" and said she had confronted House Speaker Mike Johnson at during the House Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning about what "men in leadership" would do to address their concerns.

"You know, Sarah McBride, as he calls himself, formerly Tim McBride, is a biological man, and he should not be using any of our restrooms in the Capitols, in the in our office buildings. But Nancy Mace's resolution doesn't go far enough," Greene said.

"A resolution is just a statement by Congress saying that Congress disagrees with something we need, something more binding. 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," Greene added.

Mace invoked her own experiences as a victim of rape as part of the reason she introduced the measure.

"That's not okay. And I'm a victim of abuse myself. I'm a rape survivor," Mace said. "I have PTSD from the abuse I've suffered at the hands of a man, and I know how vulnerable women and girls are in private spaces, so I'm absolutely 100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women's restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms. I will be there fighting you every step of the way," she said.

Mace told ABC's John Parkinson that she wanted to expand her efforts and push a measure that would ban transgender women from using biological women's bathrooms on all federal property.

"Number one, I want to see this in the House Rules package. I want to make sure that no men are in women's private spaces. And it's not going to end here. This shouldn't be going on any federal property. If you're a school or an institution that gets government funding, this kind of thing should be banned. I think it's sick. It's twisted," Mace said.

Mace said that her position was a feminist one.

"I have fought like hell for women's rights. I mean, 25 years ago, this year, I became the first woman to break the glass ceiling and graduate from a military college that was formerly all male, and to see the way that I've been attacked today and last night for fighting to protect women and girls -- it's ridiculous. So, if that -- being a feminist makes me an extremist, I'm totally here for it," she said.

"And if McBride wants to go to the gym, she can go to Planet Fitness, where they allow biological men to be around in a room in a private space with underage girls like no thank you. It's not going to happen, not on my watch," Mace said.

During his weekly news conference Tuesday morning, Johnson declined to speak about McBride’s gender when asked by a reporter whether she is a man or woman. Johnson also would not say if he’d support Mace’s proposal to ban transgender women from women bathrooms in the Capitol.

Asked whether McBride is a man or a woman, he responded, "Look, I'm not going to get into this. We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people. I believe it's a it's a command we treat all persons with dignity and respect. We will. And I'm not going to engage in silly debates about this. There's a concern about uses of restroom facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before. We're going to do that in deliberate fashion with every consensus on it, and we will accommodate the needs of every single person."

Then asked whether he would respond to Mace's measure, he answered, "I'm not going to address plans on any of that. I just told you what I'm going to say about the issue. I'm not going to engage in this. We don't look down upon anyone. We treat everybody. That's a principle that would have pursued my whole life issue, a first impression for Congress, as we will any other thing. We'll provide appropriate accommodation for every member of Congress."