Ms McBride is the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. WASHINGTON – When Democratic representative-elect Sarah McBride won her race for the House in November, becoming the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, she knew she would face attacks from hard-right Republicans over her identity. She just didn’t expect they would start before she had even been sworn in.
In Washington this week for new member orientation, Ms McBride was still sitting through mandatory cybersecurity trainings, setting up her payroll, selecting district offices and learning how to introduce a Bill when her new Republican colleague, Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, announced plans to introduce a measure to bar transgender women from using women’s restrooms and changing rooms in the Capitol complex. Ms Mace did not try to pretend that she was doing anything other than targeting one individual with her resolution, even though it would apply to all employees and officers of the House. “Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say,” she told reporters on Nov 18 night.
“I mean, this is a biological man.” She said that Ms McBride “does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms – period, full stop.” The move by Ms Mace, one of the more attention-seeking members of the House, was straight out of the political playbook Republicans have long employed on transgender issues, which they see as an effective wedge to divide Democ.