Some key excerpts:
House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled support Tuesday for a Republican effort to ban Democrat Sarah McBride — the first transgender person to be elected to Congress — from using women’s restrooms in the Capitol once she’s sworn into office next year.
A resolution proposed Monday by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina would prohibit any lawmakers and House employees from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.” Mace said the bill is aimed specifically at McBride, who was elected to the House this month from Delaware.
At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.
[Mace] added that Johnson assured her the bathroom provision would be included in any changes to House rules for the next Congress.
All the effort House Republicans are spending specifically to make Rep. McBride’s day miserable should make it crystal clear that they’re not doing this for women at all.
I don’t think anyone could make the case that Rep. McBride is dangerous; but Republicans are fighting not to release the ethics report on Matt Gaetz before he is placed in a position of immense power, when it seems quite likely that he was directly harming women.
As you say, this is all about tormenting Rep. McBride (along with any other Trans women they are able to hurt at the same time).
The bill’s cruelty is precisely why I think it’s so important for every American to contact their representative (even Republican ones). It might not be enough to change a Republican Congressperson’s mind, but it’s good for them to know that the American people are not going to let Trans people be an easy target for them.
I encourage every American reading this article to call their district representative and let them know that you do not approve of this bill. It’s hateful and cruel; and I fear that if it passes, it will pave the way for similar, wider reaching, legislation.
I called my Representative earlier today and their intern was able to tell me the bill number: H.Res.1579. Knowing the number should hopefully make it easier to voice your disgust in this abhorrent bill.
While on the phone (or email) with your Representative, I encourage everyone to voice their displeasure with H.R.9495 as well. H.R.9495 will allow the executive branch to unilaterally declare non-profits as terrorist organizations and strip them of their non-profit status. This would functionally give the executive branch authority to end any non-profit that is engaging in activities they don’t approve of, which would likely result in the destruction of any non-profit engaging in harm reduction.
Why is all the fuss over women’s bathrooms in these things? Thought we had moved past the ‘women can’t protect themselves and need men to do it for them’ thing at this point.
To me, it feels like fear-mongering. If you don’t think trans people are dangerous, you won’t “need” a Republican to “protect” you from them.
The bathroom argument is especially silly when you recall that unisex bathrooms have existed for a long time, and all they require is better stalls than American bathrooms tend to offer. If protecting people in bathrooms was really a goal, they would just make walls that go to the floor legally required.
I doubt if most of the Republican politicians/ pundits even believe half the stuff they say about trans people. They are simply the target du jour, and Republicans will say anything they can think of to make you afraid of them.
