On Nov. 6 at 5:37 a.m. Eastern, Donald Trump was projected by the Associated Press as the next president of the United States. By winning Wisconsin, Trump brought his electoral total to 277 votes, securing the path to the White House. Many progressive voters saw this election as an indicator of a rightward shift in the nation’s future.
On the same night, State Senator Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender person elected to the U.S. Congress. The incumbent U.S. representative from Delaware’s at-large district, Lisa Blunt Rochester, declined to seek reelection, opting instead to run for the U.S. Senate. McBride ran for the open House seat and won the election with 57% of the vote against her Republican opponent, retired building contractor John Whalen.
The election marked a step forward for acceptance and inclusivity. While McBride has not yet been sworn into Congress, many are already speculating about her future. Two weeks later, South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a resolution to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms in the U.S. Capitol.
“Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say. I mean, this is a biological man,” Mace told reporters, adding that McBride “does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop.”
This is the same congresswoman who, less than a year ago, claimed to support transgender rights. She went so far as to say that children should be allowed to explore their gender identity through different hairstyles, clothing, and pronouns, as long as they don’t make permanent changes as minors. Now, she’s fixated on one woman’s bathroom access as if it’s the most pressing issue at hand.
Mace has previously supported LGBTQ rights legislation. She voted for the same-sex marriage bill and co-sponsored the Fairness for All Act in 2021, which aimed to ban discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation while expanding protections for religious institutions. While her recent comments and proposed legislation do not directly contradict her voting record, her tone is a stark departure from the inclusivity she once championed.
“Voted for gay marriage twice,” Mace told CNN. “Would do it again. Have supported pro LGBTQ legislation. Draw the line at women being forced to undress in front of men or men using our bathrooms or any private spaces.”
Mace’s thinking clearly reflects the transphobic fear-mongering present in modern-day American rhetoric. It reflects the issue as not one of rights of the trans individual but rather a concern about the infringement of heteronormative spaces by others. By reversing the subject of focus and framing the issue as one depriving rights of cisgendered individuals, LGBTQ people are framed as “perverted” and “mentally ill.” Furthermore, Mace also claims this to be a broader issue of women’s rights.
“I’m the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina,” Mace told CNN. “If some guy in a skirt came by and said, ‘No, that’s my achievement.’ I’m going to be there and standing in the way and saying, ‘Hell no.’ I’m not going to allow men to erase women or women’s rights.”
Mace’s concern is that the entrance of trans women into spaces of cisgendered women deprives women of the rights that they earned throughout history, making them vulnerable to male invasion. The flaw in her reasoning here is that while she claims to not discriminate against trans individuals, she still views biological sex as an indicator of a person’s rights, rendering gender identity useless. She believes that when a trans woman enters a space for women, it is a man infiltrating a space for women. Many have gone as far as suggesting that the gender identity that trans women choose is a mere tool to spy on women. Such hateful comments shift the focus from the rights of trans individuals to the harm that the allotment of such rights would do to the cisgendered domination of rights. Individuals like Mace express such concerns to preserve the fragile power of heteronormative society over the queer community.
By insinuating that trans rights evade women’s rights, Mace hopes to pit groups against each other. She illustrates trans women as men who are disturbing the peace and sanctity of women’s spaces, thereby invading their rights. Her hyperfixation on this issue creates a competition for rights. It leads to an environment where marginalized groups like women and trans women have to be constantly competing for rights rather than being able to live in harmony. By framing trans women as people who are disrupting women’s spaces, she contributes to the destructive narrative that divides people and destroys the fabric of equality within American society.
Speaker Mike Johnson has agreed with Mace and highlighted that bathrooms with an assigned sex may only be used by individuals of that biological sex.
McBride, however, has taken a measured stance. “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families. Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them.”
Mace has also expressed her concerns about transgender individuals participating in sports teams coinciding with their gender identity. After Kamala Harris’s defeat on November 6, many Democrats have echoed those concerns.
“I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports,” Democratic Representative Tom Suozzi of New York told the New York Times.
Many Democrats have been blaming the progressive left’s emphasis on trans rights as a reason for the election loss. Representative Seth Moulton expressed similar concerns.
“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton said. “I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
We live in divided times, but if there’s one thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on, it’s continuing America’s long tradition of transphobia—something even elected representatives cannot escape.
America has an obsession with dismantling the rights of the already disenfranchised. We spread rumors and hatred, using fear mongering tactics to stifle progress toward inclusivity. Our Congress seems to have nothing better to do than create bathroom charts. To the Nancy Maces of the world—obsessed with the private matters of others—I say: Let them piss in peace!
