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Yesterday, GOP Congresswoman Nancy Mace introduced a resolution to the House rules package that would require all people to use only restrooms corresponding with their sex assigned at birth, essentially intended as a ban on trans women from using women's restrooms in the U.S. Capitol.
This is being done as Sarah McBride of Delaware is set to become the first openly-trans Member of Congress.
It remains very unclear how this rule would be enforced, and when Rep. Mace was asked that exact question last night, she refused to offer anything in the way of a direct answer.
What I find most interesting about all this is that trans women have been using women's restrooms in the Capitol and the House and Senate office buildings and the White House and the Pentagon for many years now, including during all four years of the Trump Administration.
Under Donald Trump's leadership, trans women were permitted to use women's restrooms in federal buildings in D.C. and there was never any issue.
I have attended hundreds of political events in D.C. over the years and used the restroom at many of them, including in all the buildings listed above.
I have washed my hands countless times at the sink next to conservative and Republican women and even had pleasant and brief conversations with many of them.
There’s never been an issue. Because the whole point of going to the restroom is to do your business in a private stall and then wash your hands and maybe touch up your make-up and, on occasion, with friends, there might be conversations at the sink.
That’s it. I’m sorry there’s no mystery here. It’s pretty straightforward and banal.
In fact, the only time I need to worry about using a public restroom is when I travel outside of D.C., always double-checking to see if there are non-discrimination protections in airports during a layover.
If there aren’t, I need to locate a single-occupancy restroom and/or carefully plan what I eat and drink during that leg of the trip.
In the four years that Rep. Nancy Mace has been in Congress, she's known that trans women use women's restrooms in federal buildings in D.C. and it's never been an issue for her. Not once. In all this time.
Until the first trans woman was elected to Congress. Then it suddenly became an issue.
Doesn't it seem like this is an incredibly cynical and cruel attempt on the part of Congresswoman Mace to manufacture outrage and divide people over something that hasn't been a problem?
Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride offered an astute and admirable response:
Every day Americans go to work with people who have life journeys different than their own and engage with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster that same kindness.
This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing. We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars.
Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on.
I’m glad at least one elected official in this story has the character and discipline to keep focused on the needs of her constituents. She sees petty and cruel distractions for what they are: small and sad.
But I do feel bad for Congresswoman Mace, who is so desperate for attention that she resorts to policing how others pee and being obsessed with their genitals.
I shall genuinely pray for her growth.
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