Rep. Nancy Mace‘s (R-SC) resolution requiring members of Congress to use the bathrooms and other single-sex facilities that correspond with their biology caused quite a stir. Less than two days after it was introduced, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced a change to the facility rules, saying: “All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex. Women deserve women’s only spaces.”
On Jan. 3, Sarah McBride, a biological male, will be sworn into the 118th Congress. McBride is the first openly transgender member of Congress and has agreed to follow the speaker’s updated rules.
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It’s reasonable to assume that Mace’s actions are partly political theater. Her social media posts about the issue include a video of the representative placing the word “biological” above the “Women” sign outside a Capitol Hill restroom and other quips such as, “Does the Left ever get tired of being weird?” But the North Carolina representative is a survivor of rape, domestic violence, and abuse. This is personal.
On Wednesday, Mace filed an additional bill “to protect women and girls across the entire country on all federal property everywhere.” Mace received plenty of criticism from the Left and Right for her behavior. But whether or not you agree with Mace in other areas, or even think her approach here is a bit much, the issue demands some serious attention.
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It should go without saying that biological men don’t belong in bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, or similar spaces with biological women. But such a reasonable declaration is met with claims of bigotry in 2024. You’re not standing up for the rights of women and girls; you’re actively engaging in hate, according to far too many LGBT activists who wish to co-opt traditional areas reserved for girls and women. The reaction is such that those demanding basic decency, protection, and a continuation of what has been in place for decades are treated as the ill-tempered radicals.
Earlier this week on MSNBC, Jen Psaki brought up the transgender issue in relation to Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss to President-elect Donald Trump. Unsurprisingly, Psaki treated the subject as a trifle that doesn’t affect much of America. The lack of self-awareness is stunning.
This is one of the reasons Harris lost to Trump. The transgender issue continues to dominate sports and society, pushed in large part by the legacy media and an entertainment industry that wants to normalize it all. We can see further proof of this in the reaction to Mace’s attempt to keep Capitol Hill bathrooms safe spaces set aside specifically for biological males and biological females.
No, the issue of transgender Americans and bathrooms or similar facilities isn’t the most pressing issue of our time. But it does deserve attention when women and girls are increasingly pushed aside and dismissed, by Democrats and Republicans alike, for speaking up. It’s an issue of right and wrong. It’s also a safety issue. We deserve to feel protected from potential predators.
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In a Tuesday post on X, Mace described herself as a feminist fighting for women’s rights. Those on both sides of the political aisle may scoff at this, but she’s not wrong. The feminism Mace ascribes to herself is the basic, first-wave, non-woke kind. It’s the brand that demands women and girls be treated fairly. It’s the kind Democrats say they support but often don’t. It’s the kind Republicans who reject modern waves of feminism should readily accept.
Mace made a scene this week on Capitol Hill. But it matters little who the messenger is. The issue is not trivial. Lines must be drawn in an increasingly absurd society that prizes the affirmation of mental illness over the well-being of women and girls.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a contributing freelance columnist at the Freemen News-Letter.