FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Republicans weighing their options to protect female-only spaces on Capitol Hill amid the election of the first transgender member of Congress are receiving support from a key conservative organization. A memo from the American Principles Project circulated on Capitol Hill and first obtained by The Daily Signal encourages Republicans in Congress to root transgenderism out of the Capitol.
“The American people voted for a return to normalcy — and they voted against the Democrats’ transgender extremism,” APP President Terry Schilling writes in the memo. “But it’s not even December yet, and Democrats are leaning in on defending the ‘right’ of a male member of Congress to hang out in the women’s restroom.”
The new member of Congress in question is Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., a biological man who identifies as a woman. McBride’s use of women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill as a member of Congress became a live issue on Monday when Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a resolution that would prohibit lawmakers and House employees from using single-sex bathrooms that do not correspond with their biological sex.
Mace confirmed that the resolution came in response to McBride’s election and told members of the press she was “absolutely 100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women’s restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms.”
Schilling’s memo stood in support of Mace’s resolution. “McBride would prefer to use female private spaces on Capitol grounds,” the memo reads. “This presents a serious privacy issue for female members of Congress and female Hill staffers, which led to Congresswoman Nancy Mace’s recent announcement of a resolution to explicitly protect women’s private spaces on Capitol grounds.”
“There should be no ambiguity on this, especially when Republicans control Congress: men should use male facilities, and women should use female facilities,” Schilling writes.
In interviews and on the campaign trail, McBride has attempted to de-emphasize transgender rights as a campaign issue.
“When I was campaigning in Delaware, I was not hearing about these attacks on trans people. I was hearing about the cost of living,” McBride told PBS News after the election. “I was hearing about the need for affordable childcare, housing and health care.”
But McBride has a long history of radical transgender activism, the APP memo submits.
“McBride only saw a political career boost after identifying as a transgender female in 2012,” Schilling argues. “Since then, McBride has worked for the Obama White House, Equality Delaware, the Center for American Progress, and the Human Rights Campaign. The Delaware representative’s area of policy expertise has always been ‘transgender rights.’ McBride is widely credited on the Left with shaping Joe Biden’s personal views and political evolution on transgender issues. This is important context as McBride often pretends not to be motivated in politics by so-called ‘transgender identity’ — an obvious lie.”
After Mace filed the resolution, McBride said it represented a “blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”
“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,” McBride said.
When House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was asked whether McBride was a man or woman at a press conference Tuesday morning, Johnson replied, “Look, I’m not going to get into this. We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people.”
“There’s a concern about uses of restroom facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before,” Johnson added. “And we’re going to do that in a deliberate fashion, with member consensus on it. And we will accommodate the needs of every single person.”
Johnson faced swift criticism from conservatives on social media for not answering the question directly. He clarified his comments later Tuesday afternoon. Johnson said he “rejected the premise of the question because the answer is so obvious.”
“Let me be unequivocally clear,” Johnson said. “A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman.”
The APP memo cites polling showing that the American people agree with Mace’s resolution. A Nov. 13 poll from Napolitan News Service/RMG Research found that 75% of respondents said biological men should not be allowed to use women’s restrooms.
“The American people sent Republicans to Washington with a mandate to protect women and children from transgender ideology. There’s no question about that,” Schilling claims. “Republicans in the House and Senate should feel comfortable defending their positions not only because they are right and just, but because they are politically popular.”
But a House vote on Mace’s resolution would only mark the start of rooting out transgenderism for APP. “We encourage both chambers of next year’s Congress to call an up or down vote on Rep. Mace’s resolution, along with bills to protect women’s sports, ban sex changes for kids, and prohibit taxpayer funding from going toward the transgender industry,” the memo concluded.
