Mace faces backlash over efforts to bar new transgender member of Congress from women's restrooms

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., clashed with her detractors online Tuesday as she faces backlash for her resolution banning men who identify as women from accessing women's restrooms in Capitol Hill.

Mace filed the resolution Monday, which, according to Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind, would prohibit “House members, officers and staff from using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”

The resolution comes just as the first openly transgender lawmaker, Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., prepares to join Congress in January. McBride is a biological male who identifies and presents as female.

“This is a blatant attempt by far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to the problems Americans face,” McBride said in a press release. “We should be focused on reducing the cost of housing, health care and child care, not on manufacturing culture wars.”

TRANSGENDER WOMEN WILL BE BANNED FROM CAPITOL HILL WOMEN'S BATHROOMS UNDER NEW HOUSE GOP PROPOSAL

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on June 6, 2023. (Getty Images)

“Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on,” McBride added.

When online critics said Mace's resolution was “clearly directed” at McBride, the South Carolina congresswoman confirmed that was her intention.

“Yes and more. Biological men have no rights to women's private spaces. It's perverse to think otherwise,” Mace posted on X in response to another user.

“Also, Sarah McBride has no say here. I will always protect women and girls. Period. Period. End of story.”

REPRESENTATIVE. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE WANTS MEN BANNED IN WOMEN’S SPACES IN “ALL TAXPAYER FUNDED FACILITIES”

Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., poses for a photo after joining other freshmen of the 119th Congress for a group photo on the steps of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 15 2024 in Washington. , CC (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

His uncompromising stance prompted McBride's defenders to label Mace a bigot and a bully.

Left-wing journalist Aaron Rupar shared a screenshot of Mace's response and wrote: “Note how 'concerns about fairness in sports' have already morphed into unvarnished transphobic bigotry.”

Mace responded: “Protecting women and girls is not bigotry, it’s common sense. I will stand on the brink to protect women's rights from the far-left radicals who are trying to erase us. »

Harry Sisson, a Democratic content creator on TikTok, also accused Mace of “pure bigotry and bullying.”

Mace quoted his post women and girls. As a victim of abuse and as an advocate for other women abused by men, four words for you: Over my dead body. »

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Transgender rights activist and now-elected Rep. Sarah McBride speaks on stage at the Women In The World Summit in New York, U.S., April 11, 2019.

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., called Mace's effort to bar McBride from the ladies' room “pathetic.”

“What are you afraid of, Nancy?” he asked.

To which Mace quoted his response and wrote: “I don't want people with penises [sic] showing them off in our locker room.”

In a follow-up article, Phillips asked, “Why wouldn't we give our fellow citizens the right to use the damn toilets of the kind by which they live their lives?”

“You may not like it. I understand. But it's still common sense and banning it doesn't seem American,” he continued. “So come on, patriots, let’s be cool with each other.”

But Mace refused to back down.

Rep. Nancy Mace narrowly won the 2020 election against incumbent Joe Cunningham (D) by one percent, or about 5,400 votes. With newly redrawn redistricting maps, she comfortably won reelection with 14 percent of the vote. (Getty Images)

“As a survivor of abuse, I know that women are vulnerable; and I will stand up to anyone who violates our rights or wants to set us back 100 years,” she wrote.

Semafor political reporter David Weigel observed that Mace's position is a “shift” to the right after supporting a Republican alternative to the Democratic-backed Equality Act, which would have added language on sexual orientation and gender identity to the federal anti-discrimination law.

The Republican Party's Fairness for All law would have extended civil rights protections to gay and transgender people, but would have exempted religious institutions, nonprofit organizations and certain individuals.

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“I strongly support LGBTQ rights and equality,” Mace told the Washington Examiner in 2021. “No one should be discriminated against.”

She added that gender issues are not “black and white”.

“I believe that religious freedom, the First Amendment, gay rights and transgender equality can all coexist. I am also a constitutionalist and we must ensure that anti-discrimination laws do not violate First Amendment rights or religious freedom,” Mace said at the time.

“I have friends and family who identify as LGBTQ,” she added. “It's important to understand how they feel and how they were treated. Being around gay, lesbian and transgender people has informed my views throughout my life.”

Elizabeth Elkind of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.