Nancy Mace at the 2024 Republican National Convention
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who has a long history of anti-trans politics, used a slur to refer to transgender people in a video she posted to social media.
Last month, in response to the first transgender person getting elected to Congress – Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE) – Mace introduced a resolution banning trans women from using the women’s facilities at the Capitol, as well as legislation to ban trans people from using restrooms on all federal property. This is despite the facts that trans people have been working at and visiting the Capitol for years without incident and that McBride would get her own private bathroom as a member of Congress.
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While her resolution hasn’t been voted on, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has already put in place a rule banning trans people from using the restroom that corresponds to their gender at the Capitol complex.
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Instead of just leaving the matter up to police, though, Mace had her staff find a bullhorn and a camera to post about the incident to social media in a video where she referred to the protestors with an anti-trans slur.
“Alright, so some tr***y protestors showed up at the Capitol today to protest my bathroom bill, but they got arrested, poor things,” Mace said sarcastically. “So I have a message for the protestors who got arrested. You ready?”
She then pulled out a bullhorn, despite already being audible through her microphone, and read the standard Miranda rights into the bullhorn while facing the police office. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
Mace had her staffers running around the Capitol today looking for a bullhorn. Wasn’t sure why. Now we know.
Mace has been using transphobia to build her political career since before she was elected to Congress. In her first campaign for Congress, she made up a law that she claimed required “transgender equality in the military,” said that her Democratic opponent was responsible for it, and said that it would result in a Marine Corps base in her district getting shut down. It was all a lie – there was no such law and the Marine base is still in operation today – but it helped her secure her seat in Congress.
In her second run for Congress, she accused her opponent of providing “SEX CHANGE SURGERY. PUBERTY BLOCKERS. GENDER CHANGING HORMONES. FOR CHILDREN?” in an ad, even though her opponent was a doctor who worked at a hospital that didn’t provide gender-affirming care for trans people at all. Her opponent was forced to resign from her job.
Mace has a poor record on LGBTQ+ rights in Congress, getting scores of 15 and 14 out of 100 on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard, and she even voted against the Equality Act, which would ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ people at the federal level, and against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act because it would give some protections to transgender inmates.
In her effort to stop McBride from using the women’s restrooms at the Capitol, Mace has referred to McBride as “it” and as a “man.” She has also started selling anti-trans t-shirts and said that it’s “offensive” that McBride thinks she’s “equal” to other congresswomen.
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