WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters-WSAU) – U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Wednesday that all single-sex facilities in the U.S. Capitol building would be reserved for “individuals of that biological sex,” weeks after the first transgender identifying a member of Congress from Delaware, Sarah McBride was elected to office.
“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. It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol,” Johnson said in a statement.
Many House offices are a 10-minute walk from the House floor, where voting and debate take place. Democrats immediately decried the effort on Tuesday. Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries called the bill “bullying,” and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer described it as “mean and cruel.”
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace demanded that biological men and women be banned from using the opposing sex’s spaces in the U.S. Capitol and told NewsNation’s “On Balance” on Tuesday night that she’s received death threats over the issue, saying, “They are threatening to kill me over this. Men that want to use women’s restrooms are threatening to kill me over this issue,” and “This person wants to come in and use women’s spaces. If I’m in, as a woman, I’m changing clothes in the locker room because I use the gym when I’m up here in DC, the women’s gym, and a man shows up, and his genitalia, his penis are in the room, no! Like I’m not—it’s not OK.”
McBride, 34, stated that Mace’s and Johnson’s actions are an attempt by Republicans “to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,” despite numerous polls from outlets across the political spectrum showing voters preferred Republican solutions to issues such as the economy, immigration, and war in both Ukraine and Gaza when they voted during this month’s elections.
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