Nancy Mace is at it again with U.S. House bathroom stunt | Opinion
Y’all. Nancy Mace is at it again. TV cameras weren’t being pointed her way over the past several weeks. She couldn’t countenance that. She had to do something about it. She needed another dose of the bright lights like a vampire needs the next drop of blood.
The gentlewoman representing the good people of the First Congressional District of South Carolina decided to get her fix by creating a problem where there was none. She’s done so by screaming and shouting about “protecting women” while championing an anti-trans resolution in the House that targets one of her future colleagues. She wants fellow Republicans to declare “biological men” are not allowed in women’s restrooms in the Capitol Building.
“Biological men in women’s restrooms is a complete invasion of our privacy,” Mace wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Her resolution says “a member, delegate, resident commissioner, officer, or employee of the House may not use a single-sex facility (including a restroom, changing room, or locker room) in the Capitol or House office buildings, other than those corresponding to the biological sex of such individual.”
She’s repeated that message before every TV camera a reporter points her way, throwing in the occasional “penis” to punctuate the point. Oh, and she reminds her audience she broke barriers as a woman, you know, The Citadel thing, which she wields like a sword anytime she’s seriously questioned about her foolishness. Because all of this is foolishness with a strong whiff of bigotry.
Mace has taken this obviously unnecessary and ugly step in response to another woman breaking a barrier. Sarah McBride is about to become the first openly trans member of the U.S. Congress. The 34-year-old will represent Delaware in the chamber. That’s the woman Mace wants everyone to be afraid of, the woman who spent her campaign talking about scary things such as raising paid family leave and the minimum wage and expanding health care. The horrors!
Never fear, Mace is there to slay the dragon via a two-page bathroom resolution. No word yet on if she plans to ride a horse into the House chambers decked out in the full armor of God — because you know she’s convinced herself she’s doing godly work. — the way former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford years ago took pigs into the General Assembly in Columbia to illustrate pork spending. Or maybe she’ll ask someone to install a fainting couch to enable her to do a Scarlett O’Hara to punctuate the absurdity.
McBride is headed to Washington from Delaware’s legislature, where no women were harmed by her presence. Probably because women are much tougher and more tolerant than Mace suggests they are. Probably because McBride is a threat to no one.
Mace knows that every member has their own restroom. If they are that concerned about being in the presence of a trans person, they can go to their private facilities.
Mace’s resolution is a farce, just as her career is becoming. She has no track record of helping lead the passing of any legislation of note, though has taken credit for things she’s voted against. In September, she took time during a House Oversight Committee hearing to deal with the urgent matter that after an appearance on CNN an ideological opponent flirted with her via texts.
In addition to her ravenous appetite for attention, I suspect she’s doing this because Republicans and Democrats believe anti-trans messages helped Donald Trump get reelected and the GOP establish a trifecta in Washington D.C. They may be right, just in the same way anti-same-sex measures were likely helpful to George W. Bush’s reelection two decades ago. Politicians are experts in using people’s fear and ignorance of the minority to win votes as well as attention.
Mace is following in those well-worn footsteps. But no one should pretend she’s taking a courageous stance. She’s not. She’s taking the coward’s path.