Republican lawmaker moves to bar trans colleague from women's bathrooms

A Republican congresswoman has introduced a bill to ban transgender women from using female bathrooms in the US Capitol, just weeks after the first-ever openly transgender lawmaker was elected to the House of Representatives.

On Tuesday, South Carolina's Nancy Mace said her resolution was "absolutely" a response to the election of Sarah McBride, who will be sworn into office in January.

McBride called the move “a blatant attempt from far-right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing”.

Republicans campaigned heavily on opposing transgender rights during the election. At a closing rally, Donald Trump said he would keep "transgender insanity the hell out of our schools... and men out of women’s sports".

The resolution introduced on Monday does not specifically mention McBride, but Mace told reporters on Tuesday, that “it’s 100 percent because of McBride”, according to the Washington Post.

“This is about women and our right to privacy, our right to safety,” Mace said. “I’m not going to allow biological men into women’s private spaces. It is the height of hypocrisy.”

On Monday, McBride responded to the measure, posting on X: “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.”

House Democrats strongly condemned the resolution and accused Mace of bullying a fellow member of Congress.

"This is your priority, that you want to bully a member of Congress, as opposed to welcoming her to join this body so all of us can work together to get things done and deliver real results for the American people?" Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.

It is unclear when the measure may be taken up by Congress for a vote. It is expected to part of the House rules package that members vote on after being sworn in.

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Tuesday declined to say that it would be part of the rules package, telling reporters that lawmakers would seek consensus as they approach the "unprecedented" issue.

"We’re going to do that in a deliberate fashion with members’ consensus on it, and we will accommodate the needs of every single person,” Johnson said.

"We treat everybody with dignity,” he added. “We’ll provide appropriate accommodation for every member of Congress.”

It comes as Republicans in Washington DC and in state capitols have focused sharply on transgender issues, including seeking to limit access to gender-related surgery for minors and to bar transgender athletes from female-only sports categories.

During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump said transgender students should be allowed to use whichever bathroom "they feel is appropriate", but he reversed his stance after facing Republican criticism.