The Bathrooms of the Capitol Are Now Unsafe Spaces

The New York Times ^ | Nov. 20, 2024 | Anna Marks

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It only took two weeks after Election Day for House Republicans to bully Representative-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, who will become the first openly transgender member of Congress in January.

On Monday an exhausting Republican from South Carolina, Representative Nancy Mace, announced plans to introduce a measure that would bar McBride and any other trans women working in the Capitol from using women’s restrooms there. On Wednesday in response, Speaker Mike Johnson announced a move that would prohibit transgender people from using “single-sex facilities” on the House side of the Capitol and in House office buildings, including restrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms, that match their gender identity.

While abhorrent, this move is straight out of a longtime reactionary playbook. A decade ago, after their attempts to exclude gay people from public life finally failed, Republicans began to use bathroom bills to stir up a culture war targeting transgender Americans, a smaller group with fewer legal protections. Their attempt succeeded; now debates over trans existence have become a feature of everyday political discourse.

Provocateurs like Mace build political capital by tying the juvenile urge to gossip about people’s privates to the assumption that “men” set loose in women’s bathrooms will commit sexual violence. Demagogues prey on many Americans’ inexperience with transgender identity and women’s very real fears about being assaulted, cynically casting trans women as others who invade otherwise safe spaces.

That approach was evident in Johnson’s explanation of his decision: “Women deserve women’s-only spaces.” It evidently does not matter to him that one woman — McBride — will be excluded from them.

[GreyFriar]

I wonder how many of those Democrapt female Congresscritters would be willing to be completely naked with “her” in the “members only” congressional women’s gym locker room? Will some reporter have the courage to ask that of SanFran Nan, AOC, Fauxahantus??????

[Sarcazmo]

What the ELF is that?

WTF is that?!?!

[Sarcazmo]

Also, thanks for making it so big.

At dinner time.

[Drew68]

Cry harder, tr00ns!

[SaxxonWoods]

Good.

[Da Coyote]

Funny, but there are a hell of a lot more unsafe spaces in your fetid city, NYT “journalists”.

Journalism, when you failed studies.

[chuckb87]

Well the all you can eat buffets aren’t safe with that pig around.

[leaning conservative]

People, especially women, need to understand how traumatic it is for any girl or woman to be exposed to a male in OUR spaces.... bathrooms included.
When I was 10 I was at a friend’s house. They were grilling out & invited me to stay. At one point her dad said he had something to show me upstairs. Kids were playing and people were making food, so no one noticed. So we go upstairs, he zips down his pants, puts it in his hand, & tells me I can touch it. I said, “No thank you.” I ran home. It was traumatic & I wouldn’t wish a run in with a man in anyone. A man in a dress is even creepier. A big eff you to all the women working to get men into girl’s/women’s spaces. It’s NOT okay.

[DouglasKC]

These people (trannies and those who support them) are crazy. If someone came to congress and pretended to be a dog would it be dignified and compassionate for them to be let out and go poop on the lawn? Or if someone identified as a baby should we allow them to poop in diapers on the floor and then have their diaper changed?

[Sicon]

It evidently does not matter to him that one woman

[Cowgirl of Justice]

Izzat her?????

She looks like a wish.com version of a Cabbage Patch Doll.

[Georgia Girl 2]

“While abhorrent”

No while normal and sane.

[Drew68]

It only took two weeks for the New York Times to forget why they freaking lost.

Half the Democrats believe they lost because they didn't embrace trans issues strongly enough.

Grab some popcorn. The upcoming Democrat Party Civil War is gonna be lit!

[Mark17]

NYT, no longer a serious publication.

Was it ever?

[Cowgirl of Justice]

“Never occurs to them that maybe McBride is the bully.”

Exactly. An actual woman wouldn’t threaten women or make them feel uncomfortable.

this dude is more suited for a urinal.

[gundog]

... an exhausting Republican....

Buckle up, cupcake.

[Political Junkie Too]

Are NOW unsafe spaces?

Did they forget when left-wing immigration activists chased Senator Krysten Sinema into a bathroom?

Sure, it wasn't a bathroom at the Capitol, it was at Arizona State University. But it was a Senator, and it was a women's bathroom.

And it was not a "safe space" for Senator Sinema.

-PJ

[hole_n_one]

Shouldn’t there be some merry melody playing while she waves and says….

Th-Th-Th-That’s All, Folks

[TigerClaws]

2+2=5

They must not only lie but force you to accept and believe the lie.

That’s true power and true submission.

“We know that they are lying, they know that they are lying, they even know that we know they are lying, we also know that they know we know they are lying too, they of course know that we certainly know they know we know they are lying too as well, but they are still lying. In our country, the lie has become not just moral category, but the pillar industry of this country.”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

[dowcaet]

Trump made significant gains in the popular vote in the northeast in New York and especially in New Jersey where he lost by just five points.

Those two states have a large Catholic population. Wanna bet the Dems extreme left turn on abortion and LGBT issues, especially with trans-people, are some of the reasons Trump did better than expected in those two states.

Maybe in four or eight years we’ll be talking about New Jersey being a swing state and that the GOP presidential candidate has a real shot of winning there.