South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace says she has been getting death threats over her push to ban incoming transgender Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride and others from using female restrooms inside the Capitol.
The backlash came after Mace unveiled a new bathroom bill resolution earlier week that seeks to prevent trans women from using the female restrooms on Capitol Hill — arguing she wasn’t going to stand for “someone with a penis in the women’s locker room.”
“They are threatening to kill me over this. Men that want to use women’s restrooms are threatening to kill me over this issue,” Mace told News Nation’s “On Balance” late Tuesday.
The apparent threats flooded in after Mace revealed earlier Tuesday that McBride, who is set to be the first openly transgender member of Congress, was “absolutely” the reason behind her push for the new legislation.
“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 is in the room, no! Like I’m not– it’s not OK,” Mace told the outlet.
She said it would be a “trigger” for her as a rape survivor and victim of abuse.
“I have PTSD from the abuse that I’ve suffered, and I’m gonna do everything I can to protect women and girls,” Mace said.
In the wake of the threats and other backlash, the GOP Rep. doubled down and vowed: “This is only the start, and I’m not gonna stop.”
“Good luck. I was the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina, and if we haven’t met yet, I want all the bullies online to know you will not bully me into submission,” she continued.
“I can’t be threatened. You can’t threaten my life enough. That means I’m just gonna double and triple, quadruple down on this issue.”
Mace’s bill, which drew immediate pushback from McBride and others, calls for a “prohibition” on House members and employees using restrooms, changing rooms or locker rooms “other than those corresponding to the biological sex of such individuals” in the Capitol or in House office buildings.
The controversial proposal comes just weeks after McBride, a Democrat, was elected to represent Delaware’s at-large congressional district.
McBride immediately slammed Mace’s push, saying in a post on X that she hoped Congress would show “kindness.”
“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,” she wrote.
“This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,” McBride added. “We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars.”
“Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on.”
