Representative-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.) said she would comply with the anti-transgender bathroom rules that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Wednesday because, in her words, “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms.”
“I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” McBride said in a statement.
“Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them,” she said.
McBride became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress earlier this month, winning Delaware’s lone district. Her arrival in Washington, where incoming members are given tours and trainings before the new Congress convenes in January, has been met with attacks from some of her Republican colleagues.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) petitioned Johnson to adopt a policy stating that people must use a bathroom or locker room that corresponds to their sex as designated at birth. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a CrossFit enthusiast, reportedly said she would fight any transgender woman who attempts to use the women’s facility.
Asked about the bathroom proposal Monday, Mace said that her transgender colleague’s input did not matter.
“No, Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say in this,” Mace said. “If you’re a biological man, you shouldn’t be in women’s restrooms.”
Johnson first responded to a question about bathroom rules Tuesday with a commitment to treating every member of Congress with “dignity,” but he later convened a separate press gaggle to clarify that he believes “a man is a man and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman.”
McBride said in her statement that the attacks would not distract her from “preparing to represent the greatest state in the union come January.”
She continued: “Serving in the 119th Congress will be the honor of a lifetime — and I continue to look forward to getting to know my future colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Each of us were sent here because voters saw something in us that they value. I have loved getting to see those qualities in the future colleagues that I’ve met and I look forward to seeing those qualities in every member come January. I hope all of my colleagues will seek to do the same with me.”
McBride had said Monday that Americans manage to work respectfully with people who are different from them every day.
“I hope members of Congress can muster that same kindness,” she wrote on social media.
