Rep. Nancy Mace has recently made headlines and drawn protests for her rhetoric around the transgender community, particularly her efforts to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms in the US Capitol. as the first representative of transgender people He has been elected to Congress.
Earlier this month, Mace, RS.C., lashed out at the transgender community in a social media video. He used the term in reference to the protesters who demonstrated on the halls of Congress against the trans bathroom ban.
Now Mace is back in the headlines Foster youth advocate James McIntyre was charged with assault. According to court documents obtained by ABC News, McIntyre allegedly approached Mace to shake his hand after he spoke at an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of legislation benefiting foster youth.
Mace told officers that “the subject began to aggressively and excessively wave his arm up and down in a jerking motion. The effect of the movement was described as shaking the arm for about 3-5 seconds.
McIntryre noted during the interaction that “trans youth deserve to be championed.” Mace told police he had pain in his wrists, arms and armpits as a result of the incident, but refused help from paramedics. McIntyre was arrested and has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting a government official.
In an X post after the incident, Mace called McIntyre “a man for tr*ns.”
Mace’s latest remarks appear to be a departure from comments from years past, when he referred to himself as “pro-transgender” and “pro-LGBTQ.”
ABC News has reached out to Mace’s office for comment.
Before legislation banning transgender women from Capitol bathrooms, Mace supported the “Fairness for All Act,” advocated for transitioning youth and faced backlash against what critics called transgender support.
2021: Mace says it supports “LGBTQ rights and equality.”
In an interview Washington Examiner In 2021, Mac told a reporter, “I blindly support LGBTQ rights and equality… no one should be discriminated against.”
In the interview, he discussed his opposition to the Equality Act, which would expand federal civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Instead, he supported the “Fairness for All Act,” which prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but allowed certain exceptions for religious organizations.
Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C., arrives at the House Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on November 19, 2024 in Washington.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
According to the outlet, Mace agreed, for example, that companies should not be able to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but that religious organizations do not have to “violate their moral or religious conscience,” the outlet wrote.
“It’s not a black and white thing,” Mac said in the interview. “I believe that religious freedom, the First Amendment, gay rights, and transgender equality can coexist. I’m also a constitutionalist, and we need to make sure that anti-discrimination laws don’t infringe on First Amendment rights or religious freedom.”
She told the outlet that “friends and family members who identify as LGBTQ… It’s important to understand how they feel and how they’ve been treated. Being around gay, lesbian and transgender people has shaped my opinion throughout my life.”
At the time, he said young conservatives were pushing for LGBTQ rights: “People don’t want the government in their bedrooms or in their boardrooms.”
Nate, 14, left, and Bird, 9, right, whose parents asked that their last names not be used, hold signs and transgender pride flags as a rally for transgender rights at the Supreme Court, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
2022: Mace faces attack ads for his views
In the first race of 2022, Mace he was the subject of political attack ads from the conservative American Principles PAC for its transgender support.
The ad said Mace allowed “men in girls’ locker rooms, men in women’s prisons and women’s shelters too,” referring to transgender women as men.
2023: Mace appears to support the minors’ social transition
In an interview in 2023 CBS News, Mac said: “I’m a supporter of transgender rights. I am pro-LGBTQ. Don’t go to extremes with our kids.”
She spoke about bans on gender affirmation care for transgender youth, “sex reassignment surgeries, hormone blockers that sterilize our children. We shouldn’t be doing that.” Medical experts have said puberty blockers are reversible and do not permanently sterilize patients.
However, Mace expressed his support for young people undergoing social transition: “If they want to adopt a different pronoun or a different gender identity or grow their hair, or wear a dress or pants, or if they want to do these things at a young age.. .All of which I think most people would agree with. Be what you want, but don’t make permanent changes when you’re young,” said Mac.
2024: Mace enacts bathroom ban amid rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment
In November, Mace introduced a measure to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms in the US Capitol, led by Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, the first transgender person elected to Congress.
Representative-elect Sarah McBride attends an orientation for new members of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on November 14, 2024.
Allison Robbert/AFP via Getty Images
“Yes, and absolutely. And then some,” Mace told reporters at the Capitol when asked if the legislation was in response to McBride’s election.
“I’m not going to support a man, you know, someone with a penis, in the women’s locker room,” he said.
Mace cited her experiences as a rape victim as part of her rationale for introducing the measure.
“That’s not right. And I’m a victim of abuse myself. I’m a rape survivor,” Mac said. “I have PTSD from the abuse I suffered at the hands of a man, and I know how vulnerable women and girls are in private spaces, so I will absolutely 100% stand in the way of any man who wants to. be in a women’s bathroom, in our locker room, in our locker room, I will be there in your fight “, he said.
McBride responded to the bill on X: “This is a blatant attempt by far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are suffering.”
After House Speaker Mike Johnson said transgender women could not use women’s restrooms in the Capitol and House office buildings, McBride responded to the imposed rules: “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and reduce costs. Like all members of the family, Speaker Johnson I will follow the stated rules, even if I don’t agree with them.”
Each representative’s office has a private bathroom and unisex restrooms are also available throughout the Capitol.
Representative Nancy Mace speaks to reporters as they attend a House Republican Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill, November 19, 2024, in Washington.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Opponents of the ban say the surrounding narrative “fear” and “personal safety” is based on discrimination regarding the use of transgender bathrooms. They say that transgender people are not inherently dangerous and they really are more likely to be a victim of violence than cisgender people.
Mace said she wanted to expand her efforts and push for a measure that would ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms on all federal property: “This shouldn’t go on federal property. If you’re a school or an organization that gets government funding, this kind of thing should be banned. would,” he said.
Transgender people — who make up less than 1 percent of Americans age 13 and older, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute — have been the subject of hundreds of Republican-sponsored bills across the country in recent years.
When they stormed the Capitol in early December to protest efforts to restrict transgender bathroom use, Macek responded with a video about X in which he called the protesters offensive to transgender people.
ABC News’ Arthur Jones II and Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
