Our 2020 book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses the state of the parties. The state of the GOP is not good.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace as recently as last year called herself “pro-transgender rights” and said she supported children exploring gender identities with different hairstyles, clothing and preferred pronouns, a stark contrast to more recent comments that have put her in the national spotlight.
Last week, the South Carolina Republican introduced a resolution to amend the rules of the US House of Representatives to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the Capitol and filed broader legislation that would apply to every federal building and federally funded school.
The resolution came in direct response to the election of Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first out transgender person elected to Congress.
In hundreds of tweets over the last week, Mace has used a flood of anti-transgender rhetoric, including repeatedly calling transgender people “mentally ill,” which is a stark — and unexplained — departure from her past positioning as a self-proclaimed pro-LGBTQ Republican.
In July 2023, Mace described herself as “pro-transgender rights” and voiced support for children exploring their identities, such as by changing pronouns, hairstyles or clothing.
“If they wanna take on a different pronoun or a different gender identity or grow their hair out, or wear a dress or wear pants, or do those things as a minor –— those are all things that I think most people would support. Be who you want to be, but don’t make permanent changes as a child,” Mace said in an interview last year.
Mace made the comments in the context of saying she opposed gender-affirming care for minors.
