The Republican representative who has been a driving force behind the recent bill to ban transgender women from using the female restroom at the Capitol previously called for celebrating "the bright future ahead" for LGBTQ+ individuals in a resurfaced social media post.
In June 2021, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace made a post about how Pride celebrations were canceled due to the pandemic in 2020, but said she hoped to celebrate "the challenges our LGBTQ+ have overcome."
"The pandemic kept all of us from fully celebrating Pride here in the Lowcountry in 2020," Mace wrote in the post. "But hopefully, as we finally begin to open back up, we can all come together to celebrate the challenges our LGBTQ+ has overcome, and the bright future ahead."
Despite the previous welcoming sentiment, Mace has recently been a vocal supporter of banning transgender women from using the women's restroom, telling reporters that it was an issue of "women's rights."
The representative introduced a bill that would require congress members and employees to use the bathroom that corresponds to their "biological sex." The bill has been supported by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who announced Wednesday that "individuals of the biological sex" were only allowed in single-sex spaces.
The bill's introduction came shortly after it was announced that Delaware state Senator Sarah McBride was elected to the House in the recent election, making her the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.
McBride previously called the bill a "blatant attempt to distract" from real issues in a previous tweet. Following news of the ban, she posted a new statement, asserting, "I'm not here to fight about bathrooms. I'm here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families."
Originally published by Latin Times.