Some of Rep. Sarah McBride’s Republican colleagues are staying away from fights about her identity as their base — and some members of their party — go on the attack against transgender people.
Republicans presiding over official business on the House floor or in committee hearings are opting to recognize McBride (D-Del.) — the first openly transgender lawmaker — as “Representative McBride” or “the member from Delaware.”
That approach, however, stands in stark contrast to a minority of House Republicans who have openly addressed the congresswoman as “Mr. McBride.”
“I just think it’s confrontational, it’s not needed,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said about his colleagues’ attacks on McBride.
When he presides over the House, Bacon has chosen to refer to her as “Representative McBride.”
“It doesn’t anger her. It’s an appropriate way I think to refer to her,” Bacon said. “I’m the guy that says I don’t necessarily agree with the choices Representative McBride made, but it’s her choice. We ought to be just respectful.”
Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) said she has found an approach that she believes is fair to both McBride and her beliefs.
“I don’t think that I need to change my belief, which is that there’s only a male and a female,” De La Cruz said.
At the same time though, she said, she feels there’s a need to behave in an appropriate manner in Congress.
“In respecting the chair, I felt that the best way to address that situation was to call Sarah McBride ‘Representative.’ It’s fair for Sarah and it felt fair for me as well. And I felt that was the best way we could both have the respect we deserve for our own personal beliefs,” De La Cruz said.
McBride herself has said she puts little, if any, thought into how her colleagues have referred to her, focusing instead on economic and local issues in Delaware. She told Bloomberg Government it is up to members to decide “how they talk with their colleagues.”
The issue is indicative of the choice some Republicans are forced to make between respecting a colleague and catering to segments of their base that oppose transgender rights.
Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) caused a stir in a House Foreign Affairs Europe Subcommittee hearing earlier this month when he, the chair of the panel, introduced McBride as “Mr. McBride.”
McBride largely ignored Self, but responded “Thank you Madam Chair,” before Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the panel, interjected and said Self was “out of order.”
“Mr. Chairman, have you no decency? I mean, I’ve come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent,” Keating said, demanding Self to introduce McBride correctly.
Instead, Self adjourned the meeting and then said in a post on X “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.”
In February, Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) presided over the House floor and introduced McBride as “the gentleman from Delaware.” The Congressional Record initially transcribed her words as “the gentlewoman from Delaware,” but Miller criticized the record in a post on X as “absolutely appalling and a blatant disregard for the truth I have spoken.”
The record was later revised to note Miller referred to McBride as “the gentleman from Delaware” but records McBride’s own remarks under “Ms. McBride.”
“To each his own on how they want to deal with it,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) said of Self and Miller’s remarks. LaMalfa’s settled to refer to McBride as “representative” — in a similar manner as Bacon and De La Cruz. “I thought that was the cleanest way to handle it so it doesn’t cause any problems,” he said.
LaMalfa said he didn’t care much about the issue and was more concerned about issues in his district in northern California, such as forestry changes and the area’s water supply, echoing McBride’s preference to focus on local issues.
“I hadn’t really thought about it even before that to be honest,” LaMalfa said, recalling when he presided over the floor. “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that stuff.”
VIDEO: The state of transgender rights in Donald Trump’s second term.
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