In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), 213 Democratic members of Congress, along with Delegates Stacey Plaskett (Virgin Islands), Eleanor Holmes Norton (Washington, D.C.), and Resident Commissioner Pablo Jose Hernández (Puerto Rico), urge Johnson to rebuke Republican lawmakers who have used language that “demonizes and dehumanizes” them when talking about the transgender community.
“We strongly condemn the rise of anti-transgender rhetoric, including from members of Congress, and we write to you to ensure that members of Congress respect decorum and do not use their platforms to demonize and scapegoat marginalized communities, including the transgender community,” the Democratic Party’s letter reads.
The first signer of the letter is U.S. Representative Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first and only openly transgender member of Congress. Other signatories include all members of the Congressional Equality Caucus, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Democratic Party Leader Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California, and members of all major House Democratic Ideology Caucuses.
The only four Democratic senators who did not sign the letter were Adam Gray (California), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Henry Cuellar (Texas), and Don Davis (North Carolina). All four districts represent districts that President Trump won in the 2024 election and are considered among the most vulnerable Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.
Democratic lawmakers who signed the letter cited “multiple instances” of Republican lawmakers using slurs against members of the transgender community and criticized the “dramatic escalation” of anti-trans rhetoric.
“Despite the responsibility of committee chairs and the Speaker of the House to maintain order and ensure that members observe decorum, neither the committee chairs nor the Speaker pro tempore took any action in any of these situations,” the letter said.
The letter did not cite specific examples of anti-transgender rhetoric or name-call the members responsible for the violations. However, some cases have been very public, such as that of U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (RS.C.) in February. used repeatedly Anti-transgender slurs during House Oversight Committee hearing. Former U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), now deceased, objected to Mace’s use of the term as a slur. But Mace cut him off and yelled, “Tr***y! Tr***y! Tr***y! I don’t care at all! You want your penis in the ladies’ room and I’m not having it!”
When Connolly suggested that Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) advise Mace on etiquette, saying, “A slur is a slur,” Comer said he was “not up to date on my politically correct LGBTQ terminology,” but promised to look into it. No action was taken against Mace’s use of the term.
Democratic lawmakers who supported the letter also expressed concern about calls by members of Congress to institutionalize all transgender people, comments by members of Congress calling transgender people mentally ill, and assertions that transgender people are inherently violent and should be treated as a national security threat.
The allegations have led the Trump administration to consider classifying transgender advocates as “violent extremists” and even propose restricting transgender people’s ability to own and purchase firearms.
Democrats argue that derogatory rhetoric against transgender people harms communities and puts transgender Americans at risk for their lives.
The letter notes that the FBI reported that 463 hate crime incidents in 2024 were due to anti-transgender bias (advocates believe this is an underestimate), and that past research shows transgender people are four times more likely to be victims of violence than cisgender people, despite making up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population.
“As Speaker of the House, you have a responsibility not only to the Republican conference, but to the entire House of Representatives and the entire country it represents,” the letter concludes. “We condemn the rise in dehumanizing rhetoric targeting the transgender community and urge members of the conference to abide by decorum and ensure that they do not use their platforms to demonize or scapegoat the transgender community. This includes ensuring that members do not use language that disparages the transgender community.”
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
