Rep. Nancy Mace’s Recent Congressional Actions Target LGBTQ Exhibits and Race-Based Caucuses

During a recent House hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace displayed photographs of drag performer RuPaul taken from an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Citing a White House report that criticized the museum for featuring LGBTQ figures, Mace argued that such displays “sexualize” children and increase their vulnerability to abuse. Museum officials responded that questions about transgender transition were outside their scope.

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In the same week, Mace introduced a resolution that would prohibit the formation of congressional caucuses organized around race, ethnicity, or national origin. The measure would affect the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Conference, and other groups focused on specific social inequities.

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Museum leaders declined to answer Mace’s question about transgender transition, stating it fell outside their responsibilities. No formal response from the House leadership on the caucus-ban resolution has been reported.

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• “Do you know how many kids get raped by adults every year in this country? This kind of thing, when you are dressing men up as women, drag queens, you're putting this kind of crap in front of kids, sexualizes them and makes them more vulnerable to people that want to rape them or abuse them,” — Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace

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• “RuPaul is a man that dresses like a woman, literally,” — Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace

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• “Race-based caucuses are not about diversity. They are segregation sanctioned by the legislative branch of the federal government,” — Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace

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