Transgender & LGBTQ Policy
Mace's record on transgender and LGBTQ issues, from early statements on marriage equality to her high-profile campaigns against transgender women in congressional bathrooms.
CNN's report on Mace's House resolution barring transgender women from Congressional women's restrooms, and Rep. Sarah McBride's response, November 2024. (Source: CNN, via YouTube.)
Nancy Mace has made transgender and LGBTQ policy one of her most prominent legislative focuses. In 2024 she led the campaign to bar transgender Representative-elect Sarah McBride from using women's restrooms in the House office buildings, framing it as a matter of biological sex and women's safety, an effort that drew both strong support from House Republican leadership and significant criticism from Democrats and LGBTQ advocates. McBride, her colleagues, and civil-rights groups disputed Mace's characterizations.
Mace has repeatedly used the term "tranny" in congressional hearings, floor speeches, press availabilities, and on social media, defending the word as accurate rather than a slur. The usage has generated formal objections from Democratic colleagues and LGBTQ organizations; Mace has declined to retract the language.
Earlier in her congressional career, Mace supported same-sex marriage and described herself as a champion of LGBTQ equality. She voted for the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 while simultaneously criticizing what she labeled "gender madness." Supporters call her positions consistent; critics describe the combination as contradictory. All allegations, contested characterizations, and ongoing disputes remain unresolved unless otherwise noted.
In June 2026, after Mace's fifth-place finish in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary, QnotesCarolinas published a political profile that explicitly tied her failed governor run to the public arc from earlier LGBTQ-rights positioning to her later anti-transgender bathroom and language campaign. The piece is useful as outside LGBTQ press coverage of the arc; its sharper headline framing is Qnotes' own characterization, not a Maceopedia finding.
Outside coverage
On the Record
"262 times in 36 hours": Mace's X habit becomes the story
On November 20, 2024, former Mace communications director Natalie Johnson called out the sheer volume of Nancy Mace's X posts about the Capitol bathroom fight, writing that Mace had tweeted 262 times in 36 hours about a bill aimed at one incoming member of Congress. The post became a clean public marker for a broader pattern: X posts flagged for hateful conduct, official-account replies aimed at private citizens, and later disputed reporting that former staffers were told to use burner accounts to boost her online.
Mace targets Celeste Keaton with anti-LGBTQ slur on X
On July 31, 2026, from her personal X account, Rep. Nancy Mace posted a photo of a named individual, Celeste Keaton, and wrote 'She looks like a dyke,' using an anti-LGBTQ slur that runs against X's own hateful-conduct policy. Maceopedia documents the post as part of Mace's public language record. Maceopedia has not independently verified, and does not repeat as fact, the separate allegation Mace attached about the individual.
Nancy Mace's Top 10 Most Viral Moments: the makeup-store meltdown, the tattoo reveal, and the eight spikes in between, by Google Trends
A ranked scoreboard of the ten moments that sent Nancy Mace's name up the Google Trends chart, from a cell-phone video of her cursing out a constituent in a makeup store to this month's tattoo reveal. Each moment is dated, sourced, scored by search interest, and shown with its own trend graph. The through-line: not one of the ten spikes is a law she passed.
Anti-Trans Mace Shows Up at a Dorchester School Board Meeting to Back Parents Protesting a Transgender Teacher
On the night of August 18, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace turned up at a Dorchester School District Four board meeting to back families protesting a fourth-grade teacher who is transitioning genders. 'These parents who are here tonight, they care,' Mace told the board during public comment, adding that 'these families are here because you know accommodations were made.' About ten people spoke. No South Carolina law bars a transgender person from teaching, and the district said it is legally obligated to respect its employees' rights. The ACLU of South Carolina said transgender teachers 'have every right to show up in the classroom without being harassed or intimidated.' The appearance drops a sitting member of Congress into a local school fight and fits Mace's long, self-documented record of anti-transgender statements. First reported by Live 5 News (WCSC).
"There is no such thing as a trans kid," then "This": Mace endorses a follower's "just fcked up parents" reply
On August 4, 2026, at 2:30 PM ET, Rep. Nancy Mace posted on her official congressional X account, @RepNancyMace: 'There is no such thing as a trans kid.' The standalone post drew roughly 22,000 likes and about 880 replies. The next afternoon, August 5, Mace quote-tweeted one of the replies to it, a message from the account @GuntherEagleman that read 'Just fcked up parents,' and added a single word of her own: 'This.' Mace did not write the 'fcked up parents' line herself; a follower did, and she endorsed it by quote-tweeting it. Both of Mace's posts sit on her official House account and fit a cluster of statements she made about transgender people across late July and early August 2026. This dispatch reproduces every post verbatim, embeds them, and takes no position of its own.
"If you think your child is trans, your child should be removed from your home to safety": Mace's July 26 post
On July 26, 2026, at 2:55 PM ET, Rep. Nancy Mace posted on her personal X account, @NancyMace: 'If you think your child is trans, your child should be removed from your home to safety.' The standalone post, carrying no article or event, drew roughly 8,300 likes and about 400 replies. It is one of a cluster of Mace statements about transgender people posted across late July 2026, and sits atop a record that runs from her November 2024 Capitol bathroom resolution through her September 2025 'straitjacket' remarks.
"Not Chopping Their Dicks Off": Mace's Entire On-Camera Answer on Military Healthcare. Her Amendment Was Later Stripped Anyway.
Rep. Nancy Mace celebrated a House vote restricting TRICARE gender-affirming care coverage by posting "Our military should be focused on troop readiness, not chopping their dicks off", then yelled at a Democratic colleague on the House floor and followed up by attacking her nose on social media.
Two threat sentencings in one day: the woman who sent kill texts went home until prison. The teenager who posted one tweet sat in jail 14 months.
On July 21, 2026, both pending threat cases against Nancy Mace ended. Shayla Addison, who sent five kill texts, a bomb-threat email, and two Instagram comments and had a record of nearly identical threats, was never jailed pretrial and got 27 months. Samuel Cain, a Greenville trans teenager who posted a single tweet that agencies reportedly could not tie to any weapon or plan, had already served roughly 14 months without bond and left with house arrest, five years of probation, and a permanent internet ban. Mace posted through all of it.
"Which version of Nancy Mace will we get?": a nonbinary creator turns Mace's Senate flirtation into a software-update bit
On July 19, 2026, the YouTube and TikTok creator who posts as @defenestrans published an 85-second Short arguing that Nancy Mace's politics track her audience rather than her convictions, staged as a running joke about software updates. 'Nancy Mace has successfully upgraded to MAGA 5.0,' the host says, before running through 'Factory settings Nancy, District 1 Nancy, Governor's race Nancy, Senate DLC Nancy' and closing: 'I think she just has auto update on, and somehow every new version has more bugs than the last.' Two factual claims in the clip check out: Mace finished fifth in the June 9 Republican gubernatorial primary with 12.1 percent, and she has said on the record she will look at Lindsey Graham's Senate seat. The characterizations are the creator's own; Mace has not responded to the video.
The "confirm what genitals" meme
A user-submitted image macro places a bathroom-stall photo beside a quote attributed to Nancy Mace: "I need to confirm what genitals you have. I don't want you making ME uncomfortable."
Qnotes frames Mace's anti-trans turn and primary collapse
QnotesCarolinas published a June 25, 2026 political profile connecting Nancy Mace's fifth-place South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary finish to her high-profile anti-transgender campaign, her Trump/Epstein break, the House Ethics/OCC reimbursement referral, and criticism from former staffers and Republicans. The headline and sharper labels are Qnotes' own framing.
"Lost in Trans-lation": health journalist Gary Schwitzer gives Mace his 4th Health News Pinocchio Award for confusing transgenic with transgender mice
On June 23, 2026, health journalist Gary Schwitzer awarded Nancy Mace his 4th Health News Pinocchio Award for repeatedly confusing transgenic mice (a standard cancer-research tool) with transgender mice, and doubling down after public correction. His verdict: standing by a mistruth several times, even after being publicly corrected, and doing so on multiple platforms is noteworthy.
Irish Star: Mace 'eviscerated' over 'trans mice' as replies pile up
The Irish Star rounds up the viral reaction to Nancy Mace's June 18, 2026 'TRANS MICE Act' post, which claimed the American taxpayer is funding experiments on 'trans mice.' The piece collects the X replies and quote-posts correcting her (transgenic, not transgender), reproduces the community note appended to the post, and quotes Mace's clapback defending the bill. The 'dumbest member of Congress' and 'bozo' framing is the commenters' and the outlet's own characterization.
The Poke: Mace mistook cancer-research mice for 'transgender experiments'
The Poke, a UK comedy and satire site, covers Nancy Mace's June 18, 2026 post promoting her 'TRANS MICE Act,' which declared that 'animals should not be used for radical transgender experiments.' The piece's own one-line summary states that Mace 'mistook transgenic experiments for cancer research for transgender experiments,' and collects the replies correcting her. The harsher framing in the headline is the outlet's own commentary.
"Radical transgender experiments": Nancy Mace's "TRANS MICE Act" goes to war with the transgenic lab mice scientists use to study cancer
On June 18, 2026, Nancy Mace promoted her 'TRANS MICE Act' on X, declaring that 'animals should not be used for radical transgender experiments' and calling it 'ideological cruelty.' The bill, H.R.4512, is real. So is the problem: the mice are transgenic, not transgender. Transgenic mice are genetically modified rodents used to study cancer, endometriosis, infertility and other diseases. Scientists and the research-advocacy group Americans for Medical Progress say the studies have nothing to do with gender identity. The post went viral as a self-own; the photo Mace attached is a standard transgenic research mouse.
Nancy Mace Introduces Bill To Separate Gubernatorial Races By Gender
Satire. The Onion, a comedy publication, imagines Nancy Mace responding to her fifth-place finish in the South Carolina governor's primary by proposing to segregate gubernatorial elections by gender, a send-up of the bathroom-bill politics that defined her House tenure. No such bill exists.
Trans People Saw the Nancy Mace Crack-Up Coming Long, Long Ago
The New Republic argues that Mace's anti-transgender rhetoric and subsequent personal controversies fit a documented pattern in which intense anti-trans campaigning by public figures has historically preceded broader public unravelings.
Mace posts 'Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve' during governor run
While campaigning for South Carolina governor, Mace posted the anti-same-sex-marriage slogan 'Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve', three years after voting for the Respect for Marriage Act.
Mace to D.C. Mayor Bowser: 'What is a woman?'
During a September 18, 2025 House committee hearing, Mace pressed D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on the definition of 'woman' under the D.C. Code.
Mace says transgender people 'are violently ill and should be in a straitjacket with a hard steel lock on it'
On September 16, 2025, in a street interview first reported via Don Lemon's Bluesky, Mace called Tyler Robinson, the man arrested for Kirk's assassination, 'radicalized' by the transgender community, and said trans people should be institutionalized.
Mace speculates before any arrest that Kirk's shooter 'was a tranny or pro-tranny'
On September 11, 2025, before any suspect was arrested in Charlie Kirk's assassination, Mace told reporters the killer was likely transgender, based on nothing; the man later arrested had a partner who was reportedly transitioning.
Mace shouts 'What the hell is your problem? You are disgusting' at Rep. Jacobs on House floor, then offers surgeon referral on X
During defense-bill debate on September 10, 2025, Mace shouted at Rep. Sara Jacobs on the House floor, then followed up on X offering Jacobs a referral to a plastic surgeon.
Mace repeats anti-trans slur at USC student who asked her to apologize: 'Is tr*nny really derogatory?'
At a Turning Point USA campus event, a 20-year-old transgender USC student asked Mace to apologize for using an anti-trans slur; Mace responded by questioning whether the term is derogatory and repeating it.
"A-E-I-O-U Instead of L-G-B-T-Q": A Pre-K Teacher's Reply to Nancy Mace Goes Viral
On April 14, 2025, Rep. Nancy Mace posted on X that she wants kids to learn about "A-E-I-O-U instead of L-G-B-T-Q." A pre-K teacher, Zoë Rose Bryant, replied that the alphabet is already in the curriculum and that her class was "working on S-T-F-U" that week. The exchange went viral.
Mace asks Iowa crowd for permission to use anti-trans slur, then repeats it three times
On April 11, 2025, speaking at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, Mace asked the audience whether she could say the anti-transgender slur, then repeated it three times to laughter while praising Iowa for removing transgender people as a protected class.
Mace posts 'Estrogen doesn't love you' at a transgender influencer
From her official congressional X account, Mace replied 'Estrogen doesn't love you' to a transgender influencer's transition photo; the post drew roughly 15 million views.
Mace pins clip of herself repeating slur with caption: 'Rumor has it, saying it three times summons a Leftist meltdown'
In February 2025, Mace pinned a clip of herself repeating an anti-transgender slur three times at a House hearing to her official congressional X account, captioning it as a joke about triggering political opponents.
Mace tells Rep. Connolly she won't be 'counseled by a man over men and women's spaces'
Continuing her exchange with Rep. Connolly at the February 5 Oversight hearing, Mace said she would not take guidance from a man on gendered spaces and characterized transgender women as having 'mental health issues.'
Mace repeats anti-trans slur three times on hearing record after colleague's objection: 'Tr*nny, tr*nny, tr*nny!'
When Rep. Gerry Connolly raised a parliamentary objection to Mace's use of an anti-transgender slur, she repeated it three times on the record at the same House Oversight hearing.
Mace opens USAID hearing with anti-trans slur: 'Does this advance the interests of American citizens, paying for tr*****s in Guatemala?'
At a House Oversight Committee hearing on USAID foreign spending, Mace opened with a question using a slur directed at transgender people.
Rep. Nancy Mace Threatens Media For Reporting On Handshake She Says Was Assault
After media reported eyewitnesses contradicted Mace's assault account of the McIntyre incident, Mace went on far-right media to threaten defamation suits against any outlet that questioned her version of events, a threat that was itself widely covered as an attempt to intimidate journalists.
Illinois man arrested, accused of attacking Rep. Nancy Mace on Capitol grounds
James McIntyre, 33, of Illinois was arrested and charged with assaulting a government official after a confrontation with Mace at the Rayburn House Office Building; Capitol Police said McIntyre shook Mace's hand 'in an exaggerated, aggressive' manner while saying 'Trans youth deserve advocacy,' though a witness described the encounter as 'a passionate shake' rather than an assault.
This GOP Rep. May Have Lied About Trans Activist Attacking Her
New Republic report citing three eyewitnesses who said McIntyre simply shook Mace's hand and asked her to support trans youth, directly contradicting her claim of physical assault. Published the day before Mace's media-threat appearance.
Mace tweet: 'I was physically accosted at the Capitol tonight by a pro-tr*ns man. FAFO.'
On December 10, 2024, Mace posted on X alleging she had been physically accosted at the Capitol by a 'pro-tr*ns man'; Capitol Police arrested foster-care advocate James McIntyre, whose charges were later dropped in April 2025.
Rep. Nancy Mace's posts flagged for hateful conduct amid anti-transgender campaign
X flagged multiple posts by Mace for violating its hateful conduct policies after she used language critics characterized as an anti-transgender slur when referring to protesters outside the Supreme Court; GLAAD noted that identical posts on Instagram remained unmoderated.
Mace posts on X: 'If tr*****s is considered a slur then cis should be too'
The day after posting a video mocking arrested transgender protesters with a slur, Mace posted on X defending her word choice by arguing the term 'cis' should be treated the same way.
Mace mocks arrested transgender activists with anti-trans slur in Capitol video post
After transgender activists were arrested at a Capitol sit-in protesting her bathroom bill, Mace posted a video using a slur to describe them.
Bathroom Obsessive Nancy Mace Called Herself 'Pro-Transgender Rights' Just Last Year
Rolling Stone documented the sharp contradiction between Mace's 2023 'pro-transgender rights' and 'be who you want to be' statements and her 2024 campaign to ban trans women from Capitol bathrooms, specifically targeting Rep.-elect Sarah McBride.
Mace invokes rape survival to justify bathroom bill targeting Rep.-elect McBride: 'Yes and absolutely, and then some'
On November 19, 2024, Mace cited her own history as a rape and domestic-abuse survivor as justification for her transgender bathroom resolution, and confirmed directly that it targeted Rep.-elect Sarah McBride.
Mace on transgender bathroom resolution: 'This is the last war on women and I aim to stop it'
On November 19, 2024, Mace introduced a House resolution barring transgender women from Capitol restrooms the week before Rep.-elect Sarah McBride was to be sworn in as the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
Rep. Nancy Mace says her anti-trans bathroom bill 'absolutely' targets Rep.-elect Sarah McBride
NBC confirmed Mace's own admission that her Capitol bathroom resolution directly targeted Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. The candid admission generated sustained national criticism.
Mace posts 'McBride, a biological male, does not get a say in women's private spaces' and 'if you have balls we don't want you in the women's bathroom'
Mace posted two statements on Instagram and social media targeting Rep.-elect Sarah McBride while promoting her Capitol bathroom-access resolution in November 2024.
Mace on Respect for Marriage Act: 'If gay couples want to be as happily or miserably married as straight couples, more power to them'
On July 19, 2022, Mace tweeted in support of the Respect for Marriage Act after voting yes as one of 47 House Republicans, making a self-deprecating joke about her own multiple marriages, a stance she publicly reversed in October 2025.