Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) did not take kindly to a Democrat’s description of Republicans.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing focused on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Thursday, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) took issue with his Republican colleagues’ comments about the transgender community.
“I do want to focus on just all the comments that have been made regarding gender-affirming care and the transgender community,” Gomez began.
He continued, “And the reason why is that, you know, this, I think, is a deliberate attack on this community. It’s not just in this committee, it’s the budget committee, it’s in appropriations, it’s in floor speeches. It is a concerted strategy by the Republican majority to scapegoat this community. And they’re just being, in my opinion, bullies.”
Gomez went on:
“You’re picking a fight, literally, with one of the most marginalized, one of the most discriminated groups in our country. You know, that’s who they’re picking a fight with … It has one of the highest rates of suicide. It has one of the highest rates of unemployment. It has one of the highest rates of poverty. And it has one of the highest rates of homelessness.”
Finally, Gomez said, “I find it personally offensive when they continuously go after this community. You’re not being tough. You’re not being patriots. You’re being bullies. And I think that they need to stop.”
Watch the video below:
“You’re not being tough. You’re not being patriots. You’re being bullies.”
— The Recount (@therecount) March 9, 2023
— Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) slams Republicans for their “deliberate attack” against the transgender community, citing high rates of suicide, unemployment, poverty, and homelessness pic.twitter.com/RTvZ1Z4EWn
Mace took issue with his decision to cast Republicans as bullies.
She criticized the term “gender-affirming care” and OPM’s failure to share whether the federal government “funds sex-change surgery on kids.”
“Some on the Left are calling that gender-affirming care,” Mace said, adding, “Quite frankly, it’s worse than that. There’s no scientific data to support it. And just because someone doesn’t agree with chopping off the private parts of a 15-year-old doesn’t mean we’re bullying children — I find it ridiculous.”
Watch her comments below:
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC): “I find it offensive that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are calling us bullies because we don’t want to chop off the breasts of a 15-year-old girl.” pic.twitter.com/Zgnt89NuED
— The Recount (@therecount) March 9, 2023
Mace went on to suggest adults should “do whatever you want to do,” but added, “By God, don’t do it to our kids.”
Finally, she said, “I find it offensive that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are calling us bullies because we don’t want to chop off the breasts of a 15-year-old girl, and we certainly don’t want the federal government funding it.”
The World Health Organization describes gender-affirming care as a social, psychological, behavioral, and medical interventions “designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity.”