Representative Sarah McBride — the first transgender member of Congress — had to lobby Republicans to kill the anti-transgender bill because she knew her Democratic colleagues would abandon her.
On Wednesday, the House voted 216-211 to pass MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's legislation to criminalize gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for patients under 18, subjecting health care workers to prison for up to 10 years. The law also provides for criminal liability for parents. Three Democrats—Texas Representatives Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, and North Carolina Representative Don Davis—were expected to vote for the bill along with Republicans (and did). So McBride pulled to the right.
“We are most interested in the faction, right?” Democratic Party representative Becca Balint, co-chair of the Equality faction, told NOTUS. “But we also suspected that we might lose some Democratsso Sarah said, “Look, I'm going to get votes wherever I can.” She will talk to anyone.”
Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Lawler, Mike Kennedy and Gabe Evans voted with McBride and the rest of the Democratic Party against the bill.
Although McBride did not detail her discussions with these representatives, this surprising moment of bipartisan interaction demonstrates the rifts and contradictions within both parties on the issues of transgender rights and gender-affirming care in particular.
