Republicans tried to make a proposed women's museum transphobic. Democrats put a stop to it. - LGBTQ Nation

A bill funding construction of the Smithsonian Institution’s new Women’s History Museum was altered with language banning inclusion of any biological male as a female. The change also limited featured subjects to “biological women” and gave President Trump near total authority over the museum’s location, construction, and content. The bill had previously advanced with bipartisan support, but Democratic women and House Democrats opposed the revised provisions. Lawmakers voted 216-204 to reject the bill, with six Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition. A letter from Democratic caucuses criticized the anti-transgender language as unrelated, potentially enabling arbitrary enforcement, and potentially challenging inclusion of women and girls based on whether they meet a politician’s definition of “feminine.”

"The Democratic Women's Caucus on Thursday helped end a transphobic bill seeking to fund the building of the Smithsonian Institution's new Women's History Museum, after Republicans added language in a bill funding it to ban inclusion of "any biological male as a female." Lawmakers voted 216-204 to reject the bill. Six Republicans joined all Democrats in opposition, Politico reports."

"But in March, Republican members on the Committee on House Administration rewrote the bill, adding provisions that state that only "biological women" could be featured in the museum, and granting President Trump near total authority over its location, construction, and content. The legislation was on track to pass just weeks ago with bipartisan support: 127 Democrats and 103 Republicans cosponsored the bill funding the museum's construction."

""This is just another example of Republicans needlessly adding an anti-transgender provision to an unrelated bill that would impact not just transgender women and girls but all women and girls," the women wrote in April. That provision is "clearly" intended to "target transgender women and girls," the Congress members said, but it also "invites arbitrary enforcement and could be used to challenge the inclusion of any woman or girl a politician deems not 'feminine' enough,'" they added."

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