Reps. Marie Newman and Marjorie Taylor Greene have entered a not-so-friendly beef over the Equality Act, spurred by their close proximity to each other in the halls of Congress.
On Wednesday, Newman posted a video of herself to Twitter planting a transgender flag outside of her office door, which just so happens to be across the hall from Greene’s.
“Our neighbor, @RepMTG, tried to block the Equality Act because she believes prohibiting discrimination against trans Americans is ‘disgusting, immoral, and evil,’” Newman tweeted. “ Thought we’d put up our Transgender flag so she can look at it every time she opens her door.”
Greene was unamused. Hours later, the QAnon queen of Congress posted a Twitter video of herself hanging up a sign outside of her own office door that read, “There are TWO genders: Male & Female. ‘Trust the science!’”
“Our neighbor, @RepMarieNewman, wants to pass the so-called “Equality” Act to destroy women’s rights and religious freedoms,” Greene wrote. “Thought we’d put up ours so she can look at it every time she opens her door.”
It’s unclear whether the “trust the science!” bit is a true call to trust scientists, or whether it’s a pithy double entendre aimed at her critics who have long criticized her for her skepticism of the science behind covid-19 safety procedures and mask mandates (both of which she opposes). Either way, science isn’t actually on Greene’s side here: Scientists have long declared that sex and gender are not the same and there’s mounting vocal opposition from the scientific community against people like Greene using phony science to justify anti-trans rhetoric and policy.
The Equality Act would amend federal civil rights laws to include protections on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Additionally, the Equality Act would prohibit discrimination from government programs, public places, transportation, etc. This means that the hodgepodge of protections, varying from state to state, locality to locality, will be codified on a national level. LGBTQ Americans would, therefore, have the same legal rights in New York City as they would in North Carolina, home of the country’s most notorious bathroom bill, which, until 2019, required transgender people in government and public buildings to use the bathroom that corresponded with their gender assigned at birth.
But these reforms have been met with resistance from the right, bald-faced bigotry dressed up as concern for the future of girls’ athletics and hormone injections.
The Equality Act is expected to pass the Democratic-majority House, but it faces an unknown future in the Senate, which is split 50-50 Democrat and Republican with Vice President Kamala Harris as the lone tie-breaker. To avoid a filibuster, 10 Republicans will need to support the Equality Act as well. It’s a big ask, and as long as the Republican Party is more determined to stick it to the libs than protect American citizens, it’s doubtful that this will be a truly bipartisan measure.