‘Proud transphobe’ Nancy Mace targets RuPaul & Congressional Black Caucus on her way out of Congress

As South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace’s time in Congress winds down, she’s taking swipes at RuPaul’s place in history and the Congressional Black Caucus’ place in Congress.

In one of Mace’s more bizarre assaults on LGBTQ people, she displayed photos of RuPaul during a congressional hearing. The images came from an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Citing a recent White House report that criticized the museum for including LGBTQ figures and media in its exhibits, Mace attacked Smithsonian leaders specifically for featuring RuPaul.

“Do you know how many kids get raped by adults every year in this country? This kind of thing, when you are dressing men up as women, drag queens, you're putting this kind of crap in front of kids, sexualizes them and makes them more vulnerable to people that want to rape them or abuse them,” Mace said.

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She went on to ask whether Smithsonian leaders believed transgender people could transition. The officials responded that the question was outside the scope of their work. Mace then attacked RuPaul, who is not transgender, by name. “RuPaul is a man that dresses like a woman, literally,” Mace said.

Other drag queens who have appeared on RuPaul's Drag Race have already threatened to sue Mace over the remarks.

But Mace didn’t limit her attacks this week to the LGBTQ community. She also targeted lawmakers of color who organize around issues affecting minority communities. The lawmaker, who recently lost a bid for the South Carolina governor’s race, coming fifth place during the Republican primary, introduced a House resolution this week that would bar the formation of congressional caucuses organized around race, ethnicity or national origin.

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That would eliminate the Congressional Black Caucus, which has historically been dominated by Democrats, but it would also affect bipartisan organizations like the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, as well as Republican-only groups like the Congressional Hispanic Conference. It would also dismantle groups focused on specific social inequities affecting racial minorities, such as the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys Caucus.

"Race-based caucuses are not about diversity. They are segregation sanctioned by the legislative branch of the federal government," Mace said in a statement released by her office.

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"You do not get to lecture America about inclusion while running an organization checking skin color at the door or advocating for Americans of one race over another. It is discrimination under the guise of diversity. Our resolution calls it what it is and shuts it down for good."

Mace, who has gone from telling CBS News she was “pro-transgender rights” in 2021 to attempting to follow transgender colleagues into public restrooms, has also provoked intense reactions. Roxie Wolfe, a transgender woman, was recently arrested by South Carolina authorities after threatening in a post on X to shoot Mace. Wolfe was later sentenced to house arrest after pleading guilty to the charge, according to a derisive report in right-wing publication The Daily Caller.