Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is no stranger to spewing hateful rhetoric. The QAnon congresswoman has gotten attention, for example, by falsely blaming left-wing groups for the Jan. 6 insurrection, suggesting we should ban Democrats who move from voting, and infamously harassing David Hogg, the Parkland shooting survivor and gun safety advocate. Surprising absolutely no one, Greene follows in the discriminatory footsteps of many of her conservative peers by using her considerable platform to promote transphobia.
One recent example? Greene took to Twitter to claim she feels “threatened” by trans women and suggested trans women are “aggressively replacing” cisgender women. She went on to say she’s always been “equal” to cisgender men but “not anymore.” The drama! The hysteria! The hate. What spurred this little social media meltdown? Openly trans Adm. Rachel Levine, who currently serves as the assistant secretary for health for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was recently selected as one of USA Today’s “Women of the Year.”
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Here is that tweet from Greene.
This is far from the first time Greene has used transphobia as a weapon,. For example, back in February 2021, Greene intentionally misgendered the child of Democratic Rep. Marie Newman while debating the Equality Act. Greene tweeted at the time, “As mothers, we all love and support our children, but your biological son does NOT belong in my daughters’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams.” In addition to arguing for trans girls to be kept out of girls’ spaces, Greene also intentionally misgendered Newman’s daughter by referring to her as a “biological son.”
You also might remember when Greene antagonized Newman by hanging an anti-trans sign outside of her office door, which is across the hall from Newman’s.
More recently, as reported by Vice, Greene appeared as a guest on InfoWars to talk with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. While on the show, Greene said that if a trans woman was ever found to be sharing a cabin with her daughter while at a sleepaway camp, her husband would “beat” them to the ground, and then the person would be in jail.
She went on to say, “I don’t think it’s wrong to stand up and say, ‘We aren’t going to tolerate this.” She added that “men” need to get out of “our” bathrooms, sports, and “private places.” Again, trans women aren’t men. Nonbinary people aren’t men. Genderqueer people aren’t men. They’re just not!
More recently, Greene took to Twitter to lash out at Lia Thomas, describing her as “the man destroying women’s sports.” Thomas is a trans woman, not a man, and she is not “destroying” anything. Thomas recently became the first openly trans NCAA Division 1 champion, which is an amazing victory. In spite of the fact that cis women have placed higher than her and she has lost to cisgender women, conservatives are insistent that her win somehow equals the demise of women’s sports. It doesn’t!
If you find yourself getting caught up in the weeds, especially when it comes to trans women in sports, please remember: This is what conservatives want. There is nothing wrong with a trans woman winning at a women’s sport. There is nothing wrong with a trans woman receiving a scholarship. There is nothing wrong with a trans woman competing and placing anywhere from last to first place.
Conservatives are looking for every possible angle to discriminate and exclude vulnerable folks, and this time, their focus is on trans women. That’s all it is.