Watch a GOP lawmaker get reamed for hateful attack on a colleague
Texas Rep. Keith Self misgendered Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first openly transgender member of Congress, during a hearing on Tuesday but was immediately called out on it.
The act of bigotry occurred during a hearing of the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee, which Self chairs. The Republican lawmaker recognized McBride, referring to her as “Mr. McBride.” McBride, cheekily referred to Self as “Madame Chair” when Democrat Bill Keating of Massachusetts broke in to ask Self to clarify what he had said.
“Could you repeat what you said when you introduced a duly elected representative from the United States of America? Please,” Keating said.
Self replied, “The representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride.”
Clearly angered by the response, Keating said, “Mr. Chairman, you are out of order. Mr. Chairman, have you no decency? I’ve come to know you a little bit but this is not decent.”
“We will continue this hearing,” Self answered.
“You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way,” Keating said, pounding the table with his fist.
Self then banged his gavel and adjourned the hearing. In a follow-up post, Self defended his actions, writing, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.”
Conservative pundit Michael Knowles, who has called for the eradication of transgender people, later said that Self had been scheduled for an appearance on his show following the incident.
The open Republican disdain for McBride’s gender identity was condemned by longtime conservative activist and Bulwark writer Bill Kristol in a Bluesky post.
“I’m neither young nor woke. In fact I’m kind of a stick-in-the-mud,” he wrote. “A few weeks ago, I was at a dinner that included Sarah McBride. We had a pleasant time and interesting conversation. It wasn’t at all a burden to treat her with decency and respect. Republican members of the House might try it.”
Conservatives have been on a crusade against transgender equality over the last decades, and House Republicans have repeatedly attacked McBride since she was elected in 2024.
Speaker Mike Johnson, responding to a demand from South Carolina’s Nancy Mace, segregated congressional bathrooms by “biological sex” in November.
Mary Miller of Illinois, used “gentleman” to refer to McBride when she spoke on the House floor and posted her displeasure, along with Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, when the Congressional Record changed her remarks to “gentlewoman.”
“I refuse to participate in this lie. Tim ‘Sarah’ McBride is a MAN!” she wrote.
Lauren Boebert of Colorado even stalked the bathrooms on Capitol Hill, issuing a false alert that she had seen “a guy” in the women’s bathroom.
Republicans have not only embraced anti-transgender sentiment in rhetoric (and have been joined by a few Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom), but have also pushed policy and legislation meant to restrict transgender equality.
Keating’s decision to stand up to bigoted bullying is the rare occasion where Republicans have had to immediately justify their pro-hate actions.