House Speaker Mike Johnson made a clarification on Tuesday after previously declining to answer a reporter’s question on whether transgender Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., is a man or a woman.
“I just want to make a statement for all of you here and be very clear: I was asked a question this morning at the leadership gaggle, and I rejected the premise because the answer is so obvious,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol Tuesday afternoon. “For anybody who doesn’t know my well-established record on this issue, let me be unequivocally clear: A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman.”
“That said, I also believe that’s what Scripture teaches, what I just said. But I also believe that we treat everybody with dignity, and so we can do and believe all those things at the same time,” he added. “And I wanted to make that clear for everybody because there are lots of questions. But that’s where I stand. I’ve stood there my whole life, and those are facts.”
At the House GOP weekly press conference earlier Tuesday, a reporter had asked Johnson, “Is freshman elect Sarah McBride a man or a woman?”
JOHNSON DECLINES TO SAY IF TRANSGENDER REP-ELECT IS MAN OR WOMAN, SAYS HOUSE TO TREAT EVERYONE WITH ‘RESPECT’
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a press conference alongside other House GOP leadership at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 19, 2024. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Look, I’m not going to get into this. We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people,” Johnson responded. “I believe it’s a … command that we treat all persons with dignity and respect, and we will.”
The question came after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a resolution on Monday that moves to prohibit members, officers and employees of the House from using “single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., arrives for a House…
