Two members of Congress took the debate on the Equality Act out of the living room and into the hallway outside their offices. Nadat rep. Marie Newman placed a transgender pride flag outside her office, opposite rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Greene put up an anti-trans sign outside of her own, causing a setback.
Newman, an Illinois Democrat with a transgender daughter, on Wednesday criticized the Republican Greene of Georgia for its opposition to the Equality Act – a comprehensive anti-discrimination bill that would extend the protection of civil rights to LGBTQ people through discrimination on prohibit grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Greene a motion to postpone the House Wednesday in an effort to delay the passage of the bill. However, the motion was denied. She also spoke against the bill on the house floor, and said that it should be eliminated and that she is concerned that transgender girls and women may participate in girls’ and women’s sporting events.
Newman later shared a video on Twitter showing her placing a transgender pride flag outside her office. “Our neighbor, @RepMTG, tried to block the Equality Act because she believes it is prohibitive, immoral and evil to ban discrimination against Trans-Americans.” “Thought we would put up our Transgender flag so she could look at it every time she opened her door,” Newman wrote in the tweet.
Hours later, Greene posted her own video. In it she hangs a sign that reads: “There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE.” Trust science! ‘
“Our neighbor, @RepMarieNewman, wants to pass the so-called ‘equality law’ to destroy women’s rights and religious freedoms. “I thought we were putting ours up so she could look at it every time she opened her door,” Greene tweeted.
Some lawmakers, including Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), have fallen back online. They responded to Greene’s video by writing, “It’s sad and I’m sorry it happened. Rep. Newmans’ daughter is transgender, and this video and tweet represents the hate- and fame-driven politics of self-promotion at all costs. This garbage must end up in #RestoreOurGOP. “
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) tweeted: “Delightful, pathetic, unimaginably cruel. This hatred is exactly why the #EqualityAct is needed and what we need to protect @RepMarieNewmandaughter and all our LGBTQ + loved ones against. “
Others, including Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) and Rep. Raj Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), also criticized Greene for calling Newman’s daughter her ‘biological son’ in a tweet.
“There’s no lower low than going after someone’s children,” Waxton tweeted.
CBS News contacted Greene and Newman for comment.
Greene is a controversial figure in politics who was recently deprived of her committee positions over her previous embrace of conspiracy theories and her social media activity before she was elected to Congress. She was one of the biggest opponents of the Equality Act, which is the House will be expected to pass Thursday.
The bill extends existing federal laws without discrimination, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equitable Housing Act, to confirm that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is unlawful discrimination based on sex.
Speaking in support of the Equality in the House Act this week, Newman mentions her daughter, who ‘bravely reached out to her parents years ago as a transgender’. Newman said she knows that without this act, her daughter could be discriminated against in many countries.
“Without the Equality Act, millions of Americans, like my daughter, could be denied housing, education, and more simply because they identify themselves as transgender,” Newman said. wrote on Twitter, shares a clip from her speech on the House floor “I agree to pass the Equality Act for my daughter – the strongest, bravest person I know.”