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STORY: A Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a bill aimed at blocking the chamber's first openly transgender member from using women's bathrooms. Representative Nancy Mace's bill would prohibit House members and employees from using bathrooms "other than those corresponding to their biological sex." "I want to make sure that no men are in women's private spaces."On social media, Mace called her bill "common sense", and referred to transgender women as "men in a mini skirt."The move comes weeks after the election to the House of Democrat Sarah McBride, a transgender woman.McBride said the new bill was a "blatant attempt" by Republicans "to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing." Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries called the bill "bullying," "This is what we're doing? This is the lesson that you've drawn from the election in November? This is your priority, that you want to bully a member of Congress, as opposed to welcoming her to join this body so that all of us can work together to get things done and deliver real results for the American people?”Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson declined to say how he would handle the issue at a press conference on Tuesday. "I'm not going to engage in silly debates about this."Transgender rights have become a political flashpoint in the U.S. Reuters reported that lawmakers in 37 states introduced at least 142 bills to restrict gender-affirming healthcare for transgender and gender-expansive people in 2023. That’s nearly three times as many as the previous year.