A House hearing ended abruptly Tuesday after an exchange between a Republican and a Democratic committee member over the GOP chair’s misgendering Rep. Sarah McBride.
At the hearing hosted by the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe, Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, recognized McBride, D-Del., to speak and misgendered her in the process. McBride is the first openly trans member of Congress.
“I now recognize the representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride.”
Without missing a beat, McBride responded by thanking Self and referring to him as “madam chair.”
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The subcommittee’s top Democrat, Rep. Bill Keating, of Massachusetts, then interjected and asked Self to repeat his remarks. After Self doubled down and called McBride “mister,” he said, “We have set the standard on the House floor.”
Keating turned to Self and said those remarks were “not decent.”
“Mr. Chairman, you are out of order,” Keating said. “Mr. Chairman, have you no decency? I mean, I have come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent.”
Self tried to continue the hearing, but Keating stopped him, saying, “You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way.”
In response, Self struck down his gavel and declared the hearing adjourned. As people shuffled out of the room, Keating patted McBride on the shoulder.
The hearing was billed as a discussion of the State Department and policies on arms control, international security and U.S. assistance to Europe.
“I was disappointed that the Chair decided to end a committee hearing early,” McBride said in a statement Tuesday night. “I was prepared to move forward with my questions for the Subcommittee on nuclear nonproliferation and US support for Democratic allies in Europe.”
Spokespeople for Self and Keating did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Self responded to a clip of the confrontation on X, writing, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.”
President Donald Trump used that language in a Jan. 20 executive order declaring that the federal government will only recognize two, unchangeable sexes.
Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., on Feb. 6 referred to McBride as “the gentleman from Delaware” on the House floor. The Congressional Record from that day referred to McBride the same way, writing, “The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. MILLER of Illinois). The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Delaware, Mr. MCBRIDE, for 5 minutes.”
In November, McBride made history by becoming the first out transgender person elected to Congress.
Before she was sworn in, McBride quickly became a target for some Republican lawmakers. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a resolution weeks after McBride was elected banning transgender women from using female bathrooms in the Capitol.
The next day, Mace said her resolution was “absolutely” aimed at McBride.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., informally enacted the bathroom policy in November and renewed it at the start of this year as one of the policies for the 119th Congress.
McBride told NBC News in January that she was not taking the “bait” over the bathroom policy, adding that it was meant to “diminish my capacity to be an effective member of Congress” and that people who secured historic “firsts” like her must “pick their battles.”
