"Have you no decency?": Congressional committee hearing abruptly ends after McBride misgendered

Rep. Bill Keating refused to allow a meeting to proceed until the chair addressed Rep. Sarah McBride correctly

Published March 11, 2025 7:38PM (EDT)

Sarah McBride, Democrat running for Delaware's Congressional seat, is seen on the second night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Tuesday, August 20, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sarah McBride, Democrat running for Delaware's Congressional seat, is seen on the second night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Tuesday, August 20, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Rep. Sarah McBride might be willing to let the some Republican slights roll off her back, but not all of her fellow Democrats are willing to tolerate the disrespect.

Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., during a Tuesday meeting of the House's Europe Subcommittee after Chair Keith Self, R-Texas, misgendered McBride.

"I now recognize the representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride," Self said. 

McBride thanked the chair, calling them "madam," and began to speak before Keating demanded that McBride be addressed correctly. 

"Mr. Chairman, you are out of order. Have you no decency? I've come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent," Keating said.

Self attempted to continue the hearing before Keating jumped in again.

"You will not continue [this hearing] with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way," Keating said. 

Rather than give in, Self banged his gavel and ended the hearing.

The Democrat from Delaware is the first openly transgender member of Congress, which has earned her no end of mistreatment from her Republican coworkers. Shortly before she took her seat on Capitol Hill, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., amended House rules to require that lawmakers use bathrooms in line with their "biological sex." Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has used McBride's time in Congress as a springboard to slots on conservative talk shows, where she can openly espouse anti-trans bigotry while getting in valuable national face time.

McBride, for her part, has said the Republican trans panic is nothing more than a distraction from the unpopular parts of the Republican agenda. 

"Every single time we hear them say the word 'trans,' look what they're doing with their right hand," she told CBS' "Face The Nation" in November. "Look at what they're doing to pick the pocket of American workers, to fleece seniors by privatizing Social Security and Medicare."


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