Marjorie Taylor Greene. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), recently condemned for speaking at a conference hosted by white nationalist Nick Fuentes, had choice words over the weekend for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Buttigieg, telling them to “stay out of girls’ bathrooms.”
“And you know what?” Greene said at a rally headlined by former President Donald Trump, as reported by Rolling Stone, “Pete Buttigieg can take his electric vehicles and his bicycles and he and his husband can stay out of our girls’ bathrooms.”
Taylor, who lost her committee assignment after being seated in Congress for embracing QAnon conspiracy theories, chose the Buttigiegs as the targets for her message even though neither the gay Cabinet official nor his husband have any direct relationship to the issue of access to bathrooms by transgender people.
The mention of electric vehicles and bicycles appears to be a reference to Buttigieg’s recent comments urging American drivers to consider alternative fuel vehicles in response to concerns about rising gas prices.
Rolling Stone speculates on her meaning in a bit of editorializing: “It’s impossible to know what exactly Greene means by this. It could be a dog whistle for devotees of any number of bigoted slurs, conspiracies, and stereotypes, but the details don’t really matter. Making ugly, dumb statements is her profession, and rewarding ugly, dumb statements is the modern GOP’s modus operandi, and so she’ll keep doing it.”
Greene also included University of Pennsylvania athlete Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who this month became an NCAA swimming champion, among the targets in her remarks to the Trump-supportive crowd.
“Yeah, and Lia Thomas? Lia’s going to remember his name is William, and he needs to go back to men’s swimming, because we’re going to kick the biological men out of the women’s sports,” Greene said.
The Washington Blade has placed a request with the Department of Transportation seeking comment on Greene’s words for Buttigieg.
