What began as a bipartisan effort to create a Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum has collapsed into another battle in the ongoing culture war against transgender inclusion. The U.S. House voted 216-204 recently against legislation that would advance plans for the museum on the National Mall, according to Politico.
The legislation previously had bipartisan support, but Democrats pulled their backing after Republicans added language restricting the museum to the history of “biological women” and prohibiting exhibits that depict “any biological male as a female.” Republicans argued the restrictions were necessary to preserve women’s history, while Democrats accused GOP lawmakers of turning the museum into another cultural battleground.
According to NBC Washington, the revised bill would have prohibited the museum from recognizing transgender women in exhibits or programming. The museum was originally authorized by Congress in 2020 after years of advocacy from historians, educators and women’s organizations. Supporters envisioned the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum as a long-overdue institution dedicated to preserving and celebrating the contributions of women throughout U.S. history.
The Smithsonian already includes museums dedicated to groups historically excluded from mainstream versions of American history, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian. Congress authorized the women’s history museum alongside the planned National Museum of the American Latino in 2020, reflecting broader efforts to recognize how entire groups of people have historically been marginalized, erased or excluded from public historical narratives.
According to The Washington Times, six Republicans ultimately joined Democrats in opposing the legislation, helping sink the bill despite Republican leadership support. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican sponsor of the legislation, defended the restrictions in a statement published on her congressional website, arguing the museum should focus exclusively on women “born female.”
Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocates argued the added language undermined the museum’s original purpose by excluding groups of people whose lives have also been shaped by discrimination tied to gender identity. They contend a museum focused on women’s history should create space for conversations about how gender has affected people socially, legally, politically and economically. It would be fair to say that those conversations should include transgender, intersex and gender-diverse people, who have also faced exclusion in the United States.
Supporters originally envisioned the museum as a space to examine how women have historically been excluded from political, legal and cultural power in the United States. Critics of the Republican-backed restrictions argue the current debate exposes a deeper contradiction: creating a museum centered on historical exclusion while continuing to deny visibility to transgender, intersex and gender-diverse people whose lives have also been shaped by discrimination and erasure in American society.
