The legislative push to establish a Smithsonian museum focused on women’s history had finally seemed to be gaining momentum — a rare bipartisan effort in a deeply polarized Congress. Then, Republican Rep. Mary Miller introduced an amendment in March that cost the bill all its Democratic support in Thursday’s House vote.
Miller, from Illinois, added the amendment to the bill in the Committee on House Administration, denying the inclusion of transgender women in the museum and giving President Donald Trump the ability to choose an alternate location for the museum if he deems the chosen one unfit. The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino, which had moved in tandem with the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum since its authorization in 2020, was also left behind.
“The Museum may not identify, present, describe, or otherwise depict any biological male as female,” the amendment reads.