House rejects Smithsonian women's museum bill after GOP bans 'biological men' from exhibits

Earlier DU thread: Women's museum bill defeated in House

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Source: Associated Press

House rejects Smithsonian women’s museum bill after GOP bans ‘biological men’ from exhibits

By LISA MASCARO
Updated 10:13 PM EDT, May 21, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — What started as a widely backed proposal to locate a new Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall devolved into a partisan fight Thursday after Republicans revised the legislation to ensure no transgender people are included in the exhibits.

The House rejected the bill, 204-216, an outcome that leaves the next steps uncertain. The revised bill also would ban a “diversity” of views and give President Donald Trump the final say on where the museum would be located.

“It was a simple bill. You kind of ruined it with your trans obsession and your culture wars,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat from New Mexico and chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said earlier in the week.

But Republicans argued it was Democrats who were overreacting to the changes and now threatening progress toward establishing the long-sought women’s museum in the nation’s capital.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/smithsonian-womens-museum-congress-4438121d50e698916471eaba451f3f8e