Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are demanding that Speaker Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican, intervene after what they describe as a surge of anti-transgender rhetoric inside the chamber, warning that Republican members have repeatedly violated House rules by using slurs and promoting conspiratorial claims about transgender Americans during official proceedings.Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocates email newsletter.In a letter sent Tuesday, 213 Democrats, including the entire party leadership, told Johnson that his failure to enforce basic standards of conduct has allowed dehumanizing attacks to become routine on the House floor.Related: Donald Trump bizarrely blames transgender rights for looming government shutdownWe write to you to strongly condemn the rise in anti-transgender rhetoric, including from members of Congress, the lawmakers wrote, urging Johnson to ensure members of Congress are following rules of decorum and not using their platforms to demonize and scapegoat transgender people.South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, the Republican running for governor of her state, has been one of the loudest anti-trans voices in Congress. She calls herself a proud transphobe and has used anti-trans slurs to refer to transgender people. She also led an effort to ban Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride, the first out trans member of Congress, from womens spaces on Capitol grounds.The signatories represent one of the broadest coalitions Democrats have assembled this Congress, spanning ideological caucuses and including every member of the Congressional Equality Caucus.Related: Anti-trans Republican Nancy Mace doubles down on dehumanizing transphobic slur during hearingThe letter outlines a series of incidents that Democrats say illustrate a breakdown of institutional norms. According to the lawmakers, a Republican member used an anti-trans slur multiple times during committee hearings and again on the House floor, yet neither the chair nor the speaker pro tempore intervened.The letter also cites calls by members of Congress to institutionalize all transgender people, remarks describing transgender Americans as mentally ill, and false assertions by high-level political figures that transgender people are inherently violent or pose a national security threat.Democrats argue that the rhetoric mirrors a broader political strategy and contributes to real-world harm. This language, coupled with the rising number of legislative and administrative attacks we have seen against the transgender community, is taking a real toll on the transgender community with many members fearing for their safety, the letter states, pointing to 463 reported hate-crime incidents motivated by gender identity bias in 2024, an undercount, they note, due to chronic gaps in law enforcement reporting.Related: Sarah McBride opens up about her darkest day in Congress (exclusive)Transgender people are part of every community, the lawmakers wrote. They are veterans, teachers, and doctors. They are parents, children, and siblings. They are neighbors and friends. They are Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Attacks on the transgender community are attacks on every community. Transgender people deserve government officials who will lift them up, not attack them simply because of who they are.After the 2024 election, in which President Donald Trump leaned heavily on anti-trans messaging, Republicans doubled down on their targeting of the trans community.However, in Virginias November election, voters delivered Democrats sweeping victories across statewide offices and legislative races. Republican candidates had centered their campaigns on trans-focused messaging messaging that voters decisively rejected. Even in competitive districts, attacks on transgender people failed to resonate. For Equality Caucus members, the elections outcome demonstrates that anti-trans platforms are losing traction, even as Republicans in Congress escalate their rhetoric.Texas Congresswoman Julie Johnson, the first LGBTQ+ person elected to Congress from the South and a signatory of the letter, told The Advocate in an interview Tuesday that the rhetoric now flooding the House mirrors the anti-trans strategy she has seen deployed for years on the campaign trail.Related: Sarah McBride explains how Democrats big tent is bisexualI think it was initially successful because people lack understanding of [the trans community] and the struggles that trans people go through, Johnson said. She argued that a deficit of sympathy, empathy, understanding, compassion made transgender people particularly vulnerable to political exploitation. The approach, she noted, echoed Lyndon B. Johnson's famous maxim about convincing one person they are better than another to manipulate them. Trans people, she said, became a very small segment of the population to demonize with and face little electoral blowback.But Julie Johnson believes voters are now recognizing the personal cost of that strategy. Many, she said, realized that their vote to support the Trump administration on the premise of transphobia only translated to harm to themselves economically and with an attack on their own civil rights. She pointed to the recent Virginia results as proof: All those trans ads were unsuccessful. They did not work this time.Related: Sarah McBride slams Republicans for blocking amendments on trans military service in defense billJohnson recounted knocking on a door during her last campaign and meeting a young Latino man still living with his parents. His first question was about boys in girls sports, Johnson said. When she asked why he wasnt instead asking about wages or housing, he told her, I never thought about that. Its just what the ads are. To Johnson, the interaction captured how people got sucked into a narrative of transphobia and they realized that that didnt do them any good.She also said the series of political attacks on transgender people fits a broader pattern: Theyve come for immigrants, for any people of color, for your free speech, for women, for the LGBTQ+ community. Whos left?