Fifteen transgender-supporting activists who took over a women’s bathroom in the Cannon Office Building were arrested on Thursday at the Capitol.
The activists, organized by Gender Liberation Movement, occupied a bathroom across from Speaker Mike Johnson’s office and chanted “Bathroom bigotry’s got to go!” and other slogans.
They videoed themselves dancing and prancing in the women’s bathroom in defiance of Johnson’s recent ban on men using women’s bathrooms and locker rooms in Capitol buildings. Among those arrested were Chelsea Manning, the male-to-female transgender former U.S. Army soldier who was once charged with 22 offenses, of which he was convicted and served time for aiding an enemy.
Johnson’s policy is that “All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings (like restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms) are reserved only for individuals of that biological sex.”
The policy was in response to members being concerned that incoming member Sarah McBride of Delaware will be soon sworn in as a Delaware congressman. McBride is a transgender who identifies and appears to be a woman, the first openly trans to serve in Congress.
Gender Liberation Movement posted in a statement saying “This bathroom sit-in sets an example of the righteous defiance and solidarity needed under a second Trump administration. Cis, trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming folks will have to defend, protect, and fight alongside each other. For this action, cis and trans women demanded an end to bathroom bigotry and preservation of our shared spaces while cis and trans men blocked and protected the entrance to the bathroom. Survivors of sexual violence also demanded that anti-trans bigots stop spreading disinformation about trans people who are disproportionately the victims of violence not perpetrators of it.”
It’s unclear why the transgender activists took over a women’s bathroom, rather than a men’s bathroom.
