More than two dozen transgender people and their allies staged a sit-in at a U.S. Capitol bathroom Thursday to protest a proposed policy that would prohibit the country’s first openly trans member of Congress from using the women’s restrooms in the building.
Of the 25 demonstrators, about 15 were arrested for illegally protesting inside a government building in violation of a Washington, D.C., code regarding crowding and obstructing, according to Brianna Burch, a spokesperson for the U.S. Capitol Police.
Advocates held the sit-in protest inside and outside the women’s bathroom closest to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office over his support for a policy introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last month that she said was intended to bar Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., from using the women’s restrooms in the Capitol.
Mace’s resolution would prohibit any lawmakers and House employees from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.” She told reporters that the measure was intended to target McBride, adding that she is “absolutely 100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women’s restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms.”
Those arrested Thursday included Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence officer and trans advocate, and Raquel Willis, a trans journalist and author, according to Gender Liberation Movement, the advocacy group behind the protest.
Video of the sit-in shows protesters chanting, “Speaker Johnson, Nancy Mace, our genders are no debate.”
Abby Stein, a rabbi, author and trans advocate, said another chant was, “Democrats, grow a spine, trans lives are on the line.”
“This is not just about Republicans,” Stein, who was not arrested, told NBC News after the protest. “It is also about the Democratic Party, to make sure that they know and they feel that we are here.”
Stein said the advocates chose a sit-in to send the message that they can’t be ignored.
“We’re not a figment of your imagination that you can fearmonger around,” she said. “We’re real people who are really here. This isn’t about just bathrooms. This is about safety for anyone, for women or otherwise.”
Following the protest, Mace shared a video on social media addressing the demonstrators by calling them an anti-trans slur. Standing outside of what appeared to be a Capitol police station, she then read the protesters their Miranda rights using a megaphone.
Willis, who is co-founder of the Gender Liberation Movement, said trans people deserve to use the restroom without fear of discrimination or violence like everyone else.
“In the 2024 election, trans folks were left to fend for ourselves after nearly $200 million of attack ads were disseminated across the United States,” she said in a statement released by the organization after her arrest, citing political advertising data gathered by Ad Impact. “Now, as Republican politicians try to remove us from public life, Democratic leaders are silent as hell. But we can’t transform bigotry and hate with inaction. We must confront it head on. Democrats must rise up, filibuster, and block this bill.”
Manning said she attended the protest because, as someone who has fought against similar rules, she knows “what it’s like to feel pushed aside and erased.”
“I’m not here as a leader or a spokesperson but simply as another member of my community who shows up unconditionally to support my siblings in this fight,” she said in a statement released by the Gender Liberation Movement. “I will stand beside them no matter what. We didn’t start this fight, but we are together now.”
McBride did not immediately return a request for comment about the protest.
On Nov. 20, she responded to Mace’s proposal and Johnson’s response, writing on X: “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families. Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them.”
She added, “This effort to distract from the real issues facing this country hasn’t distracted me over the last several days, as I’ve remained hard at work preparing to represent the greatest state in the union come January.”
