Mike Johnson Announces Transgender Bathroom Ban In Capitol
WASHINGTON ― House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Wednesday that transgender lawmakers and staff would be barred from bathrooms not corresponding to their “biological sex.”
“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” Johnson said. “Women deserve women’s only spaces.”
Johnson’s decree followed an uproar among Republicans over incoming Democratic lawmaker Sarah McBride, who will become the first-ever transgender member of Congress next year after winning Delaware’s sole district this month.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) demanded that Johnson disallow McBride from using women’s bathrooms and gym facilities in the Capitol, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) even suggested she would physically fight McBride for using the ladies’ room.
Johnson declined to commit to doing what Mace wanted on Tuesday, but he nevertheless went out of his way to tell reporters that he believed “a man is a man and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman.”
Mace said she was grateful for Johnson’s decree but still wanted to make sure it went into the formal House rules in January.
“I want to be sure that it doesn’t end here. It needs to be in the rules. We need to make sure that this is cemented,” Mace said, noting she had introduced legislation to impose a transgender ban on bathrooms in all federal facilities across the country.
In a statement, McBride said she would follow the rules even though she disagreed with them.
“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms,” McBride said. “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.”
In his announcement on Wednesday, Johnson noted that members of the House have their own bathrooms in their offices.
“It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol,” he said.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) criticized Republicans for bullying a fellow lawmaker.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), the chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, accused Mace of seeking attention for herself.
“Republicans keep desperately lashing out against trans people to try and distract from the fact that this Congress has been one of the least productive in history,” Pocan said. “Nancy Mace’s resolution is a pathetic, attention-seeking attempt to grab Trump’s eye and the media spotlight — and trans people, including trans employees, are paying the price.”
Lil Kalish contributed reporting.
