Under a policy renewed on Friday by House Speaker Mike Johnson, transgender people will be prohibited from using single-sex bathrooms that correspond with their gender in areas belonging to the House of Representatives. The policy, which states that “all single-sex facilities — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” is now in effect.
Although earlier reports indicated that the policy was not officially part of the House rules package passed on Friday during the first session, the ban was listed among Speaker Johnson’s policies for the 119th Congress, as reflected in the Congressional Record, a daily account of congressional proceedings.
According to the Congressional Record, the policy will be enforced by the sergeant-at-arms and applies to “all areas of the Capitol subject to the Speaker’s general control.” This includes the House chamber, the hallways and pathways in the Capitol designated for House use, and any unassigned rooms in that area, per the House rules.
“While this will be enforced by the sergeant-at-arms, it’s still unclear how they intend to do so,” transgender legislative researcher Allison Chapman told Truthout.
While the policy was first proposed by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) in November to directly target the nation’s first openly trans member of Congress, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Delaware), it will affect all transgender staff, interns and visitors to the House.
“Transgender people have been working on the Hill for years and their bathroom usage has never been an issue,” Chapman told Truthout. “This rule is clearly an attempt to retaliate against Rep. McBride for her status as a transgender person. Unfortunately, all transgender people working and visiting in the House are now caught in the crosshairs of this hostile rule.”
In November, McBride disappointed many transgender activists by saying she would comply with the anti-trans policy. “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms,” McBride said in a statement. McBride has a private bathroom in her office and had previously stated that she planned to avoid using multi-stall women’s restrooms, likely to avoid this specific issue.
“No amount of attempting to ingratiate ourselves to the people who would sooner see us dead than happily transitioned is going to lead to our liberation,” Gavin Grimm, a transgender man and activist who sued his high school in 2015 after being banned from using the boys’ restroom due to being trans, wrote for the Bay Area Reporter. “The time for optics over action is over.”
Many transgender people who visit the House have said that they will refuse to comply with the policy. “I will under no circumstances be complying with this ban and intend to use the bathroom matching my gender regardless of cruel and unjust rule and laws,” Chapman said.
About 15 activists, including Raquel Willis and Chelsea Manning, were arrested for protesting the policy in December by staging a “sit-in” in a women’s bathroom across from Johnson’s congressional office in response to the anti-trans policy. The Gender Liberation Movement, which organized the protest, noted that the bathroom ban would affect “trans people at every level of government and in every sector of society,” in addition to “cisgender people who are perceived as gender non-conforming.”
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