A number of arrests had been made on Thursday as transgender activists held a toilet sit-in protest on Capitol Hill.
The activists, which included WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning, had been protesting Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s coverage that everybody should use loos that align with their organic intercourse on US Capitol premises.
Over a dozen individuals who determine as transgender and their supporters participated within the protest within the rest room throughout from Speaker Johnson’s workplace.
HAPPENING NOW: DOZENS OF TRANS ADVOCATES AND ALLIES STAGE “BATHROOM SIT-IN” ACROSS SPEAKER JOHNSON OFFICE FOR IMPLEMENTING MACE’S BIGOTED BATHROOM POLICY WITH BANNERS THAT SAY “STOP PISSING ON OUR RIGHTS” AND “FLUSH BATHROOM BIGOTRY” DEMANDING AN END TO ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATION. pic.twitter.com/OvbjH6pMJi
— GENDER LIBERATION MOVEMENT (@genderlib4all) December 5, 2024
The demonstration was organized by the Gender Liberation Motion, whose web site states that they’re “an emergent and progressive grassroots and volunteer-run nationwide collective that builds direct motion, media, and coverage interventions centering bodily autonomy, self-determination, the pursuit of achievement, and collectivism within the face of gender-based sociopolitical threats.”
BREAKING: Chelsea Manning is utilizing the women room within the Capitol complicated pic.twitter.com/vp4mz017So
— Pablo ManrĂquez (@PabloReports) December 5, 2024
The Hill experiences:
Holding a banner demanding Congress cease “pissing on our rights,” protesters chanted, “Speaker Johnson, Nancy Mace: our our bodies are not any debate!” A number of transgender girls, together with GLM founder Raquel Willis, entered the ladies’s restroom close to the Speaker’s workplace.
A video uploaded to the group’s Instagram story exhibits Willis and others washing their palms and chanting contained in the restroom alongside one other banner that reads, “Flush Lavatory Bigotry.” A second video exhibits Capitol Law enforcement officials arresting a few of the demonstrators, together with Manning, who smiled on the digicam whereas being led away in zip ties.
Incoming Consultant Sarah McBride, who’s transgender, has agreed to observe the principles concerning rest room use.
Rep. McBride mentioned in a press release posted to X, “I’m not right here to battle about loos. I’m right here to battle for Delawareans and to carry down prices dealing with households.”
I’m not right here to battle about loos. I’m right here to battle for Delawareans and to carry down prices dealing with households. pic.twitter.com/bCuv7pIZBY
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) November 20, 2024
“Like all members, I’ll observe the principles as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even when I disagree with them,” McBride mentioned. “This effort to distract from the true points dealing with this nation hasn’t distracted me over the past a number of days, as I’ve remained onerous at work making ready to symbolize the best state within the union come January.”
The assertion continued, “Serving within the 119th Congress shall be an honor of a lifetime — and I proceed to stay up for attending to know my future colleagues on each side of the aisle. Every of us had been despatched right here as a result of voters noticed one thing in us that they worth. I’ve cherished attending to see these qualities sooner or later colleagues that I’ve met and I stay up for seeing these qualities in each member come January. I hope all my colleagues will search to do the identical with me.”
Speaker Johnson issued the decision concerning rest room use in November.
“All single-sex services within the Capitol and Home Workplace Buildings — similar to restrooms, altering rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for people of that organic intercourse,” Johnson mentioned. “Ladies deserve girls’s solely areas.”
