18 hours Ago By [email protected] (Oliver Willis)
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday announced that the Capitol and House office buildings would officially segregate bathroom facilities by "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 . The statement bars transgender House members, their staff, and others from using bathrooms of the gender they identify with.
The segregation of facilities like bathrooms was a signature feature of life in the Jim Crow era, when many bathrooms in the southern United States were off limits to Black people. Johnson’s announcement arrived on the same day as Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors trans people who have been killed and raises awareness of bigotry against transgender Americans. In his statement, Johnson did not elaborate on how the new facility policy would be enforced.
Johnson did not say whether the House sergeant-at-arms would be empowered to police Capitol bathrooms, whether officers would need to inspect genitals to ensure bathroom usage is confined to biological sex, or if officers would be empowered to make an arrest before, during, or after someone uses the bathroom in violation of his edict. The policy came about after Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced a resolution to segregate the Capitol’s bathrooms.
Mace confirmed that the resolution was “ absolutely ” intended to target a single incoming House member, Sarah McBride from Delaware, who will become the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress once she is sworn in. Mace’s action was praised by bigots. Conservative pundit Michael Knowles of The Daily Wire, who previously called for “eradicating” transgender people, called it a “good day” and said that “we kind of brought this to the forefront” on his program.
Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, criticized Mace and told Axios, “I just don't understand why bathrooms are top of mind for her, why she's thinking about where future members are going to piss and shit.” McBride has reportedly called on Democrats for restraint in response to the Republican attacks, which she described as a distraction from the important issues facing lawmakers.
“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” McBride said in a statement released after Johnson’s announcement. “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,” she added.
The effort to reinstate a form of segregation as official American government policy is the first major action by Republicans since their victory in the 2024 election. Based on the party’s clear support for attacking an oppressed minority group, more is sure to come. Campaign Action.
