The Guardian - (archived: https://archive.ph/E34rB ) Trans congresswoman Sarah McBride posts defiant response to bathroom ban

First trans member of Congress ‘just trying to pee in peace’ after Mike Johnson says trans women cannot use women’s bathrooms

Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington and Joanna Walters in New York
Wed 20 Nov 2024 15.04 EST



Incoming congresswoman Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person elected to the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday made a defiant post on social media in response to the House banning trans people from using single-sex bathrooms on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity.

She posted on Bluesky a selfie taken in a women’s bathroom, saying: “We’re all just people trying to pee in peace.”

Earlier in the day, the House speaker, Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson, issued a statement “regarding facilities throughout the US Capitol complex”.

Johnson said: “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.”

He added: “It is important to note that each member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol. Women deserve women’s only spaces.”

McBride is due to be sworn in in January to represent Delaware after handily winning the seat in the election earlier this month, having been the first openly trans person elected to the state senate seat there in 2020.

/snip