WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson declared Wednesday that lawmakers and staff should use the restroom that corresponds to their biological sex, a statement aimed at Sarah McBride, the first transgender person elected to Congress, months before she is about to vote. arrive on Capitol Hill.
“All sex facilities in the Capitol and House of Representatives office buildings — such as restrooms, locker rooms and locker rooms — are reserved for persons of that biological sex,” the Louisiana Republican said. “Women deserve only women’s spaces.”
The statement comes a day after Johnson was questioned about the issue and stressed the need to “treat all persons with dignity and respect”. He also acknowledged that “this is an issue that Congress has never had to address before, and we’re going to do it in a purposeful way, with consensus among the members on it.”
A resolution to restrict McBride’s access to women’s restrooms was introduced Monday by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who vowed to fight to “keep men out of women’s spaces.” Mace said the bill specifically targeted McBride, who was elected to the House of Representatives from Delaware this month.
In response, McBride called the effort a way to “divert attention from the real issues facing this country.”
“I’m not here to argue about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and lower costs for families,” the new member said.
She added: “Like all members, I will follow the rules set forth by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them.”
Referring to transgender people by the sex they were assigned at birth rather than by the gender they identify is a tactic often used by opponents of transgender rights. The broader debate over whether transgender people should be allowed to use bathrooms that match their gender identity has become widespread in the US and became a central issue in President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign.
At least eleven states have passed laws banning transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s restrooms in public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.
Democrats have labeled the Republican campaign against McBride as bullying. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., said Tuesday that Mace’s comments are “absolutely ignorant.”
“There is no statistic anywhere that a trans person commits crimes at a higher rate than anyone else, so I don’t know where her concerns come from,” said Sorenson, who is gay.
McBride comes to Congress next year after years of building a national profile as an LGBTQ+ activist and raising more than $3 million in campaign contributions from across the country. She became the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention in the United States in 2016, when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
