The sit-in was intended to protest a recent proposal that would bar the country\u2019s first openly transgender member of Congress from using the women\u2019s restrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than two dozen transgender people and their allies staged a sit-in at a U.S. Capitol bathroom Thursday to protest a proposed policy that would prohibit the country\u2019s first openly trans member of Congress from using the women\u2019s restrooms in the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the 25 demonstrators, about 15 were arrested for illegally protesting inside the Cannon House Office Building within the U.S. Capitol complex in violation of a Washington, D.C., code regarding crowding and obstructing, according to Brianna Burch, a spokesperson for the U.S. Capitol Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advocates held the sit-in protest inside and outside the women\u2019s bathroom closest to House Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s office over his support for a policy<\/a> introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last month that she said was intended to bar Rep.-elect Sarah McBride<\/a>, D-Del., from using the women\u2019s restrooms in the Capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mace\u2019s resolution would prohibit any lawmakers and House employees from \u201cusing single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.\u201d She told reporters<\/a> that the measure was intended to target McBride, adding that she is \u201cabsolutely 100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women\u2019s restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those arrested Thursday included Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence officer and trans advocate, and Raquel Willis, a trans journalist and author, according to Gender Liberation Movement<\/a>, the advocacy group behind the protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Video of the sit-in shows protesters chanting, \u201cSpeaker Johnson, Nancy Mace, our genders are no debate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abby Stein, a rabbi, author and trans advocate, said another chant was, \u201cDemocrats, grow a spine, trans lives are on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is not just about Republicans,\u201d Stein, who was not arrested, told NBC News after the protest. \u201cIt is also about the Democratic Party, to make sure that they know and they feel that we are here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stein said the advocates chose a sit-in to send the message that they can\u2019t be ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re not a figment of your imagination that you can fearmonger around,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re real people who are really here. This isn\u2019t about just bathrooms. This is about safety for anyone, for women or otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the protest, Mace shared a video on social media<\/a> addressing the demonstrators by calling them an anti-trans slur. Standing outside of what appeared to be a Capitol police station, she then read the protesters their Miranda rights using a megaphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willis, who is co-founder of the Gender Liberation Movement, said trans people deserve to use the restroom without fear of discrimination or violence like everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the 2024 election, trans folks were left to fend for ourselves after nearly $200 million of attack ads were disseminated across the United States,\u201d she said in a statement released by the organization after her arrest, citing political advertising data gathered by Ad Impact<\/a>. \u201cNow, as Republican politicians try to remove us from public life, Democratic leaders are silent as hell. But we can\u2019t transform bigotry and hate with inaction. We must confront it head on. Democrats must rise up, filibuster, and block this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Manning said she attended the protest because, as someone who has fought against similar rules, she knows \u201cwhat it\u2019s like to feel pushed aside and erased.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not here as a leader or a spokesperson but simply as another member of my community who shows up unconditionally to support my siblings in this fight,\u201d she said in a statement released by the Gender Liberation Movement. \u201cI will stand beside them no matter what. We didn\u2019t start this fight, but we are together now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n McBride did not immediately return a request for comment about the protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n