Transgender rights activists took part in a “bathroom sit-in” Thursday in a restroom across from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office. Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to protest a new policy that bans transgender people from using restroom facilities that match their gender identity.
About 15 people were arrested on suspicion of crowding, obstruction or obstruction for illegally protesting at the Cannon House Office Building, U.S. Capitol Police told Fox News Digital.
The protest was organized by the Gender Liberation Movement, which describes itself as a grassroots organization focused on bodily autonomy and gender.
A transgender rights advocate takes part in a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. (Getty Images)
A video on the group’s Instagram account shows protesters holding signs calling for a “Ban on Bigotry in the Bathroom,” occupying a restroom and blocking a hallway.
The Hill reported that Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst and US military whistleblower, was among those led away by authorities in zippers. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 after revealing classified documents and military reports to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The sentence was commuted by former President Obama in 2017 and Manning was released from prison after seven years.
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, announced the new bathroom policy the following November Representative Nancy MaceRS.C., attempted to ban transgender people from Capitol restrooms who do not match their gender at birth.
Transgender rights activist Sarah McBride speaks on stage at the Women In The World Summit in New York on April 11, 2019. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
This move came before the first openly transgender lawmaker, Rep.-elect. Sarah McBride, D-Del., who joined Congress in January. McBride is a biological male who identifies and presents as female.
Mace recently introduced a resolution to ban men who identify as women from women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, she posted a video to X of herself standing outside a Capitol police station.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 6, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Using a megaphone, she read the Miranda Rule to the arrested protesters.
Fox News Digital has reached out Johnson’s office.
