US House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Wednesday that all facilities designated for individuals on the House side of the US Capitol will be designated “for individuals of that biological sex,” weeks after the election of the first transgender member of Congress.
The policy will apply to the House side of the Capitol, with the Senate having jurisdiction over its side of the complex.
The issue became a flashpoint after Republican Representative Nancy Mace submitted a resolution to impose this condition, which targeted US Representative-elect Sarah McBride.
“Women deserve women-only spaces,” Johnson He said in a statement. Members can use the bathrooms in their own offices, which could be a 10-minute walk from the House chamber where voting and debate take place, or the unisex bathrooms in the Capitol, he said.
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McBride, the 34-year-old state representative-elect from Delaware, She said she would comply He agreed with Johnson’s order but described it as a distraction from more substantive issues.
“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for all Delawareans and reduce the costs families face,” she said in a statement.
Many House offices are located within a 10-minute walk of the House floor where voting and debate take place.
Democrats immediately denounced those efforts on Tuesday. Democratic House Representative Hakeem Jeffries called the bill “bullying,” and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “despicable and cruel.”
McBride focused her successful campaign on economic issues, including union protection and affordable health and child care.
Transgender rights have become a political rallying cry for right-wing politicians in the United States, with lawmakers in 37 states introducing at least 142 bills to restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender and gender-expansive people in 2023, Reuters reported, roughly Three times as much as the previous year.
—(Additional reporting by Moira Warburton Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan and Rami Ayoub – Preparing by Muhammad for the Arabic Bulletin – Preparing by Muhammad for the Arabic Bulletin) Editing by Scott Malone, Bill Berkrot and Jonathan Oatis
