Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), set to be the nation’s first overtly transgender member of Congress when she takes workplace in January, stated she is going to adjust to a coverage instituted Wednesday by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) barring transgender individuals from single-sex services that match their gender id within the Capitol and Home workplace buildings.
“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down the costs facing families. Like all members, I will follow the rules outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them,” McBride stated Wednesday in an announcement posted to the social platform X.
“This effort to distract from the real issues facing this country hasn’t distracted me over the last several days, as I’ve remained hard at work preparing to represent the greatest state in the union come January,” she stated. “Serving in the 119th Congress will be the honor of a lifetime — and I continue to look forward to getting to know my future colleagues on both sides of the aisle.”
“Each of us were sent here because voters saw something in us that they value,” McBride continued. “I have loved getting to see those qualities in the future colleagues that I’ve met and I look forward to seeing those qualities in every member come January. I hope all my colleagues will seek to do the same with me.”
Johnson introduced the coverage earlier Wednesday in an announcement, a draft of which was first reported by The Hill. The restrictions apply to loos in Home workplace buildings, altering rooms and locker rooms.
Beneath Home guidelines, the Speaker has “general control” of services within the chamber, giving him the authority to problem the coverage surrounding loos.
“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,” Johnson stated Wednesday. “It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.”
Johnson’s assertion — which he made on Transgender Day of Remembrance, acknowledged yearly to memorialize trans individuals who misplaced their lives to anti-trans violence — comes simply days after Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) launched a decision to bar transgender ladies from services on Capitol Hill that match their gender id, which she stated was a response to McBride’s election earlier this month.
Mace on Wednesday filed a separate measure to ban transgender ladies and men from single-sex services on federal property, satisfying a promise she made Tuesday to increase her preliminary decision.
In an announcement, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, which promotes LGBTQ equality within the Home, known as Johnson’s new rest room coverage “a cruel and unnecessary rule that puts countless staff, interns, and visitors to the United States Capitol at risk.”
