8mo ago

Speaker Johnson announces policy barring trans women from Capitol bathrooms

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Some key excerpts:

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Wednesday that transgender women are not permitted to use bathrooms in the Capitol that match their gender identity

The policy [...] will also apply to bathrooms in House office buildings, changing rooms and locker rooms.

Johnson’s statement — which was made on Transgender Day of Remembrance, recognized annually to memorialize trans people who died due to anti-trans violence — comes days after Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) introduced a bill to bar transgender women from facilities on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity, a response to the election earlier this month of Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.).

McBride blasted Mace’s legislation earlier this week, calling it “a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”

Mace was threatening to force a vote on the matter prior to Johnson’s decision to formally announce the new policy; the congresswoman wanted the terms to be included in the rules package for the 119th Congress and said she would force a vote on the bill if that did not come to fruition.

25 comments

This is especially vile to announce on Transgender Day of Remembrance; but I have no doubt in my mind that it was intentional.
This feels like a move made with the explicit purpose of hurting people as much as possible. ("The cruelty is the point.")
To my knowledge, there is no legal recourse for this, but I am not a lawyer, so I could be wrong...
I know it likely won't do much, but I do recommend calling your representatives. I asked mine to issue a statement saying that they will not be party to enforcing this rule. I hope they issue such a statement of solidarity soon 🤞
- Time to put the Capitol Switchboard on speed dial, gonna be calling them a lot these next few years.
  For those who don’t know, here’s the switchboard number:
  202-224-3121
  Call, tell them where you live, and they’ll connect you to your representative’s constituent services. It’ll only take you a few minutes, but they keep track of every call. It matters.
  
  I usually try to call my Representative and Senators during my commute. The only tricky part is remembering the bill numbers.
  I have the distinct impression I'm going to have something to say to them every day over the next four years...
We don’t look down upon anyone. We treat everybody with dignity and respect.
Man who just passed a rule looking down on and disrespecting a single specific person.
So Republicans want this man to use the woman's washroom?
- Busloads of trans men showing up to use the bathroom would actually probably be a pretty effective means of activism for policies like these.
  
  I agree, but that's also asking members of a group Republicans are already trying to marginalize to make themselves a visible target.
  I'd love to see it, but fully understand and respect trans men not wanting to expose themselves to hatred.
  
  This is brilliant. If someone like in there photo wanted to hold a sign saying "Mike Johnson wants me to use the women's bathroom", it would cause waves.
  Maybe a less aggressive message like, "I just want to use the mens bathroom, where I'm comfortable, but Mike Johnson won't let me". Because it focuses on people just wanting to be left alone to go to the bathroom in peace.
  Or, best yet, have a transman that lifts and looks like they can snap Mike Johnson like a toothpick--have that transman catch up with Mike Johnson in the hallway and ask him why he has to use the women's bathroom. Instant viral.
- I wonder what kind of reaction you would get from a Republican Representative if you told one that Speaker Johnson is violating women's spaces by making a rule that forces men to use the ladies restroom and that it makes you very uncomfortable.
  I do worry that could backfire and they might just make a secondary rule punishing trans men, though...
Mike Johnson recently said that his world view is the same as what's in the Bible. I hope one day he realizes with horror that he's been a very hateful person, and that even the Bible he says he follows would condemn this kind of cruelty. He and the Republicans think they're doing "God's work", but they're not. At all.
- Mike is a member of the New Apostolic Reformation
  A group whose goal is to usher in the second coming by accelerating the end of the world. Aka Armageddon.
  Other very notable members include:
  Mike Flynn (the traitor)
  Lauren Boebert & MTG
  Roger Stone
  Charlie Kirk
  Justice Samuel Alito
- He only follows the old testament.
  
  I don't think the Old Testament is particularly anti-trans either. Most Republicans use the Bible as a way to launder their own hateful views, but I doubt if they're even remotely religious at all.
Blatant discrimination
I don't understand. I've been sharing public women's bathrooms with biological males all my life because their caretakers use them when they need to pee. Those brats peek and crawl under the doors and walls frequently and all we can do is be annoyed because it's part of life with kids in public. Why are we banning trans individuals who have never tried to join me in the toilet?
I watched a Vaush interview with Erin Reed: https://youtu.be/B7f-sh6qpyc
She talked about Florida banning trans people from using their preferred bathroom. It is already the law. This isn't good, but, she says, a hopeful silver lining is that the law has never been enforced against anyone, as far as she knows.
I guess no one wants to spend their life standing outside a bathroom checking birth certificates.
So, whatever the law or rules say, it's still important for people to stand up for what's right and ignore unjust laws. And, you know, just mind your own damn business.
hey where's that meme about liberals fantasizing about republicans hurting trans people again?
- FUCK THIS
  Are people going to do something about it? Some protests and demonstrations maybe?
  
  Some Representatives are making statements, though I'm not sure what it would take to have this officially dealt with.
  Right now, the declaration is still pretty new; but I bet if you contacted some of the local LGBTQ+ orgs in your area, they might know of demonstrations that are being organized currently.
Malicious compliance time. Bedpan in the house chamber.

25 comments