The trans-identifying congressman at the center of a Capitol Hill bathroom battle has agreed not to use the women’s facilities following a mandate from House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Sarah McBride, a newly-elected representative from Delaware who identifies as a transgender woman, issued a statement on Wednesday saying that he will abide by Johnson’s Wednesday directive that “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.”
“It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Women deserve women’s only spaces.”
Johnson was responding to backlash on Capitol Hill over Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace’s resolution banning men from women’s facilities in Congress. That resolution specifically said that “allowing biological males into single-sex facilities, such as restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms designed for women, jeopardizes the safety and dignity of members, officers, and employees of the House who are female.”
Left-wing media and lawmakers argued Mace was targeting or bullying McBride. But Mace repeatedly emphasized that, as a survivor of sexual assault, she believes in protecting the integrity of women’s spaces.
“There’s no amount of bullying and threats on my life that they’ve made this week that’s going to stop me from this,” Mace said Wednesday morning on the Michael Knowles Show.
“Sarah McBride’s promise to abide by Speaker Johnson’s policy is a step toward acknowledging the rights of women everywhere—something we’ll continue to demand without compromise,” the congresswoman told The Daily Wire on Wednesday afternoon.
When McBride backed down Wednesday, he said in a statement: “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms.”
(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” McBride said. “Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson even if I disagree with them. 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.”
I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families. pic.twitter.com/bCuv7pIZBY
— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) November 20, 2024
There’s no job I’m afraid to lose if it requires me to degrade anyone.
If that’s a defining issue for a voter, there will be a different candidate.
We have a bathroom in my office that anybody is welcome to use, including Representative-elect Sarah McBride. pic.twitter.com/Y8ZZbzFVq6
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) November 20, 2024
The “Protecting Women’s Private Spaces Act” would “prohibit individuals from accessing or using single-sex facilities on federal property other than those corresponding to their biological sex.” It also forbids anyone from accessing facilities on federal property that do not correspond with their biological sex, and it provides precise definitions of what it means to be female or male.