Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) clarified his position on how he’ll address proposals to ban transgender lawmakers from using female bathroom facilities inside the Capitol building after initially sidestepping questions about the topic earlier Tuesday morning.
“Let me be unequivocally clear, a man is a man and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman,” Johnson told reporters. “That said, I also believe that’s what Scripture teaches, what I just said, but I also believe that we treat everybody with dignity … and I believe all those things at the same time, and I wanted to make that clear for everybody because there’s lots of questions, but that’s where I stand.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has defended her decision to file a bill targeting Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE), who is set to become the first transgender member of Congress when McBride is sworn in next year, by prohibiting any transgender women (i.e., biological males who identify as women) from using female bathrooms. Mace is pushing GOP leadership to include that proposal in the House rules legislation, threatening to bring it to the floor herself if it is not.
The bill would apply only to bathrooms and “single-sex facilities” inside the Capitol and House office buildings, but Mace said she would expand those efforts later on.
“This is just the start,” Mace told reporters Tuesday. “I want to make sure that no men are in women’s private spaces. And it’s not going to end here. This shouldn’t be going on any federal property. If you’re a school or an institution that gets government funding, this kind of thing should be banned.”
Mace later said Johnson vowed in a closed-door meeting to include her proposal in the rules legislation for next year, which will dictate how the lower chamber operates. If he doesn’t, then Mace will push to bring the resolution to the floor for a separate vote, she said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) confirmed that Johnson pledged to prohibit transgender women from using female facilities.
“He said there’s not going to be any biological men using our restrooms,” she told reporters.
When initially asked if he would include it in the rules legislation for next year, Johnson dodged questions about how he would proceed, telling reporters he was “not going to get into this.”
“I believe it’s a command we treat all persons with dignity and respect. We will,” Johnson said in a morning press conference on Tuesday morning. “I’m not going to engage in silly debates about this. There’s a concern about the use of restroom facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before. We’re going to do that in a deliberate fashion with member consensus on it. We will accommodate the needs of every single person.”
When pressed if he would bring Mace’s resolution to the floor, whether through the rules legislation or not, Johnson maintained he would not “address plans on any of that.”
“I’m not going to engage in this,” he said. “We don’t look down upon anyone. We treat everybody with respect.”
McBride, meanwhile, has denounced the legislation, decrying it as a “blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists” to distract from bigger matters.
Meanwhile, other Democrats have expressed disappointment with the proposal.
“I just think it’s unfortunate that that’s the path these guys want to go down,” Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) said. “These guys double down on bigotry, and that’s who they are.”
“I just don’t understand why bathrooms are top of mind for [Mace],” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) said. “But she wants to think about where a future member is gonna piss and s*** like I don’t — I don’t understand.”
Mace said she’s not advocating the construction of a gender-neutral bathroom near the House floor that McBride could use. She said McBride could use the male bathroom or rely on the private restroom afforded to members in their congressional offices.
Other lawmakers, including those in GOP circles, have suggested moving forward with compromise solutions such as gender-neutral facilities.
“We basically had a presidential election over the issue,” one GOP lawmaker told the Washington Examiner. “Time for a few non-gender bathrooms.”
Transgender issues became a flashpoint during the 2024 elections, with President-elect Donald Trump hitting Vice President Kamala Harris in ads leading up to the election while multiple GOP lawmakers attacked their Democratic counterparts for supporting transgender athletes’ participation in female sports.
There are two main bathroom facilities just off the House floor for lawmakers to use, including one male-designated bathroom and one female-designated bathroom. Democratic lawmakers have previously called for gender-neutral bathrooms in the Capitol, noting in a letter sent to the House Administration Committee in 2022 that there is only one single-use restroom located in the basement of the Longworth House Office Building.
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“All employees, interns, and visitors should have access to safe and comfortable restrooms,” wrote then-Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Katherine Clark (D-MA), now two of the top lawmakers in the House Democratic Caucus. “Implementing single-use restrooms will make a visible difference in the lives of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, as well as other marginalized communities, including people with disabilities, older adults, and parents of small children.”
Rachel Schilke contributed to this report.
