Leaders & Allies Arrested Protesting Nancy Mace’s Anti-Trans Bathroom Bills
Social Justice Leaders & Allies Arrested On Capitol Hill Protesting Nancy Mace’s Anti-Trans Bathroom Bills
Battleground Bathroom Protest Staged by Gender Liberation Movement: LGBTQ Activists & Allies Occupy Congressional Bathroom
Washington, DC, December 5, 2024 ––– Gender Liberation Movement (GLM) led dozens of social justice activists and allies in a “Bathroom Sit-In” at a congressional bathroom. This location was targeted for its proximity to Rep. Nancy Mace's office in response to her proposed building policy banning transgender people from using restrooms in government buildings. Notable protesters include whistleblower Chelsea Manning, GLM co-founder Raquel Willis, abortion liberation activist Renee Bracey Sherman, and other social justice leaders. Many risked arrest to demand elected officials block the proposed expanded bill H. RES. 1579 that would ban bathroom access for trans people in all federal buildings and could extend to educational institutions, museums, and other public landmarks.
While Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly trans state senator, has been an initial target of this bigoted policy, the impact has been far-reaching. This bill will hurt trans people at every level of government and in every sector of society and the attacks won’t stop there. Cisgender people who are perceived as gender non-conforming will continue to be policed in public restrooms and denied access as well.
This bathroom sit-in sets an example of the righteous defiance and solidarity needed under a second Trump administration. Cis, trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming folks will have to defend, protect, and fight alongside each other. For this action, cis and trans women demanded an end to bathroom bigotry and preservation of our shared spaces while cis and trans men blocked and protected the entrance to the bathroom. Survivors of sexual violence also demanded that anti-trans bigots stop spreading disinformation about trans people who are disproportionately the victims of violence not perpetrators of it.
“Everyone deserves to use the restroom without fear of discrimination or violence. Trans folks are no different. We deserve dignity and respect and we will fight until we get it,” said GLM co-founder Raquel Willis, “In the 2024 election, trans folks were left to fend for ourselves after nearly $200 million of attack ads were disseminated across the United States. Now, as Republican politicians, try to remove us from public life, Democratic leaders are silent as hell. But we can’t transform bigotry and hate with inaction. We must confront it head on. Democrats must rise up, filibuster, and block this bill.”
In 2015, Republicans made their first push for bathroom bigotry with North Carolina’s HB2 law. That legislation targeted trans people’s access to bathrooms in the state. However, LGBTQ+ movement leaders, conscientious elected officials, and corporations opposed these attacks with boycotts and it cost North Carolina millions of dollars. Year after year, the GOP has relentlessly increased its efforts, as seen with a recent bill banning access for trans students in Ohio. Unfortunately, resistance to these legislative fights has dwindled. There simply hasn’t been the same kind of cultural, economic, or political pushbacks. Democrats have broadly capitulated to these threats, ignored them altogether, or, even worse, voiced tact support for the bathroom bans. This cannot stand. We must all demand better of our leaders.
GLM’s bathroom sit-in was inspired by the long history of civil disobedience in the United States. Following the leadership of past movement actions like the 1960 Woolworth’s Lunch Counter Sit-in’s pivotal role combating racial discrimination during the Civil Rights Movement or the 1966 Julius’ Bar Sip-in, which protested the closure of LGBTQ+ bars and the criminalization of their patrons. GLM and its allies are bringing that radical fire back and see this effort as a part of society’s longer march toward collective liberation.
“Today, I joined people across the gender spectrum to say we will not stand idly by while bigots push bathroom bans against trans people,” Eliel Cruz, co-founder and Director of Communications of GLM said. “As a cisgender man, I stand in solidarity with trans women and commit to organize in response to the attacks they’re facing. It’s especially important for cis gay and bisexual men to stand up for trans people during these historic levels of attacks against them and not only mobilize for our own self interest like when marriage equality is under attack.”
Social justice movements must do everything in its power to defend trans people. As we enter another era of a Trump administration and right wing policies, we cannot preemptively comply when our community’s most vulnerable are under attack. We must defy hatred, powerfully organize, and build a better society.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES:
"When I found out I was pregnant, and then decided I needed an abortion, I was in a bathroom. It was a place I felt safe to figure out what to do with my life and what I needed. It was a safe space where I alone could make the best decision for my body and my future,” said Executive Director of WeTestify, Renee Bracey Sherman. “The idea that we would legalize excluding people in bathrooms because of what their bodies look like or who they are is horrific. Everyone deserves a safe place to pee and tend to their bodies, no matter who they are or where they live. The ability to use a bathroom is a basic human right. Access to bathrooms are part of basic bodily autonomy and the idea that anyone would be surveilled or criminalized for using one is unconscionable and inhumane. Solidarity in action is the only way we will liberate abortion and trans justice for all."
"I'm here today because every person deserves dignity and respect, both in daily life and in more symbolic places like the U.S. Capitol," said Chelsea Manning, an activist and former U.S. military intelligence analyst who was imprisoned for seven years for disclosing classified information to the public, before former-President Obama commuted her sentence in 2017. "As someone who has fought against similar rules, I know what it's like to feel pushed aside and erased. But I also know the incredible power and resilience our community has. I'm not here as a leader or a spokesperson but simply as another member of my community who shows up unconditionally to support my siblings in this fight. I will stand beside them no matter what. We didn’t start this fight, but we are together now."
"The new administration hasn't even taken office yet and they are already promising to implement hateful laws that continue to send the message that Transgender people are less than," said Amanda Babine, Executive Director of Equality New York. "I didn't think twice about coming to DC to stand in solidarity with our Transgender siblings and let them know whether it is in a bathroom in congress or your local school, you are not alone and deserve to use the bathroom without being policed."
“The extremely violent treatment of trans people in this country is not unlike previous eras of anti-scientific, ahistorical, and anti-democratic American politics,” said Jawanza Williams, an organizer with VOCAL-US. “It is critical that non-trans people understand that an assault on the personhood, freedom, and dignity of trans people is an indirect assault on all of us, and promises an escalation that we cannot depend on increasingly weakened community bonds, democratic institutions, and an overwhelmingly corporate-controlled media to protect us from. Politicians have to stop playing petty politics with people’s lives not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because the freedoms that some enjoy in this country are more precarious than ever, and should be extended to all, including transgender people.”
ABOUT: GENDER LIBERATION MOVEMENT (GLM) is an emergent and innovative grassroots and volunteer-run national collective that builds direct action, media, and policy interventions centering bodily autonomy, self-determination, the pursuit of fulfillment, and collectivism in the face of gender-based sociopolitical threats. Support our movement and donate at genderlib.org.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Ariel Friedlander, Media Liaison artsyahf@gmail.com
Eliel Cruz, Co-founder/Director of Communications eliel@elielcruz.com
Adam Eli, Media Support adamewerner@gmail.com
