Ocasio-Cortez: Mace, Johnson 'endangering all women and girls' with bathroom ban

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday denounced efforts by House Republicans to bar transgender people from restrooms in the Capitol that match their gender identity, calling policies put forward this week by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) “disgusting.”

Mace on Monday filed a resolution to prohibit transgender House members and staffers from using single-sex facilities that correspond to their gender identity, a move she later said was “absolutely” driven by the election of Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who is set to be the nation’s first openly transgender member of Congress when she takes office in January.

On Wednesday, Johnson, facing mounting pressure from his conference to act on the issue, announced a policy barring transgender people from restrooms and changing rooms that align with their gender identity in the Capitol and House office buildings.

He made the announcement on Transgender Day of Remembrance, recognized annually to memorialize those who lost their lives to anti-trans violence. A separate proposal filed by Mace later Wednesday would extend the restrictions outlined in her original resolution to all federal buildings.

“What Nancy Mace and what Speaker Johnson are doing are endangering all women and girls,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters late Wednesday. “Because if you ask them, ‘What is your plan on how to enforce this?’ they won’t come up with an answer. And what it inevitably results in are women and girls who are primed for assault because people are gonna want to check their private parts in suspecting who is trans and who is cis and who’s doing what.”

“The idea that Nancy Mace wants little girls and women to drop trou in front of who — an investigator? Who would that be? — because she wants to suspect and point fingers at who she thinks is trans is disgusting. It is disgusting,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“And frankly, all it does is allow these Republicans to go around and bully any woman who isn’t wearing a skirt because they think she might not look woman enough,” she said. “People have a right to express themselves, to dress how they want and to be who they are. And if a woman doesn’t look woman enough to a Republican, they want to be able to inspect her genitals to be able to use the bathroom? It’s disgusting. And everybody, no matter how you feel on this issue, should reject it completely.”

Johnson told reporters Wednesday that the new policy, “like all House policies,” is enforceable, though he did not specify what enforcement will look like.

Mace’s resolution charges the House sergeant-at-arms with enforcing its restrictions but does not say how the House’s chief law enforcement officer will determine who is eligible to use the Capitol’s facilities.

Democrats have slammed Johnson’s new policy and Mace’s proposal as unnecessary and unfairly targeted at McBride.

“This policy isn’t going to protect anyone — but it is going to open the door to rampant abuse, harassment, and discrimination in the Capitol,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, which promotes LGBTQ equality in the House.

In a post on social media Wednesday, Pocan said he requested a meeting with Johnson to discuss the House’s new bathroom policy.

“This is the typical House Republicans’ playbook: to distract, deflect, confuse, and scare instead of govern,” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), whose brother is transgender, said in an emailed statement. “I will keep working to ensure the safety and dignity of every trans person who works on Capitol Hill.”

McBride on Wednesday said she will comply with Johnson’s new policy. “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms,” she said in a statement.