Transgender rights activists on Thursday participated in a “bathroom sit-in” in a restroom across from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in protest of a new policy barring trans people from using bathroom facilities that match their gender identity.
Around 15 people were arrested on suspicion of crowding, obstructing or incommoding for illegally protesting inside the Cannon House Office Building, the U.S. Capitol Police told Fox News Digital.
The protest was organized by the Gender Liberation Movement, which describes itself as a grassroots organization that focuses on bodily autonomy and gender.
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A transgender rights supporter takes part in a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Getty Images)
A video posted on the group’s Instagram account shows protesters holding signs calling for a “Ban on bathroom bigotry,” occupying a restroom and blocking a hallway.
The Hill reported that Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst and whistleblower, was one of those being led away by authorities in zip ties. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 after disclosing classified documents and military reports to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The sentence was commuted in 2017 by former President Obama and Manning was released from prison after serving seven years.
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, announced the new bathroom policy in November after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., tried to block trans people from Capitol restrooms that don’t match their gender at birth.
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Transgender rights activist Sarah McBride speaks on stage at the Women In The World Summit in New York on April 11, 2019. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
The move came ahead of the first openly transgender lawmaker, Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., joining Congress in January. McBride is a biological male who identifies and presents as a woman.
Mace recently introduced a resolution to ban men who identify as female from women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, she posted a video on X of herself standing outside a Capitol Police station.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 6, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Using a bullhorn, she read the Miranda rule to the protesters arrested.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Johnson’s office.