Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana 4th) released a policy earlier this week that clarifies that women’s restrooms in the Capitol and all House of Representatives buildings are reserved exclusively for women and girls.
The debate sparked in Congress after Delaware’s First Congressional District elected progressive democrat and trans-identifying Sarah McBride to the House. Congressman-elect McBride revealed his trans-identity in his university’s student newspaper in 2012, changing his name from Tim. McBride heavily campaigned in the 2024 election season as the hopeful first “transgender” member of Congress and also claims to be the first “transgender” White House worker after interning for Obama, writing a memoir titled Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality.
Representative Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina 1st) proposed a bill during new member orientation that would “prohibit individuals from accessing or using single-sex facilities on Federal property other than those corresponding to their biological sex.” Rep. Mace said the legislation would protect all female staff and visitors using federal bathrooms from any male intrusion. Rep.-elect McBride would have a personal bathroom as a member.
This issue is much larger than one member, though. The reality of the sex binary is one that touches many areas of our society. Male-inclusion in women’s sports, locker rooms, prisons, and more dominated this past election cycle and played a heavy role in voter’s candidate selection. Over 91% of voters who cast their ballots for President Trump said this issue was important to them at some level. Americans reject the idea that the only way to show compassion for others is to sacrifice the safety and concerns of women.
Mace’s proposal sparked a media frenzy, but House Speaker Mike Johnson quickly intervened. Johnson holds regulatory control over the Capitol and House facilities as the Speaker and released a statement to The Hill; “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 … Women deserve their own space.”
Amen. Concerned Women for America (CWA) wholeheartedly agrees, and we are committed to defending female only-spaces. The women of America should not fear male intrusion in intimate settings, subjecting them to apprehension without the protections of security guards, surveillance cameras, or other bystanders. Removing sex-based barriers of entry to restrooms directly places women in harm’s way and insults our existence as a unique sex.
“Let me be unequivocally clear,” the Speaker told reporters, “A man is a man, and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman.” He mentioned he also believes that is “what Scripture teaches.”
CWA is grateful for Speaker Johnson’s efforts to protect the women who enter the halls of the Capitol each and every day and for his unequivocal defense of God’s design. We will continue to defend the dignity of women in public policy by protecting all women’s spaces from male intrusion.