Activists Arrested Protesting in Bathroom Near Speaker Johnson's Office

Protesters with Gender Liberation Movement, including Chelsea Manning (far right) and Racquel Willis (bottom left) sit inside the congressional bathroom closest to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office on Capitol Hill, on December 5, 2024. (Orion Rummler for The 19th)

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Transgender activists staged a sit-in on Thursday inside the women’s bathroom closest to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office on Capitol Hill, to protest Republican-led efforts to keep transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity, 19th News reports.

The sit-in was organized by the Gender Liberation Movement. This volunteer-run grassroots group previously took to the streets of Washington, D.C. to protest Project 2025, a policy blueprint for a second Trump administration that would dramatically roll back LGBTQ+ rights.

“Democrats, grow a spine! Trans rights are on the line,” they chanted while seated inside the public restroom and outside of Johnson’s office. “Act up, fight back,” they said, echoing the well-known protest slogan of the AIDS activist group ACT UP.

The group is calling for elected officials to block Rep. Nancy Mace’s proposed bill that would ban trans people from bathrooms in museums, national parks and other federal property and for Democratic members of Congress to filibuster and block the bill if or when it comes to a vote.

As first reported by the 19th News.