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Transphobe alert! Speaker Mike Johnson bans trans people from single-sex bathrooms at U.S. House

House Speaker Mike Johnson US Rep Elect Sarah McBride

Tasos Katopodis/GettyImages; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The GOP is doubling down on bigotry instead of addressing the concerns of the American people.

cwnewser

Transgender people are being targeted by Republicans who are feeling empowered by the results of the general election as they begin taking over Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana announced a policy banning transgender people from using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity in the U.S. Capitol and House Office Buildings.

The policy, announced in a statement from the speaker’s office, reserves all single-sex facilities in the Capitol complex—including restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms—strictly for individuals based on their gender assigned at birth.

“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,” Johnson’s statement read. He noted that unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol complex and that each congressional office has a private restroom.

“Women deserve women’s only spaces,” Johnson concluded.

Related: Republicans are trying to ban transgender Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride from using the women's bathroom

The policy, which applies exclusively to areas under House jurisdiction, does not extend to Senate-controlled spaces within the Capitol, where Democrats remain in control until January. The new rule follows rising tensions among GOP members of Congress over the election of Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, a Democrat representing Delaware, who will be the first out transgender member of Congress when she is sworn in.