Mike Johnson Will Enforce Transgender Bathroom Ban in Capitol as Nancy Mace Forces the Issue

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will block biological men from using women’s restrooms in the U.S. Capitol complex, he announced Wednesday.

Johnson’s pledge follows Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-SC) introduction of a resolution that would ban transgender women (biological men) from using biological women’s restrooms at the Capitol – weeks before Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE), a transgender woman, is sworn in.

The issue quickly escalated Monday after Mace announced her intentions to file her resolution, leading to speculation on what Johnson would do. The Speaker gave mixed signals Tuesday, but his statement Wednesday made clear that McBride – and any biological male – will not be permitted to use restrooms designated for women.

“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 said in a statement. “It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.”

Johnson was later pressed on whether he would enforce the policy – likely through the Sergeant at Arms.

“Like all House policies, it’s enforceable,” Johnson told reporters. “And we have single sex facilities for a reason, and women deserve women’s only spaces. And we are not anti anyone and we are pro-woman. I think it is an important policy for us to continue. It’s always been an unwritten policy and now it is in writing.”

While Johnson pledged Tuesday in a closed House Republican Conference meeting to address the issue, afterward he did not commit publicly to do so – initially refusing even to state whether McBride is a man or a woman before later addressing media briefly specifically to clean up his views.

Johnson’s initial reluctance to engage came as Democrats balked at addressing the issue head on as well.

McBride herself seemed unwilling to discuss the issue, using an official statement to pivot to a discussion on how to pull Americans out of the Biden-Harris economy.

Sarah McBride with the HRC Federal Club speaks during the 21st Annual HRC Nashville Equality Dinner honoring Kesha at the Renaissance Hotel on Saturday, March 5, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Wade Payne/Invision/AP)

“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms,” McBride said. “I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families.”

Democrats are following McBride’s lead, seemingly unwilling or unable to debate Republicans on the merits of the issue. They have accused Republicans of elevating the issue to distract from their lack of other policy proposals – sprinkled with charges of bigotry.

That tactic, just days after Democrats’ policy agenda was soundly rejected by the American people, may not be effective. But the alternative may be worse, as Democrats’ embrace of transgender issues is widely credited as a significant element of their electoral defeat.

Trump and down-ballot Republicans found success campaigning against biological men allowed in women’s restrooms, men in women’s sports, and allowing doctors to mutilate children in an attempt to subvert their biological sex.

Given Republicans’ success campaigning on the issue, many conservatives were perplexed when Johnson refused Tuesday morning to force the issue.

“Look, I’m not going to get into this,” he replied when asked whether McBride is a man or a woman. “We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people.”

Later Tuesday morning, after significant public pushback from conservative groups and media, Johnson attempted to clean up his remarks.

“Let me be unequivocally clear: a man is a man, and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman,” he said.

But Johnson’s initial reluctance to engage in the fight has rankled some conservatives still bitter over his legislative record since ascending to the speakership.

“If [Congress] can’t be clear that a man is a man and a woman is a woman and that we should treat it as such, then we can’t expect the rest of the country to treat it as such,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told Jenna Ellis Wednesday, saying Congress must show the courage to lead the fight against “the absurdity of what we’ve been doing across this country with the pressure on our young people with respect to changing their sex.”

“We’ve got to actually stand up for the good and the sake of our children and the mental health of the American people and say enough is enough,” he added. “I will work with the speaker, and we’ll figure out what we need to do internally in terms of our rules and stuff. But you just need to answer the question. When this first came up yesterday, the simple question is, this individual, a man or woman – this individual’s a man. And society can’t ignore those obvious differences.”

Mace is leaning in to what she sees as a winning issue for Republicans, speaking constantly to press and tweeting dozens of times about the issue.

Wednesday, she filed the Protecting Women’s Private Spaces Act prohibiting biological males from from using bathrooms designated for women on all federal property.

“Oh you thought threatening me would silence me? No,” she tweeted. “I just doubled down and filed a new bill to protect women and girls across the entire country on all federal property everywhere.”

With Democrats in the political wilderness after months of upheaval followed by historic election losses, Mace and other Republicans are likely to continue turning the knife, especially as McBride’s arrival in Washington will put front and center an issue most Democrats would likely avoid.

Johnson may be forced to get on board.

Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.