Kat Correro said they were disheartened and concerned to hear that their congressperson, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, announced last month that he was segregating public bathrooms in Capitol and House office buildings so that transgender people cannot use facilities that match their gender identity.
Johnson, a Republican from Shreveport who represents Louisiana’s 4th congressional district, announced the rule change two weeks after U.S. Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Delaware, became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
Correro, who is queer, lives in the Shreveport-Bossier metropolitan area, where they work as a technology officer and board member of People Acting for Change and Equality, a Shreveport-based group that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights. Correro said transgender people in Johnson’s district are feeling “alienated, anxious, and afraid” about the bathroom ban.
“This ban exacerbates the isolation many already face, creating barriers to accessing public spaces and further stigmatizing their identities,” they said in an email to Verite News. “For some, it’s a reminder that their rights and safety are constantly under attack, and they are left wondering if their representatives truly care about their well-being.”
Johnson’s bathroom segregation policy received similar reactions from transgender people and LGBTQIA+ advocates across Louisiana, who have seen an uptick in the passage of state laws meant to limit their rights over the past several years.
In 2022, the Louisiana State Legislature passed a law banning transgender women and girls from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity. The next year, the state passed a law prohibiting children from receiving gender-affirming health care. And a trio of bills became law this year that prohibited teachers from talking about gender and sexuality in class, public school employees from using students’ preferred pronouns or names without parental permission, and transgender people from using domestic violence shelters, jails, prisons, public restrooms and other public facilities that match their gender identity.
With his new policy, Johnson has brought the LGBTQ+ culture war to the center of the federal government.
“As a trans person, I don’t know if I feel comfortable going to the Capitol,” said Peyton Rose Michelle, executive director of the trans rights nonprofit Louisiana Trans Advocates. “I can’t go to the bathroom safely, so I can only be there for a little bit of time. I, as a taxpayer, feel like I should be welcomed into the Capitol at a level that is reasonable.”
Protecting women?
Johnson’s bathroom ban came as no surprise to the Forum for Equality, a statewide LGBTQ+ rights organization based in New Orleans, said Kenny Oubre, chair of the Forum for Equality Foundation’s executive committee. Johnson, an evangelical Christian and staunch conservative, has a history of promoting anti-LGBTQ+ policies. In 2015, as a state legislator, he sponsored the “Marriage and Conscience Act,” which purported to provide protections for people who object to same-sex marriage. The bill, which Johnson submitted two months before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, died in committee.
“We dealt with his hateful rhetoric and his attempts to silence and limit the rights of all LGBTQ+ people in the state of Louisiana when he was a legislator,” Oubre said. “So we’re not surprised at all that he’s going to go this route as Speaker of the House in Congress.”
When he made the declaration about bathrooms in the Capitol and House buildings, Johnson said as part of his reasoning that “women deserve women’s only spaces.” His statements came two days after U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Charleston, introduced a resolution to restrict McBride from using women’s restrooms in the Capitol and House buildings. Mace likewise said her bill was about protecting women.
But Michelle said Johnson’s rule and Louisiana’s bathroom ban are meant to discriminate, not protect anyone.
“There are many laws that would make harming someone in a bathroom illegal,” she said. “So if we’re saying that laws and policing don’t work already, I don’t know what a policy like the one he instated, or frankly, the bill passed in our state legislature earlier this year … intend to do.”
Verite News contacted Johnson’s office multiple times for comment for this story, but did not receive a response.
Opponents of the congressional bathroom ban have also raised questions about how the law would be enforced and whether attempts at enforcing it would harm people of any gender. According to a report from Axios, it’s unclear how the rule will be enforced.
“Considering they haven’t even said how they’re going to enforce this, it’s like, what does this do?” Michelle asked.e
‘Unnecessary barriers’
Correro said Johnson’s bathroom segregation “speaks volumes about his lack of regard for the very people he is supposed to represent.”
“Transgender constituents should not have to worry about whether they can use a restroom that aligns with their gender identity when they visit their own representative’s office,” they said. “It’s a stark example of how harmful policies are creating unnecessary barriers and making people feel unwelcome and unsafe in spaces where they should be able to feel supported and accepted.”
The bathroom ban is a signal to Quest Riggs with the New Orleans-based Queer and Trans Advocacy Project that Republican officials want to spread policies — at both the state and national levels — that discriminate against trans people. And she said Democratic resistance to this agenda has not been robust enough.
“It sets a dangerous precedent of pushing discrimination at a national/federal level,” she wrote in a text message. Riggs pointed to a bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors across the country, proposed days after Johnson’s bathroom ban by U.S. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas.
PACE Louisiana has created a template letter for Louisianians to send to their representatives in Congress, urging them to reverse the policy. Transgender people in Johnson’s district are not without recourse, Correro said.
“They can and should continue to raise their voices, whether through letters, public demonstrations, or by contacting advocacy organizations like PACE for support,” they said.
“Voting is also a powerful tool for change—if they feel their current representative does not align with their values, they have the opportunity to vote for a candidate who better represents their needs and stands up for LGBTQ+ rights.”