Chelsea Manning arrested in Congress for protesting against transgender bathroom ban

Former US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been arrested in the halls of Congress for protesting against a ban on transgender women using women's bathrooms.

Manning, 37, was among a group of trans demonstrators who staged a sit-in inside the women's lavatory opposite House speaker Mike Johnson's office on Thursday, according to The 19th.

The protest called on Democrats to fight back against Johnson's new bathroom rule, which requires trans people in the Capitol building to use only the facilities corresponding to their birth sex.

Johnson announced the new rule last month amid a campaign of humiliation and bullying from his Republican colleagues against Sarah McBride, the first openly trans person ever to be elected to the House of Representatives.

open image in gallery

Capitol police swept in and reportedly threatened the demonstrators with sexual misconduct charges, before arresting 15 of them and holding them in custody for several hours.

“I’m here today because every person deserves dignity and respect, both in daily life and in more symbolic places like the US Capitol,” Manning said in a statement to CNN.

"As someone who has fought against similar rules, I know what it’s like to feel pushed aside and erased. But I also know the incredible power and resilience our community has.

"I’m not here as a leader or a spokesperson but simply as another member of my community who shows up unconditionally to support my siblings in this fight. I will stand beside them no matter what.

"We didn’t start this fight, but we are together now."

Although McBride has not yet taken up her seat, South Carolina representative Nancy Mace has sought to ban her and all other trans women from using women’s bathrooms on federal property, claiming that her very presence would threaten the “safety and dignity” of other members of congress.

Thursday’s protest stood in contrast to the response of most Democrats, who – reportedly at McBride’s own request – have largely avoided direct confrontation and lambasted the attacks as a distraction.

"Democrats, grow a spine! Trans rights are on the line," the protesters chanted, explicitly invoking the memory of the radical AIDS activist group Act Up, which staged numerous controversial sit-ins and acts of civil obedience throughout the Eighties and Nineties.

The sit-in was organised by a trans activist group called the Gender Liberation Movement, which has also organised protests outside the Supreme Court during its deliberation over trans healthcare bans across the country.

The group's co-founder Raquel Willis was also arrested, according to ABC, with all 15 protesters charged with "crowding, obstructing, or incommoding" the Capitol.

Asked by the The New Yorker on Sunday how she would respond to trans people who didn't feel she had gone far enough in opposing Mace and Johnson's attacks, McBride said she understood their feelings.

"This was not done to bar me from restrooms. This was done to invite me to take the bait and to fight," she said. "I am maintaining my power by turning the other cheek and doing what I promised Delawareans I would do, which is to focus on the job in front of me.

"Yes, when that calls for me to defend my LGBTQ constituents, I will do that; when it calls on me to defend workers in my state, I will do that; when it calls on me to defend retirees in my state, I will do that. But I should not be the issue."

Manning came out as trans in 2013, one day after being sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks while serving as an Army intelligence analyst in US-occupied Iraq.

That sentence was ultimately commuted by Barack Obama, in one of his final acts as president, and she was released in 2017.