Trans Activists Hold Dance Party in U.S. Capitol Bathroom
The demonstration was in response to a recently adopted policy banning transgender people from facilities matching their gender identity.
Activists staged a protest at the U.S. Capitol in which they filmed themselves dancing in a women’s restroom in protest of a rule requiring all people in the Capitol complex to use only those multi-user restrooms that match their assigned sex at birth.
The group, which included transgender, nonbinary, and cisgender people, filmed themselves dancing to Klymaxx’s 1984 hit “Meeting in the Ladies Room.” The full-length video pans over the inside of the Capitol building entrance before following the feet of an unknown cameraperson towards the restroom. The camera pans upwards to reveal people dancing.
Many of the activists were wearing blue, pink, and white shirts — the colors of the transgender flag — with the words, “Flush the Hate, Not Our Rights” and “Trans People are NOT Dangerous. You Are!”
Videos of the protest were posted to Bluesky and X by nonbinary influencer Jerome Trammel, who took part in the protest, and Alejandra Caraballo, an attorney who is also an instructor at Harvard Law School’s CyberLaw Clinic.
“Trans folks held a dance party in the Capitol bathroom to protest the bathroom ban on there,” Caraballo wrote in a post on Bluesky showing an abbreviated version of the video.
Trans folks held a dance party in the Capitol bathroom to protest the bathroom ban on there.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-05T03:59:42.084Z
“Dear @NancyMace, We hope you will enjoy!!” Trammel wrote in their post, tagging the South Carolina congresswoman who proposed banning transgender women from female-designated restrooms.
Mace initially proposed the ban in response to the election of U.S. Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who will become the first out transgender member of Congress in January. House Speaker Mike Johnson then adopted a rule that prevents any visitor, staffer, or member of Congress from using restrooms that don’t match their biological gender.
Johnson asserted that there is a need for biological women to have a space all to themselves while noting that McBride has a restroom in her Capitol office and that there are a few single-user restrooms within the Capitol complex.
McBride has agreed to abide by the policy barring her from the women’s restroom.
Mace has gone further, introducing a bill to ban transgender people from using any facilities matching their gender identity in any public buildings on federal properties. The South Carolina congresswomen claims to be a rape survivor, and says that is partly what motivates her to preserve single-sex spaces. Her bill is expected to receive a floor vote in January, once the new Congress is seated.
The U.S. Capitol “dance party” protest was staged, in part, by trans activist and founder of the #AllowMe movement Hope Giselle-Godsey, who explained the rationale behind the protest to Gaye Magazine.
“We understand the weight of what it means to be a pariah in our society, so doing what’s necessary is never too hard,” Giselle-Godsey said, warning that anti-transgender activists would launch further attacks aimed at restricting transgender rights, refusing to acknowledge transgender identity, or erasing transgender existence. “It always starts with things that people feel are insignificant, like public restrooms, but it never stops there.”
Giselle also entered Mace’s office in an attempt to have a conversation about the efforts to restrict transgender access to certain facilities. However, the Congresswoman was not present in her office.
The right-wing U.K.-based tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail has since identified some of the other protesters as transgender actress James Rose, comedian Elizabeth Booker Houston, influencer Alexis Rose, and transgender model June Raven Romero.
Many of the responses on social media were in support of the activists.
“I wanna hang out with the cool kids,” wrote one user.
I wanna hang out with the cool kids 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
— Seannie (@seannie1215.bsky.social) 2024-12-05T12:29:55.459Z
“This is the literal best use of my tax dollars and I’m with it,” wrote another.
This is the literal best use of my tax dollars and I’m with it.
— Buck AE Down (@buckdown.bsky.social) 2024-12-05T06:38:12.366Z
“Now that looks like a fun group to be around!! Boring MAGA congresswomen don’t know what they’re missing,” wrote a third.
Now that looks like a fun group to be around!! Boring MAGA congresswomen don't know what they're missing. 🎉
— Carrie Carnes 🦋 (@carriercarnes.bsky.social) 2024-12-05T05:26:46.456Z
“This kinda reminds me of bringing my cis gay friends to the ladies’ room at the gay club we went to in summer 1984. There were a couple of transgals who were quite entertaining. I never felt threatened by them. It was sometimes festive. Mostly just normal,” wrote another social media user.
“I asked my guy friends what it was like in their restroom. They joined me & had a great time watching the show & all the laughs. I visited the men’s room & it was incredibly boring. I was all of 22 & it bothers me how intolerant people are 40 yrs later. I’ve worked with trans women & never once did I care about them in the ladies’ room.”
This kinda reminds me of bringing my cis gay friends to the ladies' room at the gay club we went to in summer 1984. There were a couple of transgals who were quite entertaining. I never felt threatened by them. It was sometimes festive. Mostly just normal. I asked my guy friends what it was like in
— Bunny Shelton (@bunnyshelton.bsky.social) 2024-12-05T05:21:42.634Z
their restroom. They joined me & had a great time watching the show & all the laughs. I visited the men's room & it was incredibly boring. I was all of 22 & it bothers me how intolerant people are 40 yrs later. I've worked with trans women & never once did I care about them in the ladies' room.
— Bunny Shelton (@bunnyshelton.bsky.social) 2024-12-05T05:21:42.635Z
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