Trans activists occupy toilets in Texas state capitol building to protest ‘bigoted’ bathroom bill

Activists have staged a sit-in demonstration in a women’s toilets in the Texas state capitol building to protest against a proposed anti-trans “bathroom bill.”

The demonstrators were voicing their opposition to a senate bill, that proposes that spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and women’s shelters should be designated on the basis of an “individual’s biological sex”.

The proposed legislation sets a fine of $5,000 (£3,700) first-time offences by government agencies or educational establishments, rising to $25,000 (£18,500) for subsequent violations.

Supported by the Gender Liberation Movement, the protest was inspired by a previous demonstration against congresswoman Nancy Mace’s ban on trans lawmakers in the US Capitol, in Washington DC, using “single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex”.

Nine cis and trans people sat in the Texas toilet for about an hour, holding posters calling state senator Mayes Middleton, who sponsored the bill, a “bathroom bigot”. A pink banner urged the “flush[ing] of bathroom bigotry”.

“Trans people are sacred, brilliant and resilient”

About 50 more people protested outside the toilets.

Raquel Willis, a co-founder of the Gender Liberation Movement, said: “Bills like SB8 are not about safety, they are about control. As a Black transgender woman from the south, I know what it means to live under segregationist thinking, and this bathroom bigotry is just its latest form.

“Texans deserve leaders focused on jobs, healthcare and lowering costs, not criminalising our existence. Trans people are sacred, brilliant and resilient, and we will not be erased.”

A public testimony hearing about the bill was held on Friday (22 August), during which, according to KWTX, Jack Finger, from the San Antonio Family Association, said: “How on Earth did we get to the point where men are allowed to go into women’s restrooms and locker rooms and shower with them, and nobody can do anything about it.

“I, for one, am tired of that. I won’t put up with it. I’ve seen it at least a couple of times in San Antonio and I was tempted to help that gentleman save money on his transgendered operation by physically helping him get there.”

Finger was warned not to make threats towards others by Republican committee chairman Ken King.

One witness was removed from the hearing after getting into a verbal altercation with other members of the audience after saying trans people do not exist and that were “mentally ill” people.

Earlier this month, during a special legislative session, Autumn Lauener, the vice-president of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Scholars, said the bill would not just result in her losing access to toilets but “to the future in the state I worked so hard to build”.

She went on to say: “I’ll be forced to use the men’s restroom in workplaces that perceive me as a threat, risking harassment or worse,” The Texas Tribune reported.

Also during the session, right-wing YouTuber Alex Stein referred to trans women as “gargoyles in a dress” and “perverts”, and claimed transgender people used toilet facilities that match their gender for sexual satisfaction, “going there and looking under a stall”.

Turning to president Donald Trump’s ban on trans men and women serving in the armed forces, he went on to say: “I actually like transgenders in the military because transgenders are some of the meanest people on planet Earth, so they make a good soldier.

“Transgenders love to do mass shootings. So, that’s perfect for a military veteran.

“And then on top of that, the suicide rate is incredibly high among transgender people, so we could just use them like the Taliban has suicide bombers. Maybe you guys can, if you commit suicide, actually help us in the battlefield.”

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