First out trans Miss Nevada US blasts ‘disgusting’ US Capitol trans ban
First out trans Miss Nevada US blasts ‘disgusting’ US Capitol trans bathroom ban (Bryan Steffy/Getty Images)
Kataluna Enriquez, the first out trans woman to win Miss Nevada US, has branded the trans toilet ban in the US Capitol building “disgusting” and “divisive”.
The decision to ban trans women from women’s toilet in the US house of representatives was announced by speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday (20 November), with Republican Nancy Mace claiming her decision to introduce the resolution was aimed directly at trans congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride.
The move has been criticised by politicians, charities and campaigners. And now pageant queen Enriquez has said: “At this point it’s just tired, there are so many issues that we need to focus on in this country instead of the divisive and fake narrative towards trans people.”
She told TMZ on Thursday (21 November) that the country should focus on the “bigger picture” and “work on the issues” rather than concentrating on a “culture war that’s just exhausting and unnecessary.”
The decision to ban trans women from women’s toilets was dangerous “not just [for] trans people but also biological women who may not present feminine or who are just a little more masculine”, Enriquez added.
“You’re basically just asking people like me, a trans women, to use the same restroom as men… you’re asking trans men who are bearded and wear men’s clothing to use the women’s restroom, because that makes more sense somehow.”
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has also spoken out against the resolution.
“What Nancy Mace and speaker Johnson are doing [is] endangering all women and girls, because… what it inevitably results in are women and girls who are primed for assault,” the New York Democratic congresswoman told Spectrum News.
“People are going to want to check their private parts, suspecting who is trans,” she continued. “The idea that Nancy Mace wants little girls and women to drop [their trousers] in front of, who, an investigator?
“Frankly, all it does is allow these Republicans to go around and bully any woman who isn’t wearing a skirt because they think she might not look woman enough.”
Trans state representative Zooey Zephyr has also weighed in on the controversy, calling the idea “obsessive and unhinged and an endless reminder that these folks have nothing to offer but fear and rage”.
Zephyr went on to say: “Trans women are women, full stop. We’re every bit as ‘biologically female’ as cis women and speaker Johnson’s statement doesn’t change the fact that women’s spaces include trans women.”
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