Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst behind one of the largest leaks of classified information in history, was among a group of activists arrested Thursday outside of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office after taking part in a protest advocating for transgender rights.
The protest took place outside of Johnson’s office in the Cannon House Office Building. It comes after Johnson supported a GOP-led effort to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the US Capitol, and one day after transgender rights took center stage in a high-profile case at the Supreme Court.
“I’m here today because every person deserves dignity and respect, both in daily life and in more symbolic places like the U.S. Capitol,” Manning, who is a transgender woman, 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,” Manning said. “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.”
A contentious debate came to a head on Capitol Hill last month after GOP Rep. Nancy Mace filed a resolution to prevent transgender women from using women’s bathrooms in the US Capitol. The move by Mace came after Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride became the first out transgender woman elected to Congress.
The US Capitol Police told CNN that around 15 people were arrested as a result of the protest on Thursday. It is against the law to protest inside congressional office buildings or inside the US Capitol.
Other protestors could be heard on Thursday shouting a number of things, including “Democrats, grow a spine, trans lives are on the line.”
Johnson’s office in Cannon is directly across from the women’s bathroom.
Manning was convicted in 2013 of stealing 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos and disseminating them to WikiLeaks, the online anti-secrecy group. In 2017, then-President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s sentence.
