Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is instituting a ban on biological males using the U.S. House of Representatives’ female restrooms, a previously unnecessary gesture sparked by the election of the first “transgender” member of Congress.

This month saw the election of Democrat Sarah McBride, a male LGBT activist and Delaware state legislator who “identifies” as a woman, to Delaware’s At-Large Congressional District, in a “historic” victory left-wing activists took as a bright spot amid 2024’s overwhelming repudiation of the Democrat Party and its fixation on identity politics.

Asked Tuesday about the implications of McBride joining the chamber, Johnson initially declined to answer whether the new lawmaker was a man or a woman. “Look, I’m not going to get into this,” he said. “We welcome all new members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of the people.”