Noah Wyle speaking at the "Healthcare is Human" rally on Capitol Hill.
The rally, organized by the healthcare clothing company FIGS, featured doctors and nurses advocating for legislation to help other front-line healthcare professionals across the country.
Washington, DC | May 21, 2026
📷 Drew Angerer/AFP, Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
The protest marked a shift in LGBTQ+ activists’ approach to calling for change ahead of a second Trump administration expected to enact hars
Capitol police quickly issued a warning to the protesters — which included U.S. army whistleblower Chelsea Manning alongside author and activist Raquel Willis — to disperse or face arrest, including sexual misconduct charges. Following those warnings, they were arrested and escorted from the building by Capitol police.
The protest follows Johnson’s announcement in November that transgender women are not allowed to access women’s restrooms and facilities in the Capitol and House buildings — an announcement that was not accompanied with any information about enforcement, or how such a policy would be carried out. The group called for elected officials to block Rep. Nancy Mace’s proposed bill that would ban trans people from bathrooms in museums, national parks and other federal property and for Democratic members of Congress to filibuster and block the bill if or when it comes to a vote.
“This bathroom sit-in sets an example of the righteous defiance and solidarity needed under a second Trump administration,” Gender Liberation Movement said in a press release, citing support from transgender and cisgender participants. The group said survivors of sexual violence also joined the protest to demand that proponents of bathroom bills stop falsely accusing trans women of endangering cis women when they use women’s facilities.
