Activist Raquel Willis believes Democrats have abandoned trans people

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Alongside former US Army whistleblower and trans rights advocate Chelsea Manning, Willis was among 15 people arrested by Capitol police for occupying the women’s bathroom and the hallway outside House speaker Mike Johnson’s office. open image in gallery Raquel Willis, bottom left, and Chelsea Manning, bottom right, during a trans rights sit-in at the US Capitol Just hours after Willis’s interview with The Independent, House and Senate negotiators revealed a bipartisan compromise spending bill that would ban military health insurance from covering transition care for children. Raquel Willis leads chant 'I believe in Black trans power' It was, she said afterwards, "the complete opposite" of what happened when she spoke at the first Women’s March in Washington DC three years earlier. open image in gallery Trans rights protesters make noise outside a women’s bathroom in the US Capitol on Thursday Dec 5, 2024 "In this moment, it is not enough to simply call anti-trans attacks from Republicans a distraction," she says.