A drag queen, ‘genital police' & a House floor ban: What happened in KY Capitol incident?

Yahoo

29-03-2025

In our Reality Check stories, Herald-Leader journalists dig deeper into questions over facts, consequences and accountability. Read more. Story idea? [e-mail].
A Kentucky Republican legislator chastised a transgender woman, calling her a 'pervert' and summoning a police officer on her Thursday after she used a women's restroom in the Frankfort Capitol.
'Men who try to use women's restrooms are perverts,' Rep. Bill Wesley, posted to X following the interaction.
Democratic Sen. Karen Berg then confronted the Ravenna Republican on the House floor about it, exchanging words and touching his shoulder in a way that Wesley characterized as a 'slap.'
Allies of the senator referred to it as a 'firm pat.'
In response, House GOP leadership Friday permanently banned Berg, a Louisville Democrat, from returning to the House floor. Berg's transgender son took his own life in 2022.
The chain of events began on Thursday when Wesley summoned the Capitol police on Carma Bell Marshall, a drag queen who is transgender, for using a restroom on the first floor of the Capitol.
The interaction was captured in photos and later shared by other Republicans on social media, thanking Wesley for 'keeping girls and women safe.'
Berg confronted Wesley later that day and touched his shoulder on her way out of the chamber. One of Wesley's colleagues, joined by other conservatives on social media, called it a 'slap.'
Berg told the Herald-Leader she apologized to Wesley for touching him. But on Friday, Berg was officially sanctioned by House leadership and barred permanently from entering the chamber over that exchange, House Speaker David Osborne told the Herald-Leader.
'She's no longer allowed on the House floor anymore,' Osborne, a Prospect Republican, said after the House adjourned sine die on Friday.
'She'll be receiving a letter if she hasn't already. Passions run high this time of year. You've got to be able to check those things.'
Emma Curtis, a Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilwoman who is transgender and was at the Capitol Thursday, said that Wesley and Republicans are overreacting to Berg's 'firm pat.'
'Rep. Wesley likes to act tough for the camera but is so sensitive to a colleague giving him a firm pat on the back that he has her banned from the House floor? Give me a break,' Curtis said.
Marshall, a trans woman, had arrived at the Capitol in drag, wearing heels and a cream fitted sequined dress.
She was set to address a crowd of a few dozen fellow LGBTQ advocates and allies celebrating 'trans joy' and to push back against House Bill 495. Now law, the bill blocks transgender adults on Medicaid in Kentucky from accessing gender-affirming health care.
Republicans, including Wesley, voted Thursday to override Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of that bill. It also protects the practice of conversion therapy, a discredited form of counseling aiming to change a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Marshall has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
The interaction was captured in pictures and posted to social media by another Republican, Rep. TJ Roberts of Burlington. He and Wesley both misgendered Marshall and invalidated trans people's identities in their social media posts, which are public.
'A man pretending to be a woman tried to gain access to the girl's bathroom at the Capitol today. (Kentucky State Police) stopped him, but (Wesley) confronted him,' Roberts posted.
'My colleague stood up to this madness, reminded the man that he is a man, and he has no place in women and girl's spaces, especially the bathroom. This is the truth. Men are men, and can never become women.'
Wesley later posted, 'Men do not belong in girls' bathrooms, period!'
These posts triggered a social media firestorm, drawing input from some prominent conservatives, including Utah U.S. Sen. Mike Lee and Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer-turned pundit for her outspoken opposition to trans women competing in women's sports.
Gaines thanked Wesley on X for 'defending women and girls.'
In 2023, Wesley was the primary sponsor of a bill banning transgender students from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. Portions of that bill became law via Senate Bill 150.
Wesley's interaction with Marshall occurred midday Thursday. By late afternoon, Berg had confronted Wesley on the House floor about it — the tense exchange caught on video that caused House leadership to sanction her.
After this face-to-face interaction, during a Senate floor debate on a GOP bill to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Kentucky's public colleges and universities, Berg brought up the incident.
Berg said Wesley 'accosted' Marshall, telling her 'she can never use the restroom again in this building.'
'This is the type of hate that we are fomenting in this body,' Berg said.
'It's almost as if you don't want people in this state to get along. You don't want them to be included and accepted and feel comfortable in their schools and feel comfortable in their spaces and feel comfortable peeing somewhere.'
She added, 'You all really need to stop and think what you are doing and why, because from the outside looking in, it looks really, really unhealthy.'
Curtis questioned why Wesley was there in the first place.
'Standing around outside of Capitol bathrooms trying to play genital police is a waste of any legislator's time and every taxpayer's money,' Curtis said.
After Berg's confrontation with Wesley was posted on social media, conservatives resurfaced comments she made on pedophilia and child sex dolls in the 2023 session
Marshall ran for office in 2024. She filed to run for House District 31 in Louisville, a seat currently held by Republican Rep. Susan Witten. Marshall lost in the Democratic primary to Colleen Davis, who fell narrowly to Witten's reelection effort.
When approached on the House floor Thursday night, Wesley told the Herald-Leader he would not take any questions and deferred comment to House leadership.
He did offer a brief statement, however.
'I will always protect little girls going to a women's bathroom from any man that claims to be a woman,' Wesley said.
Later, he called Marshall a 'pervert' on social media.
Outside of confirming that she'd been sanctioned, House leadership did not comment further on the incident. Senate leadership also declined to comment.