The transgender activist who went viral for posing topless at a recent White House event apologized Friday.
On Saturday Rose Montoya attended a Pride event on the White House lawn, hosted by the Biden administration, along with hundreds of other queer activists. Shortly afterward, she posted a video on Instagram that showed a clip of her standing in front of the White House topless as she covered her nipples with her hands.
In a new video she shared on Instagram, Montoya — who is also a model — apologized and vowed to articulate "trans joy in a more effective way."
"In a quick moment of fleeting and overwhelming trans joy, I decided to do something unbecoming of a guest of the president at the White House lawn celebration," Montoya said. "More so than ever before, I have learned how powerful and just how impactful my actions are and how impactful it is when we share our stories and experiences and how we do so with the world. I want to take this moment to apologize for the impact of my actions."
The video of Montoya in front of the White House sparked a right-wing media firestorm, with commentators calling her actions “disrespectful.”
Some used the debacle to launch broader criticism of the trans community at large, lacing it with transphobic slurs.
Montoya acknowledged the criticism on Friday and apologized to LGBTQ people who faced harassment as a result of the video.
“It was also never my intention to create a situation that might lead to harassment and harm of myself and others, nor for trans joy, like my little moment of trans joy, to be weaponized by vile people of the opposition,” Montoya said.
The Biden administration weighed in on the matter on Tuesday, saying that Montoya and the other people included in her video would be banned from future events organized at the White House.
“This behavior is inappropriate and disrespectful for any event at the White House. It is not reflective of the event we hosted to celebrate LGBTQI+ families or the other hundreds of guests who were in attendance,” a White House spokesperson said. “Individuals in the video will not be invited to future events.”
The fierce backlash over Montoya's video came at an increasingly perilous time for the LGBTQ community in the United States.
So far this year, more than 490 anti-LGBTQ bills have been filed in state legislatures across the country — a historic first — according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Many of those bills would limit transition-related health care for trans minors and restrict trans athletes from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identities.
Since June 2022, there has also been an average of 39 anti-LGBTQ protests nationwide each month, compared with three per month from January 2017 through May 2022, according to a recent report by the Crowd Counting Consortium, a research group that tracks the size of political protests.
In her apology on Friday, Montoya acknowledged some of the challenges the LGBTQ community faces and said the scandal motivated her to continue her advocacy.
"I am committed to using this moment as a catalyst for creating positive change both within myself and within the broader community and the world at large," she said. "It’s my sincere intention to actively promote empathy, equity, inclusion and understanding through my words and my actions and my advocacy efforts."
