A GOP state representative in Kentucky accosted a transgender woman trying to use the women’s bathroom at the state Capitol Thursday, sparking a terse exchange with another lawmaker on the House floor later in the day.

Carma Bell Marshall, who leads the Trans-Wellness Coalition, tried to use the restroom before speaking at a trans pride event when Rep. Bill Wesley (R-Ravenna) intervened, allegedly falsely saying it was illegal for her to use the women’s restroom and involving state law enforcement.

Restrooms at the state Capitol and the Capitol Annex, where committee meetings are held, do not appear to have policies about who can and cannot use them. Marshall did not respond to a request for comment.

Photos of the encounter got posted on social media, with conservatives celebrating Wesley and using the moment to spread anti-trans sentiments.

“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,” GOP Rep. TJ Roberts tweeted. “This is the truth. Men are men, and can never become women.”

Later, Sen. Karen Berg — a Louisville Democrat who lost her transgender son to suicide in 2022 — approached Wesley on the House floor, having a tense exchange captured on video.

In the roughly 20-second clip, you can see the two speaking closely but can’t hear them. As Berg turns to leave, Wesley says something to her, causing her to come back and put a hand on his shoulder. She then smacks his back as she leaves.

“A far left democrat senator slapped me after I kept a man pretending to be a woman out of the girl’s bathroom in the Kentucky Capitol,” Wesley tweeted. “I will always protect women and girls from insanity, and will never yield to threats and violence of the far Left, including from Karen Berg!!”

(Wesley said in a subsequent tweet categorizing Berg’s actions as “slapped” was him being sarcastic.)

House leadership permanently revoked Berg’s floor privileges over the incident, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

Berg’s late transgender son, Henry, was a trans rights activist who got his start in Frankfort fighting against an attempted bathroom ban bill several years ago. Wesley sponsored one of the most recent attempts to police school bathrooms in 2023. Parts of his bill got added to 2023’s Senate Bill 150, which was considered one of the worst anti-trans pieces of legislation in the country.

The debacle came as Kentucky wraps up its 2025 legislative session, in which it passed multiple laws aimed at restricting access to gender-affirming health care for transgender people.

Senate Bill 2 prohibits gender-affirming care for transgender inmates. House Bill 495 blocks Medicaid dollars from covering hormone treatments and surgeries. It also protects conversion therapy, which has largely been banned in Kentucky since September.

Both are now law — SB 2 became law without Beshear’s signature Wednesday, and lawmakers overrode Beshear’s veto of HB 495 Thursday.

Friday was the final day of session.