(26 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Frankfort, Kentucky — 7 July 2025
1. Kentucky capitol exterior
2. Door to House of Representatives
3. Setup of State Rep. Lisa Willner walking
4. SOUNDBITE (English) State Rep. Lisa Willner, (D) Kentucky: “I was elected in 2018 and I was sworn in for the first time in 2019 and I came in with a pretty big wave of newly elected women legislators, which was very exciting, but you could tell right away that this wasn’t a place that was built with us in mind, and so the restroom location was certainly one important reminder of that.”
5. Men’s room door closing
6. Women’s restroom signage
7. SOUNDBITE (English) State Rep. Lisa Willner, (D) Kentucky: “So if you’re a male legislator, you have a bathroom that you can use that’s right outside the chamber. If you’re a woman legislator, you have to take a pretty long hike, little curvy, circuitous route to get to the restroom.”
8. Zoom out from women’s restroom
9. Willner showing walk to women’s restroom
10. Willner walks toward camera
11. Willner’s feet walking by
12. Willner arriving at women’s restroom
13. Capitol ceiling
14. SOUNDBITE (English) State Rep. Lisa Willner, (D) Kentucky: “Definitely, it can be pretty dicey when you know a vote is about to be taken and you’re in line to use the bathroom. The line is moving slowly again the restroom we use, it’s also public facility. And so there may be folks here for a demonstration for a protest for a rally of some sort of or just a tour of the beautiful Kentucky State Capitol. So you might be stuck in line behind a large number of people, meanwhile the clock is ticking and you got to get back in the chamber and vote.”
15. Bathroom guide sign
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Denver, Colorado — 21 July 2025
16. SOUNDBITE (English) State Rep. Monica Duran, (D) Colorado: “We are at the Colorado State Capitol standing in the women’s bathroom that was established in 1987 thanks to former legislator, Arie Taylor, I have a poem I’d like to read to you that was created by staff just for her. ‘Once women at the airport were running short on time. Couldn’t even use the bathroom unless they had a dime. Then Ari Taylor took the mic with her Stapleton crusade. She made herself a heroine for the cause of travelers aid. Once here beneath the golden dome, if nature made a call, we’d have to scramble from our seats and dash across the hall. We missed a lot of crucial votes. No more could we delay, to use the lone facility 100 feet away. Then Ari took the mic once more to push an urge organic. No longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic.’”
++EDIT ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation.
With only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located, female legislators needing a reprieve during a lengthy floor session have to weigh the risk of missing an important debate or a critical vote.
None of their male colleagues face the same dilemma. Multiple men’s bathrooms are available.
In a pinch, House Speaker David Osborne allows women to use his single stall bathroom in the chamber, but even that attracts long lines. They even installed speakers to broadcast the chamber’s events to minimize missing anything of importance.
“You get the message very quickly: This place was not really built for us,” said Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, reflecting on the photos of former lawmakers, predominantly white, that line her office.
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