White House Bans Trans Influencer for Flashing Breasts at Pride Event: ‘Inappropriate and Disrespectful’

A transgender influencer was banned from the White House on Tuesday for posing topless at President Biden’s Pride celebration over the weekend.

Rose Montoya, who exposed his bare prosthetic breasts to the camera and onlookers at the official event, violated basic standards of decency and social manners, a spokesperson for the White House told the New York Post.

“This behavior is inappropriate and disrespectful for any event at the White House,” the spokesperson said. “It is not reflective of the event we hosted to celebrate LGBTQI+ families or the other hundreds of guests who were in attendance. Individuals in the video will not be invited to future events.”

A transgender-identifying male and Idaho-based model who became famous for TikTok content, Montoya was captured on video on Saturday flashing attendees in front of the White House, off the balcony of which the Pride flag and the American flag were draped. A transgender-identifying female, also topless, but whose breasts were surgically removed, stood next to Montoya in the frame.

“Are we topless at the White House?,” the person filming the group said in the video found on Montoya’s Instagram.

Before putting on the half-naked display, Montoya shook hands and talked with Biden. LGBT individuals are among “the bravest, most inspiring people I’ve ever known,” Biden said in his address. Montoya grabbed a selfie video with the president as well.

“I had the honor of attending White House Pride, the largest one in history where the pride flag flew for the first time,” Montoya, who started transitioning in 2015, wrote in the caption on the Instagram video. “This is trans joy. We’re here at the white house unapologetically trans, queer, and brown.”

In response to backlash, Montoya clarified in a followup video that “going topless in DC is legal.”

“I fully support the movement to free the nipples,” Montoya said. “Why is my chest now deemed inappropriate or illegal when I show it off? However, before coming out as trans, it was not. All you’re doing is affirming I’m a woman. For some reason, people like to sexualize women’s bodies and say that they are inappropriate.”

The president invited thousands of guests to the festivities, including singer Betty Who, an LGBT activist who identities as queer and gave a special performance on Saturday.

“I see more courage on this lawn than any time I’ve seen in the recent past,” Biden said on stage.

After the event, some pundits online accused Biden of violating U.S. Flag Code over the Pride showcase. U.S. Flag Code §7. (e) requires that the “the flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.” The American flag was to the right of the Pride flag during the celebration, according to videos.

Since Pride month began, the White House has escalated its LGBT advocacy campaigns. Biden has cited the wave of legislation in Republican states prohibiting or restricting gender-transition hormone therapy and reconstructive surgery for minors as a major reason for action.