Rose Montoya, the transgender activist who bared her breasts at a White House Pride Month event, issued an apology “for the impact of my actions” Friday — but still defended the stunt as a “quick moment of fleeting and overwhelming trans joy.”
Montoya, 27 — who was barred from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue following backlash from the flashing, which a White House spokesperson described as “inappropriate and disrespectful” — apologized for her behavior in a three-minute video on Twitter.
“I decided to do something unbecoming of a guest of the President at the White House Lawn celebration,” she admitted, noting that the controversial flashing was a “quick moment of fleeting and overwhelming trans joy.”
“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.”
Montoya offered special words of apology to black trans individuals, and to her family and friends who were harassed in the wake of the scandal.
“Last but not least I would like to apologize to the President, the White House, and the nation,” she continued.
“It was never my intention to create a situation that would lead to harassment and harm of myself and others, nor for trans joy … to be weaponized by vile people of the opposition.”
Montoya ended the address by affirming her commitment to using the media kerfuffle as a “catalyst to create positive change” for herself and other trans individuals.
Montoya was one of several guests invited to celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride Month at the White House South Lawn event on June 12.
Montoya also shared clips of herself meeting Biden and first lady Jill Biden shortly before she undid her top in front of the Truman Balcony.
“It is an honor. Trans rights are human rights,” told the commander-in-chief as they shook hands.
Biden, 80, gave a speech at the event in which he described members of the LGBTQIA+ community as “some of the bravest and most inspiring people” he has “ever known.”
Following the initial backlash to the topless clip, Montoya protested that her actions were completely legal.
“Going topless in DC is legal, and I fully support the movement to free the nipples. Why is my chest now deemed inappropriate or illegal when I show it off? However, before coming out as trans, it was not,” she says in the response video, which has since been deleted.
Montoya — who boasts 110,000 followers on Instagram — originally went viral during the COVD-19 pandemic when she posted about the discomfort of going through airport security.
“Going through the scanner, there’s a male scanner and a female scanner in the TSA checkpoint — and, looking at me, you know, I look like a woman and I am a woman,” Montoya said on TikTok at the time.
“But, going through the scanner, I always have an ‘anomaly’ between my legs that sets off the alarm.”
The Idaho native has since become a vocal advocate for the trans community through social media, modeling, and motivational speeches at storied venues like Yale and Stanford universities, according to her website.
But in the wake of the South Lawn stunt, her social media accounts were inundated with angry comments from the trans community.
“THOUSANDS of trans activists (like myself) have worked for decades, to show transgender people in a POSITIVE light to society, and you go and TEAR IT ALL DOWN, in one day??” a mental-toughness trainer named Robin St Louis told Montoya with a crying emoji.
“Thanks for setting back everything the trans community has been trying to accomplish,” one trans follower wrote.
