A transgender model and actress is facing severe backlash online after she flashed her boobs and then cupped them on the White House lawn on Saturday moments after shaking hands with President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. Rose Montoya, 27, was among hundreds invited to the White House for the festivities where she met the president and first lady.
But moments after she met the First Couple, she left everyone shocked after baring her breasts and cupping them in front of everyone on the South Lawn. However, Montoya claimed that she had no intention to be "vulgar." A video of the shocking incident has since gone viral on social media.
Shocking Moment at White House
Montoya was part of the hundreds invited to the White House to celebrate Pride. Instead, she was caught on camera pulling down her dress and cupping her exposed breasts in front of the Truman balcony with the Pride flag hanging in the background.
"Are we topless at the White House?" the person recording said in the video posted on Montoya's Instagram.
On Monday, Montoya posted an Instagram video of the day to her 103,000 followers in which she could be seen dancing to the DJ and posing in front of landmarks including the Washington Monument and the Truman Balcony of the White House.
Montoya is also seen meeting Jill Biden and attempting to take a selfie with the president while the camera is mistakenly on video rather than a photo.
She also said: "Trans rights are human rights" when speaking with President Biden.
"I had the honor of attending White House Pride, the largest one in history where the pride flag flew for the first time," she captioned the video.
"This is trans joy. We're here at the white house unapologetically trans, queer, and brown.," she further wrote.
However, the video hasn't gone down well with several people online.
In the Eye of the Storm
In response to the criticism and uproar from certain online users, whom Montoya identifies as "conservatives", she made a video to address the issue. She claims that these conservatives are using her video clip as an example to suggest that the transgender community "grooms" young people, which she strongly refutes.
"Going topless in DC is legal, and I fully support the movement to free the nipples," she 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," she clapped back at the haters.
Montoya's response video highlights the fact that being topless is not against the law in Washington, D.C., where the incident took place.
In the video, she explains that she purposefully covered her nipples to "play it safe" with "zero intention of trying to be vulgar." Her intention was not to be vulgar she was "simply living in joy. Living my truth and existing in my body."
"Happy Pride. Free the nipple," she says as she concludes her response video.
According to the District of Columbia's statute against obscenity, public nudity is defined as the exposure of the female breast below the top of the nipple without full "opaque coverage."
Montoya wasn't the only one to face criticism over the Pride celebration.
The Biden administration has come under fire from prominent military veterans for allegedly undermining the American flag by placing a Pride banner at the center of a display.
The president unveiled the Pride flag between two American flags to honor Pride Month and the LGBTQ+ community.
However, Twitter users were quick to attack Biden, claiming that the US Flag Code required the American flag to be displayed in the center of any display that included numerous national flags or pennants.
"No flag should be flown at equal level to the American flag," said Army veteran and Florida Rep. Cory Mills, who called the placement of the flag "shameful."
"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," according to US flag code.
"You would think the White House knows this," Chad Robichaux, a Marine veteran told The New York Post in a statement. "They do, they just don't care."
