Montana lawmakers on Tuesday rejected attempts to ban a transgender legislator from using the women's restroom at the state Capitol, with some Republicans joining Democrats in opposing the measure.
Democratic Representative Zooey Zephyr, a transgender woman first elected to the statehouse in 2022, praised her colleagues who voted down the proposed ban in a legislative committee.
"I'm happy to see that this proposed ban failed and am grateful for my colleagues - particularly my republican colleagues - who recognized this as a distraction from the work we were elected to do," Zephyr said on social media.
The failed Montana measure was a similar effort by Republicans at the U.S. Capitol in a bill that would ban Representative-elect Sarah McBride, a transgender woman from Delaware, from women's restrooms at the Capitol. The bill has yet to be voted on, but House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiania, issued a statement that bathrooms would be reserved for "individuals of that biological sex."