Montana lawmakers reject motion banning transgender representative from using women’s restroom at state capitol

By Lex Harvey, CNN

(CNN) — Montana lawmakers, including several Republicans, voted down a measure to ban the state’s first transgender legislator from using women’s restrooms at the State Capitol Tuesday.

Democratic state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who was first elected in 2022, applauded the legislators who voted against the bathroom ban in a post to social media.

“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.

Republican state Rep. Jerry Schillinger, who introduced the measure during a Tuesday meeting of the Joint House and Senate Rules Committees, said it would require legislators to use the restrooms of the sexes they were assigned at birth. Zephyr was not directly named in the measure.

The motion “says what probably shouldn’t need to be said and puts into rules what probably shouldn’t need to be put into rules,” Schillinger said before the vote.

All Democrats, as well as several Republicans, voted against the measure.

Republican state Rep. David Bedey, who did not support the bathroom ban, said while he has his own views on “the issue of gender dysphoria and how widespread it is,” he thought the measure was a distraction.

“This particular action will have the effect of making people famous in the national news and will not contribute to the effective conduct of our business,” Bedey said during proceedings.

The proposed bathroom ban in Montana follows an effort by national Republicans to ban Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, the first out transgender woman elected to Congress, from using women’s bathrooms in the US Capitol.

The resolution has yet to be voted on, but House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement that “all single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.”

Republican state Rep. Jedediah Hinkle, who voted in favor of the Montana motion, said on Tuesday the issue had to be addressed.

“There are a number of females, in both chambers, who are not comfortable being in the same bathroom with a man,” he said.

“I think it’s time that this body addresses this issue now as they are addressing it nationally.”

In 2023, Montana Republicans banned Zephyr from the House chamber for saying GOP lawmakers would have “blood” on their hands for passing bills restricting transgender rights. She was re-elected this year.

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