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."

The Montana proposal, by Republican Representative Jerry Schillinger, would have reserved two legislative restrooms exclusively for male and female users, respectively, defining them by their chromosomes and reproductive and endocrine systems, according to Reuters.

Four Republicans joined all Democrats in voting down the measure during a meeting of the Joint Rules Committee, the Flathead Beacon reported from Helena, the capital.

Montana Republicans in 2023 voted to silence Zephyr from floor debates for breaking decorum after she said lawmakers who backed a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors would have "blood on your hands."

USA TODAY's Kinsey Crowley and Sarah D. Wire, The Flathead Beacon and Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.

Victor Hagan is the Alabama Election Reporting Fellow for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at vhagan@gannett.com or on X @TheVictorHagan. To support his work, subscribe to the Advertiser.