HELENA, Mont. (NEWSnet/AP) — Transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr was barred from participating on the House floor as Republican leaders voted Wednesday to silence her for the rest of 2023 session after she protested GOP leaders' decision earlier in the week to silence her.

The punishment of the freshman lawmaker caps a weeklong standoff between House Democrats and Republicans after Zephyr told colleagues last week, you will "see the blood on your hands" over votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for children.

Zephyr will still be able to vote remotely under terms of the punishment.

The House Speaker had previously said he would not allow her to speak until she apologized, which Zephyr refused to do.

For the past week, Zephyr has been forbidden from speaking on the House floor.

A protest against lawmakers silencing Zephyr disrupted Monday's House session. Authorities arrested seven people in a confrontation that Republicans claim Zephyr had encouraged. The first-term Democrat received notice from House leaders Tuesday night informing her of the plan to consider disciplinary action against her, according to a letter she posted on social media.

The move to discipline Zephyr is the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmaker from Missoula speak unless she apologizes for her remarks last week on the proposed ban. Conservative Republicans have repeatedly misgendered Zephyr since the remarks by using incorrect pronouns to describe her.

If lawmakers vote to censure Zephyr, she would stay in the House but could still be blocked from future attempts to speak on the chamber floor over her earlier comments.

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