The Speaker of the US Capitol expresses support for banning a congressman from the women's restroom at the US Capitol

US House Speaker Mike Johnson signed his support on Tuesday in a Republican effort to block Sarah McBride – the first openly elected US Congress – from using the women's restrooms at the US Capitol when she is sworn into office next year.

“We will not have men in the women's bathrooms,” Johnson told the Associated Press. “I've always agreed with that and anyone I've talked to about this.”

Johnson earlier in the day emphasized the need to “treat all people with dignity and respect.”

“This is an issue that Congress has never addressed before, and we will do so deliberately in agreement with members.”

The resolution proposed on Monday by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina will prohibit any legislators and House staff from “using single-sex facilities other than those that correspond to their natural sex.” Mace said the bill was aimed specifically at McBride, who was elected this month from Delaware.

The debate over whether transgender people should be allowed to use gender-appropriate bathrooms has raged across the US and was central to Donald Trump's successful presidential campaign. At least 11 states have passed laws barring girls and transgender women from using girls' and women's bathrooms in public schools, and in some other public institutions.

“Absolutely, 100 percent, I will stand in the way of any man who wants to be in the women's private room, in our locker rooms, in our locker rooms,” Mace told reporters Tuesday.

The second-term congresswoman added that Johnson had assured her that the bathroom would be included in any changes to the House rules in the next House of Congress.

“If not,” she said, “I'll be ready to pick up the dress.”

Democrats criticized the Republican efforts

Democrats, including McBride, criticized the GOP effort as “bullying” and a “disruption.”

“This is a blatant attempt by right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what the American people are facing,” McBride said. “We should be focusing on reducing the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not creating culture wars.”

Rep. Katherine Clark, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, joked that House Republicans are already “off to a good start.”

“What are they talking about when, on Day 1, that's when 1 in 435 members is … going to use the bathroom?” said the Massachusetts representative at a press conference on Tuesday. “Is that what they're focused on?”

McBride was elected to the House this month after building a national profile as an LGBTQ+ activist and raising more than $3 million in campaign donations from across the country. She became the first openly gay person to speak at a major party convention in the United States in 2016, when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

After winning the election earlier this month, McBride said his victory is “proof to the people of Delaware that we have shown time and time again that in this state of the neighborhood, we judge candidates based on their views and not who they are.”